Lewis scoffed. “Please. Scary? I’d like to see them try.” It was as if the house were challenging him, and he didn’t feel like backing down. Perhaps it was the resonance filling him with reckless courage, or perhaps it was just the fact that he was actually enjoying himself for once. Regardless of the reason why, Lewis and Simone walked hand in hand down the path of ‘fear’.

The first few rooms felt, for the most part, normal. There were some goofy mirrors that played with their appearance, one of them showing Lewis as a fat little imp, and another that made him look like a tall, slender rat. Simone got a good few laughs out of that, and Lewis got equal, if less pronounced enjoyment at her own warped images in the mirrors. It wasn’t until they found the entrance to the catacombs below that their interest was piqued.

“Well, now this is looking a little more promising,” Lewis stated with a sly smile. “Maybe if it’s dark enough we can get away with…” He didn’t need to finish the statement to know that Simone knew what he was talking about. The two descended into the lower parts of the house, feeling the temperature drop as they went further.

“This is exciting,” Lewis said with a wide, almost crazy smile. “Do you feel it? This presence is so familiar…I wonder what we’ll find.”

Simone wanted to see them try too. It had been a while since she had been scared of anything. The last thing she was scared of was never seeing Lewis again. Obviously, it wasn’t a problem anymore as she held his hand a little tighter at the thought.

She got a kick out of Lewis being turned into random things. She herself was turned into a fat bird and a long snake woman. It was sort of funny and watched Lewis’s reactions. He was enjoying himself. This was good for them. She peeked down the stairs and got a sly smile back at her husband. “Oh please, like we even need it dark. What are they going to do at us… yell?” She lightly flicked her finger up under his chin. “They would probably just kick us out of the house… or even the fair.” That last thing made her a little sad but the thought of it was thrilling.

She shivered a little as they got down. She snuggled up to Lewis and walked by some of the lit mirrors. She was wrong if she thought she was going to get creeped out. It was when something grabbed her hair and pulled her back away from Lewis. She swung around and yanked it back from whatever had it. “Something touched me!” She saw a hand going back into the mirror. “The mirrors.”

But instead of getting more scared a smile grew on her face. “This is what you were looking for.”

The fact that Simone fought back instead of getting scared was alluring in itself, and only made the sensation they were feeling heightened. The assassin nodded, and kissed her quick before finishing the rest of the stairs. It was now cold enough for his skin to form goosebumps and his hair to rise on his arms.

There were mirrors everywhere down the path. Some of them seemed to contain people, or at least the after image of people who had come by. They moved to the first one, where a demonic version of Lewis and Simone were reflected. This version of the assassin had blood red skin and black eyes, with wicked horns and a tail of fire. As Lewis smiled, the reflection smiled as well.

“I don’t see how this is scary,” Lewis said. The reflection frowned, almost as if insulted. It reached out, and grabbed Lewis’s shirt, as if to pull him in. The assassin slammed his hand down onto the demon’s arm, “Ah, no thanks! I’d rather not!” The smile never left his face. The demon arm retracted, and the reflection could be seen rubbing the wound with a furious look on his face.

“Oh, so sad…better luck next time.”

Simone smirked at his kiss. “Careful or you’ll make me get us kicked out of here~” She teased him as they continued down. Now she really was cold as the temperature dropped. She could see her breath and she could appreciate the work that went into it.

The mirrors were interesting for her to look at. With all the different people and the one that they stopped at Simone looked pretty hot. She had dark bluish skin and little horns. A sexy little outfit. “Succubus me?” She struck a little pose as the mirror her followed. Then the demon Lewis grabbed him and Simone started to laugh.

Even the mirror Simone seemed insulted that Simone was laughing. “Wonder if she would give you a better fuck than I could,” Simone grabbed him from behind whispered into his ear laughing hard. The mirror her was glaring as the two tried to lure them back in. “No thanks~” She took Lewis’s hand and pulled him. “That’s enough of sexy me for now~”

There was more giggling, “I could actually get jealous of myself.” It was a fun little thought considering how many of herselves actually had their way with Lewis. The next mirror she stopped in made her hair stand up. Her worst fears were staring back at her. It was the fey lord. "I actually don't like this one at all."

Simone whispering in his ear about fucking a succubus version of herself sent a shiver down Lewis’ spine. The idea was definitely hot, but he wondered if it would be the same. The view in the mirror certainly was something to look at, but with the real one right in front of him it was hard to really imagine it. As they moved on, Lewis noted the change in her behavior at one particular mirror.

Whatever she saw, she didn’t like, and Lewis made a note of that. Still, it was strange. He couldn’t see what she was seeing. Instead, he saw himself reflected in the mirror. I don’t…understand. He was staring at a reflection of just himself. What was so scary about that?

“We can move to the next one, then,” Lewis said as he pulled her away from the ‘greatest fear’ mirror that they had come across. It was strange though, Lewis thought, that when he left the mirror, his reflection didn’t follow. He wondered what that meant. It’s probably a bug in the magic…

The next mirror was something truly grotesque. The pair saw themselves without skin. It was less frightening, and more an interesting lesson in what the human body looked like. He wondered if this could help him somehow with killing. But decided against trying to find a use out of it.

“C’mon. Let’s move to the next one. And…” With a sly smile, he pointed. “Maybe we can slip into that corner over there for a few minutes…I want to bring that mood back. You were happy…it wouldn’t take long to make you happy again…” He winked. So what if they got kicked out? The thrill was a part of the show…

She found herself not as amused with the biology mirror. She just tilted her head and let out a sigh. “I saw my own skin years ago~” On the floor, off her body, and she thought it was funnier back then. “Sure,” she smiled up at him. Maybe that would help her get back into the spirit of things.

She let him lead her off into the dark corner. They managed to find a small space against the wall. Lewis lifted her up nimbly and showed her the best time that he could. She kissed him hard and held onto him as he maneuvered her.

Once they were done Lewis went to put her down and she kissed him again. “No, no, I… Don’t feel better just yet. Call me greedy,” she whispered to him. “They haven’t noticed yet either~” Not that they did even after the second round. That or they just didn't care which was definitely dangerous.

She kissed his cheek and nuzzled his shoulder looking up at him once they were truly done. “You spoil me and make me happy. You know that right? I want to make you happy too.”

Lewis held her for a moment before responding. Being happy was complicated for Lewis, but he knew that he was content when Simone was around, and that it was enough. They had barely spent time apart since her revival, and her lack of presence was noticeable. While he could tolerate her being gone, it made him uneasy. Perhaps once they grew accustomed to their resonance that feeling would eventually fade, but for the time being he heavily disliked the feeling of being away from her.

“I’m glad I make you happy,” Lewis said with a half smirk. “I would do anything for you. I’d face all of the Gods if it meant keeping you.” Despite his lack of enthusiasm stating it, their resonance proved his devotion to those feelings by giving them both warm, caring feelings for each other.

“Now…let’s get out of here,” the assassin said as he adjusted his pants and looked Simone over. He had enjoyed their little distraction, but was definitely ready to move on. “There’s still plenty to see, and I’d hate for you to miss out on an opportunity to get some more stuffed animals. Whatever you want…I’ll get it for you.”

Simone’s heart melted and it showed when she snuggled into Lewis. He was a hot knife to her and she was most definitely butter. It might not have sounded good to others but to her, it was the way the resonance spoke. “I would certainly love to watch you do that,” she pushed herself up and kissed him once again.

She took his hand after they fixed their outfits the best they could so they could leave the basement. “Then I’ll aim to get as many as I can. I like watching you work,” she teased. The mirrors weren’t really all that interesting as they left the basement. The two were more interested in each other.

They came out of the basement to the backyard as Kalina and their little ground was coming out of the sweet route. Simone was snuggled up onto Lewis and her head barely turned to look at Kalina. Interesting. She saw the girl they were with. That had to be Ayaa.

“We should go to the circus after this. I heard before dark that the show is good. At least, that’s what the people at the food stall said.” She toted Lewis towards the games again. “But maybe~ after you win me more stuffed animals.”

They found a strength game and Simone looked at Lewis. “How about this one?” He just had to hit the bell right? Lewis was strong to her… but was it enough?

As the two approached the strength game with the bell, Lewis watched as a fairly strong man left with his head held up high. He hadn’t rung the bell but seemed content with his strength, which made it seem that this game was, for the most part, a fair game. As the assassin approached, the stall’s owner started his spiel.

It boiled down to hitting the giant button and seeing if you could ring the bell. Straightforward and simple. Lewis took the hammer, and smirked. “Here. We. Go!” He hefted the hammer, and slammed it down with all of his strength. The bar rose, flying up and-

“Three out of ten!” the game master said with a resounding voice.

Lewis stared at the game, and then to the game master, and then back to the game. I could just kill him. “Let me go again.” The man shrugged, and simply stepped aside. Once more, Lewis hefted the hammer, this time pulling from Simone’s resonance, and crashed the hammer down.

“Four out of ten!” Lewis narrowed his eyes. It wasn’t that the game was rigged. It was that he was trained for stealth and speed, and not strength.

“I guess I can’t win at this one,” Lewis said. The game master gave them a consolation prize, a small black rabbit stuffed animal. It was better than nothing, but the assassin almost felt bad. He wasn’t exactly brimming with his previous confidence. “Sorry…”

Simone’s eyes lit up as Lewis stepped up. She was bouncing with anticipation as she watched it go up and up… But it didn’t reach nearly as high as the man before. She appeared pleased though. Lewis was an assassin, he was strong but he wasn’t strong. She knew that and she appeared proud of Lewis regardless.

However, Lewis was still trying as he gave it another go. He did just a bit better as she was handed the little black rabbit. “You are fine, I think it is cute.” She showed Lewis the black rabbit. “We can go do another game that might be more you. I think I saw a ladder game~”

Ayaa had wanted to follow them considered from the way Simone’s clothes looked that Lewis had tried to kill her. Kali was watching and she sighed a bit. “These kids~” She dragged everyone up and pushed Lewis lightly.

“Give me the mallet,” Kalina held out her hand and tossed a coin.

“Do you want me to give the mallet to your boyfriend?”

“Fuck you, Rhenakos isn’t my boyfriend and I don’t need a man. Now give me the fucking mallet,” Kalina glared as the mallet was given to her. “I’ll win Simone the stupid stuffed animal since you want her to have it so bad.” She swung it down with all of her might cracking the button as the bell rung hard.

The big man who had won before had his happy look drain away as the blacksmith stood back up and offered it back, “I broke your game… The stuffed animal now.” She handed Simone a giant red dragon stuffed animal. Simone was impressed by the look on her face.

“Holy shit… Kalina, you are so strong!”

“Not the strongest in Sularia that much is for sure. Toya would have broken the damn game.”