A failed story from 2011

As soon as the lights went off, a deafening lightning bolt struck through the sky, soon followed by the toll of the bell atop the mansion.

Right after it rang, a pained yell shot across the room, along with a disgusting splattering sound.
The lights turned on, and it revealed that the butler was lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

"Damn! What the hell just happened to him?!" Daniella said.
"Well, determining from the large wound on his back, it seems like someone slashed a sword or a huge knife through him." Bloodrain said.

"But who would have a..." Solphi said.
suddenly, everyone turned to Daniel.

"What is everyone looking at me for?! Why would I kill some old guy that I don't even know?" He said.
"Well, that guy must have SERIOUSLY pissed you off, for one." Daniella said.

"Believe me, the only thing that gets me mad is your pranks. Plus, I only kill bad guys." Daniel said.
"How are we to believe that?" Ursula said.

"Guys, do you remember ANY time where I've killed an innocent person?" Daniel said.
"Umm... No, not really.." Ezra said.
"Nothing's coming up." Menti said.
"Well, you did say you were jealous of Malachi..." Granias said.

"What? Why would he-- Oh, is this because I'm dating your sister? Just get over it!" Malachi said.
"Bah. I just wouldn't want anything to happen to her, is all." Daniel said.

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Meanwhile, someone was watching from a monitor.
"Hah... Not just yet. I'll save that card for last... But I may as well give them a little warning..." They said.
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Instantly, a note appeared on the couch.
".. What's this?" Immortalia said, picking it up.
"Everyone, come over here!" She said.

As soon as she said that, all the people rushed over to her to see what she was holding.
"What's that, mommy?" Arcenia said.
"Well, to be honest, I-I'm not sure. There are no letters on this." Immortalia said.
"Let me see." Fortuna said, grabbing the note from her hands.

"Oh, I see the problem. It's written in Zealian. It can't be transcribed by humans or Remuses." She said.
"What does it say then?" Solphi said.

"Well.. it says, 'every time the bell tolls, I will kill someone off. Time is crucial in this game. Hurry. Sincerely yours...' And then it cuts off." Fortuna said, reading the note.

"That's strange... Why would they do that? In fact, who put this note here?" Monica said.
"It must be the killer! Someone in this mansion wants to do everyone in." Joyeuse said.
"Not only that... aren't we missing someone?" Saya said.

"... Oh god! There's a killer on the loose!!" Danielle said.
"I'm scared, mommy!" Arcenia said.
"You're not alone, sweetie." Immortalia said.

Everyone was in a panic.
It was mass hysteria.

But then Daniel jumped out and shouted this:
"THAT'S ENOUGH, GUYS! Screaming our heads off isn't going to resolve anything." He said.
"He's right. But where could we start?" Ursula said.

"We could go split up and search the mansion for clues." Purple Sonata said.
"Purple, that's a horrible idea. This isn't some murder-mystery movie; this is real. We need to stay together." Daniel said.

"If you say so, buddy." Purple Sonata said.
Everyone huddled together and walked down the hallway.

A few seconds later..
"Okay.. so far so good.." Solphi said.
But then the bell rang again.

"Oh god! There goes another one... I wonder who it was this time." Danielle said.
"Would you like to go and see?" Daniella said, smiling.

"N-no!" She replied back.
"Man, what a baby..." Daniella said.

As soon as everyone ran into the main lobby of the mansion, it was revealed that the owner of the mansion was impaled through a giant spike that emerged through the wall.
"Whoa." Bloodrain said.
"Well, at least he's out of the running." Daniella said.

"Whoever's doing this is one sick son of a bitch. Why would anyone want to trap us all in one place and try to kill us?" Solphi said.
"Do you think we know, aunty Lucera?" Daniel said.

Beside the bloodied corpse of the mansion's owner, there was another note.
"Huh? What's this?" Eternagius said, picking it up.
"I think you should see this, Fortuna!" He said, waving the piece of paper in the air.

"Huh? Alright then." She said, taking it from his hands.
Everyone huddled towards her again, in order to see what it said.
"Is it another note written in Zealian?" Arcenia said, looking at it.

"Yeah. This one says 'Shades of green. The ones that belong to the earth are not to be trusted.' And that's it." Fortuna said.

"The ones that belong to the earth? But the only Earth-element people here are Ursula, Rosentia and Durathror.." Daniel said.
Everyone looked at both girls.

"Hey! Do you think we would do all this? Not only that, we were with you the entire time!" Rosentia said.
"Yeah!" Ursula shouted in unison.

"Well, you two are the exception, but... where is Durathror right now?" Solphi said.
"... Yeah, come to think of it.. where is she? If anything, I bet she's the killer." Minerva said.

"You're probably right! She's not here and the note said not to trust Earth-users. Not only that, I caught her making some weird expressions at the owner guy..." Fortuna said.
"So, you mean the killer could be Durathror and the only reason she kept us alive was to get to that guy? .. It finally makes sense!" Daniel said.

"The second she comes into this room, I suggest we gang up on her and stop her. I can't believe my own aunt would do such a thing..." Ursula said.
"She used us all. It's only natural to feel like that, dear." Solphi said.

"Okay. Be on your guard, everyone. That bell could ring at any moment.." Daniel said.
Everyone huddled together, put their backs to one another and held their weapons out.

"To be honest.. I didn't expect the dinner party to wind up like this." Reika said.
"It caught us all by surprise, dear." Immortalia said.

4 minutes later, everyone got tired.
".. Alright, this is getting stupid." Daniella said.

"What do you suggest we do then? Either we get picked off one by one or survive together." Danielle said.

".. Umm.. You have a point. But I'm sitting down." Daniella said, stepping out the circle and going over to a seat.
However, as soon as she did, the lights turned off again, followed by bell ringing. This time in the rhyme of "Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits."

"Oh crap! How many deaths does that count as??" Minerva said.
"Hey... where did Reika go?!" Daniella shouted, noticing that Reika had disappeared.

A red liquid dropped on Daniel's head, which caused him look up at the ceiling.
"I think I know..." He said, gulping and pointing at it.

Everyone looked up in response, and saw Reika's dead body hanging from the ceiling, stabbed through the stomach with her very own katana.
Danielle had fainted, not because of the death, but rather because of the fact that girl was her best friend.

"That.. cruel... bitch!! Durathror is going to pay for this!" Daniella said.
"Calm down, big sister! We'll avenge her soon..." Arcenia said, going over to her.

".. She crossed the line! Avenge is too soft a word to describe what I'm going to do.." Daniella said.
However, a few seconds later, Durathror walked into the room, holding a knife covered in a red substance. Her dress was covered with a similar red liquid.

"Hi guys!" Durathror said, smiling.
But then she noticed the disgruntled and shocked looks on everyone's faces.

"Uh... did something happen?" She said.
As soon as she said that, a very pissed off Daniella had tackled her to the wall, holding a scythe-edged Riagel in her hands.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!" Daniella shouted.

"WHOA! Get her off me!" Durathror said.
Bloodrain, Daniel and Solphi had struggled to pull Daniella away and succeeded.

"What was that all about?!" Durathror said, her heart beating really fast.
"Oh, don't act like you don't know! You killed Reika, along with all those other people!!" Daniella said, yelling.

"Killed? But why would I do such a thing?" Durathror said.
"Look at the ceiling." Minerva said.

She did what Minerva said, and saw the corpse of Reika still stuck on the ceiling.
"Oh my god! And you guys think I did that?!" Durathror said, shouting.

"The evidence is heavily stacked against you. You're the only person who wasn't with us when the lights turned off the first time, and we got a note saying don't trust those who belong to the Earth element. Plus, what's with that knife?" Fortuna said.

"This? This is a cake-cutting knife. I was baking one the entire time." Durathror said.
"Oh yeah? Let me see." Daniel said, taking a bit of the red substance from the knife and putting it in his mouth.

Danielle had woken up to see Durathror holding a knife in front of her brother. In response, Danielle took out her staff and grew an edge to it just in case.
"Well, brother.. what does it taste like?" Bloodrain said.
"It's... strawberry frosting?" Daniel said.

Upon hearing that, everyone was confused.
"But.. the knife.. and the butler guy..." Arcenia said.

"What butler guy? When the lights went off, I went down to the kitchen." Durathror said.
"Well, what about the owner of the mansion? Only Earth magic can make spikes like that." Ursula said.

"The only thing I saw was him sitting there. Nothing out of the ordinary." Durathror said.
"Then what about Reika?" Daniella said, noticably a lot less angrier than she was before.

"How should I know?" Durathror said.
"Hmm.. good point." Daniella said.

"Well, what was the cake for?" Immortalia said.
"I'm glad you asked. It was for the dinner party, but considering what just happened..." Durathror said.
"Okay, now that we got that whole ugly business behind us, What should we do about the dead people?" Durathror said.

"Hang on, I should have some Reviver Stones in my bag." Fortuna said.
"Mom, you had Reviver Stones all this time and you didn't bother telling us?!" Joyeuse said, yelling.

"I was saving them for an emergency, Eusy. As far as I'm concerned, this is a big one." Fortuna said.
"Your mother calls you Eusy? Wow. That's some respect you'll have to get back." Daniel said, snickering.

"Hey, shut up! It's not like I wanted to have that nickname." Joyeuse said, blushing.
"But you totally do." Daniella said.
Joyeuse just blushed harder and shouted shut up again.

Meanwhile, Fortuna had dug into her bag, but had found nothing.
"Huh? What the--" She said.

Fortuna peeked inside and saw no Reviver Stones.
"How is this possible? I'm sure I had some here!" She said, in a frenzy.

Fortuna had dumped all the possessions inside of her bag onto a table, but still no Reviver Stones.
".. Okay.. Panic, guys. I CAN'T FIND THE REVIVER STONES!!" She said.

Everyone did as she said, which led into Purple Sonata colliding with the wall and discovering another note.
"Huh...? Hey guys, look! I found another one!" He said, his face technically still on the marble square.
The commotion stopped upon those words, and they rushed towards the wall the note was on.

"Let me read it this time. You had your turn twice." Minerva said to Fortuna.
"Alright." Fortuna said.

Minerva put on some glasses and examined the note.
"Let's see.. It reads; 'So you've figured it out. Well done! Not many people would make it this far. But you are still not finished with this game. Upon reading this note, the phantom will test you. If you defeat her, then the gift of life will be brought back to you.' And that's it." Minerva said, putting away the glasses.

"The phantom and the gift of life? What could that mean?" Daniel said.

"If you can't figure it out, I'll tell you then." A gentle and lyrical voice called out, unlike everyone else's.
"Hey thanks. Wait, who said that?" Daniel said, looking around.

Instantly, a slender wizard woman had phased out of the ceiling and faced everyone.
"Who in the sweet hell are you?" Daniel said.
".. Wait.. is that... Chaos Phantom?! How did you get out of your Anthodia Crystal?" Fortuna said.

"I can't tell you that, Mistress Fortuna, but I have orders to eliminate everyone here. That also includes you." Chaos Phantom said.
"What the-- That's treason!" Fortuna shouted angrily.

"I'm sorry milady, but someone of greater power is giving me orders this time. Now, en guarde!" Chaos Phantom said, brandishing a staff-lance.