Once upon a time, there was a legendary witch who loved to write stories. It wasn't long until her novels, filled from cover to cover with love, thrills, and adventure, garnered her many readers. Little did her fans know, her stories reflected a bit of her life. Where she found joy or sorrow, she expressed it through her books. One day, something dreadful happened to a precious friend of the witch. It drove her into a deep sadness. So sad was she that she locked herself in her room for weeks. As the days went by, it was said that she ate nothing and saw no one. All that was heard were the ruffling of papers and the scratching of her magical fountain pen from behind a locked door. After what seemed to be an eternity, she finally emerged from her self imposed prison with a stack of yellowed, dirty papers. Only the closest friends of the witch read the manuscript, and all of which were struck with an inexplicable and terrible illness. Fearing that her beloved readers might suffer the same fate, she sealed the manuscript and hid it in one of her many homes. Only a few know of the true location of Annabel Creme's cursed, unpublished volume of Nightfall, all of which were sworn to secrecy. However, rumors say that it was hidden in a house here in Brightonbury. Some say you need a certain key to find that specific house. Some say this house traps the souls of all who enter it and they will never see the light of day. Some say she-

"This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" Hannah's voice was so loud that it felt like it shook the shelves of Last Wednesday Society. She threw her arms in the air in exasperation, much to the surprise of the shopkeeper as well as her two companions. "You're telling me you two believe this tripe?!"

"Hannah, p-please calm down!" Barbara tried to ease her hysterical friend.

"L-let's not make a scene." Lotte attempted to join Barbara in pacifying Hannah. Her eyes darted around the magic shop, meeting the eyes of several other gawking witches who were there for tea, wares, and a quiet moment.

Lotte wasn't exactly sure why Hannah wanted to tag along with Barbara and her today. She had arranged this meeting with Barbara after hearing rumors of a super rare Nightfall-related item. Said item was currently in the shopkeeper's hands, who also happened to have a distinctly annoyed face that made Lotte panic even more since Hannah was showing no signs of stopping her tirade.

"Hey, you two make your friend shut up. I'm not liking this whole scaring my customers business she's pulling" The irritated shopkeeper waved a rather large and tarnished silver key in front of the girls as he leaned on the counter. "I mean, I don't got all day to entertain you lot either."

Horrified at the thought of losing their opportunity to obtain rare Nightfall merchandise, both witches covered Hannah's mouth with their hands so quickly that an audible slapping sound was heard. Hannah yelled in pain, but was thankfully muffled by the combined effort of the duo.

"We're sorry! Please reconsider!" Barbara and Lotte begged in unison as they held their free hands in front of them as if praying.

The shopkeeper, surprised at first, let out a little chuckle. He appeared amused at the sight of the two witches attempting to keep their friend quiet, despite her muffled screams and the fist shaking. With tattooed fingers, he slid the key across the counter and towards the trio.

"Tell you what, I'll give you girls a discount as long as you keep her far away from my store. Is that cool?"

A wide smile spread across Lotte's face. She looked over to Barbara, who had a smile as wide as hers.

"Yes! Thank you!" They nodded in unison.

Despite the spots of tarnish, the silver key shimmered against the late afternoon sky. Lotte admired her newly acquired Nightfall artifact as she held it above her head. She noted how the crimson sunset made it look more brilliant. She liked the little details and intricacies it had, from the familiar candle design engraved on its bow, to the minuscule nicks and scratches along its teeth, which marked heavy usage. Lotte looked closely at the scratches. It puzzled her as to why it had such flaws in the first place. She heard from GreatBen810 that it was supposed to be a giveaway item used to promote the 100th volume of Nightfall. Only a hundred such keys were apparently given out and were only for promotional use. Surely these keys had no real usage otherwise.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

Lotte was so absorbed in thought that she forgot that Barbara walked beside her, also admiring the key. "Yes, it's very lovely!" She composed herself and lowered the key to give Barbara a better view. "Thanks again for coming with me to pick it up, Barbara."

"It's no problem at all! I'm just glad I get to see one of the rare hundred." Barbara made a grin that caused Lotte's heart to flutter. "Who knew such a collectible somehow ended up here?"

"It's thanks to GreatBen, honestly!" Lotte hoped the sunset would hide how flushed her face was. "Anyway, I was thinking about how you should keep it." Lotte stopped in her tracks and with both hands, thrust the key towards Barbara's chest.

With a surprised face, Barbara looked down at the key and then tried to push the key back to Lotte. "Wait, you can't be serious! I'm sure this means a lot to you!" Barbara protested but Lotte insisted.

"It's a gift! For um..." Lotte leaned forward towards Barbara. She could feel the heat radiating from Barbara's blushing face as she whispered to her ear, "Happy one month anniversary!"

Lotte smiled as she finally handed her present to a flustered Barbara, whose face was so red that she could have easily blended with with the crimson sky. Her lips trembled and her eyes welled up with tears as she delicately held the key. After quickly wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she looked at Lotte.

"Th-thank you Lotte! I lo-"

"Can you two move a bit faster? I wanna get home before it gets dark!" Hannah was several feet ahead of them. Her annoyed expression indicated that she was still miffed about the whole shop incident. With hands in her coat pocket, she casually walked back towards her companions, oblivious of their small moment.

"Sorry about that, Hannah." Barbara smiled as an apology.

Lotte could tell from Hannah's raised eyebrow and scowl that she was growing increasingly impatient. Once again, she questioned as to why Hannah decided to tag along, especially since she isn't the kind of person who was receptive of all things Nightfall related. Not to mention that Lotte solely asked Barbara to come with her to Brightonbury. It was supposed to be a... date of sorts. The whole anniversary and present thing was a plan that Lotte had in the works for a week. Unfortunately, she never accounted for a spanner named Hannah.

"Are you coming or not?" Hannah's voice was sharp and terse.

"R-right!" Lotte wasn't sure if it was the chilly weather or Hannah's voice that made her shiver. She couldn't help but feel a bit of animosity coming from the fact that Hannah has become a lot friendlier to Akko and Sucy lately, she still remained cold towards Lotte. She has had her suspicions as to why she acted this way, but she couldn't bring herself to confront Hannah about it.

"Hm? What do you have there, Barbara?"

"Oh, it's the key." She held it up to Hannah with a wide smile. "It's actually Lotte's present to me."

"I see..." Hannah shrugged nonchalantly and continued to walk ahead of the two. Lotte caught a glimpse of a scowl on Hannah's face.

The three witches continued their quiet stroll through the town, which by now has become deserted. Shoes that tapped on the concrete sidewalk reverberated throughout the empty streets as they turned every familiar corner on their way to the terminal. The audible rustling of their overcoats caused by the cold wind made Lotte feel a bit sentimental. She longed for a moment with Barbara; to feel her warmth and closeness, to hold her hand and maybe lean on her shoulder, but she felt uneasy with Hannah around. Nevertheless, she found the courage to move closer to her.

"Say, um..." Lotte was now shoulder to shoulder with Barbara. "Do you think what the shopkeeper said was true?"

"That story he had about the cursed manuscript?"

"Yeah, you don't think this key..." Lotte's voice was hushed "...is the key to one of Annabel's houses?"

Barbara was silent as she stared at the twinkling key. Her eyes fixated at the little details and perhaps she saw the flaws that Lotte noticed earlier. She brought the trinket closer to her face, meticulously scanning for other details. After a minute or two, she stopped in her tracks. Lotte looked over to Barbara and saw her eyes were wide with excitement.

"Oh, what is it now?" Hannah's voice shattered the silence and startled the other two witches.

"It's nothing!" Barbara quickly blurted out, but then immediately took her words back. "No, actually it might be something..."

Hannah put her hands to her hips. She had a smile that would have conveyed patience if it weren't for the incessant tapping of her foot. "Go on,"

"Well, I was just thinking, this key was supposed to be a prize for the 100th Nightfall volume, but it doesn't quite look like it."

"What do you mean?" Hannah folded her arms.

"It looks worn out." Lotte interjected. She looked at Barbara, who gave her a smile and a nod of approval.

A disgruntled sigh escaped Hannah as she rolled her eyes. Lotte wasn't really expecting Hannah to react any other way. Nevertheless, she was crestfallen by her... unenthusiastic response.

"I wish you two would quit it with this whole haunted books mumbo jumbo. It's starting to really annoy me." She waved her hand in dismissal as she turned around to continue walking.

Any other day, Lotte would have let Hannah go on. She would have looked to her side and get an apologetic smile from Barbara. She would have looked down in defeat and continue walking in silence until they reached the terminal. The wall of silence that Hannah built around Lotte and her would grow taller and taller. Today wasn't any other day, however. Truthfully, Lotte was almost out of patience. She didn't think it through when she spoke up.

"Why do you want us to drop it, Hannah? Are you scared about a silly story or something?"

Hannah stopped in her tracks as if she slammed against a brick wall. Her shoulders perked up and her hands balled into fists as she stood ahead of them in silence. Lotte on the other hand, felt her blood rush through her throbbing temples. Her heart hammered through her chest and she felt a bit foolish when she realized what she had done. She didn't look at Barbara, but she could just imagine her mortified face and immediately wanted to apologize to her for destroying the fragile wall of civility that she had between Hannah and her.

"What did you say?" Hannah finally spoke up. She turned her head and Lotte could make out an unmistakable glare and a face flushed with fury. Lotte felt like shrinking.

"Are you trying to make fun of me? Do you seriously think I get scared that easily?" In a blink of an eye, Hannah stormed her way back and pushed her face against Lotte's. "You're really driving my patience, you...!" Lotte took a step back but Hannah stepped forward in retaliation, not letting her escape or even give any space to breathe. Every rapid fire sentence coming from the redhead was punctuated with a jab of her index finger on Lotte's chest.

"Enough, you two!" Barbara grabbed their shoulders and pushed both witches away from each other, much to Lotte's relief.

An uneasy silence between the three followed which was occasionally interrupted by a seething Hannah's audible breathing. She looked like she was using all of her will from lunging at Lotte. Lotte averted Hannah's glare by looking down at her shoes and the dusty ground beneath them. Actually, she wanted to avoid looking at Barbara more. She felt regret and shame at involving Barbara in her little spat with Hannah. In the heat of the moment, she forgot that Barbara was there and would be forced to step between an argument between Hannah and her. Lotte wished she could eat her words. Barbara's hand on her shoulder felt heavy. Hannah's glare made her feel small. The world felt like it was shrinking around her. She just wanted to run and hide under covers. It was only when Lotte felt Barbara's hand on her shoulder relax did she slowly look up.

Lotte didn't understand why Barbara's jaw dropped. Barbara looked back and forth around them, her long hair flying in all directions as she frantically turned her head. Lotte looked towards Hannah next, who had an equally confused expression. It took another second for Lotte to realize that, for some reason, there was now a brick wall behind her. In fact, the three of them seem have found themselves in a dead end alley.

"W-where are we?" Lotte managed to say something. No reply came from Barbara nor Hannah; both were still speechless and confused.

Lotte touched the wall. It was tangible, at least and not some sort of spell or illusion. She looked up and she could see the orange sky and what seemed to be twelve meters of red brick surrounding them on three sides. Her first instinct was to climb the wall to get a good view of her surroundings, but as she grabbed a brick to begin her ascent, she felt it crumble in her hands. Flying was out of the question since their brooms were left at the terminal. Not to mention that the magic in their wands was depleted at that point. Lotte was out of ideas.

"Th-this is really weird..." The fear in Barbara's voice caused her to shake. "How did we end up here?"

"Hello?!" Hannah on the other hand cupped her hands over her mouth and called out loud. "Can anyone hear me?"

Silence. Not even the chirping of birds. Only an echo responded to Hannah, who was becoming more furious by the second.

"I guess we just have to follow this alley." With resignation, Hannah kicked the ground and walked ahead of Barbara and Lotte. She didn't bother looking at them as they wordlessly followed her.

The alley was featureless, aside from the dirt path and what seemed to be unending, cracked brick walls. Gray fog obscured what waits ahead of them. It was particularly strange since they never seem to reach it and it was as if it kept its distance ahead of the trio. Lotte felt uneasy as they continued to follow the path. She had completely lost track of the time and wasn't even sure how long they had been walking. She looked up to see the first stars of the night appear, winking down at them. The sky turned a shade of eerie purple and the air grew colder. Lotte was about to fold her arms to keep herself warm when she felt a familiar touch holding her hand. It was Barbara. Lotte felt her heart swell but the sight of a troubled Barbara made her heart sink back and fall to her gut. She gave her an assuring grin at her in an attempt to cheer her up, and Barbara returned with an precarious smile.

"I'm sure we'll find the way out. This'll just be some silly story we'll tell the others when we get back to Luna Nova." Another attempt at cheering Barbara gave a better response. Her smile widened and she followed with a nod.

Both girls were so distracted with one another that they didn't notice that Hannah stopped walking until they bumped into her. Lotte immediately apologized and expected Hannah to start another tirade, but she was unusually quiet. Lotte was confused at first but immediately understood as to why Hannah had to stop when she looked ahead of her.

The walls have now expanded to encompass what seemed to be an old, dilapidated brick house. Its large, boarded windows stared ominously at the trio, not unlike the empty eye sockets of a skull. Thick vines covered its walls in a tangling, suffocating embrace that reached all the way up to the second floor. The chipped and faded paint that clung to its scarred walls hinted at its former splendor. Lotte couldn't remember seeing anything like this house in Brightonbury. In fact, it looked rather... out of place. She studied the house from afar but Hannah took the initiative circling the house. She disappeared as she turned the corner and reappeared on the other side a few minutes later.

"Looks like the alley ends here..." Hannah reported, her hand to her chin. "There's no way out by the looks of it. The walls just go around the house." She then turned towards Lotte and Barbara. "Well, I'm out of ideas. You two have anything better?"

"H-hey, you saw that?" Barbara chimed as she pointed upwards.

Lotte followed her finger and noticed something peculiar; light shined through the gaps of one of the boarded windows. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes to be sure and quickly put them back on. There was no mistaking it. What was an unlit room a moment ago showed some signs of life.

"Well that solves everything!" Hannah exclaimed. "Let's just ask the owner if they know a way out of this creepy place."

Without hesitation, or even a thought of asking for a second opinion from her two companions, Hannah grabbed Barbara by the arm and rushed towards the house.

"W-wait, Hannah!" Barbara attempted to calm her friend down.

Hannah didn't relent as she stomped her way up the creaking front steps and grabbed the rusted door knob. She turned it from side to side but it wouldn't budge. Lotte immediately caught up to see an irritated Hannah wrenching at the door knob. When that was no use, Hannah proceeded to pound at the ancient door.

"Hello? Anyone home? "

Only the wind answered.

Lotte could see Hannah's shoulders slump as she let go of Barbara's arm and give up on the door. She turned away from the door, giving Lotte a view of the rusted handle, which had a single keyhole underneath it and...

"What's this?"

With her sleeve. Lotte wiped the dirt off an indentation next to the keyhole to reveal a familiar engraving. It only took a half second for Lotte to realize what it was and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. There was no mistaking that distinct candleholder with a lit candle and the disembodied hand holding it.

"No way!" Barbara whispered next to Lotte, who approached the door to get a good view of the engraving. She held her silver trinket next to the keyhole and placed the bow of the key side by side with the engraving. It was a perfect match.

Hannah, who peered over their shoulders after noticing the excitement, spoke up. "This can't be, can it? I m-mean, it was just supposed to be just a legend, right?"

"There's only one way to find out..." Lotte's voice was quiet as she met Barbara's concerned stare.

Barbara gulped and nodded. With shaking hands, she inserted the key through the keyhole and turned it. There was a soft click and the rusted knob turned.

AN: I'm not the type who enjoys writing drama, so this was particularly difficult to write. I wanted some sort of interaction between these three, especially Hannah's reactions. I found it fitting to write it in Lotte's point of view (mostly because the previous two stories were Barbara and Hannah's POV respectively) to make Hannah appear "unreadable" although I don't think I managed to pull that off well. Still, I hope you enjoyed it!