Marchen Goth Parade
Nina de La Stella is not a patient, calm or kind woman as to continue tolerate the rather weird magician's annoying ramble. She has a gun, pole, electric shocker, and many others various weapon to shut him up, but that may cost her the only thing she had seek. The way home from this weird, wacky and thrillingly dangerous world that she had become accustomed to.
On the other hand, the frog Nina keep in her purse, which is the only thing left of her party clothing assemble she arrived in, sigh as he watched Nina's eyebrow twitched once more. The other two companions they keep, a shameless prince and a rather short-tempered girl, also began to start fingering their weapons. All three of them are rather annoyed by the crazy madman and if he did not stop soon and gave them what they want, he may loose a limb… or head, seeing as the other three are very ticked off.
"Maybe I should've drugged them with some calming herbs before coming here…" The frog lament sorrowfully, knowing what utter destruction and bloody massacre his friends could cause when angered. It doesn't matter if their enemy is an omnipotent ruler of reality or random peasant number 12, they will kill all of them without a drop of mercy and with as much pain as possible, both physically and mentally.
"Shut your mouth or we'll kill you too when we're finished with him"
Nina wondered, what makes her so violent lately? When she first arrived here, she was a nice little girl who got lost in her way to the middle school prom party. She used to wear a baby-blue bubble-dress, silk gloves and high-heels. While she doesn't really mind them, she doesn't carry around dangerous weapons and point them at the head of some poor person who irked her.
Gone was the dress, replaced by a suit gotten from the Hatters Family. Her high-heels were thrown aside for a pair of steel slippers layered with thick diamond (Not only they're expensive, the diamond layer make the slippers much stronger too). Weaponry is obtained with various ways from many of this twisted world's crazy residents. Nina is sure that the prom has long pass, her classmates are probably enjoying high school now, since she had stay so long in this world.
Ah, the reason for her drastic change is probably her long and awfully dangerous journey here. She was pretty uncaring about danger from the very start, so maybe it wasn't as much a big deal as she thought… now, if only this man would stop rambling and actually do or say something important… before the three of them do something Wil will really angry about, like killing the man before he grant their wishes.
The girl looked curiously all over her surrounding. She was walking when suddenly; she fell through a hole that she somehow didn't see. After a long way down, she land harshly on the cold and damp ground of a forest. Wherever she is currently located, Nina is sure that the planet's name is not Earth, or that it is somewhere in the Milky Way. The sun is blue, the moon is lilac and the stars are neon-green. The sky is white, pure milk white with the absence of clouds. And did she mention that both the sun and the moon are visible? Right, they're next to each other even, if you're wondering.
A soft croak shattered her thoughts. She looked around and found a strangely orange frog under a pale yellow leaf. Curious about the little creature, she walked nearing it and kneeled down. To her surprise, the frog look up at her with bright emerald eyes and ask; "Are you lost here, my lady? I am not surprised, a lot of people are lost here and that includes me too. That is why this forest is called the Forest of Lost Children." The frog supplied helpfully to Nina's almost blank mind.
If she had not just fall into an invisible and awfully deep hole, arrive at a place where the sky and its inhabitants are the wrong colors and shape (the stars are square, the moon are slightly oval and the sun is strangely linear), and her mind is not as tired as now, she may have scream over hearing a frog talked. But as it is, she had experienced it all and the poor frog doesn't even evoke a gasp of surprise from her.
"You look dehydrated, Frog. I do not know my way here but you seemed to have stay here longer than I am and must have know your way to someplace, so how about traveling with me? At least until we're out of here." The request is sincere, since Nina is really lost and she doubt the Frog could go anywhere with its small body.
"I am much honored to do that, my lady. My name is Wil and if you would be so kind to take me to a stream near here, I would be grateful to you all my life." And so Nina dump all her possession in her purse onto the ground, pick something that she thought maybe useful in this unknown world, and put the weakened frog inside so that the intense sunray would no longer roast it.
~The Sky-Blue Road~
Cinderella dance beautifully with the prince as her sisters watched in delight. The dress Nina has chosen thankfully concealed any unattractive muscles from sight and Cinderella can finally regain her confidence as a girl. Her steps were rather clumsy, but those are the best her two dainty older sisters can teach her within such a short notice.
Cinderella herself thought that she was currently dreaming as the prince twirled her once again, her long golden locks swished around her body like a coat. For so long she had hidden herself among ash and dirt so that they may cover her muscular body, doing all the household work and forbidding her concerned step-sisters and step-mother to do anything. Only with the help and encouragement from the weird-looking girl her mother had brought home and her body-builder pushy godmother (she doesn't looked quite like what Cinderella imagined, but she work just as well) that she can now attend the ballroom party.
The prince, named Edmund, look at the breath-taking girl that he is currently dancing with. The dress had hide most of them, but he was pretty sure of the hard muscles he felt beneath them. Not to mention the unmatched golden locks that gently framed her body… it had to be her! The girl who had defeated him five years ago must be her! And like his mother said, he had fallen so in love with the strong form of her that he could not have a normal fragile woman as his wife. Even if this girl is not the one he is searching for, she would still be a worthy opponent of the battle-crazed prince, judging from the pure raw energy she used to death-grip his arms.
~The Rose-Red Road~
Wil look up from Nina's purse as it is shaken hardly once more. Nina is currently trying to dodge another blow that the enraged Princess throws. She maybe had been sleeping for several years before they come here, but that doesn't seem to hinder her from moving nimbly to crush his mistress skull. It seems that she too, like the overly muscular Cinderella, can dug holes into brick walls with their bare hands like they're made of sponges. Jacob, the prince Nina bring from Cinderella's house as he also temporarily took refuge there, slip behind the awakened Princess and hit her neck. The result is instant, she was knocked out cold.
After calming down, Aurora sheepishly introduce herself as a princess in exile. Her father banished her to this lonely tower because she cannot control the power she gained through pure hard work by training martial arts. She also had a sleeping disorder which caused her to sleep until somebody brave enough come to wake her up. This is the first time she is awake in five years, as nobody is brave enough to enter the thorn covered tower. The only person with enough power to enter and not be killed by Aurora is her best friend, whom she teaches how to defend herself, Cinderella.
When they were talking and Aurora is pouring her heart out to the only other girl in the room, a very muscular man with bushy beard entered the room. He looked gruff, with menacing eyes and heavy breath. The only thing he says is that "I have come here to challenge the Champion Princess, Aurora. Should I win our fight, you will come and become my wife".
"And if you lose?" Aurora asked with a strange gleam in her eyes.
"You may do what you want with this lowly life"
And they battled. The two guests have to excuse themselves as soon as the two fighters started to get uncontrollably violent and destroying the room. Later on though, they heard that the king of a nearby country, King Bluebeard, brought home yet another wife. They say she is as strong as a giant and the country's people pray for her so that she may not share the same fate as all her predecessors.
~The Chocolate-Brown Road~
Margaret smile cheerfully from under her red-hood and signaled her other four companion to come forth. The big gun she used to shot the big wolves and the front of her coat is splattered with red blood from the big wolf she just killed. As the other walk to her, she said in a sing song voice.
"Look! I just killed another wolf~ I guess we don't have to worry about dinner tonight!" And then Hansel skillfully skinned the wolf in front of them all. Nina had never seen anything quite as bloody, because she did not like cooking and dirty her own clothing. After Hansel finish cutting the meat, Gretel took them into the pot where she had been cooking some soup for the meat.
"We do this frequently, using the delicious smell of cooking to lure animals in". Margaret said with a smile to them. It unnerved Nina to see the younger girl look at her with such a messy and bloodied face, though she didn't really mind the lack of moral of killing a talking, walking and thinking wolf.
While waiting for the dinner to be served, they talk about their journey together. While Nina and Jacob travels using the money he brought when leaving his country, the three children have nothing. So they learn to live by themselves using anyway possible.
Nina liked the company of the younger children but was forced to part when they decided to stay in a house made of cookies, candies and cream. The old woman scares her and Jacob seemed uncomfortable in her presence as well. As they bid them goodbye and went on their way, Jacob remembered something important.
"Didn't the villagers told us not to go to the Cake house since a cannibal witch lived there?" but they no longer thought about the safety of the three children when several round of gunshots were heard across the wood.
"They'll be fine; I think the witch is the one in trouble"
~The Paper-White Road~
I sat silently on my chair, trying to be still and hope that the idiotic Hatter would not drag me along in his argument to the Heart Queen. I look over to my side, at the girl who is supposed to be in a similar situation as I am. But rather than fear of weapons that the Hatter had produce and now point at the Queen's head, Nina seem to be pretty calm and I saw excitement shone in her eyes.
Two long years I am here and the first person from my world that I meet is a rather weird girl. I don't think I'd be that calm around the Hatters Family and the Queendom of Hearts if I am not used to them.
Let me tell you a bit about this Wonderland then, so that you may understand the danger we currently face.
First are the three powers; Hatters Family, Queendom of Hearts and the Rebels. Hatters Family is a mafia syndicate. Mad Hatter is the Boss, with March Hare and Dormouse as his servants along with countless generic members. Queendom of Hearts is ruled by the Queen of Hearts, with the White Rabbit and knights of hearts as her servants. Lastly are the Rebels, which consist of the Caterpillar, the Twins, and Cheshire Cat as their leader.
A named person, like me and Mad Hatter, had somebody we must kill. Most of the resident of Wonderland is an unnamed, generic people. They don't have a target to kill and cannot kill a named person but can kill each other. Like for example; family member 10 can kill knight of hearts 2 but cannot kill the Caterpillar. The only one who can kill the Caterpillar is the March Hare, and the only one who can kill March Hare is Tweedledee, and so on.
I have to kill White Rabbit because my name is Alice, Alice Liddell. And I cannot go home until the deed is done. Unfortunately for me, White Rabbit is an expert fighter while I am nothing but a weak little girl. So for two years I had taken shelters with the Rebels because the Caterpillar can kill White Rabbit.
Now I attend the daily tea party Mad Hatter held in his vast garden out of boredom. But I just remember that this party rarely goes well and usually ended in mass genocide of the generic people. Sighing inwardly, I watch with interest as Nina snatch the gun of a nearby family member. The first gunshot of the evening rang clearly in the ears of all.
"Now, can we please continue with this event? I come here to drink tea and I will shot lower the next time you start another squabble". The bullets went through Mad Hatter favorite top hat and miss his head by several inches. For once after that, the party went well without further problems.
After visiting the many roads of this world Nina have become so accustomed to it that she was probably will miss it when she come home. While some of the places down the roads are pretty harmless, some are just downright dangerous. Like the time when they are almost killed by the crazy princess, Snow White. She thought that by drinking the blood of beautiful maidens she can preserve her beauty, and did not die ugly like her step-mother.
And then there is also Peter Pan, who went mad after discovering that the wimpy pirate, Captain Hook, is his father and Tinker bell likes Wendy better than him. He drove right into the nasty water of Caribbean and got eaten by a giant kraken.
But as much as she will miss this world, she need to come back to her own first to actually feel any appreciation for this wacky world. And maybe when she had experienced the boring life of high school, she can dream about the thrill of killing for survival, of hunting and being hunted…
"…Are you finished yet, Chronos? We did not have a lot of time" Alice said in her blank voice, void of any emotions. She become rather dead-pan after living so long with the Rebels and doesn't seem to be able to recover her emotions back.
"Well, yes. Now come here, we will start with the young red-haired lady". Nina step up to the platform Chronos point to, and as he chanted some nonsense, fell her conscience slipping up.
"Nina, Nina!!!" Blinking her blue eyes, she realized that her mother had been calling her. She looked around, examining her current place. Her room is still the as when she left it before going to the party— Wait, her room?
"Thank god you wake up. You still haven't eaten your medicine yet, so please stay awake." And then she remembered that she cannot go to the prom party because she is sick with high fever and need to stay home. How about everybody? Did she dream it up?
She told her mother about her journey, and the older woman only shook her head. "I know you're disappointed about missing the prom, but to be delusional?"
"So she is dreaming then?" A small child with dark red locks and bright emerald eyes look up at her mother with curiosity. Her mother had read her a story that was unlike she ever heard, and contradict with what she read on daily basis.
"Hmm, that is possible. But who knows? She herself doesn't feel like it was a dream." Her mother picked her up and carried her to the table where her father, aunt and uncle are having a tea party.
"Aunt Alice, Uncle Jacob!!" She cried happily as the two married couple laugh.
"Why, you're growing bigger each time we saw you! What did you feed her with, Wilhelm? Nina?"