Hello Everyone.
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The foreigner that scientifically unraveled many of wonderlands mysteries felt into the remains of the country of Diamonds. A land frozen in time. Faceless have started a revolution and because of the deals she made clocks can´t be repaired. Hearts and Clover need her, but how can the roleholders bring her back when she is out of their reach and doesn´t even want to see them again?
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This is the continuation of "Wonderful Wonderful Science".
Last we knew the foreigner (self called) "Aria Hadron Scherzi" had coerced all the roleholders into a deal with the devil (herself) that granted her basically a wish from each one of them. An undeniable request in whatever terms and meaning she desires, much to their grim (She also was very mad with them and didn´t plan on seeing the roleholders ever again) in exchange for getting to Alice and save/condemn her during an all uprising turned into a revolution attempt from some united factions of faceless that were tired of being recycled continuousl called out by the former inhabitants from Spades and Diamond countries, and because of this she somehow ended injured and falling through the looking glass...
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Wonderful Wonderful Science 2: Diamond Dust
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Julius finally reached his own territory and found it ablaze; many clocks littered the way to it.
Right after he knew Aria had reached Alice, the mark on his hand felt like burning and changed it´s color and shape signaling the end of her part of the deal. Everyone left in the plate disbanded and returned to their groups and/or territories.
Admittedly he wanted to go and search for Aria, but looking at the amount of fighting everywhere around Gowland´s territory he knew that he would have a lot of work to do. Besides, Ace was looking for her… well, the prime minister was too and they had been ordered to ensure the safety of the foreigners.
When he arrived the tower was in terrible shape and he wasn´t unharmed either. It had been unusual for him to actually engage in fighting, but many have come out for him and he had actually struggled to reach his home.
It would take the clock tower several time changes restore itself. It was not the first time the tower had been attacked, but never had it happened during an event. He assumed other territories had been attacked too and had the horrible sensation about how dire Aria had warned them about it. She told them how outnumbered and cornered she was:
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"…I am heavily outnumbered and I have nothing and no one to help me. I'm not even wearing any armor…"
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And then of course they have jumped to Alice´s safety while Aria was already struggling. Of course she would be mad! But then they…
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"…You are risking me for Alice, exchanging my safety for hers. If you are using me as a disposable mock I have no reason to treat you all as anything more than cash cows…"
"…To save your precious Alice I would have to get to wherever she is, and get her useless ass out of danger…"
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That made it. She tough that they were disregarding her, and of course they had done so in favor of Alice without hesitation. Even Joker´s side of the deal revolved around Alice; Aria had just been a tool for it.
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"…Not that you give a crap of how hurt I am or will end..."
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Julius felt bad, he really did, and he attributed the terrible foredoom sensation he had to that,and he had to admit that he was worried too. But he had much to do something about what was happening in his tower at the moment, so he went into the building to cleanse it of ended up bloodied and once he was done he made his way to his kitchen to prepare coffee for he would need it before going to his office at the top. The only place that was sealed for safety of the clocks.
When he went to his office a scene straight out of a horrible nightmare meet him. Piling up everywhere where clocks. Not dozens. Not hundreds. There were thousands! Maybe even a few dozens of thousands all around brought by the after images! He had enough work for the rest of his life as it was already, so he went to his work table and took out his tools.
The first clock he took had been left to be worked on before the event night and he had no problems with it, but too soon he grew horrified by the fact that he couldn´t repair the clocks that had arrived since the event at the amusement park started.
He tried some clocks that had arrived the day before that and had no problem repairing them; but he just couldn´t do so with the recent ones. He was just about to have a panic attack when the door opened loudly and he found himself pointing his gun at Alice.
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-Julius! What´s happening!?
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He transformed his gun back to a wrench as Alice ran to hug him and put a piece of paper in his hand. Tears trailed down her eyes, she looked really shaken but completely fine and unharmed.
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-Alice… what is this? what happened?- He said looking at the piece of paper with a bad feeling about it.
-I don´t know. Aria made me promised to give it to you fast and somehow I couldn´t do anything else but run here to deliver it.
-And where is she?
-I don´t know–She said and sobbed a bit.
-Then how are you here? – Julius said hugging her strongly. He still didn´t know how to react to a crying girl.-… Please don´t cry!
-She sent me to the prison!
-She what!?
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Julius took a strong hold of Alice´s shoulders to look at her in the eyes and understood why she was so shaken and scared. He released his hold when he noticed he was hurting her and looked at the note. After reading it he understood why he couldn´t repair those clocks.
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-What happened Alice?
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The girl told him everything and calmed down a bit after letting it out. At the end of her speech she pondered on what she saw in Aria´s eyes and actions.
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- I don´t know where she is right now. But she was injured and looked about to collapse! and Julius… She was really scared and hurt. Not only physically, she also looked just so sad, angry and betrayed. I don´t think she realized it.
-That's prospentous – Julius said more to convince himself than to reassure Alice- That woman is incapable of feeling or caring.
-It´s not! She really was. Is it true that you send her alone to get me?
-She went herself for profit.
-Then why had she being crying!?
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Julius hadn´t expect that and he found it hard to believe that Aria would have such reaction. He really didn´t want to believe it because it was easier to think of her as completely unfeeling rather than thinking that they, that he, had hurt her. But there was no escaping it. He told Alice of the deal Aria had made with them.
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-I´ll take you to the hatter´s mansion or hearts castle. – He said and escorted Alice.- It´s not safe here.
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Aria had felt some impacts while her suit was rearranging the neural connection with and within its user and then she felt herself hugging her kitten against her chest while she was falling after being shoved through the mirror by the deranged kid, who had cling to her after receiving some impacts himself, luckily none in a vital area.
Her suit was still managing the life support and signaled her of the damage and injuries she had received, she felt a crawling in her and she saw a dart incrusted in it while her vision got blurry by the second. She removed it and a dark liquid dripped from it´s tip letting her know why she had started to feel very dizzy and even worse than she already had been. It was poison.
She felt the grip on her waist and hips loosening and saw the back of the kid getting red from his own blood loss and a couple darts stuck there too. She took the darts off his back while they were reaching the light at the bottom of the tunnel.
He had saved her. And given her luck and considering the fact she was poisoned too she would need him. She knew she was already injured before that and the effects of the energy and performance enhancer drug she had taken was fading now. She would not be conscious for long and she didn´t knew either what awaited her at the bottom. She was in no condition to heal herself much less the kid. But she had discovered a way to improve a faceless healing a lot, she had seen it with Biggs and Wedge when she discovered her version of "foreigner´s love" . She had concluded that all her cells had that capacity, even her blood cells (Who would have though that the tantrics were right)...
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-Hey kid!- She barely said, feeling her strength leaving her fast.
-urgg… lady…
-(Good, he is conscious) Listen… I´ll give you energy. When we get down take out the bullets from your body and drink a bit of my blood. It will help you heal. Then get us to safety… - She said and focused all her determination into the kid, it was her will to fight and survive. Even if was a sad excuse of artificial love, it was still part of the energy that feed wonderland and its magic.
-But…
- It´s an order. Live and help me live and get away…– She poured her intent on the kid as much as she could and then lost consciousness thinking of how funny without humor it was that she was trying so hard to stay alive for the sake of dying in her world.
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The sensation he felt was engraved in him. It was as strong as that time she had played with him for the first time if not more. It was powerful and beautiful and made him feel whole and loved. He didn´t remember it being like this last time she played with him. He felt strong and alive, it was a rush of joy he had never experienced. His clock went ahead a bit more but it didn´t hurt him as much this time or he was perhaps too enchanted to notice it.
She had ordered him to live; he didn´t have a choice it was her wish and command. He had to obey everything she said, he had vowed to do so and wonderland would enforce his plead. And he would do so as best as he could, no matter if he was damaged goods or if he was small and foolish and had escaped a terrible roleholder or had bothered the other foreigner. Despise everything she had given his own pathetic existence a chance.
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-I will
-Meow
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And finally the reached the bottom and landed in a very cold place.
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Joker was incredibly angry, busy and frustrated (and just maybe worried). Things have spiraled out of control very fast and even two of him wasn´t enough to get all the rule breakers of that night. All territories had been attacked during the event. That meant that there were offenders all around wonderland at the moment. And he wouuld have to deal with the fools season responsibilities too!
He had to send his mirror back to his territory too and he needed to get the information about this and all responsibles to impart punishment as needed. Of course that last one was becoming very difficult because ****** everyone was being slaughtered in the fightings and when he was getting close to capture someone many faceless had dared to kill themselves before he had managed to get them alive! Which infuriated him. Thus his capture rate had been very low and the person who he suspected knew ALL and exactly WHAT was going on (and most likely had something to do with it) was completely out of his reach, she was wounded and hurt and he could do nothing about it! He didn´t even knew where she was! That frustrated and put him in an even worse mood.
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-She has a ****** lot of explaining to do. - He growled and his counterpart agreed.
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It was also that he found he was at odds with his duties. She was undoubly involved in all the chaos and maybe even responsible for at least part of it weather she had been dragged or if had jumped into it. He would interrogate all his new prisoners and would find out (he was really interested in the part where she was loving some faceless mob and had played everyone all along). But she was also a foreigner and she was outside of the rules and out of his jurisdiction. However in any case he would have the chance to lock her up away from everyone, one way or another and get her once and for all under his control.
His friend should be grateful that he was willing to lock her into safety...
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-(When did I actually ****** accepted her a friend!? ) – Joker stopped his rampage for a second before going even more wild upon his realization.
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The partiture (minus the top 2 mobs) and some of their allies from Diamond ended up waking in the building of the train station. It was of course deserted. It looked abandoned and haunted, but it also look as if it had been left behind recently and not as long as it really was. It was not dusty or crumbling but did gave a sense of coldness that combined with the dense mist outside gave them chills and formed an eerie environment, as if time had stood still in a really sad day.
They figured that the rest of their forces have probably landed in other parts of Diamond. And without Aria, Biggs or Wedge the leadership fell on Lily. She recalled what their dear boss had taught them and rather than go out and look for everyone she decided to set a base camp, amass and count their resources, which was a really good decision as there was a big diorama of Diamond country in there that they could use to get oriented and sent search parties with beforehand maps. That would prove to be a big advantage over the foes that had followed them through the looking glass that ended up dispersed through the land in the hatter's territory in Diamond.
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Grey kept looking for Aria around the amusement park for a while without luck; the smell of blood and gun powder, all the clocks at every corner, the explosions, combats, chaos and fires amongst the general mayhem that made her trail told him what she meant by "not a direct fighter" . He had been an idiot for not understanding it. As a former assassin he should have known.
He remembered a conversation with her once upon a time when she shared with him her last cigar.
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-Unlike an assassin I can´t avoid collateral damage. I´m a mercenary, I´m more likely to be the cause of it.
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But this had not been entirely her fault. She had been caught in the middle of whatever plot the ones who attacked had and they, all the roleholders, had been oblivious to it and to her.
He was sure that they had lost whatever little trust and confidence she had given them and damn had it been hard to gain. She had made sure to tell them that she didn´t want to see them again and he understood it.
Back in Diamond when he decided to quit being an assassin after becoming Nightmare´s nanny he decided to follow his boss to Clover when the teen had become the ruler of said country.
There he found out that the incubus assistant was the other version of himself it was a bit shocking but he had already decided and so he killed his other self and took his role here and faked that he was the Grey from clover. When he started to impersonate himself he had a hard time managing to relax and trust anyone for the sake of faking being a calmer version of himself. He was sure Aria had been passing through something like that too; but being cornered and then being thrown into the fights (continuously apparently, he realized) by the people that she was just barely starting to open up to had been a hard blow. She was not to blame at all.
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He reunited with Nightmare and they headed back to Clover via the clock tower.
Julius was not there and the amount of clocks pilling up was disturbing. Once they reached clover, Nightmare´s fears that another kind of war had started were confirmed and he knew for sure that Aria was not in Clover, she was unconscious and all his attempts to reach her had been futile as always. He admitted to himself that had always scared and attract him about her. A dream where he didn´t have the control was scary, but no dreams at all was more so and counted as a terrible oddity; he felt threatened by it and somewhat by her but also it draw him to her. He could not read her mind, he could not see her memories and he was unable to reach her in dreams.
Not even outside of the dream realm did he had advantages. A woman so in control and secure of everything about herself couldn´t be intimidated by his nature and never was she lost or indecisive, so selfish and so selfless, dangerous but in constant danger unlike the other foreigner. She wasn´t needy and was extremely capable, so there was little if anything that he or anyone else could offer or tempt her with. Once during the slacker´s club reunion she had said it, she was "alone but not lonely". She confused him but she was cool too. Now he needed to figure out what was really going on.
He may be a demon but he wasn´t sure what she was or how to treat or respond to her. He knew that they would need to find her, it was part of their duty to help her reach happiness and stay in this world. But would they be able to or was it better to let her go?
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Biggs and Wedge had landed in a graveyard and were were sad knowing that Rolf had been killed. Sure, he would be replaced like all of them but that didn´t mean his loss didn´t hurt. It was sadly ironic the place they had landed.
Yet, they didn´t have time to waste on mourning, cause they knew that their foes would probably follow them soon. More importantly she was hurt and who knows where she had landed. They needed to find her and the rest of their own.
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The castle of hearts have perhaps been the best defended territory if not the least attacked, and although there were still attacks and combats around it, the castle itself was secure despite some damages caused by well placed bombs. Many heads would roll for such.
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-I think you own us an explanation your majesty- Vivaldi told the king.
-I think not your grace.–The king answered before turning his back and marching to deal with his duties as king.- We all must perform to our duties and responsibilities.
-Then know that her heart has closed and there aren´t likely any key able to open it again. – The queen forwarded and the king stopped for a second before continuing his pace.
-That monstrous villain of a woman having a heart? Impossible!... Urrgh!
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Peter barely managed to avoid being cut in half by Ace´s sword but he didn´t avoid the cut on his shoulder or the hit afterwards as the knight continued to attack him with a hardened and murderous gaze accompanied a serene smile.
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-And it seems that your own clock is in denial White. – The queen responded, not interrupting the fight.
-Oh? Does Sir Peter has a secret crush on someone different than Alice? – Ace asked mockingly nkowing very well the gossips going around the castle.
-You´re one to talk! But it would be one such as you to desire such a vile being! – Barely fending the attacks the prime minister managed to respond while shooting at the knave who parried easily even at close range.
-I don´t deny it – The knight of hearts said with one his trademark goofy smiles accompanied with a slash from a second sword that he took out from nowhere. – Even if my mercy got rid of Alice.
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-Stop it you two! ... Show us the back of your hand knight -Vivaldi finally decided to step in. – Your other hand!
-How is that possible!? She was supposed to have saved Alice! – Peter ungloved his own hand to confirm again that the seal of his own deal was there.
-So she found a way to save and doom Alice! Ha,ha,ha that´s my smarty mercy songsty! – Ace found it incredibly funny.
-You both have duties to attend, go forth now and end those who dared attach us! - Without more, Vivaldi turned and left them.
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Neither Peter nor Ace wanted to go and perform their role´s duties obviously. Peter wanted to immediately go and search for Alice and Ace wanted to go to the clock tower to check on Julius. But they didn´t have a choice and until they finished with their duties in hearts they couldn´t leave.
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After being unable to figure which control room Aria had been at her last transmission Gowland had finally sent Boris and Pierce to check them all while he and the rest of his employees went to destroy the attackers. He knew that neither Alice nor Aria were at the amusement park anymore, but he didn´t knew how they had disappeared from it just like that.
The level of destruction was something he hadn´t seen in Wonderland before, clocks and debris littered the streets along the fires, the little unusual rain had ended fast and it was still too soon to count the damages. Even more so because he was incredibly busy finishing the remnants' of the attackers and dealing with the costly and devastating results of the attack for his beloved amusement park had become a war zone. His only solace was that Blood had been attacked too.
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The hatters were literally fighting their way back to their territory. They already lost many of the faceless that had gone with them to the event and they were being attacked continuously.
While looking for Alice, Blood had only stopped to sight in relief when the seal on his hand changed. But when Dee joined them he had a somber and terrible expression and was surprised that they didn´t. He showed them the back of his hand and none of them could interpret what has happened. How could Aria have both saved and end Alice at the same time?
In any case they were not going to remain there. Blood wanted to return to the mansion right away in case Alice had gone there, if she was not he was determined to find her; but along the way they were constantly attacked or run into battles everywhere to Blood´s distress. And once they managed to get back they found that they were being attacked directly too. Not just the mansion, but the territory in general.
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Wow! what a start!
What do you think about everyone's reactions ?
I hope you enjoy this . I´ll incorporate the wonderful ideas you gave me and I will appreciate all your comments. Trust me, all your reviews always make my day and give me motivation to write faster.
Hopefully I will have less orthographic and grammatical errors too XD
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