There once was a dream.
No one knows who dreamt it.
It was such a small dream.
This made the dream think,
"I don't want to disappear.
"How can I make people dream me?"
The little dream thought and thought
And at last had an idea.
"I will make people come to me,
"And they will create my world."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Rin, wait up!"
"Len!" a young blonde girl laughed as she ran through the strangely orange and purple forest. "You're such a slow poke!"
"Just give me . . . a minute to breathe," the boy panted as he doubled over and continued to breathe heavily.
The girl stopped where she was before approaching her brother. They looked a lot alike, the girl and the boy. The same blonde hair, the same cerulean eyes, and the same face. For fraternal twins, the two were as identical as a set of twins could be despite being different genders.
"You okay?" the girl asked as she placed a hand on her brother's shoulder.
"Fine," the boy answered. "Where do you get all that energy?"
The girl smiled mischievously. "I'm the athletic one, remember?"
"More like the stubborn one," the boy smiled, earning a slap to the back of his head from his sister. "Besides," he continued to say, "I'm the smart one."
"Don't get full of yourself," his sister said. "Now come on!" she began to pull on his hand. "I want to see the queen!"
"Calm down," the boy said as he tried to keep his sister from ripping his arm off. "How do you even know the invitation is for us?" he asked. "We could have stolen it from whoever was going to have tea under that rose bush."
"Then perhaps they shouldn't have left the invitation unsupervised like that" the girl said as she placed her hands on her hips. "If the invitation was really that important to them then they should have taken it with them."
"Either way," the boy said, "that's stealing. I don't think the queen would like to welcome a couple of thieves to her palace."
"I wouldn't steal from a queen," the girl pouted.
"Rin," the boy looked disbelieving at his sister.
"Okay!" she threw her hands up. "I wouldn't steal from a queen if someone was watching. Happy?"
"I don't think being happy is a possibility with this situation," he replied.
"Come on, Len," the girl continued to pout. "I know you're just as curious about meeting the queen as I am." Leaning forward, the girl whispered, "I hear the queen of Wonderland is the most beautiful creature in all the worlds. All the worlds, Len! Wouldn't you want to meet the most beautiful woman ever?"
"Why would I care if she's beautiful?" Len asked with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Boys," Rin rolled her eyes. Grabbing his wrist, Rin pulled him foreword as she said, "If you don't want to meet queen, then fine. Just at least make sure I make it there all right. You did promise to protect me while we were here, after all."
The boy smiled. There was no denying that statement. If anything happened to his beloved twin sister, he would have no reason to live. None.
Walking for another hour or two, the forest gradually shifted from its unusual coloring to all black, and the brother and sister came to a wall made of ink dark bushes. "'Prison of those who were the embodiments of sin,'" the girl read the sing. "What did they do?" she asked her brother. "Stick all the prisoners in a bush and make them take a time out until they decided to play nice?"
"I don't think that's what the sign means," the boy said as he took in the large shrub. "Perhaps this place really is a prison for the worst of sinners."
"That's silly," the girl snorted.
"This is Wonderland," the boy reminded. "If we can meet a talking blue caterpillar then I think a bush that works as a prison isn't impossible." Seeing his sister stick her hands into the bushes and pull steams and leaves out of the way, he asked, "What are you doing?"
"Proving to you that no one's here," she answered as she inspected another area. "There's no way a plant can keep bad people trapped."
"Rin," the boy warned as he took a step forward. When it felt as if he stepped on something, the boy looked down and saw what appeared to be a rusty knife. Picking it up, the boy was both surprised and terrified to see that what he stepped on was a sword. "Rin," he said again, but this time panic was in his tone.
"You worry too much," the girl said, unaware of what her brother had found. "There's nothing- Oh shi-!" She didn't get to finish, for what she found had scared her into falling over.
The boy, sword still in hand, ran to his sister's side and asked, "What's wrong? What did you find?"
Wordlessly, the girl pointed straight ahead at the bush. The boy followed the direction of his sister's finger, and what he found sent chills down his spin.
Laying outside of the bush was a thin, shriveled, and mummified hand. The hand hung there as still as stone, and the rotting flesh told the siblings that its owner was long dead. The most distinctive feature of the hand was the bright red spade on the back, seemingly untouched by the deteriorating process.
"Hey, Len," the girl said slowly, her behind still planted on the ground, "her Mark is kind of like ours." Both of the children looked at there hands. They each had half a yellow heart Marked on one hand beside their thumb. "What . . . ," the girl gulped and started again. "What do you think this person did?"
The boy looked at the sword he had found lying only scarcely a few feet away. It may have been old, but the stains on the blade and hilt of the sword made the boy shiver as if the wielder's sins were playing before his eyes. "I think I have an idea," the boy replied before throwing the sword back down.
Helping his sister up, the boy was ready to leave before anything happened. It was then, however, he felt something wrong as he started blacking in and out.
"I don't know why," the girl said as she reached out her own hand towards the mummified one, "but I feel sorry for this person." Before she could touch the dead hand, her brother's fingers gently landed on top of the back of hers. "I guess we should go now, huh?" the girl asked. When her brother didn't reply, she turned toward him and called, "Len?"
Slowly, the boy turned his head to face his sister. The girl nearly screamed when she saw the white of his eyes replaced with black and his blue irises were now a blood red. "Len?" she called, fear trickling down every nerve of her body.
The boy didn't respond. Instead he wrapped his fingers around her throat and began to strangle her.
"Len," the girl tried to get through to her brother, "snap out of it. You're not yourself." She tried to pry his fingers off her throat, but he held tightly to his grip. "Len!" she shouted.
Soon the boy's eyes began to flash, alternating between their current look and how they normally looked. When his eyes were blue, the girl pleaded, "Come to your senses, Len! You're not yourself!"
"Rin," the boy whispered before his eyes flashed back to the unusual appearance. His choke hold tightened as he began to shake the girl.
"Len, please," the girl whispered with the last breath she could manage.
In the next instant, the girl blacked out. When a full two seconds had passed, the girl was having an out of body experience. She saw as her brother passed out and how her body fell backwards. Her now empty eyes were wide open and terror filled.
The sight was so horrible for the girl that she didn't notice her soul being dragged away by what she later learned to be a dream called Alice. For now she starred in horror how her body fell dead and how her brother would wake up later to see his hand prints bright on her neck. "No," she whispered shortly before shouting her dear brother's name.
"LEEEEENNN!"
"Len!" Rin exclaimed as she bolted upright. Placing her palm against her forehead, Rin took slow, deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down. Why is it every time I sleep that horrid memory plagues my dreams?
Hugging herself, Rin sniffled as she waited for her tears to dry. She hated to wake up and found that she had been crying in her sleep, but she didn't try to hold it back either. Rin wiped her eyes before hugging herself tighter. With no one around to overhear her words, Rin allowed herself to speak her deepest desire out loud.
"I want to go home."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Do you know where you're going?" a blond boy asked.
"I think so," the girl who looked exactly like him answered.
After their visit to the Mad Hatter's cottage, Miku and Len set out on a mission to retrieve an object that could be the death of them. Their journey so far had been uneventful with the lone exception of the episode in the Boro Grove, but that didn't mean either of them had plans to be careless. If Queen Alice knew where they were and what they were up to, it was all over for the both of them.
Len looked again at Miku and tried to imagine how the girl who looked just like his twin wasn't his sister at all. Shortly after Rin had seemingly died, the ghost Miku had taken up residence in Rin's body until they had managed to get Rin's soul and Miku's true body back. At first glance Len had always thought of the girl as his sister Rin, but looking into her emerald green eyes - the only attribute to Miku's appearance that was actually hers - he would be reminded that the girl was truly Miku borrowing Rin's body.
"You think you know where we're going?" Len asked as he raised an eyebrow. Hearing that Miku only thought she knew what she was doing wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear.
"Well it's not as if the Vorpal Blade is of easy access," Miku answered. "Who would want the world's most powerful weapon to be so simple to get your hands on?"
"Just one question," Len began. "What exactly is the Vorpal Blade?"
Miku stopped in her tracks and met Len in the eyes. "You don't know what the Vorpal Blade is?" she asked. When Len shook his head, she began to explain, "The Vorpal Blade is . . ." She trailed off, for something in the sky caught her attention. "Rocking horsefly," she whispered in slight horror.
Looking in the direction Miku was facing, Len said, "No, that looks more like a flying lizard with sharp teeth that wants to - hmmm, I don't know - KILL US!"
"Run!" Miku yelled as she took hold of Len's hand and began to drag him behind her.
The screeching of the creature could be heard not too far behind them, and Miku swore with each step. "Why's that thing after us?!" Len yelled.
"My bet is that the queen knows about us!" Miku replied.
"So she knows you're using Rin's body?!" Len asked with horror. When Miku nodded her answer, Len joined her in her cussing streak.
When an idea suddenly came to Miku, she dug in her pack as she continued to run and pulled out the sack Cheshire gave her only the day before. Taking out one of the sack's contents, Miku ripped it half and handed a piece to Len. "Eat this," she ordered.
"What is it?" Len asked.
"A mushroom," Miku answered.
"But I don't like mushrooms!" Len whined.
"Well learn to like them if you don't want to be dead!" Miku snapped before popping her piece into her mouth.
Len mimicked her movements, and after he swallowed he asked, "Why did we eat a mushroom?"
"Because," Miku huffed as she grew tired from all the sprinting, "the mushroom will either make us grow or shrink, depending on the kind of mushroom we just ate."
"Lovely," Len sighed as he kept in pace with Miku. The screeching grew louder, signaling the two that the monster was not far behind them. "Whatever this mushroom does," Len said, "it needs to happen soon!"
As if a response to Len, both he and Miku noticed their surroundings growing larger and larger. The monster was about to swoop in and pick them both up, but just as it reached out Miku and Len grew small enough for the creature to just barely miss. The next instant, the two were running through the grass no more than four inches tall.
"It's still coming after us!" Len exclaimed when he saw the monster heading towards them.
"STOP!" Miku yelled as she yanked Len by the back of his shirt. Looking ahead, Len saw that Miku had prevented him from running off the edge and falling into a river.
"That's probably not even two feet deep and we're still going to drown," Len said with worry. There was a monster behind them and a river in front of them. No matter what direction they chose death would follow right behind.
With brows furrowed and her lips pursed, Miku said as if making a difficult decision, "We have to jump."
"Are you nuts?!" Len exclaimed. "You just saved me from falling to my death, and now you want us both to go down?"
"It's either that or let that thing get us!" Miku pointed to the creature.
Seeing the monster plummeting towards them for a second time, Len said, "I think drowning won't be that bad a way to go."
"We'll be okay," Miku said, though Len could tell she was trying to convince herself more than him.
Len held out his hand for Miku to take. After she had wrapped her fingers around his, he squeezed her hand as he began to count. "One."
"Two," Miku continued as she squeezed back.
Making eye contact, the two gulped before finishing. "Three!" With that both jumped off the ledge in time for the monster to miss them again. The two watched as the rushing water grew closer to them. Taking a final deep breath, Miku and Len fell into the water and plummeted under.
Author's Note: This is much later than I anticipated, but I've finally published Alice's Second Human Sacrifice! :D In case you are unaware, this is a sequel to my fanfic Alice's Human Sacrifice, and if you haven't read that then you should go back and read it before continuing on with this. If you've already read it and are flipping out in your seat because you've been waiting for this installment, start flipping out again because this, in my opinion, is far superior to the first. If you liked Alice's Human Sacrifice, then you're going to love Alice's Second Human Sacrifice. :)
Disclaimer: As before, I don't own Vocaloid, Wonderland, or Alice Human Sacrifice.
-Ray
