Welcome to the Mad Family!
January 31st 2015
by Elise the Writing Desk, Characters by QuinRose
Time is constant. It doesn't go faster nor slower. So does clocks. Doesn't it? It can't be possible that a clock ticks faster, can it? Maybe it was a sort of metaphor to describe how Alice Liddell felt as she ran through the sewer way, as she denied the possibility that her clock ticked faster. Whatever that was, it didn't matter right now.
She gasped for air and leaned closely to the wall, hearing laughter and gunshots. She reloaded her airgun, and peeked at the small alley. Elliot. He was calm, and if he looks like a cold-hearted demon it means he's pissed off very much. He was tied up with chains, hanging from the railings of the street's ventilation. Their opponents were torturing him with cuts.
"Okay, you guys need to stop now."
A loud shot. A bullet went through three men in one shot.
"You—"
Alice shot the faceless she didn't see earlier due to the wall. None of them were dead, but they're mortally wounded. Elliot was yelling something, but her ears were ringing. She was ridden with momentary guilt at the moment. Alice aimed at the chain and shot it, dropping Elliot to the floor.
"Alice, why did you go here!?" Elliot yanked her shoulders, shaking her awake from her ringing brain.
"But...Blood—"
"Boss is trapped! I told you, don't leave him!" the tall man cussed and pulled out his gun, striding with long steps hastily, out of the small alley. Alice followed him with great headache, guilt of making a mistake.
"I'm sorry...But Blood told me—"
"Sorry doesn't fucking save our boss!" Elliot hissed, and then he flinched, realizing who was he talking to. He kept walking and turned over his shoulder to see Alice. She didn't seem down-hearted, she seemed to be eager to make up for her mistake.
"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I'll do my best. Besides, our boss isn't that easy to kill." Alice tried to smile confidently and ran ahead of Elliot, who smiled wryly.
Yes, he knew that Blood would be alright. If she's not Alice and just any other faceless, he would've shot her dead. No, Alice was a Role Holder, and even if she's just become one recently, she herself wasn't easy to kill.
"Why didn't you just kill those bastards anyway," Elliot said beneath his breath.
"I'm not in due to kill anyone for a while. My quota was filled last time period." Alice huffed, reloading her airgun. "This particular group is pretty stubborn. What have you done to them anyway?" she narrowed her eyes and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet right to make a fatal wound to a guarding faceless from half kilometer.
"Yeah well, apparently Pierce was thwarted when he's trying to hide the right-hand of their group." Elliot scoffed and suddenly shot to the ceiling, and a faceless fell. "Not so sharp, Alice."
"No, I figure you'd know. You're just that trustworthy, Elliot." She was turning to give him a smile, only to see Elliot was suddenly got shot.
A bullet went through his chest and it flew right over her shoulder, missing by an inch. Alice narrowed her eyes and in a millisecond let out a shot to the frivolous bastard behind them as Elliot fell.
She knelt and grunted to get him stand.
"Alice," he panted. "You know...Can you...keep my clock...and...give it to boss—"
"Elliot March, if you don't stand up I will hand your clock to Julius myself." Alice deadpanned and huffed, taking a moment, gathering her breath and began to drag Elliot onto her shoulder. Elliot seemed to believe her threat, as he also struggled to get on his feet, stumbling as Alice helped him walk.
"This is stupid, Alice...Blood needs your help...You should leave—"
"Shut up!"
~.X.~
As expected, Blood had already escaped whatever trap that was useless to keep him in. When they were halfway towards his dungeon, Blood was already walking towards them and helped Alice to get Elliot walk.
"Can't you heal him with your magic?" Alice huffed.
Blood chuckled. "Young Lady, even you can use whatever that is you call magic, but his wound is too deep, it will take sometime, but he will be alright." He glanced to Elliot, who was struggling to breathe. "And stop being dramatic, Elliot. You're worrying the pretty lady."
"Yeah, sorry, I'm just—"
"He was all like; Alice...can you...keep my clock...and...give it to boss...Oohh my time is over..Ohh heaven..embrace me..." Alice mimicked Elliot's words with more dramatic gasps, making the two laugh, and then Elliot groaned in pain.
"Young lady, you might want to reserve your comedy for later."
"Sorry. Haha."
Ever since she became a Role Holder and having a clock in the place of her heart, Alice worried less about wounds, because she shared the same type of body with the world's inhabitant. Her wounds such as scratch or cut would heal in a blink. Bullet wound or deep stab would take several time periods, but she knew they would heal. Other than that, she was very hard to get hurt, Alice was surprised at how agile she was.
She feared death less. It lifted a weight on her mind and possibly her physical aptitude. Blood glanced to watch her serious but calm face. The old Alice frowned a lot, got worried and angry a lot, sure it was amusing to watch those expressions, but he found more amusement with her newly twisted mood swings. She still had that 'life is priceless' attitude and if she's not obligated to kill, she would just mortally wound her enemies.
Which was crueler than killing. It was torture.
Alice abruptly stopped and pulled a grenade from her pocket. "Duck!" she hissed as she bit off the pin and threw it behind them. Blood glanced over his shoulder to see a group of faceless were blown and ultimately hit the wall.
Blood narrowed his eyes, and they stopped to carefully drop Elliot, leaning him to the wall. The male and female prepared their guns, silent, raising more sensitivity towards their surrounding.
"They're not the earlier group, Blood." Alice warned.
"I know that. Unfortunately, I have not seen these people myself." Blood hummed, and made a sudden move to shoot on his right.
"Ha, that's pretty sharp of you, mate." A foreign voice was heard, and Alice quickly turned behind them to see a man was hovering over Elliot. Even compared to Blood, this man had even weirder fashion sense, wearing what appeared to be a pirate hat, and emitting the smell of alcohol.
Trigger pulled, yet this man casually dodged and then pulled out a sword dandily, aiming it to Elliot and then dragged Elliot to sit on his lap.
"Aye, this man can be my personal blanket. Rest assured I swing both ways." He winked to Alice suggestively.
Alice twitched and noticed that this man was probably even worse than Blood, since 'he swings both ways'. She glanced to Blood, and seeing his expression, she had to resist to slap her own forehead. The Mad Hatter was staring at the man with deep interest and curiosity.
"A foreigner." Both Alice and Blood said, only in different tones.
"Bloody barnacles, this man has a clock in his chest!" the man laughed in amusement, groping Elliot's chest. He then glanced to the two. "Aw, mates, don't be so cold. Aye, if we are acquainted then we ought not to be foreigners, eh? The name's Captain Eris. The most handsome pirate on the seven seas." He then proceeded to flip his light blonde hair.
Alice wanted to faint from disgust, and Blood was shivering with laughter, before he aimed his gun to the 'Captain Eris'.
"Right, pleasure meeting you, sir. Now if you'd please let go of my subordinate, it will be splendid."
"Sure, but you ought to get on yer knees and beg. Say; 'Please, oh Captain Eris! Please fuck me hard!' and I will consider your next wish."
It's decided; this man was deadly obnoxious and he's not even making innuendo, he's openly perverted. It's like a combination of Ace and Blood.
However, when Blood mercilessly let out a torrent of bullets without caring of Elliot's well-being—and amazingly, Captain Eris was unseen in that millisecond before stabbing the Head of Mafia through his back—Alice realized how dangerous this foreigner was.
"Blood!?"
Blood coughed out red liquid. Eris pulled out his red-sheathed sword from the man's back and let the Mafia Boss fell on face like a worthless doll. Alice fell on her knees and tried to drag him, feeling ultimately useless and stupid. She wasn't sure what to expect. She couldn't believe that the day she watched Blood so helpless would come.
"Certainly a fearless genius." Praised Eris, kicking Blood's leg. "Torrent shots yet not a single bullet on his mate. But if this is all it takes to kill the Head of Mafia, Eris is not amused." He snorted, sheating his sword back, looking down in disappointment.
"He won't die." Alice muttered, and then glared at the man. Her hand reached to Blood's wounded back. As Blood had said, she was also capable of healing. It didn't take long until that gaping wound was fixed, and Eris was watching in astonishment.
"So it wasn't a lie. This is indeed the Land of Time." He smirked, and bent down to take Blood's hat. "This world can be fun. Now tell me, young lady," he used the point of his shoe to pulled her chin up. "Where do I destroy the Hatter Mafia?"
"Why would you want to do that?"
"Because I'm going to take over."
"Then you better kill me." Alice snorted and stood up, glaring at Eris stubbornly. She smirked. "You can be as confident as you can, but as long as you have that beating heart, you're not invisible. Everyone will hunt you down."
Eris raised his eyebrows, another amused smile playing on his lips. He then pulled out his sword and raised it, swinging down to Elliot's neck brutally. However, that sword was blown away with a shot. Alice glared at the pirate in wrath.
"Don't you dare laying a hand on them!"
"Good lady. Pretty lady." Eris chuckled. "Killing you won't settle things, eh. You have higher priorities than your own life?" he smirked knowingly, Alice pulled a trigger to let out nothing. "You chose airgun because you're handling life with care. You see, even if in this land life is worthless, it's not that different in any world."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because stomping on life is fun." Eris bent down to stare into her eyes with a smile of madness. "And you're my opposite. And you're fun. The famous Alice Liddell."
Alice flinched at the fact that he knows her. Then again, he knew about Blood, about the Hatter Mafia. How long has this man actually been in this world? Eris grinned knowingly, and reached to ruffle her hair.
"Right, you can be my pet!" he stood up and grabbed her hair. She groaned in pain as he forced her to stand up. "And you can drop that gun, I want you to use sword or any other blade. Guns are for pussies." Said Eris cheerfully as he dragged Alice away.
"No! Wait! Where are you taking me!?"
"I don't know, but let's see. We're going to make a town. We're going to play a lot of games. It's going to be a lot of fun, mate. Much more fun and much more powerful than the bloody mafia. And then you ought to teach me how to get that clock, beauty."
Alice kept struggling as she was dragged on the ground, and she could only watch Elliot and Blood distancing away. Her hands tried to reach for them.
No matter how confident she was about this world, she was afraid. This man, Captain Eris, there was something ominous about him. She began to scream, a scream that echoed in the sewer way. Screaming no, screaming stop.
"Alice," she flinched and fell silent at the cold tone calling her name. Eris had stopped walking, and with the same smile, he looked down on her. "If you be a good pet, I will not hurt your friends, alright? If you be a bad pet, I will punish you, and I do know what's worse than dying for you."
Friends. Alice shivered. Her friends. This man could be a foreigner, but he was dangerous. He could do anything. She wouldn't know.
And she feared.
And she submitted.
Because Eris was right, there was a lot of things that were worse than dying. She had lost her family, and now she wouldn't afford to lose her friends.
Oh, Alice. If only you'd known how Eris would change you. It would certainly to be something inhumane. Even if in this world life was worthless, Eris would make this world his plaything.
The Spade Town
There was a limit to the numbers of Role Holders allowed in a Country. Twelve Role Holders. However, ever since Alice Liddell disappeared from the Hatter Mafia, even more Role Holders moved. The Queen and the Prime Minister had moved. It was an odd phenomenon, because it meant that there were only nine Role Holders left—if Alice was suspected to be moved as well.
However, Blood Dupre was close to solving this mystery. His men believed it. Even for a faceless, Alice Liddell was precious, despite not having a heart. He remembered how Alice treated him as an equal in the mafia. She treated everyone as her family. He would do anything to retrieve that woman.
That's why he's here at Blood Dupre's order. As suspected, there was an enigmatic territory in the Clover Country. It wasn't a whole unit, to put it simply, not an official territory. There was no clear line of it. It was a dead town. But he knew this town—it used to be a central of merchants. However not a single person was seen on the streets.
"We need to split up."
"I'll head west."
"Then I'll investigate that manor."
Standing higher than any other building was a manor on the hill. No, it wasn't a hill. It was a dead forest whale. Its blood had dried up and had became a part of the river, water flowing through a gaping wound on its abdomen part where the manor stood above it like an eerie castle.
He stopped upon noticing the arch that named that town. It was carved with haste, as if the carpenter didn't care about impressing anyone that visited the town.
"Spade Town"
~.X.~
Whoever killed that forest whale was wicked and crazy strong. Forest whale, like any other 'objects' in this world was supposed to be hard to wound, since it had tremendous healing time. They're called forest whales because they're adapted to the world's random movement and were trying to get to the ocean. Somewhere.
And yet it's dead and it was used as a foundation of a manor. An empty-looking manor. He could feel Alice would be in there. No one could imagine her condition. It had been too long, too many time periods has passed for Blood to get information of this place. His boss wanted to go on his own, but everyone digress, insisting that he stayed. Whoever took Alice Liddell stabbed Blood through his back, and that means whoever it was, obviously not an ordinary person—not an ordinary foreigner.
He heard something. A sobbing sound from the empty houses around. He clicked the safety off and looked around cautiously. He approached one of the houses and silently opened the door to find a little boy hunched over, his back turned to the door, sobbing.
"Who's there." He demanded.
"Lewis."
"Lewis...?"
"Lewis going to get you hurt!" the boy turned to him with laughter.
And he was astonished, because that boy has a face. With orange irises and sparky blue hair. He was fast, he aimed and pulled the trigger, but the boy didn't budge, he kept smiling as the bullet went over his shoulder, right by his ear for mere milliliters.
He missed. Not because he's an awful shooter—God, no. He's an avid mafioso.
Because someone had tackled his feet and he fell onto the ground.
"Ugh! Son of a—" he turned to see his captor. Another boy. Pink irises and light blonde hair, grinning ear to ear, eyes gleaming ominously.
"Lewis won't get you hurt." Said the boy.
"Lewis won't?" asked the other boy.
"Nah. Alice will."
And his whole body froze in shock upon seeing Alice Liddell walking over him. She knelt, pulled him by his collar—he was too shocked that he was paralyzed, he couldn't even lift a finger. And she raised her fist. It came at him like a shooting star. And he was out like a light.
"Good girl, Alice!" Lewis cheered, ruffling her hair. Alice grinned and snuggled her head to his hand. The other boy with pink eyes tugged onto her long chains.
"Come on, Alice. Let's go back to Eris." Said Carroll gently and stood up. "There's gonna be lotsa things to hunt next night time!"
"I love hunt!" Alice grinned eagerly, nodding like an excited dog. She walked ahead of the boys with Carroll holding onto her chains. "Hunt a lotsa things!" she licked her lips.
"That's right! Now let's go back home. Walking time is over." Lewis said, catching up to Alice—dragging the faceless on the ground—and she pouted at his words. Lewis sighed and turned to Carroll with a pleading frown. Carroll laughed and shrugged.
"Okay, fine! One more round. Let's help Eris get the toys, okay?" said Carroll, and Alice cheered before the three of them ran. The faceless man was dragged with his 'face' scratching the ground brutally, hitting every resistance.
"Get the toys!" said Alice with a wide smile. Her eyes gleaming ominously.
Almost like a wild animal.
Let me introduce you to the Mad Family!
Eris
A pirate who had conquered the seven seas. He found Carroll and made a wish to go to the Land of Time, which is Wonderland. He likes the concept of the world and is making an experiment by making a 'Hunt Game'. Now a Role Holder that goes as 'Mock Turtle'.
Lewis
The King of Hearts in his young form. He has no recollection of meeting Vivaldi, which means he probably comes from the past dimension. He's interested with Eris' experiment and has the knowledge of making a new territory, making Spade Town as his first attempt.
Carroll
The Evil Genie which Eris found after conquering the seven seas. Curious of Eris' plans for the Land of Time, Carroll joins his shenanigans. As he's not tied with any world after he was unsealed, Carroll is a permanent foreigner. He's immortal, but his movements becomes limited in Wonderland.
Alice
After Lord-Knows what Eris had done to her, Alice was broken. She becomes Eris' most loyal pet and lost recollection of her past in Wonderland. She's the one who gives the name of the Role Holders to Eris, but doesn't remember. Before she becomes Eris' Pet, Alice has become a Role Holder that goes as 'Bandersnatch'.
I think I want to explore and make more room, experiments you see. Please don't expect romance. The bonds Alice has with the other Role Holders are really deep, and in this story, she's stayed because of Boris Airay and worked for Blood. Ah, I'll just elaborate in the next chapter.
Kindly review if you have the time.