Madness Prevails

She walked around, hearing childish laughter and frowning. The place she was in was supposed to be empty, no one else was supposed to even know about the place. She walked into a small field and saw three familiar girls, two sat with a frown while the youngest one played with the butterflies. They spotted the oldest girl as she approached, hobby horse in hand.

"Nikki!" the youngest one ran to her and hugged her, dropping the pepper grinder.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?!" she asked.

"We don't know. We just woke up here." The second oldest said, picking up her blade.

"So, how do we get to the Hatter's Domain?" the second youngest asked.

"Follow me." The eldest led them off "You know how to jump and float, right?" they nodded but the eldest knew the youngest was lying. They approached the dominos and Nichole jumped, kicking the air to go higher and looking back as she landed. "Come on!" her cousins followed, the youngest barely making it. They continued before finally landing on the soft grass and feeling the ground shake.

"Nikki," Victoria grabbed her hand "what's that?!" she pointed to two black monsters.

"Shoot them." The nine-year-old nodded and aimed before shooting the monsters down. A larger one sprouted with three heads and Nichole ran towards it, jumping up high and bringing the hobby horse down on its head as hard as she could. It sunk into the ground and she continued on, looking back briefly at the others before coming to a large jump. She grabbed the smallest girl and jumped with her, keeping her on her back as the other two made their way over.

"Are we close yet?" Marissa asked.

"Almost." The cat appeared, smiling and circling Marissa. "Follow me." He led them to a wide space between two cliffs before disappearing.

"What do we do now?" Autumn asked, slightly tugging on one of her braids.

"Shrink." Victoria said.

"But…we didn't get the potion…" the oldest said before getting an idea "Okay, stay close to me." She held her hand out and them all linked hands before Nichole stepped onto the invisible bridge.

"Dude, no freakin' way!" the pigtailed girl objected before being pulled onto the bridge.

"I know the way by memory so come on!" she said before running to the edge.

"Go across!" she looked back at Autumn.

"There's a gap…be careful and jump, okay?" they nodded and the oldest looked down "Stand exactly where I do and jump." She stepped at the very edge and jumped onto the hard clay, watching as the others crossed.

"Nikki, why's the sky dark?" they all looked up at the night sky.

"That's how it is here." She led them to the cable car and they all got in before the cat appeared once more.

"Hold on, girls." He said before only his grin could be seen.

"Tornado drill." The oldest said, seeing the rest immediately curl up as the car crashed into a large wall, creating a hole.

They all stood up, looking around as a small steam vent arose. They were all wearing different dresses as a cold breeze passed over them. The eldest jumped onto the vent and floated up, jumping onto a metal platform and watching as her cousins followed.

"Aren't we supposed to collect memories?"

"Yeah." Autumn said, walking around the crashed car and seeing a glowing house. She went over and touched it.

"Get off of that vent right now!" a female voice called.

"Whose memory was that?" Marissa asked.

"Mine, obviously." Autumn replied, smoothing out her siren dress before looking down "…where are my shoes?"

"That dress is supposed to be underwater. No shoes. Be careful." Nichole looked at her Misstitched dress and smiled.

"Don't the dresses have effects?"

"Siren dress gives you more hearts, Misstitched helps me keep my shrink sense longer," she looked at the other two "Queen's dress…er…Royal Suit only gives you four roses so Marissa, please be careful! And Victoria, the Silk Maiden dress gives you more teeth than roses so you can upgrade the grinder sooner."

"My dress sucks!" Marissa complained.

"Shut up, there's three of us to protect you." Nichole said, stepping out into the cold and jumping onto another steam vent. The other girls followed until they got to the main entrance. Madcaps appeared but were soon defeated by the Teapot Cannon. They entered the building, seeing a few boxes. Nichole threw a bomb and the boxes exploded, exposing enough roses for them all and a few teeth. They entered an arena-like room and the metal door slammed behind them. They jumped onto a platform and looked up to see an Eyepot coming down to them. Marissa quickly shot it with the cannon and it exploded. There was the whistle of a teapot and they looked to see another one turning to its side. "Move or it'll burn you!" they all turned to butterflies, zooming around quickly before Autumn jumped up and attacked the monster. It broke open and she grabbed the six roses it left behind.

"Come on!" the other girls followed her, the eldest girl went back to leading until they came to a small room. They heard what sounded like babies whining and they saw what seemed like dozens of Insidious Ruin running around.

"Back up, guys." Nichole said.

"Why?" the youngest asked.

"Hysteria mode." Marissa whispered, hearing something bang against metal as her cousin screamed and attacked the monsters, killing them all within seconds.

"Victoria, aim at that target."

"Wait…I see a memory in the corner." The young girl said, shrinking down to get to the glowing home.

"How'd she do that?" Marissa asked, jealously.

"Who cares, she can be the one who shrinks for the rest of us." Nichole said, moving her dark hair from her glasses.

"So…what do the rest of us do?" the eleven-year-old asked.

"Autumn, you can…gather teeth…" she nodded "Marissa, you can gather hearts and I guess I'll just hobby horse things to death. I'm really good at it."

"How about we all gather whatever we get individually and just…switch weapons maybe? I'm not good with the blade." Autumn advised.

"Which weapon do you want?"

"The pepper grinder. I'm a better aim than Victoria." Nichole nodded as the youngest girl came back.

"Victoria, we need you to switch weapons with Autumn."

"Okay." She smiled and obeyed.

"Autumn, shoot the target." The girl nodded and aimed, shooting the red target perfectly until it turned green. A platform came down and they all jumped on it, jumping to the next entrance and seeing the Hatter sitting in front of them.

"Oh, it's you all." They nodded "Nichole knows to go through the clock face." They followed her, coming out of the clock face and stepping out seeing four umbrellas. They picked them up and watched as a Menacing Ruin appeared. Nichole furiously hit it with her weapon and it fell, letting her collect the roses it left behind.

"Next time, can I do it?" Victoria asked, green eyes sparkling before going dim. Nichole's dark eyes slightly widened as she nodded slowly.

"We gotta go quickly." They looked at two targets and Autumn shot them both causing two gears to come up on either side of them. "Autumn, you go with Marissa. Victoria, come with me." The younger girls nodded and obeyed.

"Come on." Marissa said, grabbing Autumn's hand and leading her up a few stairs and seeing molten hot tea coming down. "Try not to get burned." The younger girl nodded and they made their way through the obstacles, watching the dormouse flee before pulling the lever to cool the tea. They heard buzzing and Autumn quickly shot the Bolterflies while Marissa shot their nests.

"Let's get out of here." Autumn said, leading Marissa to a large hole in the ground.

Nichole picked Victoria up and put her on her back as they came to giant hands coming down harshly.

"Nikki, I'm scared."

"Don't be. I got you." She quickly dodged through the smashing hands and fists as a large group of purple and yellow butterflies quickly dashed around the room until they got to the March Hare who quickly fled. Nichole pulled the ever and they jumped down the hole with the Hatter's legs. They all met back up with the Hatter, fixing him before he led them to the end of the level. All the girls heard was bubbling before seeing ice around them.

"Tundrafull." The eldest girl whispered, leading her cousins through. They began to shiver. "Let's speed it up."

"Seriously." They came to a slide and Nichole gasped.

"Slide!" the youngest said, jumping onto the slide.

"Dude!" the eldest ran after her, grabbing onto her before feeling Marissa's arms around her waist. They saw a gap "Jump!" they all jumped, Victoria barely making it as Nichole grabbed her hand. They slid down to the ship in the bottle before feeling water surround them.

"Be careful…there's Ice Snarks around." Marissa warned. One popped up in front of her and bit her before Victoria sliced it up with her blade. "Damn it! One of my roses is gone. I can feel it!"

"Come on." They finished the level as quickly as possible,

"What's next?" Marissa asked.

"Oriental Grove. Is anyone besides me afraid of wasps?" the other girls raised their hands "Great."

They woke up in a place filled with jade and sand.

"This place is beautiful."

"Yes it is, but there are wasps." A loud buzzing could be heard and the oldest girl groaned before turning to one of the Samurai Wasps. She was immediately cut by the sword before she smashed their armor off with her horse. "Come on."

"Nikki, are they gonna sting us?"

"No…just cut us up." She said, leading them all the way to the temple before seeing the lion statues. "Back up!"

"Why?"

"Fire." They all backed away as the statues spat fire rhythmically. "I'll turn them off." Nichole said, jumping over the fireballs and getting to the other side before the Daimyo Wasp came down. "Shit!" She smashed him with the horse and was knocked back into the fire. She got up, gasping as the wasp's armor was smashed by the Teapot Cannon. She smirked and came down as hard as she could on the wasp with her horse, smashing it instantly and picking up every rose it left behind. She ran to a pressure pad and put down a bomb, motioning for the others to follow her. They ran after her, getting to a mountain and smiling. "End of the level!"

"Yes!" they ran up the stone stairs until they got to the Caterpillar.

"Find the Queen." He said as the ground shook and broke. They fell through, closing their eyes until they felt something plastic under them. Nichole looked down and smiled.

"Cardbridge." She whispered, walking ahead slowly, not seeing the cards disappear.

"Nikki!" Victoria grabbed her hand and with help, pulled her up. "Be careful!" she nodded and waited for them to reappear before running along until they got to a slide.

"Let's go." They all jumped onto the slide and landed on a pile that threw them up into the air. They floated down onto a castle and smiled before running forward and going down another slide, the youngest jumping on the oldest's back before touching hot ruin.

"Ouch!" she cried, seeing a stone bridge through the fog. They jumped onto the bridge and ran as it began to crumble.

"Come on!" they all jumped onto a floating platform at the same time before jumping onto a steam vent and to the castle. "Victoria, cut the King down." She nodded and quickly sliced the King from the entrance. They heard snorting and looked for the pig snout. "Left, up, near the door." Autumn aimed and fired, causing the door to open, and ran inside.

"Gold tooth!" she said before upgrading her Pepper Grinder all the way. She came out and they heard something roar.

"Executioner! Run!" they all ran as the monster walked through the wall and chased them, swinging his scythe until the girls fell down a hole.

"Where are we?" Marissa asked, looking around.

"Just keep walking." An armored Card Guard popped up along with three normal ones. Marissa quickly fired at them, destroying all but the armored one who fell. Victoria quickly sliced him in half, smiling. They continued to walk before coming to a dim room. The oldest girl set a bomb down on a pressure pad and a vent popped up. She hopped onto it and Autumn followed, shooting a pig snout and causing an opening to appear in the floor. The straight-haired girl jumped down and collected a memory.

"I don't want him to come over." She ran back up and jumped out of the hole, going back to the others.

"Come on." A roar was heard and they ran out into the garden and right into a battlefield.

"I said…fight!" the queen's voice rang out as three Drifting Ruin, five Insidious Ruin and three Card Guards appeared. Autumn took out the Drifting Ruin, Marissa got the Card Guards and Victoria quickly killed the Insidious Ruin. They continued to walk before coming to a maze.

"Let me go through." Nichole said before running as the Executioner chased her. She disappeared before they saw her growing taller than the monster. She stomped down on his head before coming back and picking up her cousins, holding them in her hand as she stomped on Card Guards throughout the garden before shrinking back down again. They came to a slide and something caught Marissa's eye. She ran around the corner and broke a wall made of the queen's dried tentacles before grabbing a glowing syringe.

"For her trauma, I'd suggest a therapist." She came back to the slide, seeing the others already halfway down. Her leg brushed some of the ruin and she shrieked before landing on soft carpet.

"Autumn, aim for the heart." She nodded and obeyed, shooting a green heart on the wall and seeing a doorway under it open. Autumn smirked, repeating the action before they came to a room filled with stomach acid.

"Oh jeez…" she muttered, moving her braids from her face. She jumped onto the sinking stones and shot two hearts, jumping across to another entrance. The others followed into a room as three pink ruin popped up. Nichole quickly upgraded and smashed them all with three hits. They came to the final room, seeing the Queen sitting in front of them.

"We were expecting someone else."

"You don't know your own mind?"

"It's nearly a complete stranger." Marissa replied.

"What you claim not to know is merely what you've denied. You captured your vagrant memories, what are you doing with them?" the girls gasped as they were picked up. "You see the pattern of destruction, I know you do. The train must be stopped. You haven't found answers because you won't look at what's around you!" they closed their eyes "There is no method to this madness."

"In my professional opinion, this type of madness is incurable. They need to stay for further evaluation." They opened their eyes to see padded walls and they stood, slowly stumbling out of the room. They went down the hall, entering a room full of chairs.

"Autumn, why don't you talk? Hopefully it'll help." She could see herself strapped to a chair, looking miserable before they went to the next room.

"What's wrong, dear? Is the bed uncomfortable?" laughing came from the nurse as Victoria saw herself strapped to a hospital bed with her stuffed kitten beside her. They entered the next room.

"Maybe if we shock them enough, they'll wake up!" Nichole and Marissa saw themselves hooked up to the electro-shock machine and they winced as they were both shocked continuously until the nurse got tired. They all entered a plain white hall and approached a door.

"Here we go." They held hands and stepped out into the park. They followed the dim lamps until a small child that had been cut in half approached them. The youngest girl hid behind Nichole as she talked to him.

"Help! Something worse than the queen has taken over and we need your help!" she nodded and the child laid still. The girls continued to walk, coming to a house that was falling apart. They entered, seeing dollhouses all around them.

They jumped onto the green plank before the steam vent, quickly getting to the platform and to the first dollhouse.

"Go inside, there's a shortcut." Nichole directed, leading the way. They soon came to the Fort De Resistance and saw the Insane Children. The ground shook and they looked around to see the Dollgirl. "Marissa, shoot." The pigtailed girl nodded and aimed, hitting the doll and breaking her arms.

"Yes!" she shot again, breaking a hole in her chest before Victoria ran at her, slicing her heart quickly and laughing as she fell.

"Yay!" they both collected the roses and moved on. The oldest girl paused, feeling dizzy and closing her eyes "Nikki?"

"I'm fine." She sat, putting her hand to her head and sighing.

"Look at me." Marissa said, staring at her cousin as her dark eyes went dim "We have to hurry." They nodded and continued, soon coming to the Dollmaker's Domain.