Malice: Madness Begins
"Alice means truth. Such a beautiful name." I said.
"Your name sounds pretty. What does it mean?" Alice asked innocently.
"Pretty? I hate it!" I scowled. "It means hatred, loathing,grudge, jealousy, venom...Why would anyone give their son such terrible name?"
She held my hand, frowning. "At least...your name is close to mine. Like how close you are to me, Malice."
3. The Name and The Lost Clock
Ah, crap. I wake up as soon as I realized what had happened.
I killed a role-holder too soon. I look at my hands and pull out my Vorpal Blade. They're clean. I sighed and lied again on the bed, staring to the ceilings, scowling.
That man, he died inside a dream. Then he ought to be alive in Reality.
Then I groaned. Now that I think about it again, this world...Wonderland, the Country of Hearts, is this place a fragment of dream too? What is this world, actually?
I remembered two days after Alice was gone. Lorina was sitting in the prairie, reading a book. Cards and a set of tea on the grass beside her. I was devastated that I couldn't find my twin in the house, and then I saw her.
"Where's Alice?" I asked, scowling, clenching my fists. Lorina glanced from her book and gave me her usual innocent smile.
She knew that I knew what's behind her tricky smile. I knew her love for Alice was more than love of an older sister, and she knew my love for Alice was more than love for a twin. However, for her happiness, we quieted down our feelings for her and reveal them as family-love.
"I sent her to depart for a world of immortality." She said and poured tea to an empty cup and nodded to me. "A world that is harsher than this reality, but once she gets the hang of things, her life will be preserved to eternity."
I sat down beside her and took her offer of a cup of tea. We sipped our drink in silence, staring off to the distance, to the horizon, to the sun which was setting before our eyes. I glanced to the beautiful older maiden.
"Why would you do that?" I asked.
Her exterior faltered, her smile turned into a sad frown as she let out a lonely sigh.
"I can't accept to have her jealous of me because of that imbecile Reginald...I love her. I want her to love me, not to be jealous of me." She cleared her throat and turned to me with a smile. "You're so lucky to be a man, Malice. But now I'm feeling peace, knowing that not anyone in this world can steal her heart no more."
I chuckled darkly and sighed, putting down my cup, and glanced back to her.
"I'm going to kill you, Lorina."
"Please do so, Malice." Lorina closed her eyes, smiling, and took out a vial from the sugar jar. "For you, who are malicious to the world. Please, kill me, and set your malevolence towards me, free."
I accepted the poison from her and smiled back, and poured the entire liquids in the vial to her cup of tea, and nodded.
"Would you like some more tea, Lorina?"
"Why, my pleasure, Malice." She chuckled softly, and we stared off the distance again, she was humming. Suddenly she said, "Alice will never love you, Malice. You're a malicious soul, after all. And I..." she started to cough and lied on the grass. "I loathe you too...like how everyone would hate malice."
~.X.~
Julius and Alice rushed behind Gray who was leading them to the higher tower. The lizard then opened the only door in that corridor, revealing a room blown with autumn wind, papers flew around and scattered here and there.
There, on the white-sheet bed, Nightmare sat, he looked as if his soul was taken. He kept on holding his neck, his eyes widened emptily as if he just saw Death.
"He has been like that when I entered this room." Gray said, his voice shivered a little. Julius took his words and held the Incubus' chest.
Suddenly, his eyes widened in horror, he dropped his hand abruptly. Alice bit her lower lip in worry.
"What is it, Julius?"
The Clockmaker shivered and turned to the two stoically, scowling, rubbing his temple.
"His clock..." he murmured, "...It's gone."
Gray stood straight, scowling in disbelief, then grabbed Julius' collars. "What do you mean, Monrey...It just stopped, right."
Julius shook his head and turned to stare at Nightmare over his shoulder. He had been fixing clocks for so long, he had even once fix his own clock in his chest, so he knew when the clock stopped and crushed, but never...he never knew if a clock could possibly...
"Gone. The clock within him is gone. His chest is empty."
