| Chapter 05: Town of Secrets |

Kyo and Alice had drawn close to the town that they discovered upon making it out of the black forest. They both were curious, having no clear idea of what kind of world this was, as well as how to get out of it, they felt a sense of insecurity as they continued to walk. Alice moved closer to Kyo, feeling safe when at his side, she made a small smile as she looked up at her friend. Kyo only looked ahead as he remained in thought as the pair walked.

What kind of world is this supposed to be..? How am I supposed to even escape it with Alice..?

The two had reached the streets of the town at this point, getting glances from locals as the clothes that Kyo and Alice wore was different then the style of clothing worn by the residents of this world. Kyo seemed slightly annoyed; he didn't want to have to stand out, as there was the threat of being attacked by someone who had the same ill-hearted hate towards Alice as their previous threat, Yoshimitsu.

"Kyo..?" Alice looked up at Kyo, blinking.

"I'm sorry; I just don't want to risk getting pulled into another fight so soon." Kyo looked down at Alice, "I don't want you to get attacked again, I feel like if I get pulled into a fight I won't be able to protect you…"

Alice stared at Kyo, she faintly smiled. "Don't worry so much. You're trying as much as you can, and that's what matters." Alice giggled as she hugged his arm. Kyo blushed a bit as she did this and nodded. "Yeah, you're right…"

"You two aren't from around here are you..?" A voice suddenly called out to the two; they turned around to see a strange man standing there smiling at them.

He was tall in height, having a lanky build. He wore a full white suit with a silver pocket watch along his waist. The man had a pale almost ghostly complexion as his hair was nice and short, being a silver blonde color. His eyes were a golden color, and he wore a pair of glasses over his eyes.

"Who are you..?" Kyo gritted his teeth, growing uneasy. The man let out a light-hearted chuckle, "I'm sorry if I alarmed you in some way. I only had my attention caught by you and your lover." He mused, "I was curious to see if you were from around here or not."

"…I still don't follow." Kyo and Alice both expressed confusion.

"Well you see in this town; we actually have gotten a small handful of enigmatic travelers such as yourselves." He chuckled, then he perked, "Oh that's right, how rude of myself to not introduce myself to you." The man laughed some, "My name is William. I am a Writer."

"A writer..?" Kyo stared at him; William just smiled again at the two as they faced one another.

Elsewhere; Syaoran's group had taken a different path in order to approach the town. Syaoran seemed to be disturbed as to where they had ended up, and although his comrades would've showed the same concern they were too busy snapping at one another. Syaoran expressed a mix of dismay as well as a faint nervous laugh, as he watched Fai and Kurogane doing their usual bickering.

Things are not just piecing together like they should, what could I be missing?

Syaoran closed his eyes as he walked at the head of the group. He folded his arms while in thought; he came to a halt though. He felt a nice breeze as he slowly opened his eyes and smiled.

Syaoran's group stood on a hillside where a nice wind's breeze went on through. The glasses could be seen blowing side to side, as Syaoran admired the sight. "This place, is pretty beautiful…"

"I'll say." Fai smiled, "What do you think Kuro-Kuro?"

"Its…okay." Kurogane looked to the side annoyed. Syaoran couldn't help but laugh faintly at how Kurogane responded; he then looked back to the hillside again.

He looked up at the sky, although darkened it wasn't a bad sight either. Suddenly though he remembered someone important to him as he sighed faintly. He was missing her; he had been apart from her for quite awhile now. The person he missed was a girl whom was very important in his heart, a beautiful young princess named "Sakura".

It was apparent on what Syaoran was thinking about as evidenced by the look on his face. Fai and Kurogane both noticed this but decided to keep their mouths quiet. Syaoran continued to be lost in his thoughts, until he snapped back to reality and looked over his shoulder at his comrades.

"I'm sorry; I lost myself in my memories for a bit there…" Syaoran laughed faintly, Kurogane just closed his eyes. "It's okay, let's just go." Kurogane snapped some as the group proceeded onward. In the shadows, a red mono-eye monitored and scanned the group; it wouldn't be long until it went on the move.

Back in town; William had taken Kyo and Alice to his home. Here the young man would answer any questions that the pair asked him, and it would be from this man William that they would become familiar with the world now around them.

"This world is a gloomy town of sorts; it used to be a central post for surrounding areas. However it's degraded into just a typical town with some…exceptions…if you will." William explained, Kyo and Alice listened intensely.

"Exceptions..?" Alice asked with a cute head tilt.

"You see this town while it may seem peaceful; it's used as a massive experimentation field by the two Demon Scientists who control this area."

"Demon Scientists?" Kyo blinked.

"Their names are Professor Rosencrantz and Professor Guildenstern. Their a duo of strange and mischievous men who finds various means to perform experiments; while this rarely affects us, ever since this stranger strolled on by things changed."

"Rosencrantz…and…Guildenstern." Kyo looked at his feet in thought, "They sound cruel."

"They are." William's eyes narrowed seriously.

"What can we do then to help?" Kyo stood; William seemed both confused and surprised at this statement. "What?" William blinked. "I'm asking what Alice and I can do to help this town!" Kyo raised his tone a bit; the man blinked a bit but closed his eyes soon and smiled.

"If you want to help…then the only thing you could do is help us confront Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. So we can avoid taking care of this matter with violence…"

"If that's what you think, then we will do our best!" Kyo smirked as Alice smiled at Kyo and then at William. "Yes, indeed~" She giggled.

Syaoran's group had descended from the hillside and was drawing close to the town by now; drawing closer to the town, Syaoran felt his curiosity begin to come close to its peak. The journey him and his comrades were on now was different then the means of their last one. With no set destination or means of travelling; Syaoran's group was quite well stuck in this world.

"If we wanted can't we just go on to the next world? This is becoming quite tedious!" Kurogane snapped. Syaoran sighed some.

"We need to get familiar with what's going on, there is something strange going on in the shadows here and I know it." Syaoran answered to Kurogane, the ninja just grumbled some as he rubbed the top of his head while walking.

"Whatever you say."

"The town is just up ahead, we should just focus more on moving then talking." Fai muttered as he intruded on the conversation between Syaoran and Kurogane. "The more ground we cover; the quicker we get there; and the quicker the answers shall come to us." He smiled.

"He's right! He's right!" Mokona giggled as it hopped into the air. Syaoran rubbed the back of his head and let out a faint laugh as he watched Mokona's eccentric behavior. He was glad his comrades could be so much more relaxed then he himself could.

We have to keep moving, I want to help out this world before heading to the next. That's how I want to do things, and that's how we've always done them!

With both sides having reached the town in some form or another; it seemed as if the "game" being planned by the Demon Scientists and their "accomplice" was coming more into play. Kyo and Alice were still in the company of the man known as William as he had told them what he could answer concerning the world they were in. Whilst Syaoran's group had just reached the edge of town; and while they were being stalked by a mysterious figure in the shadows, they were all but oblivious to the matter and proceeded into the streets without even sensing the figure.

"It appears all the players have arrived into the town…" Guildenstern seemed amused as he watched the two groups from the monitors set up in the lab he and Rosencrantz inhabited.

"All but the Ninja named Yoshimitsu anyways…" Rosencrantz chuckled some, "…but yes, its as we were told."

"That means the next step of this is too move the pieces close together." Guildenstern chuckled as his goggles went over his eyes and he grinned. "With a silver tongue we can bring those two heroes and their companions together and then tear them apart, thus eliminating both main threats to all of our plans."

"Yes; however they are perceptive my friend. Be careful not to instigate your own death." Rosencrantz smiled, "It would be a shame if you died…"

Guildenstern was silent; for awhile he said nothing, but then he emitted a faint twisted chuckle as his goggles went back onto his forehead. He looked at Rosencrantz before passing by him. "I am a Puppet Master of Deception; it won't be hard to drive a knife into the two parties."

Rosencrantz was silent he looked at the main monitors. Guildenstern noticed he didn't seem likely to reply and thus he left the lab chuckling evilly. Rosencrantz stared at the monitors and sighed a bit.

I hope Guildenstern is aware of what he is doing; by instigating the wrong out of Syaoran and his comrades he is only bring forth his death. I hope things don't come to that however…

Note: Yeah, I am sure you guys noticed but this chapter is kind of shorter compared to the recent ones. I had a bit of writer's block and was pretty tired when I wrote this chapter. I'm hoping though that by the next chapter or two my sense of writing returns and my story will regain its initial awesomeness. Until next time, guys.