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Yuma and Gumi spent days in often silence. Not because they were angry at each other. Though they fought from time, and the topic was always Gakupo.
Gumi never thought that it was right for them to leave their friend behind. Despite Yuma telling her so many times that they had to do it, Gumi wasn't convinced. There had to be another way. Leaving him was a bad choice cause they never found him afterwards.
But with Gumi being herself, she couldn't blame it all on Yuma. She also blamed herself. After all, SHE was the one who brought that damned book and SHE was the one behind Yuma not turning back to save their friend: she knew that he did that to save her.
And she hated herself for that.
She hated how weak she was.
Eventually, Gumi and Yuma stopped fighting. They knew that being on different sides wouldn't get them anywhere. Besides, they both didn't believe that Gakupo was dead.
He'd never die.
Not that easily.
"The Hatter's place was near the green queen's castle." Yuma spoke in a tired voice. "If we can't find it, then we have to land somewhere near that castle and search on foot for the Hatter's whereabouts."
Yuma's suggested that, but Gumi hardly paid any attention as she watched the sky. "Gumi, I know that you're angry at me..." Yuma said sitting near the silent girl. "But we really have to move forward, or we won't find Gakupo or get out of here."
Gumi didn't speak for a while, she was thinking. "You know, I'm not angry of you. I'm more disappointed of myself."
Yuma gave her a look. "I'm the one that dragged you two here. So I was thinking, wouldn't it be better if I was the one who disappeared?"
The guy was shocked. But he regained himself quickly. "Thoughts like that are the ones that's gonna end us, you know."
"..." Gumi closed her eyes. "You're right." She said bitterly. "I'm sorry. I'll try to be stronger. Let's do what you just said."
Standing up, the apple-haired girl patted her pet on the head before beginning to collect their stuff from the ground. Yuma followed her and helped out a bit. They weren't fighting anymore, but they were hardly talking. Yuma didn't like how things were going, but he endured it.
Again, it was for her sake.
Ten minutes passed before the two got on the giant bird and went to search for queen Miku's castle. As always, the green castle was visible so it took them no time to find it.
Carefully, they landed somewhere hidden between some long grasses. After taking what might they need, Gumi told her flamingo to hide and never appear until they come back.
Purring and making a sound of approval, Firo, flapped its wings before going and hiding between the bushes.
Gumi smiled thinking of how lucky she was to have Firo on her side in those hard times
"Let's go." Yuma briefly said making Gumi silently nod and follow him.
They then began looking around for any signs of the Hatter.
They went into the woods, roses eventually filled the place, so they knew that they were near.
Still, they couldn't find Kaito.
After three hours of continuous searching, the duo began feeling despair. That's why they decided to go back to where Firo was hiding.
Then she saw it. Gumi caught the table of the Hatter by chance as she went to pick a rose before she left.
Without hesitation, Gumi called for Yuma and hopped to where the table was.
It was there, but he wasn't.
The Hatter was missing.
"Come on! After we came all this way!" Gumi spoke reminding Yuma of Gakupo a little.
Smiling a bit to himself, Yuma began looking for any traces of the blue-haired man.
That was when a thought crossed his mind.
Yuma decided to try what he got in mind so he sat on his knees and lifted the edges of the white table mat exposing what was under the table.
And there he was, snoring quietly while mumbling ice-cream in his sleep.
Gumi went down as well. When saw the Hatter, Gumi couldn't help herself but laugh a bit. Yuma too smiled as he didn't really expect his imagination to come true that fast.
"Hey. Wake up. We're back." Gumi said tapping Kaito's shoulder.
"Don't take me into custody! I did nothing!" Gumi jumped backwards as Kaito suddenly got up and yelled that. The poor guy even slammed his head as the table was upside him.
"And who might you be?" Kaito said rolling from under the table. "You don't look like soldiers."
Yuma sighed. It was going to be a long day. "We're not. We came here before."
"You did?" Kaito the Hatter asked and tilted his head. "I don't seem to remember." He said making Yuma and Gumi look at each other. "Don't tell me..." Kaito's tone changed. "You're trying to fool me and steel my precious ice-cream...?"
Seeing how the young man took on a defensive pose, the two sighed. "I'm Gumi. And this is Yuma. We came here before and had tea that time. Remember?" Gumi said carefully as she studied how Kaito's face was.
He really looked like he forgot.
"When you left, did I tell you to come back...?" Kaito asked mysteriously.
The two eyed each other again. "You did." Yuma answered.
For some reason, Kaito left his silly defending pose and instead he gave the two a wide smile. "In that case, wait here a sec!" He said before going somewhere.
Thinking that he ran away, Yuma and Gumi followed him.
What they found that time was amazing, as both friends saw that the Hatter dived in an enormous amount of paper and began looking for something. "This? No. This? No! Maybe this?!"
"Umm... Kaito? What're you looking for?" Gumi asked approaching the huge amount of papers.
"Nothing important!" Kaito yelled as he dived deeper. "Just a small piece of paper! I'll find it right away!"
"Can we help?" Yuma asked as he got closer too.
"NO!" Kaito yelled as his head popped out of somewhere. "That way, you'll find my diary!" He dived again. "Just give me some time please~"
Seeing how he was, the two gave up and prepared theirselves for a long wait. Luckily for them, Kaito's head popped up again. That time, he had a wide smile on his face as he waved a paper in his hand.
"I remember now! You really came here before!" The Hatter said then looked at them. "But... wasn't there another one with you?" He asked blinking. "You know, the purple demon."
Looking at the ground, Gumi and Yuma said nothing. "Well! Seems like you have something to talk about while we all have a nice cup of tea!" The blue-haired man spoke oblivious to how the mood changed. "This way please~"
Sighing one more time, the two followed Kaito as he went hopping to where his table was.
Like before, Kaito then started searching for a full pot to pour tea. Then, when he found one, he emptied its contains on one rose tree and then he began brewing some new tea.
"Wouldn't be better if he just used an empty pot instead of all that...?" Gumi thought while Yuma face-palmed.
"Now... do tell me of your story..." the Hatter spoke in a serious tone out of a sudden.
Gumi swallowed. "Well... we..."
And she told him what happened so far.
In fact, she spoke of every detail.
And the Hatter surprisingly listened to it all.
"Means that you two got separated of the purple demon?!" That was the first thing Kaito said after Gumi stopped talking.
His sudden bursts never failed to frighten Gumi. "Y-yeah.." she said as she tried to act like nothing happened.
"That's bad! VERY BAD! You should've never done that!" The blue-haired man exclaimed making the two look to the ground. "I warned you not to do that before you went!"
"You did. But you never told us why though." Yuma pointed out.
"I DID tell you!" Kaito exploded and stood up. "It's written right here!" He yelled and shook the paper that he pulled out a while earlier. "I told you that here you die but you don't die but you still DIE!"
Yuma's eyes glowed. "Speaking of that, can you explain to us what you just said?"
When heard that, the pink-head quickly connected what Kaito said to the incident of the twins. So far, he knew that something was wrong with the rules of wonderland, but he didn't know why or what benefit could anyone gain from twisting those rules.
"I don't know but... here... death can't kill... it only resets one's memories..." the Hatter explained while looking everywhere, a gesture he used to show how unsure he is.
"Reset... memories...?" Gumi repeated. "Is that why Len and Rin didn't remember when they saw us...?"
"It's like... we're all stuck in an endless loop! I serve tea, but I can never escape! Every time I reach my 99 cup, my time resets!"
Yuma and Gumi were beyond confused. Some pieces of the Hatter's explanation made sense while the others...
They just hoped that he wasn't talking nonsense again.
But then Yuma noticed something, the number the Hatter wrote on the back of that paper was 17. With quick thinking, Yuma reached a possible explanation to why the number lessened.
He just needed to make sure.
"Kaito, is that the number of tea cups you served this far?" Yuma asked making Gumi look at him.
"It is. How did you know?!" Kaito looked stunned.
Yuma didn't answer, but instead, he had a thoughtful look on his face. "Yu-chan...?"
"If it went down..." Yuma whispered to himself. "Doesn't that mean that you died once when weren't here, Kaito?"
"..."
Kaito smiled. "You're really smart. Sometimes too smart..."
The Hatter opened his eye, which wasn't smiling at all, but he said nothing more. That made Gumi pissed.
"Can somebody explain to me what are you two talking about?! I can't understand codes!" The green haired girl yelled at the two.
"Before I can explain to you Gumi, Kaito, do all the humans that came here do certain tasks like you?"
"Yes."
"Who asked them to do them?"
"The man in grey."
With that, Yuma was able to finally connect ends. "Gumi, listen. So far we know that Len and Rin got their time rewinded and that's why they came back to life." Gumi nodded. "They didn't remember us. They also told us that they met a man, a man in grey. And he asked them to draw a full map of wonderland so he can help them go back to the real world."
Gumi blinked. "You think that man is..."
"Yeah. I think that he's connected to all of what's happening. Maybe he was even the one that casted that strange magic on Len and Rin."
Gumi thought for a bit before she said her next sentence. "But why would he do it?! That way no one will ever get out of here!"
"I think that's the idea, Gumi. What benefits he could gain from that? I don't know. And it's not only Len and Rin. All of the others has tasks to do before they could get help from that man. For example, Kaito here, serves a certain amount of teacups. If he completes them, then he could get help."
"But he can never do that...?" Gumi asked with a worried look on her face.
"EXACTLY~!" Kaito butted in loudly. "I've been doing this forever and nothing's happening!"
"Kaito, tell me, what tasks does the other two have to do?" Yuma asked referring to Miku and the woman in red.
Kaito looked thoughtful. "Well... queen Miku... I think that she has to pass 100 days without death... which is absolutely impossible~" the Hatter sang the last part. "Meiko on the other hand..."
"Meiko...?" Yuma repeated.
"She's the one dressed in red..." Kaito said having a pained look on his face. "She... I think has to take lives of a 100 people-"
"WHAT?!"
Gumi couldn't contain her surprise while Yuma gulped.
Was that why she was going around and slaying everyone in her path?
The pink haired guy then remembered that Meiko said numbers when she killed Len and Rin.
Those were the numbers of the people she killed that far.
"..." there was some minutes of silence before anyone could speak again.
"That man, how are we supposed to escape him?" Yuma asked being the first one to collect himself.
"You avoid death!" Kaito answered quickly. "If you die, then he gets to get his hands on you! And then you GET TRAPPED HERE FOREVER!"
The tone Kaito used to say the last part was similar to the tone the narrators used in horror movies. That made Gumi shiver for a moment. "But if we can't get that man's help, how are we supposed to get out of here?" Gumi then asked as she noticed.
"That... I don't know..." the Hatter admitted. "I think that you have to find out by yourselves." He said with a look that Yuma didn't understand.
"I believe that you have to go find more answers now!" Kaito said suddenly standing up and breaking one of his teapots in the process. "Take this with you and go. If the worst happened, you may find the purple demon where I tell you."
Taking out a paper from under his hat, Kaito walked on the table to reach where Gumi and Yuma sat then jumped down. He then opened the paper making it clear that it was actually a map. The map was full of drawings instead of writing, so the two wondered if they could understand it. "This is where we are... I think." He said placing his hand on where a cup was drawn. "This is the green queen's castle." He pointed to a green clover. "This is where you should go. Pray that you won't find the purple demon there."
Looking where Kaito pointed, the two eyed each other with confusion as they saw a butterfly on the map.
Deciding that they won't ask anymore questions (they were afraid of what they may hear) the two turned to leave after they thanked the blue-haired man.
"Why..." they stopped hearing Kaito's voice. "Why did you decide to come back to me and ask for help..?" He said as he lowered his head casting a shadow that covered his eyes in the process. "Didn't you fear that I'd attack you like most of the others did..?"
Lifting his head, Yuma could see that Kaito's face wasn't normal anymore. So he stood in front of Gumi and took on a defensive pose.
But for some reason, Gumi placed a hand on Yuma's shoulder and shook her head. She then stopped forwards and stood next to Yuma. "We did that since you were the one that advised us to be careful of Meiko. You also warned us of the grey clown. You explained the situation but we didn't get you and thought that you were crazy. If you weren't trying to help us that time, then what were you trying to do?"
"I was trying to help myself." Kaito said with a serious look on his face. "You see... I was the second one to come here... and I've been here for a very long time. Seeing that you were three, I thought that this time... this time I would have a bigger chance of escaping from this place." He continued while Yuma and Gumi listened. "Forgive me to say this but, I thought that time, if one of you dies, then two will remain and understand what was going on!" The Hatter's playful tone returned as he said that.
Yuma didn't like what Kaito said but Gumi smiled. "But you were still trying to help us." She said approaching the Hatter. "When I was back in the real world, I read that you were a madman that his songs destroyed the minds of many people. That's why I've been suspicious when I first met you. But I then saw how you were the only one that helped us and thought that it may not be true-"
"But it is." Kaito interrupted Gumi. "It's true." Kaito's voice changed again. "I'm a killer. Just like you thought me to be."
"..." Hearing that, the two took some steps backwards.
Then they heard sounds.
It was like steps.
That time, there were hundreds of them.
Turning back, Yuma and Gumi saw that there were a great army coming their way. The army was completely dressed in black and the only thing colorful on their clothes was the green clover that were on their chests.
The two knew what was coming. And they were a 100% sure when they laid eyes on her.
It was Miku the green queen.
"Well well... aren't you my runaway guests..." the girl in twin tails said as she approached the two. "It made me really sad to know that you three ran away, you know." She said with a pout on her face. "Speaking of that, where's the humble Samurai?"
Seeing that she didn't get a answer, queen Miku grinned evilly. "I see... so he's the one that took that role..."
Yuma's heart dropped. "What do you mean-"
"Don't be rash, my dear gamer..." Miku said making Yuma double worried. How did she know that he was a gamer? "We'll all now go to the castle and have a very nice chat there."
The green queen was smiling innocently. But that didn't help the two in any way as both were sweating while feeling her monstrous aura. "Guards, please escorts my guests to my castle and make sure they don't run away again." Miku then turned to the Hatter, who had an empty teapot on his head. "I can see you too, Mr. Hatter."
Muttering a disappointed oh, Kaito removed the teapot before he ran and hid under his table.
The queen sighed. She then pointed to a guard to go get Kaito out. The guard obeyed his queen's order and so he came back dragging Kaito who refused to move and yelled "I don't wanna go!" all the way.
However, he finally closed his mouth when he saw a spear pointed at his face. "Okay. We don't have to use force." He said as a sweat dropped down his face. "I'll walk."
Half an hour passed before the two teenagers and the Hatter arrived at the green queen's castle.
They then were hand-shackled and then pushed to sit on a table full of all kinds of food. The same table that they ate from the last time they were there.
"You must be hungry. Please, help yourselves." Queen Miku said making the three eye her. "Oh I forget, your hands are tied so you can't eat." She said then smiled widely. "I'm afraid that you have to wait for me to allow my guards to unshackle you."
Gumi hated that smile. Queen Miku wasn't normal, she knew.
That made her confirm that the attack last time was real.
"Why did you attack Gumi before?" Yuma asked as if he read Gumi's mind.
That made Miku blink. "Attack? Me? I can never do such a thing!" She said with a hurt expression. "From where would you get that idea?"
"The man you sent to kill me told me. He was afraid. And that's why I believed him." Gumi said that looking right to the queen's eyes.
"Him?" Miku said before her smile returned to her. "I see. That betrayer... Good thing that I killed him..."
Gumi's eyes widened. "You killed him?! How could you-!"
The green-haired girl stopped when she felt a spear pointed at her neck. "Of course I would kill him! He attempted to run away! He betrayed his queen! The only punishment for this around here is DEATH!"
Yuma was too focused on Gumi as the spear settled on her neck so he didn't see how devilish the queen's face looked that time.
"But hey... you wanted to know why did I send that piece of trash to kill you that time?" Queen Miku spoke regaining her composure. She then glared at Kaito, who was too busy with the food in front of him: being hand-shackled, Kaito constantly dropped his fork and knife making unbearable sounds.
"What? I'm not supposed to?" The Hatter spoke with his mouth slightly full.
"Take him from here and throw him in a cell. I'll deal with him later." The teal-haired girl spoke to one of her guards with a disgusted look on her face.
Again, the same guard from before dragged Kaito outside ignoring his protests and yells of him not touching the ice-cream yet.
Gumi watched that and prayed in her secret that Kaito stays safe until they meet again.
"Back to our topic." Miku said looking at the frustrated duo. "Why did I try to kill this girl from before?" She asked with a voice full of laughter. "It was because she was cute."
"Huh?" Gumi's face was hilarious. "What's she saying?"
"You may think that such a silly reason is not enough to kill someone..." Miku said as she stood up from her throne. She then went down to where Gumi and Yuma sat.
Lastly, she leaned next to Gumi's ear and whispered. "If you stayed alive, people would then look at you and forget me. They may betray me and make you their new queen..." Gumi listened to Miku as her voice became dangerous. The queen then grabbed the girl's hair, much to her disapproval. "In other words... you are a bother..."
Yuma gritted his teeth and tried to stand up as he saw what Miku was doing to Gumi. But as he did that, one guard was alerted and pushed the pink haired guy down again.
Miku then laughed. "I don't advise you to struggle!" She said with an insane look on her face. "After all, the more you struggle, the faster you die!"
Gumi was furious. She before thought that the people of the green kingdom obeyed Miku because she was unbelievably charming. However, after seeing how she acts, she would DIE to know why they still obeyed her.
"Of course... I do want to kill you right away, miss Gumi..." Miku spoke as she went back to her throne. "But I can't do that. I have to let you see him before I would do that."
"Him...?" Yuma asked as he clenched his fists.
"Yes. Apparently, you two caught his eyes. So I will let you speak to him before I execute you both tomorrow, along with that stupid Hatter."
"Why?! He has nothing to do with this!" Gumi found herself yelling.
That made Miku grin widely. She loved how desperate Gumi looked. "He pisses me off." She said carelessly. "Besides, it's his punishment for trying to help you guys behind my back."
"Why you..." even Yuma found himself hateful of Miku as she said that.
Miku grin became wider. "Now then! Let's take you to the joker now shall we?" She said before pointing to two of her guards to go take the two away.
The guards moved and dragged Yuma and Gumi with them.
And before they leave, the two could see queen Miku smiling and waving innocently at them.
The girl was a devil in disguise.
Enveloped in nervousness and fear, the two walked between the two guards for a bit before they reached a room with a huge door. The door had a joker engraved on it, one just like you would find on play-cards.
As they were too busy with staring at the door, the two jumped as the door opened making a huge sound in the process.
Inside, there was a chair which had a single man sitting on. That man dressed funny as he hand long boots, each one a different length from the other. He had baggy pants and wore a long hood that covered most of his face. Still, it was clear that he painted his face with something as his skin color was bizarre.
The two then got kicked inside and the guards went out closing the door behind them.
Standing up slowly, Yuma and Gumi tried their best not to fall again as their hands were shackled.
"To think that I finally get to meet you two..." the strange man spoke lifting up his head.
One look at him would tell you that he wasn't someone you could trust.
In fact, for fragile-hearted people, some may even scream at the sight of that face.
"Welcome... my remaining two of the fifth Alice..."
Anyone curious of who's the Joker?
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