Shinigami-cat: Hey everyone, I hope you all enjoy it… I OWN NOTHING!

Checker's Mansion

It didn't take long before Arthur and Alfred had made their way to the home of the leader of the Checker's gang. The high walls of the building were covered in vines so thick, it was impossible to see the bricks. For all Arthur knew, the walls were made from vines.

Alfred let out a long, low whistle. "Wow… Have any idea how to get in?"

"No bloody clue." Muttered Arthur. "You're the thief. Shouldn't you know how to get inside any building you desire?"

"Quite true." Said Alfred with a grin. "But you see… I have no desire to go into that building. You're on your own here."

"Well it's a good thing you have no desire to get into the Heart's territory." Snapped Arthur. "I'm not leaving until I speak with that woman."

"I warn you, she's as mad as a hatter." Said Alfred in a hush tone

Arthur frowned a little. "Speaking of hatters… What do you know about a man named Gilbert?"

Alfred pulled a face as he strained to remember. "Gilbert… albino, mercury poisoning, drools a lot when he stressed and extremely weak?" He shrugged. "Yeah, that's about all I know about him. I only know a handful of people in this place. I'm mainly just a guy that runs around and gets information and stuff."

"Well, who do you know in this place?"

"In Checker's territory I know all about the people here." He started to count them off on his fingers. "There's the loony's at the bar. That'd be Mattie, Luddy and Gilly… White Rabbit also comes by but he's all over the place."

Arthur nodded a little and started to look around the walls, trying to find a weak spot so he could get in. "Tell me about them."

"Why? So you can dig up all their secrets?" Asked Alfred. "You people are like spies."

"Well excuse me for trying to make polite conversation." Growled Arthur. He walked around a corner and started to inspect the weathered looking vines. They seemed easy enough to snap.

"I was being sarcastic dude." Whined Alfred. "Anyway, I've known Matthew for a long time… He's a sweet kid. Hardly ever makes a fuss about anything. Only time I ever saw him flip out was when he was trying to get Gilbert down from the rafters. Hell knows how he even got up there. Anyway, Matthew's really quiet, but if pushed he will beat the crap out of anyone who pisses him off. He's the kind to walk softly and carry a big stick."

Arthur didn't expect that from the small blond boy. He seemed much to timid. He didn't really care though. He was only half listening to Alfred anyway. "What about Ludwig?"

Alfred chuckled. "What to say about Ludwig… He's your typical big strong German. He usually throws out people when they've had too much to drink. More often than not though he just needs to glare and people start running. He also has a fondness for rabbit stew and has one hell of a temper."

"Sounds like a handful." Muttered Arthur. He crouched down and started to pick away some of the dried vines.

His blue eyed companion scoffed. "A handful? That's Gilbert. It doesn't matter if they barricade his door, he'll find a way out an annoy the fuck out of everyone. He's more of a danger to himself than to anyone else." He sighed a little. "Too bad too… I heard he was a genius. Even found some papers that back it up too… Too bad I can't read German. Could be worse I guess… Ludwig says he still tries to do experiments when he has moments of clarity."

Arthur had just managed to make a small hole in the vines and was attempting to make it bigger without it looking too suspicious. "Really? Very interesting. What do you know about the White Rabbit?"

"Musical master." Said Alfred. "He's also know for doing odd jobs for people. Not all are innocent though… He's a murderer, thief and never does anything unless there's something he can gain from it. You can't trust him with anything."

Arthur frowned a little. He already assumed as much from the White Rabbit. 'I guess I should practice caution around him from now on… He could easily turn around and stab me in the back. Makes me wonder why he gave me that key… Does it even open the doors to this mansion?' He pondered this for a few moments longer before crawling through the hole he had made. Alfred quickly followed him.

They were in some kind of garden. Everything in this place was dead or dying, apart from the clumps of clovers that flourished in this place. It was surprising how everything looked. He was amazed that so much was alive. He would have to investigate that later.

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Arthur sighed a little as he sat next to a rock in the garden. He always loved going outside and being surrounded by nature and its beauty, though he wished that they could do something about the weed problem. There were too many clovers in their garden and he hated it.

A girl, several years older than him sat by him. Her hair was red, done up in a pretty braid and tied off with a green, white and orange ribbon. Her freckled nose wrinkled a little as she smiled to herself. She seemed to be off in her own little world and Arthur was content with that.

"Hey, Arthur." She said, her Irish accent coming out as thick as honey. "Some say the clovers are hard to get rid of. A weed if you would, but they are lucky lads and lasses. Besides, who could hate such a small plant that has such cute little flowers?"

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Arthur shook his head a little to clear his thoughts. He didn't remember who that girl was or even what that garden place was. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Getting into the mansion. "I wonder where we can get in…"

He touched the key in his pocket and frowned a little. 'Key to the front door or the key to my destruction… I shouldn't trust him, but can I really trust Alfred either? He blackmailed me in the first place.'

Suddenly, Alfred pulled Arthur down behind a dried hedge and quickly pressed his hand over his mouth. Arthur tried to fight back, but the other was too strong. "Keep low." He whispered. "Steam Droids." He pointed up towards the house as he slowly let Arthur go.

Still unhappy that he got manhandled by such a brute, Arthur slowly sat up and looked over to where Alfred was pointing. There were two Steam Droids marching along a garden path. They were wearing red and black patchwork uniforms, resembling a checker board and they were carrying bayonets. They did not look like any kind of Steam Droids he had ever seen before. They must have been butchered and modified by someone.

"What on earth…?"

Alfred shrugged. "That's just how they are… Keep your head down. They can't detect things by sound, but they can sense when people move."

"Motion sensors?" Asked Arthur. "But those are only theoretical… How the hell could they have…? Even the agency is only in the early stages development…" He was dumbfounded.

"There's nothing theoretical about this lot." Muttered Alfred. "Though we should be safer once we get inside. Keep that vorpal blade handy. It'll come in useful… Until then." Alfred got up on his knees and pulled a gun out of his pocket. Without hesitation he fired two shots. He hit the Steam Droids in their mechanical heads, causing them both to stumble and fall over.

"Where did you get a gun?" Asked Arthur. He didn't feel at ease knowing that his companion had something so dangerous.

Alfred grinned at Arthur's slightly worried tone. "Dude, that's what I got from those people back at the pub. Tools of the trade and so on."

Arthur frowned at how easily Alfred brushed off an answer. He stood up and quickly looked around. There was no way the pair could go through the front door, a backdoor would have to do. More than likely they would find one to the kitchen. He didn't want to have to deal with the house staff, but if it was unavoidable, he would have no choice.

He quickly spotted a backdoor and made his way towards it. There didn't seem to be many Steam Droids patrolling the place, which was good, yet suspicious. Perhaps he was just finally having some kind of luck. Arthur would have been grateful for that.

Arthur slowly opened the door and looked inside. Once he justified that the coast was clear he entered. As he suspected the backdoor lead to the kitchen; pots and pans cluttered the place, an oven had something cooking in it, the sink was filled with dirty dishes and the slight stench of rotted food hung in the stale air.

'What the hell? Where is everyone?' Pondered Arthur. He looked around the kitchen, stopping to peer into the sink. There was a thick layer of fat on the now cool water that surrounded anything and everything that touched the green water. No one had washed anything in that sink in ages. 'Odd…'

"This place smells worse than fresh vomit." Whined Alfred. "Why does it smell like rotting meat in here?"

"Rotting meat?" Asked Arthur. "I can't really smell it…"

"Do you have no sense of smell?" Cried his companion in shock.

Arthur shrugged. "I think there was an accident or something and I partially lost my ability to smell. It's not a big deal. It just means some smells don't affect me as much as others do."

Alfred pulled a face and leaned against a big industrial looking door. "Whatever. You can open the oven then. The smell is coming from in there."

Frowning, Arthur walked over to the oven and opened it. He could smell what Alfred was talking about now. The foul smell of rotten meat filled his nose. In the oven was something that looked like a fish covered in maggots and other crawling insects. He slammed the oven door closed and gagged a little. "There's something not right here."

"No shit!" Snapped Alfred. "We should leave here before something bad happens."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "We can't leave yet. I need to talk to the leader of the Checkers. You're free to leave any time though. I neither need nor want you here with me. I'm perfectly fine on my own."

"You're a dick." Muttered Alfred as he looked around the kitchen. "Okay, so we have rotten food and stuff in the sink… Where is everyone else though?"

"No clue." Said Arthur. "Maybe they were fired and left, but that wouldn't explain why the kitchen hands simply left in the middle of making a meal…"

Alfred frowned a little as he looked down at the floor. Suddenly his eyes went wide and his face turned as white as a ghost. "I think I know what happened to them…"

Arthur too looked down to see what Alfred meant. There was a dried trail of blood streaked across the floor and towards the door that Alfred was leaning against. The pair exchanged worried looks before Alfred opened up the door he was leaning against.

It was the door to a walk in freezer. Frozen meat hung from hooks from the roof and in the middle was a small pile of dead bodies, all in different styles of uniform, but all seemed to be staff working in the Checker's mansion. Their skin had turned a greyish blue and their eyes were all clouded and milky. Many of them had their heads split open and a thick frost had settled over them, indicating that they had been dead for a long time.

Alfred gaged a little and quickly turned away, shuddering. "I-I told you she was mad… Fucking crazy. You know why no one is allowed to see her? She's bat shit crazy insane. We need to get out of here!"

"No." Said Arthur sternly. "Something happened here and we should find out what it was."

"You saying that seeing those bodies had no effect on you at all?" Asked Alfred in shock.

"Why should it?" Asked Arthur calmly. "What is the difference between these dead people and the people walking around outside? We all end up dying eventually. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust." He sighed a little and took his vorpal blade out. "Either way there is something rotten going on here. I'd love to speak with this woman about this…"

Alfred frowned and looked away. "This is a bad idea… Do you really need to see that person? It could… It could end horribly. You could die."

"I'm not afraid of getting killed." Arthur frowned a little and walked out of the kitchen. The halls were deserted and the objects around the hall were covered in thick dust. It didn't look like anyone had been in this place for a long, long time.

'This place is just… What happened here? Is the leader even here anymore? Why would she?' Wondered Arthur. 'How could things have gotten so bad? I wonder what would happen if the people out there knew about this… There might be panic.' He walked through hall, running his finger over a dust covered frame and let the dust fall to the floor.

"This place is messed up." Whined Alfred. "Do you… do you think that there are like… ghosts in here?"

"I don't believe in ghosts." Said Arthur quietly. "People believe in that rubbish to make up for all the nonsense in the world. Those stories are just used to change the state of mind of those dumb enough to hear them. Fairies on the other hand…"

"If you believe in them then you're a real wack job." Muttered Alfred.

Choosing to ignore Alfred's ignorant comments, Arthur continued to walk. "… It might be more beneficial for our situation if you waited outside. I might take a while."

"But I don't wanna…" Whined Alfred. He looked around a little. "Hey… if it's okay with you, can I actually look around this place myself? I want to see what's around…"

"So you can rob the place?" Asked Arthur, unamused.

"If everyone's dead it's not robbing the place is it?" Asked Alfred with a grin. "If no one lives here, which I doubt they would because it looks abandoned to me, I wouldn't be robbing anyone. I would be… liberating the valuables if you would. Material possessions are no used to anyone who's dead. Better to let the living do what they will with them, right?"

"Whatever." Muttered Arthur. "It doesn't bother me… Just watch out for the White Rabbit. He said he was going to meet me here or something… Pretty sure he was lying or something but you never know."

"Thanks for the warning." Said Alfred he turned and happily walked down the hall, gun in hand. "But he won't kill me if he has nothing to gain from it. He never does anything without a motive or profit. Why would he want hurt me, a thief? If he wants something I have I'd be more than happy to give it to him. My life may be miserable, but it's the only one I have. Best not to waste it."

Arthur rolled his eyes and kept walking in his direction away from Alfred. He didn't want to admit it, but the thief might be right. There may not have been anyone living in this house at all, yet there were Steam Droids. Modified Steam Droids. No one would leave those when and if they left.

'Well… I guess they are just robots programed to do the same thing over and over again… I suppose it isn't too farfetched to think that they would continue their function even after they passed away, but where could she have gone? I-I don't understand…If I just had all the pieces I could figure it out.'

Arthur sighed in frustration. He couldn't think straight and he didn't understand why. He had been in much worse places than this. It was just an old abandoned house. He wasn't sure, but eh figured it had something to do with the fact that everything about the abandoned mansion seemed too sudden and abrupt. Even the quick and malicious deaths of the house staff seemed too quick, though the dead were not his concern.

"If she isn't here, than is the girl I'm meant to find with the other gang leaders?" Arthur muttered quietly to himself. He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out the key. The burnt ribbon reminded him of something, but he couldn't remember what. It was a little nagging thought at the back of his mind, but he chose to ignore it.

After all, it was simply a key. A key White Rabbit gave him. That alone was grounds for suspicion. He should have just thrown the key away as soon as he gave it to him, but curiosity was a dangerous vice. Something he might sooner or later regret.

TBC

Shinigami-cat: Well that was that chapter. I hope you all liked it. Please review