Anya was thrown down a tunnel. She groaned as she hit against the walls, and again when she finally rolled out, thrown against a different wall. "Oh...Dear Lord that hurt..." She curled up a bit, her body was almost completely numb from all of the pain she had already endured.
"Anya." There was a voice from behind her as she sat up.
Before she had the chance to turn around she felt strong arms around her. "I'm so glad you made it this far..."
The accent was familiar. "...Ludwig?" She traced over his hands, smiling when she felt him nod against her neck. "Oh, Luddy! I'm so glad you're here! You won't believe what I've-..."
She turned to see Ludwig, white bunny ears, dressed properly. "seen..." She tilted her head to the right, and then smiled as she forced herself to stand on her knees. She moved closer to him, and he watched her, his cheeks etched red as he saw her reach for one of his ears. "Awww, Ludwig bunny!~"
"Yes..." he kept his arms around her waist, then suddenly pulled away, looking at a pocket watch. "Verdammt!" He shot up, and pulled Anya to the door he was guarding. "Anya, quickly open this door!"
She stared at it. "What door is this?"
"The Forgetmenot Room." He held onto her hand tightly. "This will lead you through a few of the friends you've had throughout your life, and what you've done to loose them."
Anya raised her brow, Ludwig is guarding the door that's about friendship? How weird..."Alright..." She leaned down, sliding the key into the keyhole. She took the first step out, smiling a little bit as she looked around.
She seemed a little braver, and Ludwig took note of it, smiling as he walked quickly into the darkness of the forest ahead of them, refusing to let go of Anya's hand. "The queen will have our heads if we're late!"
"Late?" Anya stared up at Ludwig. "Late for what?"
"To get you to the last door, Anya!" He said a bit frantically. "The sooner we get you out, the sooner Anya can come back."
She looked utterly confused. "Huh? I don't wanna come back to this place, Luddy." She frowned as she tried to keep up with him.
"No," he said as he turned his head away. "We're all waiting for you, to be absolutely mad again." He smiled happily. "Like the rest of us."
"But I'm not mad, I was never mad."
"Neither were your brother and sister, Arthur and Katalina, but in this world they are. If you replaced our Anya here, who do you think has replaced you out there?"
"...my mad self."
"Correct."
"She's probably running a muck! Why didn't anyone tell me this before now?"
"Because they just want to get her back before she really messes things up..." He'd look around, then stopped in front of a figure. "This is Ireland," He said as he motioned towards the red headed man before her. "You used to be friends with this man, ja?"
"Not exactly..." She turned her head away. "You already know what happened, Ludwig."
"Nein." He stood straight. "I know what happened between you in this world, but not out in the other world."
"He took me away from my sister when we were both younger." She bit her lip. "He did nothing but ruin my country, so Arthur took me away from him."
"Then that is the problem." He said walking passed Ireland's figure. "You let his brother get a hold of you instead of sticking with him. He became jealous and stopped talking to you."
Anya's brows lowered as she was being dragged along now. "...I never knew.."
"You weren't supposed to know." he sighed as his ear twitched. He looked at the pocket watch. "We're late!"
"We are?" She questioned.
"The queen will have our heads! Oh no, we're late we're late!" He started to walk faster, gripping onto Anya's hand tightly.
Anya tried to keep up with him. "L..Ludwig! Calm down! We'll be fine!"
"No no no!" He protested as another figure appeared in front of them. "We don't have time!"
Anya stared as the figure turned. His face was familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "...Ludwig."
He stopped his panicking at the sound of her voice. "Oh," he looked at the figure. "you don't know him?"
"...I...think I might..." She stepped a bit closer, but Ludwig pulled her back.
"This is Oublie, now."
She froze, staring at her little brother. He was a teenager, where has the time gone?
Ludwig continued, "He slipped away from you very slowly, and is now starting to turn against you." he sighed, walking passed the figure again, but was suddenly stopped when Anya didn't move. "Anya?"
"...I lost him?" She managed to choke. "I lost my little brother...and he hates me?"
Ludwig looked away. "...Anya, let's move on, okay?" he gently tugged at her arm, and she let herself be pulled away from her teenaged brother. "I'm sorry Anya..." He stopped, turning towards her as he stared down.
She looked up to him, she was trying to hide the sadness in her eyes, but they watered up. Slowly a tear dripped down the side of her face, and Ludwig's brows lowered. "No no," He started to mess with her arms a bit. "Don't you cry! If you cry...if you cry you'll only make things worse!"
She let out a whine before she let her legs collapse under her. "I wanna go home! I hate this place! Take me home, please!" She let her head hang as she trembled. "You forced me to open my heart and dreams, You made me re-open wounds, and now you're doing this? I've had enough!"
Ludwig stood, letting her scream and cry all she wanted. "...We would have been late anyway..." He said as he sat down in front of her, holding his arms out to her.
She sniffed, and let herself fall into him. "I hate this place, Ludwig."
"I know you do..." He sighed as he slowly pulled the hair tie from her pony tail. "None of us like it here, but we're all stuck until you can be free..." He gathered her hair up again into her pony tail, but replaced the hair tie with a ribbon.
"Why am I even here? I don't understand..."
"You're here because your mind finally had enough." He played with her pony tail. "You kept keeping things in, you never took the time to take out your anger or sadness on something or someone...and you've made yourself believe that you do not hate, at all."
"I don't hate..."
"That is a lie."
"How? How do you even know anything about me?"
"Because I'm part of your mind...and if you don't start taking care of it, you will lose it. A mind is a terrble thing to waste, Anya."
She stayed quiet, and then let out a sigh as she fiddled with the buttons of his waist coat. "...Then, if you're part of my mind...who do I hate?"
He chuckled quietly. "I can not tell you such things. You haven't admitted to hating this person yet, so I have no idea who it is, but I have a pretty good feeling I know."
Anya closed her eyes softly. "When can I go home...?"
"You have one last door to open," he looked down at her. "With the queen..."
She shifted her eyes up to his. "How do I get to the queen?"
"You let me lead you to her."
Anya slowly pushed herself up, smiling a little bit. "Will you lead me to her, Ludwig?"
"Are you sure you're prepared...?" He brushed the hair from her face. "Do you remember, you have to be fully prepared."
"Yea..." She stood up, just as Ludwig did. "I'm ready, I wanna go home..."
Ludwig nodded, holding his hand out to her. "Don't let go, okay?"
Anya laced their fingers. "Not for the world."
She followed Ludwig as he lead her over a bridge, and through a daisy garden. He stopped as they approached a door with a heart and a crown inside of it. "Anya, are you ready?"
She stared at the door, and then at the key on her wrist. "I'm ready..."
Ludwig let go of her hand, and smiled a bit. "Unlock it..."
He started to fade away as Anya slid the key into the keyhole, she let the door slowly push it's self open before a welcoming voice called to her. "Come inside, sweetie." Anya stepped into the room, letting the door close, and disappear behind her.
