Title: The Wonderland of Judai Yuki
Genre: humor, romance
Rating: T for language
Pairings: JohanXJudai (hinted others)
Summary: While watching the stars one evening, young Judai Yuki sees a young man with bunny ears rushing away. Upon following him, Judai stumbles down a rabbit hole into a mythical place called Wonderland. With a young man named Johan Andersen as his guide, and the strange people that he meets along the way, Judai must find his way back home. But will he be willing to leave Johan and his friends after getting attached to them?
Me: The next chapter is up and running, guys!
Lucy: Johan and Judai have now headed into the forests, and they are about to meet someone, or rather, something, that might just put them both in horrible danger!
Me: Will Johan be able to protect Judai?
Lucy: Read on!
Chapter Nine: Jabberwocky
When they got further into the forest, Judai noticed that Johan seemed almost horrifed by something. He kept on tensing every time there was a slight noise other than their breathing, and Johan had ordered Judai not to speak a short while ago. Judai had asked why, but Johan told him not to utter a sound and to keep his breathing shallow and watch where he stepped.
Judai clenched Johan's hand tightly as they wandered through the thick forests on the path of the White Rabbit. They were careful not to step on any sticks.
Johan stopped abruptly, and Judai slammed into his back with a small grunt.
"Johan?" the brunette whispered.
Johan glanced around and tensed, his hand gripping Judai's as hard as he could. Judai sensed the fear the bluenette was feeling, and he knew that something was wrong.
"Joha-"
ROOOAAAR!
Judai gasped and fell silent, clenching onto Johan as tightly as he could. Johan tensed worse than before and grabbed onto Judai's hand, pulling him as close as he could manage.
Both fell silent as the roar seemed to silence everything, and it was deathly quiet.
You could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet. Judai was shivering, and he felt Johan hold his hands reassuringly. The bluenette leaned and down brushed his lips near Judai's ear.
"You might want to find a tree you can climb, Judai," he murmured softly.
Judai looked at him in confusion. "Why?"
Johan turned and clenched Judai's shoulders tightly, peering into amber brown eyes. "Remember the poem I said when you came here? Yeah, this is it," he said with a swift nod.
Johan pushed Judai away slightly, in the direction of a tree to climb up and hide in the leaves. Judai stopped and gripped onto Johan's arm as tightly as possible.
"What is it?" he murmured.
Johan peered down at him. "It's a Jabberwock." Judai blinked in confusion, and Johan moved him towards the trees again. "Judai, don't ask questions, just please, go!"
"What about you?" Judai whispered.
"Nevermind me!" Johan shook his head. "Judai, I'll be all right! Just climb a tree and stay there. I'll lead it away, and as soon as I am out of sight, run straight forward as fast as you can until you get out of here."
Johan pushed Judai towards the trees again, but Judai refused to leave Johan's side.
"Johan, I am not leaving you!" he shouted.
Johan groaned and grabbed Judai's shoulders, peering into his eyes. The brunette could see the worry that flashed through the boy's bright emerald orbs.
"Look, Judai, if you don't-"
A loud grunt/roar broke Johan's sentence. Both Johan and Judai fell silent as they realized that the noise was close. They looked around, and heard footsteps slowly approaching them from the sides.
The footsteps seemed to stop, and the two boys refused to move.
They slowly turned around and faced the other direction, neither of them uttering a word.
Towering before them was a monster that Judai imagined only came from nightmares. It was a dragon-like creature with huge jaws and fangs, narrow crimson eyes, strange tentacle-shaped whiskers sticking from where its nose was, flaring nostrils, large claws, a long slender body with a broad chest, large bat-like wings, and a long tail that trailed on the ground behind it. Its face was a dark purple, its neck a similar color, but then the purple seemed to darken on the rest of its body and turn a dark navy, almost black.
Flame-scented breath eked from its mouth, where a thick red tongue rested. Its chest heaved up and down, as if it were getting ready to breathe fire on the two boys.
Claws dug into the ground, and Judai noticed that they were a nasty yellow, jagged and sharp, just right for tearing through flesh and bone with one clear sweep.
"Run."
That was all Johan had to say for the two to spring into action.
Johan ran to the left, Judai ran to the right. Both of them went as fast as their legs would carry them, in hopes that the Jabberwock wouldn't be able to catch them both if they separated.
The Jabberwock roared, sending tremors through the ground that almost knocked the two boys off balance, and then chose his target and went running at top speed.
Johan stopped when he didn't feel the vibrations from the Jabberwock's massive weight behind him.
He dared to turn around and risk getting devoured by the beast, to find that the Jabberwock was not following him at all. Johan stared on in horror at what he saw.
The Jabberwock had chosen to chase after Judai.
"No-!" the bluenette shouted as loud as his body would produce his voice. "Judai-!"
The bluenette hurried as fast as he could after the massive beast and the brunette whom he had vowed to protect. But no matter how fast he moved, he couldn't seem to be fast enough.
Judai ran, feeling the Jabberwock right behind him. If he hesitated for even a moment, the monster would catch up to him and that would be the end of him.
Game over.
End of story.
There was no way in Hell that Judai was going to die this way, especially not to the hands- well, the claws, actually- of a monster like this. There was just no way.
It was gaining on him. It was coming right after him, he could feel its fire-hot breath slamming against the back of his throat, sending a horrible pain through his flesh. He had to get away. Judai could feel the tremors shaking the ground, and he knew that it was coming right after him, and if he stumbled for even a second, the Jabberwock would end his life.
Unfortunately, Judai was sent sprawling to the ground when his ankle caught on a tree root.
And that was the time that the Jabberwock chose to swing its massive claws and try to attack Judai, seeking to cut the boy in half in one swift slash across the waist.
The claws hooked into Judai's upper right arm as he fell. It wasn't a deep enough cut to severe the boy's arm, but it was enough to cause three huge gashes to appear.
Judai collapsed into the mud when he fell, and immediately rose to his feet.
The Jabberwock had stumbled when it took its swing, giving Judai some time to pick up some speed. Hand gripping his wounded upper arm, the brunette rushed away while the Jabberwock took a split second to recover before it headed after the boy again.
Judai picked up speed, his heart thumping in his rib cage to the point where he thought it was going to burst, his hand gripping his arm, his breaths coming in ragged, fearful pants.
His foot caught on another root, and he was sent to the ground yet again.
He whirled around onto his back and came face to face with the Jabberwock, who reached out with its massive jaws and seeked to clamp them around the boy's body.
Unfortunately for the Jabberwock, and fortunately for Judai, its shoulders got stuck in two large trees that Judai had managed to slip through, and its jaws was just inches away from Judai's body, just barely able to reach him if it stretched hard enough, or if Judai moved even slightly towards it snapping, angry jaws and flaming crimson eyes.
"Judai-!" Johan hollered as he came running from the left.
He saw the Jabberwock stuck in between the trees, and he saw Judai laying on the ground. Johan reached into his holster, which he kept on the side of his leg, and drew out a knife. The knife was long and made of silver, with strange rune-like designs on the blade, the handle made out of obsidian(1).
Johan leaped down and knelt beside Judai, merely inches from the Jabberwock's snapping jaws.
The bluenette looked over and swung his hand forward, catching the knife and burying it deep into the Jabberwock's left eye, blood streaming from the eye socket. The Jabberwock gave a horrid shriek of agony and threw its head back, its eye ripping from its eyes socket with a gut-wrenching snap(2).
Johan tore the massive eye from his knife, put it back in the holster, grabbed Judai's arm, and helped him to his feet.
"Are you all right?" Johan shouted.
"Y-yeah," Judai lied, not wanting to tell Johan about his wounded arm.
Johan grabbed his wrist while the Jabberwock roared in pain over its wounded eye. "Come on!" Johan shouted, dragging Judai as far away from the Jabberwock as he could.
When they were far enough away, Johan turned and grabbed onto Judai's shoulders, peering into the boy's amber eyes. Judai noticed right off that Johan seemed worried.
"Judai," Johan breathed. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, Johan," Judai lied, gritting his teeth slightly as the pain in his wound burned. "I-I'm fine."
Truth be told, Johan hadn't noticed the wound. Judai's sleeve was covered with so much muck and dirt that it was impossible to see any blood that was probably oozing from the wound. Judai applied pressure to it with his hand, so there was no chance of him bleeding to death once the blood stopped gushing and clotted.
Johan again took Judai's hand in his own. "Then let us be on our way before the Jabberwock comes back," he said.
Judai nodded and followed Johan, wincing as the pain in his arm seemed to intensify, weaken, and repeat every few minutes, until eventually, the brunette just decided to ignore it.
Me: Oh no! Judai has been wounded, but he's not telling Johan 'bout it! (1) Remember this knife! In the sequel, "Wonderland Insanity's Judai", this is Judai's main weapon. Johan's knife. (2) Remember what Johan has done to the Jabberwock. This plays a major role in the next few chapters, and a higher one in the sequel.
Lucy: Is it a serious injury, or is it something that Judai can just shake off and forget about?
Me: If you want to find out what the wound is or if it's just a simple flesh wound and nothing at all to worry about, then please read on when we update the next chapter!
Lucy: Please review, and we shall update!
