A/N: Sorry this took so long! I really haven't been in the mood to write lately.
The Crooked Man walked away; Mother Hubbard clinging to his arm. I sat up, slowly as best I could. Ichiro and the other one came to my side.
"S-see?! She's insane! T-the only reason's she's here is for bloodshed… she doesn't care about her so-called 'siblings'!" Ichiro said. "We can't let them take you, quickly! Run now, or just get out of here whenever the opportunity strikes!!" he yelled. I looked at him.
"B-but what about you?" I said, referring to both of them.
"…Y-you… go… get out of here…w…we'll be fine..." I heard a low, hoarsely whisper, and it wasn't Ichiro.
"Eh?" Who said that? Was it that other boy? I looked at him, I could actually see his eyes, that were usually covered by his long, black, unkempt hair. His eyes where a dulled purple-like color, they looked a bit fogged too, just like Usagi's eyes… this boy reminded me of him… and I wonder what he's doing now? If he's looking for me, or not? Just where was he?
"Kaede… you voice…" Ichiro whispered
"I'm not Kaede… here… re-remember…? I'm Jack…" he sniffled, "Jack Jelf…" he hid his Usagi-like eyes beneath his black dirty hair. I hadn't realized I've been staring into them until he hid them. A large shadow fell over us and the light that was flowing into the room ceased.
"Humpty Dumpty…" a deep, husky voice said at the doorway. "I'm Black Sheep. Come with me." he said. This Black Sheep guy was very tall, almost as tall as the door itself, and he was somewhat muscular, unlike his co-worker. He had black hair and brown eyes that looked black themselves. His eyes where foggy, dull, and they looked like they've been through more than his fair share of hardships. I just looked up at him. He looked down at me. I slowly rose, and stumbled a bit. Ichiro and Kaede reached out to grab me, but I pulled myself together and boldly walked towards the door. Before Black Sheep shut the door, I looked back at their frightened faces, and gave a re-assuring nervous smile, as if to tell them I'd be fine. Even though I knew that something bad was about to happened, and they knew it too. Black Sheep shut the door. I just noticed my heart beat was erratic; I felt sick.
"This way." he said simply, walking out towards the door. I stayed silent. Should I listen to what Kaede and Ichiro had told me? Should I really run for it? Where would I go? I have no idea where I am. This realization frightened me even more. If I did run away and somehow contact Usagi-san, how would I tell him where to find me? How would I do anything? It's suspicious enough to see this boy no one's ever seen around in tattered clothing, walking around aimlessly.
"Hurry up." he said impatiently, yet emotionlessly. I took a deep breath and walked out of the room, and followed him. He went up the stairs just to the right of the room. We were on the second floor of this three story building, so we were going up to the third. He turned and continued up another set of stairs, smaller than the one we just went up. When we went around the corner, he looked out of the corner of his eye to see if I was still there. I should run. We were on the roof now, and knowing the Humpty Dumpty story, something really bad was going to happen. And I could guess what.
"The Crooked Man is really a good person. He saved us from that institute. They used people as experiments, and the Crooked Man went crazy because of it. I'm telling you this because I know what he does seems unforgivable, but… you have to understand, he thinks he can save society using Mother Goose. Forgive him." he said softly, not even looking at me. I looked up at him, a bit confused.
"Eh?" I said. He turned his head and looked down at me with the expression that looked like pity.
"Soon… soon you shall see." he said turning back around and leaving me in my confusion. I followed behind him, looking back seeing if I could get away from anywhere. If I go back, I could go get Ichiro and Kaede, then get the hell out of this god forsaken place, then that'd be good. But there was a lot of them… so the escape couldn't be as easy as just grab and go…
"We're here." he said, still not a single emotion peering from his expressionless expression, nor his tone of voice. He opened yet another metal door, and to my surprise it was night. He pushed me out the door, he stayed inside the building. I was on the roof. It was dark and cold, and autumn breeze passed. The brisk, cold air was a relief to my lungs from all the musky polluted air from inside that building which smelled of blood, alcohol, and sex. Leaves floated above, riding the wind and floating about. The night sky was overflowing with beautiful glimmering stars. The moon was full, the night illuminating a white light from it. I would normally love a view like this, and probably even love it. But right now was not the time for viewing the scenery, I had to find a way down, fast! I looked around, trying to see a ladder, fire escape, anything!
"Well? What are you waiting for?" I heard a taunting, impatient female voice. "Get over here!" she yelled.
I looked to the source. It was Mother Hubbard. She was sitting on the edge of the half-wall, a light coming from the ground gave her an outline in white light. She wore a long red dress that frilled at the bottom an a long white apron over it; it had what looked like blood splatter on it. She also had a black bonnet on and some off her shiny mink colored hair framed her face. She also wore lens-less old fashion circular glasses to highlight her red eyes. All that she was wearing looked like the English's Victorian style clothing.
I slowly and hesitantly walked over to her.
"That's a good child." she reached over to me. Expecting something painful, I closed my eyes tight and braced myself, putting up my guard. She violently pulled my arm and pushed me up against the half-wall. "Alright, shorty. Time for your test: a test of worthiness." she said sadistically. To my surprise she picked me up; she must have been a lot stronger than I thought!! She set me on the wall, my legs dangled over the edge. I looked down, after shielding my eyes from the blinding lights from below. The crooked man was sitting in a chair on a small hill on the ground below. The other girl, Dame Trot was standing next to him, holding a cat; Little Miss Muffet, looking remorseful. The other guy, I think his name was Doctor Foster er' something was to his left. In the front, Blind Mouse pointed a video camera to where I sat on the roof. What the hell was this, a theatre?!!
"All ready then, Bind Mouse?" The Crooked Man said, fixing his equally crooked hat. He was also dressed up, in a old fashioned black suit, old boot, and a demented crooked cane. Blind Mouse gave a thumbs up, giving him his answer. "Well then, Mother Hubbard!" he looked up, his twisted grin reaching to his ears. "It is time to see, if you are worthy of being the child of Mother Goose, Humpty Dumpty." He crossed his legs and rested his cheek in his hand. "Dame Trot, the book." he said pointing to her feet. She kneeled down and picked it up. It was a old, tattered book. The cover was nearly hanging on and it was stained all over with, again, what looked like blood. "Mother Hubbard, you simply must be careful with precious books when your getting rid of the unworthy." he said opening the book.
"Sorry, Crooked Man. Bad habit of mine I assume. She said pulling at her apron, examining the blood. I shivered. The Crooked Man gave his signature smile and continued turning the pages in the book. I couldn't see much from where I was, but the book had some sort of pictures in it.
"Ah," he said, "here it is." he put his finger on the page. He reached up to his masked face. Undoing the strap that held it there, he took off the butterfly mask. My eyes widened; he showed his face! He was a relatively young man, a little older than me it looked. His eyes where a bright brimming light green and his skin was pale. He had handsome features, all except for on imperfection. There was a large scar that stretched from his forehead to the corner of his right eye.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Oh, god… now I knew what was happening!! What this test is!! I was going to end up like that! Splat on the ground from a four story height!! I felt extremely sick, the color left my face. I began to feel cold, even colder than before. I suddenly noticed I was trembling rapidly. My heart picked up speed.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
With that, I gasped. Mother Hubbard's cold hand was pressed against my back. She giggled a little and with the strength of one finger she pushed e off the edge. I can't believe this was happening! The air whipped in my face, I was going to die.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!" I screamed, what else was I to do. In a short moment, I fell and landed on the ground with a sickening crack. Another scream, it was loud and blood curdling. I realized then it was mine. I grabbed my leg. Exploding shock waves of pure pain throbbed in my beaten leg. I knew it was broken, I landed on it. I laid there, whimpering in the dirt. The Crooked Man clapped and laughed sadistically. He just laughed, and laughed.
"Beautiful, beautiful!! Surely you are worthy!!!" he clapped moreand practically screamed in laughter. "Now let me continue."
I began to see blackness at the corner of my eyes, my leg still in a massive amount of ungodly pain. I slipped out of consciousness to the echoing his eerie rhyme in his taunting tone.
Threescore men and threescore more, couldn't put him as he was before.