A/R: Despite the size of this chapter (which is reasonably long for me), it didn't really take much time to write. A good three hours at most.

starfruit-kitten: I do not own Monochrome Factor, even though I would really like to.

Akira: I feel like I'm forgetting something...

starfruit-kitten: You're pants? xD

Akira: -_- No, that's not it.

starfruit-kitten: Oh well. I'm sure it's nothing. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Warning: this chapter contains... er... there's nothing to warn you about...

The Black, the White, and the Alice

The brunet's eyes snapped open. Where was he? What happened? Did he really go off a waterfall? Was he still alive? He didn't feel dead, but maybe that's what being a ghost or something felt like. No, he was probably still among the living…at least he hoped that he was.

He sat up with a grunt. He felt exhausted, though somehow, he wasn't in pain. Nowhere, not his limbs, his head, or even his back hurt in the slightest. His body didn't appear to be caked with mud, nor showed any signs of injury and his dress (seriously, was this thing indestructible?) was perfectly in tact.

The boy took a minute to look around. He appeared to be somewhere in another forest. This forest however, differed from the one he'd walked through with the Cheshire Wolf and the Dormouse. This forest was an unruly thicket of seemingly glowing sapphire blue trees and vibrantly coloured flowers. Taking a closer look at the curiously coloured foliage, the brunet noted that the thick blue-grey tree trunks were adorned with intricate swirling patters.

Looking up at the sky, he noticed that it was nearly pitch black. He wasn't sure how, but the trees managed to give off a bioluminescent glow. Trees don't normally do that, do they?

There didn't appear to be any form of path anywhere, much to the brunet's dismay. Heaving a heavy sigh, the teenager started through the forest.

xXxXx

The brunet thought he heard a low rumbling off in the distance on either side of him. If that's another wave, he thought, I'm going to hit someone!

The noise was getting louder and much clearer. In fact, it didn't even sound like rumbling at all anymore. It sounded more like horses at full gallop…

The boy swallowed, and then looked to his left. A knight clad in black armor carrying a long, pointed lance and riding a steed as black as night itself was coming straight at him. He looked to his right. Another knight, this one wearing blindingly white armor, was riding a steed of pure white. A river of lengthy raven black hair flowed behind him. He too, was carrying a lance with an incredibly dangerous looking point, and was headed straight for the brunet.

Both knights were getting closer and closer with each passing second. At this rate, the brunet would end up a shish kebab! But what could he do? There were two frigging knights on horseback about to impale him! He was cornered. There was nowhere for him to– the teen mentally slapped himself for not thinking straight. All he had to do was step out of the way, and so he did. The brunet watched, from a reasonably safe distance, as the two knights met at full speed. The White Knight skillfully dodged the Black Knight's lance, while the black knight was knocked off his horse.

The White Knight slowed his horse to a trot, and then looked back at the teen, giving a brief nod. The brunet, not really knowing what else to do, nodded in response.

The black knight, who appeared to be dead, lay motionless on the thick carpet of sage coloured grass. Suddenly, the Black Knight's head jerked towards the brunet, revealing a pair of glowing red eyes on a shadow-black face through its helmet.

A Kokuchi.

Wasting no time, the armored shadow rose from where it lay and started towards the teenager.

This was far from good. The teen didn't have any form of weapon to defend himself, and the White Knight was too far away to do anything to help.

Now, the Black Knight was looming over the brunet. His needle-sharp lance glinted in the blue light from the trees. As the Kokuchi raised the weapon to deliver the first and final blow, time seemed to slow down. The White Knight and his horse moved in slow motion towards the scene, but they were still too far away. What was the teenager to do now? He needed a weapon! Something, anything would do!

"The knife, Alice," said the familiar voice of the Cheshire Wolf from nowhere in particular. "Grab the knife!"

There it was. Wedged between the roots of two trees, was a knife with a scarlet red hilt. There was only one problem: it was inconveniently place behind the Black Knight, which meant that he'd have to get past the freak in order to get to it.

Mentally shrugging, the boy rolled out of way just before the knight's lance struck the ground with a tremendous force. Scrambling to his feet, the brunet made a mad dash for the knife while the knight struggled to remove its lance from the earth.

He grabbed the knife, and gave it a hard pull. Great, the damn thing was stuck! Hastily looking over his shoulder, the brunet tugged at the knife again, desperately trying to miraculously jerk it out from its iron-like confinement. "Come on, come on!" the boy urged. Looking back again, he saw that the shadow was no more than a good five meters at most away from him.

The Cheshire Wolf's golden eyes and gleaming grin emerged from thin air beside the teen. "Maybe if you were nicer to the blade, it would let you use it."

It sounded stupid, ludicrous even, but it was crazy enough to work. Besides, other than his head, bodily fluids, and all life as he knew it, what did he have to lose?

Easing his grip on the blade's handle, the boy pulled again, gently this time. A faint red glow surrounded the blade as it glided out from the smooth tree bark.

I blinding crimson light radiated from the strange knife. What was going on? The Kokuchi Knight was shielding its eyes from the light. That was as good a time as any to get rid of the thing once and for all. The boy dashed towards the shadow knight and plunged the knife through the knight's armor and into its chest. The Kokuchi screeched as it turned to red dust.

The boy down looked at the knife in his hand. It looked like a decently large chef's knife. The blade was made of white silver and the handle was like the hilt of a Japanese sword whapped in red silk. In all honestly, it was a nice knife: too big for kitchen use, but perfect as a weapon.

"That must have been some pretty thin armor," the Cheshire Wolf commented as he appeared next to the teenager. "You cut through it as if it were made of butter, and not even the good kind."

The brunet smiled, "Maybe it was," he joked. "Is the Dormouse with you?" inquired the teenager, since he didn't see the mouse anywhere.

The Cheshire Wolf sheepishly chuckled and shook his head, "His hips were hurting, so he went back to the Hatter's place." The look on the wolf's face was one that screamed "I'm a dead man".

The teen groaned. They probably went off to do indecent things. He cringed. I don't even want to know what they were up to.

"Anyway, who's the knight?" asked the wolf. The brunet shrugged. He too would like to know.

The White Knight dismounted from his steed. His armor didn't make even the faintest of sounds as he moved. He leisurely strolled towards the two and stopped a few feet in front of the wolf.

The Cheshire Wolf's eyes widened in surprise. His mouth gaped open as he fumbled for words. "You're… you're," was all that managed to come out.

The brunet rolled his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked, seeing as the wolf wasn't going to say anything more than one word at the moment.

The White Knight waved his hand as if waving away the question. "That doesn't matter right now," he said. "What's your name?"

The teenager opened his mouth, but closed it after a brief moment. That was a good question. What was his name? Had he really forgotten who he was?

"Alice," the Cheshire Wolf grinned, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it. "His name is Alice."

A/R: I'd like to thank EmeraldandAmethyst for her little KouKa suggestion (I hope I did okay with it). Anyway, reviews, suggestions, typo point outs, and anything else you have to throw at me is very much appreciated.