Chapter Nine
The lights in the theatre slowly dimmed once the theatre was full and Yugi slowly removed the hood his trench coat while a spot-light was set upon the stage as Shira walked out onto the stage in her black dress and black high heels. The theatre remained silent as she moved to the center of the stage while the spot-light followed her and she slowed to a stop once she was facing the crowd. Back-stage, Lark watched her intently while Scarlet stood beside him with her sword in hand and Shira turned her head to smile at the both of them before slowly turning her head forward as her smile faded. She hadn't been under a spot-light since the night she met the four Alices and she hadn't had an audience since Aaron, her creator, had passed away from over-dosing his medication while he was in the nursing home. The memories that ran through her mind were ones that she believed were gone and she smiled faintly as she felt a crystal-clear tear fall from her right eye.
"There once was a Dreamer...
Who made him, unknown. The Dreamer thought one day, "I'm tired of this world...
How can I make Wonderland real?"
The Dreamer dreamed and dreamed, day by day. Then, he came up with the perfect four to play Alice "If I send these four into Wonderland...
Maybe they will form a paradise..." Shira said softly before the spot-light shut off and music began to play.
The spot-light slowly shown once more on the stage to reveil a black forest scenery with a red sky background and Scarlet sang as she slowly moved out onto the stage:
"The First Alice was a wrathful woman of the Spade. She held a sharpened blade in her hand so couragously. She never hesitated to slay all within her way. Many paths of blood followed her through Wonderland"
As she sang the first verse, she held up her sword and swung it skillfully through the air while she continued to walk across the stage, splatters of blood following her slashes that formed a path slowly under her feet.
"Deep into the forest, this Alice was cornered. She was then captured and imprisoned as a murderer. Had it not been for the paths she'd left behind...
No one would have ever thought that she had ever been."
As Scarlet filled the last verse, a crowd of shadow figures formed around her and cornered her against the largest of black trees in the scenery, then a pair of silver chains grabbed her from behind by the wrists to raise her up off the ground against the tree as her sword fell to the floor with her head hanging low before she slowly raised it with the last lyric to wink at the crowd as her end.
The shadowy figures dispersed and the red sky background shifted into a blue in an instant once the spot-light left Scarlet and another fell on Lark as he stood in the center of the stage with his right gloved hand on his top-hat while his head was lowered and his eye that was exposed was closed as he sang:
"The Second Alice was a fragile man of the Diamond. A graceful, beautiful songbird in the world of Wonderland. He sang his twisted melodies to a crowd of faceless shadows. Creating the image of the sick and the disturbed with his every lark"
As he sang, Lark slowly removed his top-hat and opened his exposed eye to look at the crowd, then closed it again as he rose a gloved hnd as if he was giving an opera while the shadowed figures returned behind him with no faces, only crimson smiles.
"Deadly, yet so beautiful, a voice just like a rose. He was shot by a mad-man who silenced him to death. A single rose bloomed in the place of the gun-shot wound. And everyone showed their tears as he sang with final breath"
As Lark finished his verse, a larger shadowed figure moved behind him as he gracefully turned and a loud gun-shot sounded through the theatre, then Lark fell gently onto his back with his head facing the crowd as a red rose bloomed in the place of the "wound" while shadowed figures surrounded him and he ended with a quick close of his exposed eye.
The shadows dispersed once the spot-light left Lark and the blue sky behind the dark forest trees shifted into green and a castle scenery took over with some of the dark trees remaining as Emerald emerged onto the stage in a green dress similar to Shira's, only the skirt was shorter, going to her knees, and had no sleeves at all, as she sang"
"The Third Alice was an innocent young girl of Club. An enchanting, graceful figure in the world of Wonderland. She charmed every and any man who laid his hands on her. Soon, a strange green country became her odd domain"
As she sang, Emerald twirled bout the stage gracefully, only slowing to a stop within the arms of a shadowed figure while she held her arms gracefully out on either side of her as two more shadowed figures occupied her hands with their crimson smiles as the third behind her laid his chin on her shoulder while his arms remained secure around her waist, then she slowly moved her hands away and freed herself as the shadows dispersed upon her doing so.
"Soon, she rose into the throne to be the country's Queen. As years past, the Queen succumbed to paranoia of her impending death. Her eyes soon were blinded with the images of death. Through eternal rule, she would never give up her crown"
As she sang, her dress slowly morphed into what she normally wears while a throne made of shadows formed behind her for her to slowly sit in, then she pointed to her bandages that blinded her eyes before she slowly lowered her arm to the arm-rest. The spot-light instantly left her and the green sky background of the dark forest and castle slowly shifted into yellow.
"And as this passed, two children explored the woods." Rona sang in the dark.
"Through many doors and hallways, they knew they'd never part." Ronald joined.
"They found an invitation to the Queen...it was the..." Rona began.
"Ace of Hearts!" the twins sang in unison as a yellow heart appeared on the stage.
"The Fourth Alice was a duo of curiosity. Both became lost and could not find where they began. And so they went through many doors and down so many paths. A brother and a sister whose bond would never break"
As the twins sang, they both skipped out onto the stage with two spot-lights on them as they joined one another over the heart with hands instantly entwining, then they walked side-by-side across the stage and completly around in a circle through different colored doorways on a crimson path until they were standing in the heart again facing the crowd, then Ronald turned his head towards Rona on "brother" and Rona did the same to him on "sister" before both turned their heads to the audience.
"A stubborn elder sister..." Rona sang while turning her body slightly away from the audience while bending her right knee innocently.
"A witty younger brother..." Ronald sang as he did the same with his body while adding a touch to his top-hat.
"They soon wandered too far into..." Rona began.
"The First Alice's Wonderland..." the twins sang in unison.
A shadowed figure slowly came up behind them while the sound of feet crunching leaves was heard and the figure, shaped like Scarlet, smiled a crimson smile before the spot-light shut off.
"They were never woken from their terrifying dream..." Rona sang as the spot-light slowly returned to reveil Rona and Ronald sitting back-to-back in the center of the yellow heart that slowly turned crimson.
"Forever doomed to wander through..." Ronald began.
"This twisted fairytale!" the twins finished in unison.
A red spot-light shined on Scarlet as she remained hung against the tree by her wrists and she was a distance from left back-stage from the audience's point of view. Lark soon had a blue spot-light shined upon him while he remained lying motionless in a pool of "blood" and a rose remained bloomed over his "wound" while he lay a distance behind the twins. A green spot-light soon shined on Emerald while she remained in her throne that was near right back-stage from the audience's point of view and a shadowed figure stood at her side in the form of the Grim Reaper. A yellow spot-light slowly shined on Rona and Ronals while they remained in their position. The stage was soon pitch black once the music stopped.