REVERSAL
-

"These are our forests. We are not kind." The Vashta Nerada

10
THE HORROR OF ORPHEUS

If you're reading this, SHAME on you! A girl's diary is PRIVATE!

But I guess you wanna know a little about me. I'm Daveigh Evelyn Pelekai. I'm engaged and about three months pregnant now...though it FEELS like more. I'm just a nice, normal, white-bread type girl. I volunteer at the retirement home. I collect bugs!

Don't worry, I like butterflies, sparkly stuff.

PRETTY bugs! I've got a collection of the same kind of red shirt with a white floral pattern back at home, all of them show off my stomach. I like the feeling of the wind against it as I'm running, what can I say?

The wind. I LOVE the wind. The way it blows through my hair is wonderful. And I guess that's what I remember first describing...how I ended up here.

We'd been asked to do a favor for the Caterpillar's wife, the former "Monarch". Several dozen associates and comrades of theirs had been over in Australia and exposed to something. Something very, very BAD. Something that had been apparently terrorizing individuals who'd set up home around Ayer's Rock, aka Uluru. She wanted us to go there, get rid of whatever this "something" was, and hop back as soon as possible, mostly because if the Caterpillar found out about it...

Well, he'd take the "hands on" approach. He's kind of an idiot that way. He's got, from what Princess has told me, 89 million Irkens to take care of, all refugees from a civil war that devastated their home. He's their Obi Wan Kenobi. He's their only hope!

And that was how we became the town's only hope.

In retrospect...we should have thought this through. Instead, all I could think of as we rented a nice "Rangler Jeep" to take us there...was that I really, really liked the feel of the wind in my hair as it blew across the Australian Outback.

Daveigh brushed her hair back slightly as it fluttered in the wind, blinking pretty and focused green eyes as Green got the jeep gassed up, Princess at the wheel and looking through a square-shaped portable CD collection of blue and black fake leather. "Hmm. No, no...not that, either." Princess murmured, golden eyes a-glitter.

Daveigh tilted her head to the side slightly as she looked Princess over. "Hey, Princess...can I ask you something?" She wanted to know as Princess finally picked out an orange-colored CD, putting it into the player in the jeep as Green went inside the station to pay for the gas.

"What?" Princess asked in a disinterested tone, annoyed that she had to be kept from playing her favorite CD of all time.

"Your eyes. How come they're gold?" Daveigh wanted to know. "I mean, not that I haven't seen people with gold eyes, I have." She nodded firmly. "I've seen people with purple, people with pink, people with red...well, DEMONS with red..."

"You've met demons, huh?" Princess mused, chuckling with a faint skeptical sneer on her face.

"Seriously." Daveigh insisted, putting one hand on her chest. "But really, he's very nice. His name's Snizzi, he's a dear friend of the family and of Green."

"You yakkin' about the Emperor?" Green inquired as she sauntered back over to the jeep, leaping over the car door and plopping inside the seat. "Yeah, he's a weirdo, but I like him a lot. Not a bad guy for a demon...well, IMP, really."

"An imp gets the title of "Emperor"?" Princess laughed, starting the car up by turning the key. "That's kinda sad. Who died and made HIM king?"

"Everybody else." Green chuckled, making Princess gape slightly. "When people say they "clawed their way up from the top", and talk about "all the people they've stepped on", they usually don't mean it literally, but when you're trying to crawl out of a fiery pit to reach a throne that's a nexus point of power-"

Green sighed, suddenly becoming quiet. She had been doing some thinking and now she realized why the "Emperor" of the Major Arcana had been crying at those therapy sessions, why he kept suddenly bursting into tears during Major Arcana meetings. It had to do with the one they'd all forgotten. With Nick.

He wanted to remember so, so badly. He wanted his beloved back. That's all.

"...Princess, please tell me you've got something cheery to play. I got a weight on my shoulders that Atlas would be jealous of." Green asked Princess as the pink-haired president's painted nail hovered over the "play" button.

"Why, YES!" She said cheerily.

CLICK!

With that, a rocking 80's tune began to drift up from the radio as the outback of Australia came into sight, the baking sun held behind some clouds as the wind ruffled all their hair. The tune felt more in line with Southern California than Australia, but to HELL with it.

It was Katrina and the F—king Waves. They were gonna rock.

Gotta a lot to keep movin' on,
Shake it up!
Gotta lot to keep groovin' on,
Shake it up!
Gotta a lot to keep movin' on,
Shake it up!
Gotta lot to keep groovin' on,
Shake it up!

Now all of the young women were lip-synching together to the tune, heads almost pressed together as Katrina's smooth-as-silk voice rose up into the blue skies above, all their worries and fears fading, drowned out by drum beats and guitar riffs.

Red wine and whiskey, all the ti-ii-iii-iii-iime!
We had a lot f money, but we blew it to the line!
We'd lve to take you out tonight, but we haven't got a dime!
Red wine and whiskey, all the ti-ii-iii-iii-iime!

"Hey, WE'RE riding in style, in a rented car!" Daveigh realized as the song went on, spreading her arms wide to catch more of the wind. "...wait. Green!" She shot her head forward again, looking down at Green's seat. "Green, c'mon, put your seatbelt on, alright?" She asked her gently.

"Always worrying." Green chuckled gently, clacking the seatbelt in place as the three of them resumed singing once again, Ayer's Rock still several hours to go, and plenty more "Katrina" to belt out to.

...

...meanwhile, back at the White Queen's estates, The Mad Hatter was lifting a grand piano into the dance hall they'd be using, grunting slightly, clearly not used to heavy lifting. Luckily, Kualili WAS, and decided to spare the Mad Hatter and Oskar from this embarrassing moment, lifting the piano over his head and bringing it over to the spot in the main hall that it would be occupying for the dance.

"This place is turning out to look very nice." Coraline admitted, surprised at the excellent job that they had all done...that OSKAR had done. Who knew he had a knack for party organization and interior design?

"I didn't know you could...well, I kinda GUESSED, I mean, you seem the TYPE to play piano." Heartwing admitted to the Mad Hatter as he put on a stylish black tuxedo from a nearby closet, taking off his hat and placing a single white rose in the shirt pocket of his tuxedo, a small smile upon his handsome features.

"I used to play lounge piano in Vegas." The Mad Hatter admitted, sitting down at the piano and playing a few notes, his normally self-assured tone become soft and quiet, even introspective. "When I was much younger, you know. I played in a bar called "Alice's". That's where my outfit comes from. Bum off the streets, no name, gets a job playing piano and suddenly, I'm ROCKETING in dough and fame. And then..." He sighed wistfully. "Outta all the lives in the world, she had to walk into mine." He said in a gravelly, faux-noir style.

"The White Queen, then?" Heartwing asked, resting his head upon his hands as he sat down at a nearby table, Legato silently hiding in the closet nearby as the others left to prepare the snacks for the party, a jealous glint shimmering like a red ruby in his eyes as he angrily chewed his lip.

"She liked my act. A LOT. She asked me to come with, and I did." The Mad Hatter told Heartwing. "Heck, I'll be playing her and Legato's song for them at the party, the same one I played at their weddin'. Wanna hear?" He asked, a big grin stretching across his face.

"Oh, yes!" Heartwing insisted.

The Mad Hatter cleared his throat and was about to begin when he stopped, hearing a noise upstairs. "...wait. You hear that?" He asked Heartwing.

"...I hear...a guitar." Heartwing admitted. "Coming from the-"

Their eyes widened. The tower. Where Manifest was kept. Who'd snuck a guitar in to the person who's power was all about using music to manifest abilities?

They quickly jumped up, racing across the dance hall as Manifest plucked away at the guitar, silently nodding his head for a few minutes in tune to the rhythm of the song he was playing before he began so sing. "He was always faithful...always kind, but he walked off with...this heart...of miiiine...

"I've heard that song before." Heartwing said as he and the Mad Hatter opened up the door. "I KNOW I have..."

"You should. It's yours. It belongs to you. To everyone. Don't we all have our own personal Jesus?" Manifest asked, putting the guitar down on his bed as the Mad Hatter folded his arms, seeing the little gift-tag on the guitar reading "To MD, from The Rabbit". "Everyone has their own special someone, someone more special than anything or anyone else, am I right?"

Heartwing blinked, putting a silver-tipped finger to his lip.

He did have someone like that. Lilo and Nick had been dear, DEAR friends. Charlie, he was probably his best friend in all the world. He loved Chibisuke and Esmeralda, his beautiful children, and...

But what Manifest meant was someone like a lover. Did he have that? Did he truly have that?

Snizzi had loved Nick in that way. It had been strange, and weird, and gross to Heartwing to think about, but he'd sympathized with the imp. He knew Nick couldn't...what was the word King had used? "Reciprocate"? He couldn't do that. He couldn't return the feelings. Snizzi needed to wake up, but unfortunately for that "Sleeping Beauty", his Prince Charming wasn't gay. Or even part demon. Or old enough.

Or, for that matter, ALIVE.

Yeah, he knew what it meant for someone to love someone else that way. But did he love anyone like that?

"...I don't know for sure. But...there's someone who comes close." Heartwing found himself saying as his eyes misted slightly, thinking back to the day he'd held his newborn children in their arms.

Heatwave.

"...you're crying." Manifest spoke softly, as the Mad Hatter turned to look at Heartwing, a single tear making his way down his cheek.

...

...the town of Orpheus by Ayer's Rock was, to put it simply, oddly subdued.

It should have been vibrant. After all, it was an enormous country-style city. Large wooden and stone buildings, a big saloon/bar with a "Wild-West" style swivel door entrance, a large lake with several docks which had, from the discarded giant tubes left upon them indicated, been a great place for summer relaxation. A large water tower reaching up into the sky as if seeking to rip a hole through it, a flowery garden growing BY said tower...

Even the graveyard far across the lake looked picturesque and cheery. Decorated with dozens of flowers, statues of smiling faces, embracing lovers and happy families, the graveyard housed the only smiling faces THERE. Everyone else had an expression of a singular nature on their face.

That nature was "meh".

"Hey." Mayor Will, a darker-skinned Australian man with dirty-blonde hair said, shaking Princess's hand as Green and Daveigh exited the car.

"No, "g'day, mate"?" Princess asked, one eyebrow raised, looking expectantly at him.

"...doesn't feel like much of a good day."

"Say it." Princess demanded.

"...G'DAY, mate." The dirty-blonde mayor of the town of Orpheus sighed, shaking his head back and forth as he adjusted his pocket tee, leading them through the streets to his home. "You're not the first people that the Caterpillar's beloved Tak has sent here. Excuse me for being pessimistic and doubtful, but what do you hope to accomplish? You're not exactly the...strongest-looking people I would have hoped for." He told the girls. "Why didn't you bring along your Secret Service? There's strength in numbers, it's a good ward to protect you from coming down with a bad case of thedead..."

"The people of the United States are fine without me, they barely pay attention to anything else but the State Governments." Princess said with a dismissive hand gesture.

Princess knew she had to be careful about what she said. From the way the mayor was speaking, he assumed that all of the others that Tak had sent had, after going off after this "thing" that kept plaguing the town of Orpheus, spiritual capital of Australia, died. Horribly. He didn't know they all apparently survived, and there was probably a reason why Tak had neglected to mention this.

She gave the others a quick "don't say anything" look, finger held in front of her lips as she turned back to the mayor, who lit up a cigarette. "Just tell us where this thing that keeps appearing...well, APPEARS."

"Where else?" He murmured quietly, sadly, pointing across the lake, in the direction of the graveyard some distance from Ayer's Rock itself.

It was then that Princess noticed something, or rather, FELT it. A presence...stifling, heavy, thick and hot, emanating from with Uluru. She panted slightly, adjusting her sleeveless shirt as she turned to Green and Daveigh.

"You know...I'm hungry." She decided.

"When was the last time we actually sat down and ate a nice meal?" Green wondered. "...we need pie." She decided.

"Excuse me, Mayor Will, sir, uh...is there anyplace around here that sells pie?" Daveigh asked.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER...

"Order uuuuuup!" A bun-haired Australian woman called out, bringing over some lunch specials to their table. "An egg salad sandwich, two orders of apple pie and a cheeseburger, nice and fresh." She told the foursome.

"Mmmmmm." Green said, eagerly digging into the pie piece.

"Good as you wanted?" Mayor Will asked, raising an eyebrow.

"BETTER, actually. Thanks for bringing us here, Will!" Green asked eagerly, licking her claws free of pie crust.

"This is probably the best cheeseburger I've ever had." Princess said, licking her lips free of cheddar cheese. "You know, my mom liked to cook me cheeseburgers every weekend."

"A big family cookout, eh?" Mayor Will mused, chuckling slightly. "My wife and I used to do that to with our family. Then we'd go bowling afterwards."

"We had a circus nearby. We went there instead." Princess told them all as she scarfed down the rest of her burger at near-super-speed. "I liked the high-wire acts the most."

"You had an interesting childhood." Green remarked. "And that's saying something, considering my parents abandoned me to save me from The Devil."

"Huh?" Daveigh blinked stupidly over in her direction. "They did?"

Green sighed inwardly. Daveigh still hadn't "remembered" everything. Were she, Heartwing and King the only ones who remembered the truth? Remembered about Nick, about what Samael had done? Remembered how the Minor Arcana had appeared, remembered Kil-

"Daveigh, here." Princess ordered, tossing a wallet from her back pocket through the air. "Go get a shotgun. And a buttload of bullets. Get things that blow things up. Meet us at Ayer's Rock, Green and I are going to check it out." Princess told her suddenly. "I've been getting a bad feeling ever since I got here, a bad feeling coming right from that red hunk of stone. So don't screw this up, okay?"

"Uh, sure." Daveigh murmured nervously. "But listen, please, be CAREFUL." She insisted to Green and Princess as she pocketed the wallet. "We don't know what we're dealing with."

She looked around the town. Something was off. Something wasn't right.

What was she missing?

From a nearby tree, it watched. Hidden away, the shadow calmly waited, listening intently, a faint aura of amusement rising from it's body. "Well, well, well." It whispered. "Those kinds of people. Can't be much older than 25."

"Good indeed." The others waiting by the tree whispered as one. "Bring them. Bring them, bring them, bring them, bring them..."

...

...Daveigh rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she looked at the on-stock weapons in the back of the bar. She couldn't BELIEVE what was being offered up on the wall of the heavily-postered saloon. A contest advertising, of all things, a rocket launcher.

A ROCKET LAUNCHER.

"We fought PROUDLY in the war, ma'am." The bartender insisted in a thick accent, slamming his fist onto the bar as several dozen other patrons raised their glasses in agreement. "And we got to keep our weapons. They're badges of honor."

"So they took your uniforms and stuff, but not your guns." Daveigh stated. "...yeah. Yeah, I see how that makes sense. But which war are you talking about?" Daveigh found herself asking, still confused.

"The one 'gainst those bugs. THAT was the toughest war we ever fought." One bald-headed, fat, white-shirted man insisted, his friends in the apparently very military-friendly bar agreeing.

"At least WE won OURS, ya whiny, dope-smokers!" A blue-cap wearing old man with one tooth yelled at the table that man was at. "World War II was the last great war!"

"BAH, the RUSSIANS did all the dirty work fer YOU guys! We were over in Libya fightin' off terrorists, our "Desert Storm"! THAT was a real war!" Another man in a dark-green t-shirt.

"Desert Storm my ass, more like Desert Drizzle!" The bartender laughed. "You want conflict, I was over in IRAQ, motherf—kers!"

Meanwhile, Princess and Green were waiting outside of a large cave in Ayer's Rock, wisely staying fifty feet away from the entrance, looking at each other, then back at the town. "What's takin' Dave so long?" Princess mused as a nearby tree swayed slightly in the wind.

"Hey, it's "Daveigh Evelyn Pelekai", and it's a beautiful name." Green insisted, waving a claw in the air, suddenly hearing a strange noise. A buzzing, hissing kind of sound like dragonflies flying through the air. "...do you...hear that?" She murmured, whipping her head back and forth, trying to hone in on the sound with her ears.

"Bring them both here." The being whispered, claws raking against the wall of the place it called home. "Bring them here NOW."

"...P-Princess..." Green whispered, eyes widening in horror as she looked over in the direction of the tree. She pointed with a black claw, gasping. "The shadows..."

Princess looked...

There were now two shadows emerging from the tree, one of which rose up, a vague imitation of life faintly visible before a phantom smile spread across it's formless face.

And with that, they swarmed out of the shadows, buzzing on insectoid wings, compound eyes glittering with a microphone-like mouth as they hissed and "b'zzed", swarming through the air, clutching tiny little scythes, pale hair flying behind them. The size of horseflies...and with far worse stings.

"I hope you ain't soiled your tie-dyed pants, Rainbow Brite." Princess said quietly. "Not frozen in fear, are you?"

"No."

"Good. RUN."

"Just ignore them, shiela." The mayor said as he and Daveigh sat down, Daveigh ignoring the others as they got into a heated drinking contest to see which veteran could hold the most. "Tell me, what do you know about...well, the undead?"

"...I've fought them a couple times before." She said softly. "Why?"

"That's not the thing that's been plaguing us. It's more like...a side effect from the real thing. The thing that came here ten years ago." The mayor informed them as Daveigh began to think about what he was saying.

Ten years. Ten years and a bustling town with...

Something wasn't right. What had she missed? She'd missed something.

"An undead is something like a demon. More like a demonic-possessed shell of a human. Demons came to our home...led by this...this THING." The mayor told her as Green and Princess continued to run from the buzzing things, barreling down hewn hallways of rock, panting heavily. "Demons feed on negative human emotions, you know. They're like creatures of pure NEED."

"A demon came?" Daveigh asked gently, taking the mayor's hand and squeezing it. "What happened?"

Mayor Will held his head in his hands, sighing. "It was...it was the worst day of my life. Tuesday. Ten years, five weeks and three days ago. I...I remember I was arguing with my wife about our son. Something about...I...I hope it was important." He murmured.

And with that, Daveigh's eyes widened.

His son.

"...Mayor...where are all the children?" Daveigh asked quietly, the others in the bar suddenly becoming silent.

The mayor bowed his head as Princess and Daveigh found themselves tripping, falling into a pitfall, screaming as they plummeted down, down into darkness, into the smooth coils of something that gazed down over them, an amused expression dancing across it's features as it reached down with large, wicked claws.

"...Mayor...where are all the children?!" Daveigh insisted, a furious, fearful glint coming to her eyes as she slammed her hands into the table, the other men in the bar slowly rising as they calmly made their way towards her.

"There's one more of them..." The thing whispered as it looked down at it's prey. "...Hellmouth...get going. Finish...the job..."

"...Mayor...where are all the children?!" Daveigh screamed as she began to be pulled away, forced along by the others as the townsfolk silently watched her being brought down the road, alongside the lake and towards the graveyard.

From the mouth of the cave it came as Daveigh screeched in horror. It was an enormous, lizard-like draconic creature, a whip-like tail lashing at the ground, a crest of horny spikes rising off it's head, several jutting down near a maw...a burning maw filled with fire, kept barely contained by a set of grate-like fangs that slowly, painstakingly opened. A sound like the creaking of a raising drawbridge filled the air as it opened it's mouth, allowing the grate to rise, allowing the flame to pass out slightly in a light but lethal waft of flame, claws tightly gripping the ground as the winged things buzzed around the townsfolk, who bowed their head in shame as the buzzing things screeched all at once.

"A bad one, a bad one, a bad one, a bad one!"

"You MONSTER!" She screamed at the mayor. "Your own CHILDREN?!"

"I've saved the lives of everyone in this town." The mayor said calmly, coldly, snapping his fingers as the other men let Daveigh go, moving far away as the thing rushed forward, jaws snapping, Daveigh letting out a screech as she tried to run.

Tried.

Failed.

...

...Groaning in pain, they slowly rose to their feet, mumbling as they held their heads. They could vaguely feel something enveloping their bodies, holding them tightly in snake-like coils as a faint chuckle echoed through the air. They became aware then of just where they were, and their eyes widened.

The only way to describe it was something from out of a nightmare. All of the walls were covered in a dark, tarry substance, the faint remnants of people being left to be buried within remaining behind. Stalactites jutted down from the ceiling, almost pointed, as if eager to fall down and tear through flesh...

Though not as disturbingly eager as the thing that held them in its coils, a creature ten times bigger than they were, towering tall above them, skeletal claws resting on powerful arms as sunken, orange eyes gazed down at them. This thing that held them tightly had faintly purplish/black skin like an alien night, and horns red like decayed blood atop a spiked head, two blue triangular tattoos jutting down from its eyes as it chuckled...

It had no mouth. It had nothing but bones rising up, supporting half a head, with neck and maw long since ripped off. And yet it spoke, it spoke like the burning of a cold fire.

"Hello." It said. "Welcome. Upon this rock, we built our home. What are you doing here?"

"Sn-Snizzi?" Green whispered, looking the thing over as it chuckled slightly.

"So it's you. You and yet...not you. Do tell me...where ARE you from, young ones? What world do you call home?"

"We...we're from a parallel existence." Green managed to murmur out, recomposing herself as the thing uncoiled around them, calmly slithering around instead, sizing them up...no, no, it HAD already sized them up. This thing that reeked of charcoal was simply doing this to unsettle them, she was sure of this. "What are you doing here, exactly?"

"This is our rock." It repeated calmly, stopping in place, gesturing at a doorway of flesh behind it, held together with sinews methodically taken from poor, unfortunate souls. Green nodded over at Princess and the two made their way through the door, gazing out at a sight they would take to their grave.

Hundreds. Hundreds upon HUNDREDS of demonic entities all rising from a dark ground, gazing upon them, faintly growling, hissing, chuckling...an air of unmistakable contemptuous amusement lingering as the thing rested its giant claws on their shoulders. The enormous hewn-out hall went on and on, seemingly for MILES in the dark recesses of Ayer's Rock was faintly glowing torches of silver fire lit up the mighty room.

"The rock you crawled out from under...you've ALWAYS been here, haven't you?" Green realized.

"You're not the one I know, but...it IS good to see a familiar face." The thing spoke. "You needn't worry though, I've no intentions of harming you or your friend here...YET." The dark being added, one claw carefully held over their throats, moving across it, trying not to cut in before it was removed and went back to rest on their shoulders. "Now then, come with me."

It plucked them up in its large claws, holding them firm as it brought them to some kind of stairway, carefully descending. "You're slightly older than the others, I admit, but it does not truly matter."

"You haven't killed any of the people that were "sent" to you, we KNOW this." Princess said defiantly, golden eyes blazing. "Tell us, creature. What are you doing here?"

"We've ALWAYS been here. This was OUR world before it was theirs." It said, shaking its head back and forth. "We just decided to them know we were ten years ago. We had an arrangement. Unfortunately, now it's time to end that arrangement."

"What arrangement?" Green asked as they reached an enormous set of double doors, the beast opening it with the tip of its tail.

"We agreed to leave Orpheus alone. But you see, young ones...the problem is...these fine folks ran out of children." The thing said.

Green and Princess's insides went cold, even though the temperature suddenly spiked from the hellish, draconic thing that now blocked their path, gated maw opening wide.

"And so, it's time to collect for what they've done." The being that held them said, and had it a mouth, it would have smiled. "It is time for the town of Orpheus to die for sacrificing it's children."

With that, Green and Princess whipped their heads towards the horned thing's head. What? WHAT?!

The draconic thing rose on its legs, towering high in the enormous hallway as it reached for its stomach, a vault-like thing of the same bony grating as it's maw. It smiled calmly, opening it up and reaching in, an unharmed but unconscious Daveigh mumbling as it held her in one of its enormous, clawed hands, it's other hand forming a sizzling, crystalline orb. Carefully, it deposited the sleeping Daveigh into the ball like she was a goldfish and it was a tank for her to swim in, the human hovering within the orb, faintly whimpering as the demonic dragon smiled, turning to the others.

"Orpheus dies for what it did." The thing said with a voice like a rising fire. "You three...need to be kept out of the way for when we do it. We tire of them sending others to do their work. And so I, the Hellmouth, am going to bring you to your new home, young ones."

The horned thing handed it over to the Hellmouth as it did to Green and Princess what it did to Daveigh, the Hellmouth bowing before the horned thing. "Thank you, Corrupted." It said proudly. "When do we move out?"

"You're-you're going to just...kill them all?" Green finally asked, eyes widening.

The Corrupted's eyes glittered darkly in her direction. "We're going to do worse than kill them."