I know, I'm late. Whatever. Have I told anyone that I'm not constant in update...? Well, here's the ugly truth: I update when I like it.
Be-cause, I write for myself and people's enjoyment.
Oh yeah! I make up my late update with this long chapter! Enjoy, people! (Is actually feeling guilty)
Welcome to The Amusement Asylum!
Through The Cheshire Woods!
The first morning for the Amusement patients in the Cheshire Woods came! Everyone was still chained except for Alice. Some were packing for the trip to the manor, some were busy getting out from their chains; Elliot and Dee, for example, desperately pounding an axe to their chains.
"These mother-fucking chains!" Elliot growled, now trying to burn the chain with a torch.
"You idiot!" Dee kicked his hand away, dropping the torch; "The heat will get to our wrists!"
"Surrender already, you pair of fools!" Vivaldi ordered, fanning herself with a leek, Bubbles sitting on her laps. "Now go and pack our things!"
Elliot and Dee pursed their lips to the younger girl. "Then what's the use of Nightmare!?"
The spoken vampire was already busy packing things, but it was a mess. "No, no...our team needs water...no, I only need a bottle...but what if Elliot takes it? But I have to bring lots of celery or Vivaldi will behead me...water? Celery? Water?"
Ace had changed from a chef to Indiana Jones, wearing an explorer hat, reading the map like a boss, watching a compass, licking his index finger and held it up for the wind to blow.
"Hm, the wind is heading South, our destination is West, quite a challenge...Airay, the wind's speed?"
Pierce threw Derpina to the South and used a stopwatch. "The speed is 4 kilometers per hour!"
Dum twitched as he was taking a glance to the two. He was charged to pack, which was a bad idea.
"Those idiots...okay, they're idiots, so they won't need too much water." He threw away some bottles of water, and then fell silent for a while. "But maybe Blood needs more. He's smart." He put in more bottles of water. "How much of kerosene do we need?" he pondered, looking at the gallon. "Ah, maybe a bottle." He nodded, starting to divide the kerosene into a bottle, and then stopped. "But...I want to burn down these woods...yeah, I'll need more kerosene. Water is easy, we'll manage somehow..."
Julius, on the other hand, was in bad luck. He was the only organized person, the exact opposite of the rest members of his team. Boris was still asleep, and Alice was sitting around messing with a guitar.
"Summer...has come and passed, the innocent can never last..." she sang awfully, while picking on the guitar incorrectly. "Wake me up, when September ends..."
"If you've got time to play that guitar devastatingly, please help me packing instead." Julius deadpanned.
Alice snickered and put down the guitar, quickly approaching the older young man.
"Yeah, sure..." she said, purposedly standing close beside him, and then gave him a dangerous smirk. "Blood's chainsaw is amazing, huh? I wish I can buy one—"
"If you've got time to bully me with such intimidating gesture, please leave me to pack alone." Julius deadpanned with a nervous sweat falling down his temple.
"Yeah, sure..." Alice went back to the guitar. "Like my father comes to pass, seven years has gone so fast...wake me up when the packing ends~" she sang again, playing the guitar off-tune. "Julius, if you're done, teach me to play this stuff!" she whined.
"Honey, I can teach you right here, right now!" Ace said quickly and ran to her, dragging the whole team, and took the guitar from her hand. "See, you hold it like this. Try that." He handed it back.
Alice twitched as she held the guitar again. Ace clapped his hands proudly.
"Aww, that's my girl! Now you start off with a bit of Espana." He took the guitar again, and played Espana for a while slowly, and then instructed the younger girl where to put her fingers.
"You done yet!?" Dum yelled impatiently, "I'm busy packing my kero—I mean our things here! Don't forget that we're handcuffed here!"
But then, Blood had taken a seat and grabbed the guitar from Alice, starting to play.
"Wake me up...when the packing ends..." he started, and his team facepalmed.
Alice frowned to the rest. "Do we have to go to that manor? We're free now!"
Elliot dropped his axe and turned to Alice who sat right behind him. He twitched. "Are you saying...it's better if we stay here, scum?"
The blonde hummed seriously. "Actually it doesn't really matter. Anywhere is fine~"
"B-But, Alice...Derpina says it's not good, since you won't find food sources here!" Pierce shyly pointed out, holding up his volleyball. "These woods are dangerous...my family here stay in their nests a lot."
Everyone froze. "Your family."
Pierce nodded. "Yes, this is my uncle." He pointed to a squirrell. "And this is my great-great auntie, you can call her Aunt Theodora." He pointed to a rat.
"Well nice to meet you, madam!" Ace carefreely extended his hand to the rat, who quickly bit his finger. "Ouch. You're so full of energy, madam!"
"Ace said there's a river here, so there's fish. Fish is food!" Alice said again, "So I'm staying here. This is my new house! The sky as the roof and the earth as the floor...Farewell, people." She waved happily to everyone who froze in disbelief.
"That's a wonderful idea, Alice Liddell." Blood clapped his hands formally. "I shall stay here too, away from noisy humans, living among amazing wild crows, mutilating animals as my new hobby."
"Alright, let's go to the manor!" Alice quickly raised up and walked. "And someone needs to wake Boris~!"
The sleeping Cutter was still drooling. "Pasta~"
"OH MY GOD, LOOK! IT'S GERMAN! HE'S WEARING A BIKINI!" the Tweedles shrieked fakely.
"WHERE!?" Boris woke up instantly.
"Okay!" Ace clapped his hands and then pointed a finger to the woods. "Off we go!"
~.X.~
According to Indiana Ace, they would spend two days to get to the manor on top of the mountains. Across a river above a waterfall, miles away above a village, they had to walk through the woods and they planned to stay a night in a cave shown in the map left by Dr. Gowland.
Fortunately, Cheshire Woods were such beauty in the daytime.
"When I was...a young boy...my father...took me into the city...to see a marchingband..." Boris sang, playing the tune while Julius walked beside him. "He said; 'Son, when you grow up, would you be...the saviour of the broken, the beaten, and the damned?'"
Elliot cleared his throat and joined. "He said, 'Will you defeat them? Your demons and all the non-believer, the plans that they have made?'"
Dee and Dum were impatient and got to the chorus quickly; "We'll carry on! We'll carry on! And though you're dead and gone, believe me! Your memory will carry on, we'll carry on! And in my heart, I can't contain it, the anthem won't explain it—"
"You're singing too quick, scums! It's still not the chorus yet!" Elliot yelled.
"Oh shut it!" Dee snapped. "The chorus is good!" Dum yelled back, nodding with his brother.
"No fighting~!" Ace suddenly appeared between the three, smiling wide and dangerously.
Boris scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Since when you're the Peace-Keeper?"
"Huh?" Ace turned at him in confuse. "Who are you...? I'm not the Peace Keeper! I'm Indiana Jones!"
"You're Indiana Dunce!" Dum kicked Ace's shin. "Dunce!" Dee mocked again, slapping the brunette's back.
"Psh, men..." Vivaldi scoffed, and then tugged Alice's shirt. "I want to pee." She said, and put Bubbles on top of her head.
Everyone froze. It was really...unexpected. Going to pee wasn't calculated...because they all forgot that Vivaldi was a girl. Elliot, Dee and Nightmare were handcuffed with her. Which was...unfortunate of them. Alice bursted out laughing.
"Haha! Now that's a problem~ What will you do about those guys?" she asked, nodding to Vivaldi's team.
Vivaldi glanced at them emptily and scoffed again. "We'll have to kill them first." She nodded, pulling out a kitchen knife, and somehow her teddy bear's eyes were gleaming.
Alice stepped backwards and tugged on Julius' shirt. "Do something quick." She whispered.
"Er...Vivaldi." Julius awkwardly said.
"Oh yes, My King?" Vivaldi gasped, hugging Bubbles tight.
"Killing...is not cute." Julius said again.
"Really?!" Vivaldi gasped and quickly threw away her knife, "I didn't—I was just joking, hahaha!"
"Joking my ass." Elliot growled and glanced up to see a magpie fled to its nest. He froze in instant. "Sp...Sp...Sp...Sp...Spppooon...!?"
Everyone twitched and looked up to the nest. Aw great. There's a magpie just brought a spoon to its nest. Moments later, Elliot was dragging his team as he climbed up the tree eagerly like a dog chasing a cat on a tree.
"SPOON! LEMME GO, SCUMS! MUST...GET...THAT...SPOON!" Elliot roared.
"Get down get down get down!" Dee shrieked, he was hanging right under Elliot, who was already halfway to the top.
"WAAH! I WANNA PEE!" Vivaldi cried, now like a proper girl, hanging down Dee, Bubbles was hanging from her hand.
"Oh no! SUN! SOMEONE THROW ME MY SUNGLASSES!" Nightmare shrieked frantically as he tried to cover his eyes from the sunlight.
"Haha!" Ace laughed as he watched team one worked their way up to the tree, "Who are those idiots? Why are they climbing up that tree? Anyway, what were we doing here again?" he chuckled, and glanced to Alice, "Honey~! Remind me what to do here?"
"We're going to the manor." Alice deadpanned. "But we gotta get Elliot down before he drags his team up."
"What." Boris glared at her. "You're hoping one of us will do that shit? Leave them."
"True," Blood nodded. "We shall not waste more time."
"B-But Dee's still up there!" Dum yelled and quickly hugged a tree. "I'm not leaving without Dee!"
"Nightmare! This is your sunglass!" Pierce yelled, jumping, while waving a sunglass.
"You don't need to do anything. None of us need to." Boris said again coldly, turning away. "Just leave them. Usually, that's what you'll do, right, Alice Liddell?"
Alice glared back at him and then moments later, she was already climbing up the tree like a boss, and snatched the spoon right from the magpie, and climbed down again quick. She waved the spoon to Elliot.
"Here, boy, here...This is your spoon down here..." Alice cooed.
"SPOOOOON!" Elliot roared and jumped down, bringing down along his team.
"GYAAAH! CAREFUL, IDIOT!"
"I WANNA PEE!"
"SUNLIGHT!"
Alice slapped Elliot's head with the spoon angrily. She scowled at him. "This is just a spoon, Elliot! Please! Is this thing more important than their lives!?" she dropped the spoon to his hands. Elliot was startled. "Seeing this, I won't be surprised if one day you exchange your friend's life with a spoon." She deadpanned coldly and walked away.
Elliot bit his lower lip, staring to the spoon in his hand. He glared to the girl, pocketing his spoon, but then noticed the cold glances from his team. Vivaldi pouted at him, wiping her tears on Bubbles' head, Dee scoffed coldly as he turned his back to him, and Nightmare frowned at him timidly.
Alice walked beside Julius as they continued their walk. She sighed restlessly and turned to Julius with a frown.
"Was I too harsh?"
Julius glanced at her, and nodded. "But that's proper. I think you've snapped something out of him. Let's just hope it's a good thing."
Alice nodded. Vivaldi tugged her shirt again.
"I want to pee." She whined, and glanced to her team. Alice gave them a stare. Dee groaned and walked up to Vivaldi, dragging her wrist.
"Okay, fine, pee." He sighed and dragged Nightmare by the chain.
"I suppose we should stop for a while." Blood said to Ace who agreed.
"Very well, scouts! With this kind of pacing, we might get to the cave by sunset..." Ace muttered worriedly. "The wind will speed up by evening. This isn't good."
Dum watched Ace analyzing in amazement, sitting beside Pierce.
"Can you believe this guy?" Dum asked, his eyes twitched.
Pierce shook his head and shook Derpina in his hands.
"Yesterday he was a carpenter, he built house nicely. Then he was a chef, and cooked like a boss. Now he's Indiana Jones, and he actually led us like a pro!?" Dum facepalmed.
"Amazing..." Pierce sighed. "Derpina thinks, if Ace acts less like an idiot, he'd be a perfect man...handsome, smart, talented...unlike Pierce, Derpina says Ace gets more chance—oh shut up, Derpina!"
~.X.~
Meanwhile, Elliot's team was having a bit of problem with a certain purple-haired princess.
"Don't you dare sneaking up on us!" Vivaldi warned deadly, clutching her teddy bear which eyes gleamed dangerously.
"Sneaking up? On you?" Dee twitched in disbelief. "You don't even have boobs!"
"Um, Milady, this is the water for you to clean up." Nightmare elegantly handed a bottle of water. "Please dispose of it as soon as you're done. We don't want to mix it up with the other bottles and drink it."
"Uuurgh, that's disgusting." Dee groaned.
"Hurry up...scums." Elliot scoffed coldly, feeling unwanted by his team. Vivaldi scowled at him for a second, before leaving with the bottle.
She walked as far as the chains let her, keep on glancing behind, worried if an idiot would sneak up on her—as if—and then voila, she stumbled on a root and spoiled her water!
"Oh dear!" she sighed and collected her bottle, the water was spoiled on her hands. "Is this enough for me to clean...up..." she frowned as she noticed the handcuff of her left hand started to melt, and dropped on the ground. She gasped and hugged Bubbles.
"Haha! Wonderful!" She squealed, jumped and grinned to behind her back, walking even further, knowing she won't have to worry about them sneaking nearby. She's as free as Alice!
But when Vivaldi turned to the front, a pair of golden eyes were right in front of hers.
"Princess Vivaldi, you finally come." Gray Ringmarc showed an empty smile and grabbed the girl's wrists. Vivaldi gasped in shock. She dropped her teddy-bear.
"Y-You!?"
~.X.~
"Hey, it's seriously been too long!" Boris yelled. "Don't tell me she's getting her first period, 'cause Dr. Gowland didn't leave any pads!"
Alice narrowed her eyes on him. "Must you speak so vulgar?"
Boris glanced back at her coldly. "What?" he snapped, "Now you want to control the way I speak too?"
"I don't need to control the likes of you." Alice scoffed.
"Huh." Boris snickered, "So you're controlling the others as you please?"
"I don't control anyone! Look, can't we just drop—"
"Vivaldi is gone!" Dee gasped as he rushed out from the bushes along with Nightmare. Elliot followed behind with a worried scowl. "She's gone! Look!" he showed off the broken handcuff which was Vivaldi's handcuff. Julius quickly took it and examined it.
"How is this possible…The chains won't even break by an axe…" he muttered seriously.
Alice's eyes widened, remembering the dream, and she instantly rushed deeper to the woods and found Bubbles on the ground. She gasped as she noticed the presence coming from that teddy-bear. Was Bubbles possessed with a ghost!? She went to touch it.
"Help her! Alice, Vivaldi is taken!"
Alice gasped and let go of the stuffed animal, but then touched it again cautiously.
"To the manor!"
"Hey, that's Bubbles!" Pierce said. "That's weird, Vivaldi won't go anywhere without him!"
"She was taken!" Alice snapped, surprising the others. "She was taken to the manor! By that boy...from my dream last night! I should've paid attention...this is my fault...!"
Julius suddenly put a hand on her shoulder. "How can it possibly be your fault?"
"Because I know this could happen, but I ignored it...if she's hurt, then it's my fault..." Alice facepalmed. "I have to get to that manor quickly!" she turned to the rest of them. "I'll take the map. You can go with Ace's route—"
"Alice, I won't allow you." Ace deadpanned seriously. "There's no other route than this path. Calm down, she's in the manor, you said. We're going there, so...please, don't be stupid." He muttered. "These woods are dangerous at night."
Boris watched the younger girl as she listened to Ace's explanation. He scoffed and turned away. She climbed the tree to get Elliot's spoon. Now she's about to cry because that little Queen brat was gone. Was she showing off? Or did she really cared about them?
~.X.~
"Let's go comfortably, relaxed, calm and joyful instead of rushing things." Dee said with a wide, suspicious smile. "Let's enjoy the moments whereas we're not chained around that brat!"
"Brother!" Dum gasped, patting his twin's back, "You're sho true!"
Dee let out a long sigh, now frowning. Dum blinked and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I hope she's fine, though." Dee muttered. Alice frowned in disbelief as she secretly glanced back. "It's my fault to yell at her. If she's dead, I can't apologize for calling her boobless. Her ghost will haunt me...!" he whimpered like the kid he was.
Dum smiled softly to his brother. "Don't worry, Dee. I called her boobless too. We'll be haunted together, so it's fine! Since we're together."
Alice smiled to herself as she turned to walk again. Kids would be kids, insane or not, sadist or not.
"Ah," Blood suddenly pointed his finger, "That's the river we've spoken about?"
The river just in front of them was wide, deep and harsh. The tide was high too, and there was no bridge. Blood automatically cut down a tree with his chainsaw and it fell across the river, creating a bridge.
"Finished." Blood smirked in satisfy. "This is why I love nature most."
"Your way of showing it is kind of funny...cutting down a tree like a sadist..." Julius muttered nervously and stepped forth. "I'll go first." He announced, since he was the eldest. He carefully balanced himself on the log.
"Shake shake shake shake!" the Tweedles naughtily shook the log.
"HEY! STOP IT!" Julius shrieked and slipped, but quickly grabbed the log. "HEY! STOP!"
"Hahaha!" they laughed as they watched Julius climbed horizontally across the river and arrived.
"I suppose it's safe enough as long as we're doing it right!" Ace nodded and be the next. Blood followed right behind. Nightmare walked on the log as if it was catwalk. Boris walked across with eyes closed. Elliot sulked across, still feeling guilty about the magpie incident.
"Jump! Jump! Jump!" the Tweedles sang as they jumped on the log across the river.
"Hey! Stop that! It's dangerous!" Alice yelled as she had to crawl on the log like Julius did. Pierce decided to crawl behind her, holding Derpina tightly.
"Derpina...don't look down...don't look down..." he whimpered, and then his hand slipped. "Ouch!" he gasped as Derpina slipped his hand and fell to the river. "DERPINA! NO!" he shrieked and jumped.
"HEY! IDIOT!" Alice shrieked and circled her legs to the log, quickly caught Pierce's hands. "GYAAAH! WE'RE GONNA DIE!" the two shrieked frantically above the river.
"YOU IDIOOOT! PIERCE! IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Everyone yelled at Pierce.
"It's not the time to blame anyone!" Alice shrieked. "HELP! HEEELP! I CAN'T SWIM!" she shrieked desperately.
Everyone froze in instant. If anything they didn't know about Alice, it's that she couldn't swim. And at a time like this, too. Awesome.
"Aaargh! My hands are getting slippery!" Pierce cried.
"Shut up!" Alice snapped. "Aaack! I got cramp!" she whined in pain.
"Hold on!" Ace yelled as he carefully walked on the log and pulled the girl by arm, swinging Pierce to the side, who shrieked. Elliot quickly caught the auburn-haired boy who was crying on the ground.
"I was...I was going to die...I was such an idio—"
"You still are." The group deadpanned.
"Someone help us here!" Ace yelled. Dee and Dum quickly ran to them and offered a hand to grab Alice, but then...
The river's side crumbled. Dee gasped as he slipped off the ground.
"GAAHH—"
"NO!" Dum shrieked and caught his brother in reflex. "SOMEONE HELP US!"
"DAMMIT! HOW THE HELL DID IT TURN OUT LIKE THIS!?" Elliot yelled, since he and Nightmare were dragged along with Dee by their chains.
"GYAAH! I'M TOO HANDSOME TO DIE!" Nightmare cried.
"I can't pull back!" Ace yelled. "I'm chained to that boy...what's-his-name!" he yelled, referring to Dum that was glued on the ground, holding his brother's hand, along with Elliot and Nightmare following under.
"Villiers, stop crying and go help Tweedle Dum." Blood ordered and rushed to Ace, only to realise their chain wasn't letting them to go further. "Drat." He groaned.
"You guys get to Ace," Julius said, "We'll get the rest. Come on, Boris." He nodded to Boris who quickly ran to Dum who was on the ground. Then the nerd suddenly froze in realization.
"Wait—the chains..." Julius gasped as he eyed Dee's chains.
"Monrey, this isn't the time to—"
"—The chains are weak to water!" Julius yelled, right when Elliot and Nightmare were already up, and Dee shrieked as his handcuff failed him. The boy was dropped into the river.
"HOLY CRAP!" the group shrieked.
"HANG ON, DEE!" Alice yelled and jumped. She got the boy and held a rock. "I'll swim to that side—WAIT, I CAN'T SWIM!" she shrieked in revelation.
Everyone facepalmed at this. She had to forgot about THAT at this time!?
"You idiot!" Dee cried, sobbing to the rock.
"Shut up! Hold this rock! Hug it!" Alice yelled, as she herself was hanging on a branch. The girl gasped as she couldn't breathe in air properly. Suddenly a hand reached to her.
"If you're trying to prove that you care," Boris said, his face was filled with worries, "THEN YOU'RE A COMPLETE, FUCKING IDIOT!" he yelled and grabbed her hand. The others had already got Dee safely, while Alice was drifting to the waterfall's edge.
"Airay," Julius suddenly said, "Can you swim?"
Boris was grimacing his teeth. "I can't...fuck it!" he cursed and glared at the girl again, "If you dare to let go of my hand, I'll kill you, Alice!"
"What the hell! I won't let go of your hand!" Alice yelled back. "I still want to live!"
Julius snapped out of it and pulled Boris suddenly, and cut off their chains with his wet hand, before suddenly, he jumped to the river and pulled the girl into his arms.
"Then so be it." He murmured as they both fell off the waterfall.
"Idiots!" Boris shrieked, and his desperate shriek echoed in the mountains emptily.
~.X.~
For a while, she felt suffocated by something warm. And then she felt cold by water, she couldn't breathe and lost her consciousness. Then it was the same warmth again covering her. The same scent again. She opened her eyes as she noticed that she's still alive from her senses.
"Thank God, you're still alive." Julius was right before her eyes, looking extremely worried. "Your head hit the rock, I thought you'd get into a coma—"
"Did we managed the river...?" Alice asked quickly and sat up, instantly feeling dizzy. Julius pushed her back down on something under her head.
"Rest your body...That hit will make you dizzy for a while." He said, a bit scattering. Alice then realized what happened.
First of all, she and Julius fell off the waterfall. Secondly, her head hit a rock. Thirdly, her head was resting on Julius' clothes, which meant; Julius was shirtless. And he was really shirtless by that time. Alice groaned as she tried to look away from Julius.
"You saved me." Alice pointed out bluntly. "You hugged me too. I'm a girl." She said. "Do you think I'm a boy? Do you want me to prove it?"
Julius twitched and blushed at the same time, he facepalmed. "I know you're a girl...stop pulling your pants..." he murmured.
"Aren't you scared of me?" she asked, pointing to herself.
Julius uncovered his face and scowled to the girl. "What about you? Don't you think I'm handsome?"
Alice twitched and fell silent as she observed Julius for quite a while, humming in a deep thought.
"Hmm...I don't know." Alice said seriously. "For me, handsome is...when a guy becomes a hero. Like Ace, he started to be handsome for me." She blushed after saying it, and then scowled to Julius. "If you tell anyone about this, I'll kill you!"
Julius smiled softly. "I won't tell a soul." He chuckled. "I'm grateful that you're not jumping at me like the other girls. And...I agree with your perspective about handsome."
The two fell silent and gazed up. They were faraway down from the river. Julius then built a firepit and Alice had to sit since he had to dry up his clothes.
"Take off your clothes." Julius said suddenly. Alice twitched, and made the older young man blushed. "Not in such perverted way, stupid. Take off your outer clothes and dry it up."
"Wh-What about my bra and pant—"
"I-It'll dry up as we speak." Julius cleared his throat awkwardly. Alice groaned and then reluctantly took off her clothes and hung them aside Julius' clothes.
The navy-haired man, on the other hand, couldn't keep himself from taking a glance at the younger girl. Darn. Was he developing pedophiliac? He's eighteen, she's thriteen! She's barely in high school! He's already in college! Wait...what the hell was he thinking!?
"St-Stop staring at me, you pervert!" Alice snapped shyly. "You're scaring me! Wait...you're not like Dr. Gowland, right!?"
"Of course not!" Julius snapped angrily.
Alice sighed in relief. "Good. But then, you're not that old. Five years older than me. Dr. Gowland is freaking fourteen years older than I am! I think, pedophiliac is above ten years, huh?"
"I...please don't think weird of me..." Julius cleared his throat and glanced away,"...But you have such a nice skin." He praised, blushing madly.
Alice gasped and covered herself with what her arms could. "Thanks. You have nice abs too, for...a hikikomori."
Julius shook his head. "That crate also have mini gym equipments. I don't feel great if I don't move and only watch DVD or browsing."
"Yeah, no wonder you're not fat like those ones in Japan..." Alice hummed, thinking deeply, putting on her chin to her knees. "I wonder how the others are doing right now…" she muttered worriedly.
~.X.~
The sunset had come, but the group hadn't reached the cave. In fact, no one had been moving from the river ever since Alice and Julius fell off the water fall. They were all too shocked and depressed from losing three friends in a day.
Boris was sitting beside the river, blaming himself, hugging his knees. She was just a little girl…and yet…was she alright? Was Julius fine? Did he manage to save her?
Pierce was crying, blaming himself loudly. "I'm an idiot…I'm such a fucking idiot…" he sobbed. Nightmare sighed and sat beside him, patting his shoulder.
"Yeah, it's your entire fault…" Nightmare said.
"Was that supposed to cheer me up!?" Pierce cried louder.
Ace was walking around the river, calling. "Alice…Alice are you there!? Where are you? Hey, have you seen a girl named Alice?" he turned to the rest of group, "She's two years younger than me, with dark-blonde hair and this tall—"
"She fell off the waterfall, dumbass!" Dee yelled desperately.
"It seems he's useless if Alice is not around." Blood commented. "He can't remember anything at this moment. We're lost, since he's the only one that remembered the map."
"Where's the map?" Elliot asked, scowling.
"Monrey took it." Blood sighed. "He's very organized indeed. He even had planned everything before jumping off."
"So we're left here in the woods," Dum started cynically, "With a stupid DID who can't remember himself, without a freaking map?!"
"That's not a problem." Nightmare suddenly said, putting his sunglass on his hair. "The manor is located on the West of these woods. The sun sets that way, so if we keep on walking that way, we'll get to the manor somehow."
"What about Julius and Alice?" Pierce chirped in worry.
Elliot turned at them with a scowl. "We'll separate into four groups and go to find them." He suggested. They nodded in agreement, so Elliot turned to Blood. "Let's choose who we're going with."
"I'm with Dee!"
"I'm with Dum!"
"Fine, fine, scums!" Elliot growled. "Just go that way!"
"Yessir!" the twins quickly ran to where Elliot pointed.
"I'll be with Pierce." Nightmare said and dragged Pierce to stand. "We'll go that way."
"Then I'm with this guy." Boris suddenly spoke up, patting Elliot's back. "Let's go, March."
"Yeah, let's go." Elliot went, and they both hid their troll-faces as it was Blood and Ace left.
Ace was currently digging the ground. "Alice…! ALICE! Answer me!" he yelled.
Blood laughed coldly. "Haha, so they're leaving me with this idiot on purpose…"
~.X.~
As the day gotten more late, Alice and Julius were arguing whether they should stay in their position or try to reach the manor, with the map as their guide. Alice didn't want to waste time and the map, thinking that the others would reach the manor. While Julius was worried if the others decided to search for them.
"They'll be fine!" Alice impatiently waved, "If they're still missing in the woods, at least we've got Dr. Gowland, then we can search for them from the manor!"
"What if something happened to them because they can't find us?" Julius argued back. Alice groaned and then extended her hand so suddenly, surprising the older man.
"Rock-paper-scissors. I win, we go, you win, we stay." She deadpanned.
Julius twitched at the thought of doing such childish procedure. "You're going to risk people's lives with this game."
Alice sighed. "Now you sounded like a real old man just now. That was way too exaggerating! They've got Ace as a guide, and Blood is smart on tactics, he'll choose one that's more profitable, which means he'll just drag the whole group to the manor."
Julius sighed back. "Fine. Rock, paper, scissors—"
Alice scoffed mockingly. Julius took out scissors in reflex, and Alice had prepared rock.
"Pfft! That's the problem with you, Julius." Alice snickered and snatched the map. "You do what you're told. If I said Paper, scissors, rock, you'll take out rock!"
Julius just glared as his own hand, couldn't believe that the brat was actually very right about him.
Finally, with a very simple torch made with some ripped pants and shirts, they ventured the Cheshire Woods together in the dark, as Alice read the map. After walking a while, Alice stopped and frowned at Julius in confuse.
"Um...you're supposed to be walking in front of me." She said.
"I didn't memorize the map." Julius said, frowning. "I can't read without my glasses...What? You can, right?" he asked, starting to worry.
Alice swallowed hard and loudly, and shivered as she stared blankly at the wet map.
"Actually, I wonder..." she started, her voice shivered, "...Can you tell me, Julius?"
"Wh-What?"
"Does sun rise from the east or west?" she asked.
Julius was utterly shocked, but answered emptily. "East."
"Oh..." Alice nodded limply and kept staring at the map in her hands, until she finally laughed nervously while looking up to her senior. Julius shivered as his heart was thumping hard, anticipating whatever ugly truth that was about to be revealed by the thirteen-years old psychic.
Her laughter slowly died down as she rubbed the back of her head and swallowed as she said:
"Hey...have I told you that I'm directionally-challenged?"
Two songs in this chapter. Guess 'em right, and then...let's see, I'll write a cutscene about Blood and Ace trapped in the woods?
Warning: Long Author's Note
#Bad news: School started. More bad news: update's rate goes down to once a week. Even more bad news: no computer.
Good news? Let's see...Hope Diamond had done a simply sweet fanart for this fanfic. Now, since you guys had been asking about Jokers, you'll see them there and you might get clues of what they'll become! *wink* Her deviantart: Mizumi28
If it's not too much to ask...are my characters unclear? Is Alice too perfect? Which one of the patients needs to be a bit more outstanding? Is the plot clear? Are those questions too hard to answer in your review?
