Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in this story. We've gone from Queensland to an asylum; what horrors await?
To be honest, this chapter is a bit... weird. Revising the scenes here took longer than I expected (had to cut a few things for insignificance), and what I've made here doesn't feel complete. But, that's just my opinion.
Also, this chapter will mention all the DLC (Downloadable Content) dress designs for 'Alice: Madness Returns', as well as some scene/character concepts from 'The Artwork of Alice: Madness Returns' book. You can find these characters/concepts online, if you want to get a feel for what I had to work with.
DISCLAIMER: 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' franchise are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content (or DLC) that wasn't included in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any special custom elements they choose to introduce into the story.
Onward to the Chapter!
The dark corridors Rabbit-Alice leads me down don't make me feel any better. I stumble along as best I can behind her, since my injured legs force me to walk slower than normal. The walls switch between moldy gray, and blood-splattered white, every few minutes. I can't tell which set of colors is the right one. I eventually call one the 'decayed state', and the other the 'bloody state', since those are the best features I can pick up.
Rabbit-Alice doesn't speak up we walk. Screams come from behind a thick metal door, a small light flickers from the shadowed ceiling. She checks her watch every few minutes, and her ears twitch at every new sound. Her hands and feet move with a hop to her step, probably a worried hop.
Suddenly, she jumps a foot into the air with a yelp, and then lets out a rapid string of curses. She clutches her foot as she hops around in a circle; I don't move to help her. After a few moments, she pulls out a rusty nail from the fur. Blood seeps from the open wound, but she quickly takes a Shrinking Violet petal from in her dress. She covers the wound before it bleeds very much. The petal melts into the wound as I stare at it, and no further blood comes out.
"Shrinking Violets," she whispers to me. "I suppose they're good for something. Now, let's keep moving."
I grunt in agreement, and try to keep my drool in my mouth. We soon reach a two-way intersection. Signs on the walls either way, but I can't make out the words. They look rusted away in the 'decayed state', or are coated in blood that spells out, "NOWHERE SAFE" in the 'bloody state'.
"The fools," Rabbit-Alice remarks as she notes the signs, "Why make temporary marks on permanent problems?" Her tail bobs for a moment as she picks a side for us to go down.
A second later, she shoves me against the wall. She looks down the corner as I hear two pairs of heavy footsteps approaching from that side. There's nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. All these places look just as dangerous as where we are right now. This asylum isn't safe at all.
"Pray tell," a deep male voice says from where the footsteps come, "what's the plan for today?"
"The same thing we do every day, dumbbell," another male voice spits out, "Try to get these blasted patients cured."
The footsteps grow louder and louder, until their source reveals itself; two men with round bellies, and rounder heads. One stands a foot or taller than the other, and both wear heavily-stained white coats and pants.
"Come now, brother," one says as they walk right by us, "some of these people certainly aren't 'blasted'. Have some respect—"
At that moment, reality shifts to the 'bloody state'. The man's eyes bug out of his head, and his teeth jut from his mouth. His shirt changes to red-and-white stripes, and a hat with a propeller sits on his pointed head.
"—you fucking twat," he continues with a grating tone that gets in my ears. "I'll rip your weeny dick off when we finish up here!"
"Shut the fuck up," the smaller man taunts with the same type of face, and clothing, as his 'brother', "ya yellow-bellied, cunt-licking, fire-kissing belcher of good—"
Reality shifts back to the 'decayed state'. The men now have clean-cut hair, their eyes squinting against the bright light above them.
"—scotch after we're done here," he says as he rubs a hand over his belly. "What do you think, brother?"
"That would be exquisite," the 'brother' responds with a smile. "A good round with the devil's drink can cure all sorts of ailments—"
Reality shifts over, again, as the men walk down where we were. I stare as their buttocks bulge out of their pants, like they just slipped the clothes on with no care how they looked.
"—and this time," he says in that demented voice, "you're paying for it. I ain't giving a single penny unless it's for a good fucking with an uppity whore!"
"A-fucking men," the smaller brother lets out with a roaring laugh, "ya shit-eating piss knob! Grow some hair on your arse, why don't ya!"
The two men continue this banter as they walk out of sight. Each shift in reality changes their tone between crazed, and calm. It's like one's a reflection of the other.
I feel a tug on my robe. I turn, and Rabbit Alice gives me a cold stare as she jangles the pocket watch in her hands. She doesn't say a word as she pockets the watch yet again, and leads me down the path where those two men had come from.
We walk past several cell doors, and stop at a man who stands facing a wall. He's bound up like me in the 'decayed state', but his eyes are bandaged over in the 'bloody state'.
Rabbit-Alice tugs at my arm. We pass by the man, and I hear him mutter some words; "All is lost. Nowhere safe. Trust nothing. Find way out."
My head erupts with pain. I stumble to a wall and shut my eyes against a wave of pictures that move far too fast for me to see. My nose fills with blood as more drool runs down my mouth…
…as the voices around me keep getting louder. I remain silent as they chant the same words over and over, their volume ringing in my ears. I stand in the center of their words, coated in a thick liquid that turns my stomach with a sour stench.
"Sister Alice," they speak, "you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls."
The voices repeat these words again and again. Each time they do, I feel an energy grow around me...
…power I don't have in the asylum. I open my eyes, and find myself slumped against the same wall. The chanting man is no longer there.
A cold hand touches my shoulder. I look over, and stare at a glinting clockwork hand. The metal is polished to a bright sheen, acting as the left arm to another strange version of Alice. This one looks like a Mad Hatter-version of Alice.
"Get up, will you," she says in the Mad Hatter's voice. "This isn't the time for tea, strange as that may be."
She offers me her right arm, which is made of regular human flesh. I grab it, and she pulls me up with a quick burst of strength. Steam hisses out from her left leg, as well. I look her over as she brushes some dirt off my tattered robe.
She wears a white jacket with black straps that loop around the arms and chest, and a skirt of the same color with the 'Mercury' symbol. Her stockings are the same green as the Hatter's skin, and she has the same black boots as she had in the Domain. A white glove covers her human hand. She also wears a smaller version of the Hatter's black-and-white checkered top hat. The hat shows the symbol for 'Saturn', matter taking over the mind.
Her face, like Rabbit-Alice before her, looks familiar to Alice's. Her black hair is cut to a short crop that reaches her ears. Her skin is the same pale tone, but it shimmers in the light. Her eyes are colored copper, with tiny gears inside them. The gears actually tick every second. I swear she's more machine than human.
"Like what you see?" she asks with a quick giggle. I step back against the wall as she twirls around to show me her backside.
'Hollow Yves' is still a bow, but the skull is now a black glass surrounded by bronze, the ribbons now black leather straps. She places her metal hand on her hip, and shoots me a glance over her shoulder. She grins with obvious pleasure, and spins back around to face me.
"You aren't the first person to stare over work as elegant as mine," she states as she cups her hands over her chest. "Machinery has its own natural look. But, I've joined it with flesh to make something greater than either part. I am Hattress, magnum opus of the Domain. Behold my beauty!"
'Hattress' gives a quick flourish that leads to an elegant pose. Her metal hand rests against her hip, while her human hand stretches towards an unseen object. She balances on her toes, and gives me a grin that says, "I know how sexy I look."
The red-haired woman from the Mangled Mermaid comes back to me. This Alice looks better than her, even if she is just as flirtatious.
'Hattress' breaks her pose as a new aroma hits my nostrils. It smells like flesh, which makes my stomach rumble. Hattress sniffs it a few times, and then taps a metal finger against her chin in thought.
"Best check this smell out," she concludes. "It's probably something new, and I do so enjoy learning new things. This asylum could use a good dose of something new!"
She grabs me with her metal arm, and drags me along her. I stumble as best I can, and hear small clicks from Hattress's feet with each step she makes. She moves efficiently, without any wasted momentum, just like a machine would.
What's going to happen now?
We step between two open metal doors with circular windows. It's a big room with several benches and tables lined up in rows and columns. The 'decayed state' shows the furniture covered with mold and insects; the 'bloody state' has the words 'EATEN' and 'FEAST' scrawled in blood, and human body parts, on the walls.
"The cafeteria!" 'Hattress' claps her hands together in glee as I see a few people sit at the benches with trays of identical food slops. "This is a great place to start. Who knows what the chefs use to feed these people? It could result in knockouts, poisonings, or even spontaneous combustion! The possibilities are endless!"
A loud, "Oh, God! Not them!" turns my focus towards a thin boy at one of the tables. He looks a little older than the children at Houndsditch. He stares at his food, horrified at something inside the slop. Some of that slop is around his mouth. He falls back off his seat before I make a move, and he scoots rapidly away from the table without getting up.
"Maggots," he screams. "Maggots are in the food! Now, they're inside me! They'll eat me alive! It's just like I saw! Someone help me!"
No one moves to help him, even as his eyes roll back in his head. Blood comes out of his nose, and he writhes on the floor.
"Oh, this will be fun," 'Hattress' whispers to me. "A failed result, about to expire. The doctors will talk about this one for years, I'm sure of it!"
I just feel scared. The boy looks worse with each second. His skin quickly turns red, and he foams at the mouth. His head bulges and grows to an obscene size. Then, to my disgusted horror, he explodes.
His blood and body parts fly across the cafeteria. An older woman gets drenched in the stuff, and she clutches her chest. Slop falls from her mouth as she howls in agony, and then she explodes! A third man scratches his eyes after blood flies onto them, and he explodes, too.
This process of explosion, and agony, repeats itself over and over. I can't do a thing to stop it.
"Hahaha!" 'Hattress' laughs like she's actually enjoying this. "Such chaos! Such creativity! I love it, I love it all!"
She spreads her arms wide at all this death. Not a drop of blood, or a single organ, gets on her. I choke out a cry, and shut my eyes tight. I feel like I should do something to save them, but can't. Why do I have to experience this?
My eyes burn as a circle filled with short lines that cross over each other carves itself into my memory. My eyes fly open, and that same circle is carved in green fire on the cafeteria walls. I know that circle…
…but I can't stop to ask questions. The ritual's already begun. We can't to go back. We can only go forward, and pray that we succeed.
The chanting continues: "Sister Alice, you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls."
The unknown energy blends into the air. Every breath I take sounds like multiple breaths at once. I want to accept it, but I don't. The energy flows from the circle, which I don't question. None of the chanters question it, either.
Something rumbles in the distance. I close my eyes again as the energy grows warm. It flows over me but not into me…
…which I am grateful to find out when I regain my senses, outside of that crazed cafeteria. What do these sights, and sounds, mean?
An answer comes quickly; they're more memories of my past. Why else would they slide into my current thoughts so easily? Why would I see them in this asylum, if they weren't already in my mind?
Someone pulls me up to my feet, and then shoves me against the wall. I hiss as my back and shoulders ache from the force. The light here is dim, but I see red-and-white clothing in front of me. I imagine my eyes are glowing green in the darkness.
"Focus," this mysterious person says in the voice of the White King. "Follow. Quietly."
I obey without question; anything is better than what I just went through. I stumble behind them, and they move at a steady pace through the darkness. They wait for me to catch up every so often, which is nice.
Minutes pass, and the darkness doesn't change. The halls are quiet, save for my feet plodding along against the clacks of whatever shoes this person wears. The near silence doesn't calm me down. Is something going to jump at out at us? Is this person guiding me going to suddenly attack me?
The person stops in front of another metal door. White light flickers through its window, a sliver against the darkness around me. The person shoves the door open, and I gasp as white fire leaps out towards us. It covers my body, but doesn't burn my skin. Actually, they are cold. Not ice-cold, but cold enough to not be comfortable.
The mysterious person orders me to, "Stay close," as they pull me through the fire.
I step into a padded room, larger than the one I woke up in. The white fire covers everything here, including a few people resting on the ground, or standing against walls. A pile of beds and cabinets are toppled over, and block our path to the exit. There's no way around them.
Now that there's a good amount of light, I can see who this mysterious person is. Not so surprisingly, it's another version of Alice. This one doesn't seem so changed as the other two.
This one wears a red-and-white bodice, skirt, boots, shoulder guards, and gauntlets, all in the forms of different chess pieces. The skirt is shaped like a piece's lower half, the boots like pawns, the bodice like a rook, the shoulder guards like knights, and the gauntlets like bishops. Her stockings have red and white stripes that balance each other out.
This Alice's face is the same as her usual self, but her eyes are now teal. Her expression stays focused as she looks at the obstacle before us. She eventually walks up to where two huge cabinets rest against each other. My eyes widen as she shoves the cabinets apart with ease, and with just her hands. There's now a clear path, straight through to another door.
"Go," she says as she points to me, and then the path, "I'll follow."
I blink, and then stumble over to where she wants me.
"Wait," she says before I move into the path. "Come here, first."
I move over as she stares at me without blinking. Then, without any warning, she grabs the device around my mouth and rips it clean off. I scream as bits of my mouth and cheek come off with the device, and blood instantly spills out onto the burning ground. The new Alice shakes her head at me before she throws the device to the floor.
"Stupid manacle," she says to the device. "You had no real purpose." She then turns to me and says, "This is your only time to talk."
"Ooo arr yuu?" I ask, trying to say 'Who are you' through sorely-aching mouth and gums.
"The first was 'Late But Lucky'," she states, apparently understanding me. "The second was 'Hattress'. I am the third, 'Checkmate'. That is all you need to know."
She then pushes me towards the path, and I stumble through it as best I can. 'Checkmate' walks at a steady pace behind me, and keeps pushing me when I slow down. The cabinets and benches around us don't fall on top of our heads, and the fire crackles in the air without spreading. We reach another door, which 'Checkmate' opens for me.
I step out into more dark corridors, in the 'decayed state'. It takes several seconds for my eyes to adjust, and I bump into some things as I walk. 'Checkmate' doesn't say a word, but she continues to push me forward.
Reality shifts to the 'bloody state'. The walls now have large arrows carved in blood that flow both ways. I stop to look at them, but 'Checkmate' shoves me away. I look back at her in a flash of anger, but she doesn't slow down.
As we reach a sharp corner, a female voice shouts, "Get back here, you rascal!" A second later, a young girl with glowing blue hair, and wearing a white robe like mine, races around the corner.
'Checkmate' shoves me against the wall before the girl runs into me. She runs past me, her face masked in fear. Then, a large woman in a nurse's uniform charges into view. Her hands are long claws, her skin clean-white. Her face has no eyes, or mouth.
The woman turns to me, and draws back for a moment. Then, she slowly walks towards me. She growls, her cheeks moving like she is saying words.
"Stay back," 'Checkmate' commands to the woman, or maybe me, as she steps around me. "You've caused enough corruption today."
The woman snarls at 'Checkmate', and then leaps at us. 'Checkmate' slams her shoulder guard into the woman's chest to block her. She then grabs the woman's large breasts, hoists her up, and throws her into the other wall. Her impact causes cracks along the stone.
"Run," she shouts at me as the faceless woman starts to get up, "I've done my part! Go find her!"
I freeze up for a moment, and then sprint around the corner. The woman howls at my apparent escape…
…as the wind roars in my ears and chills me to the bone. I feel weak against this power, unable to stop it. It lashes against my body in whipping strikes.
"Sister Alice," the figures chant once again, "you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls."
The wind throws their voices around like toys, the words mixing up. We can't have the words be mixed up. If the ritual goes wrong, everything I and these chanters have worked for will be much harder to complete.
Blood drips down my nose as I feel the circle beneath me grow a bit warmer…
…but my feet only touch the cold floors of the asylum as I run. Hallway after hallway all look the same; am I going in circles?
I slow down as my legs start to ache, and soon rest against a wall to catch my breath. Reality shifts to the 'decayed state', and I cough something into my hands. My jaw aches as I look at my hands, now covered in blood and mucus.
I twist my jaw slowly as I start to walk again. I also trail my tongue over my teeth to wash away the bad taste in my mouth. I wipe my hands on the first object I can find that looks clean; an old strip of white fabric on the floor.
Two shifts of reality go by before something new appears. The 'decayed state' shows black smoke as it rises from the gaps of another metal door. The smoke makes my lungs and eyes burn, so I crouch down. When I touch the door, it feels hot. I draw back as I picture the room beyond on fire. I don't want to get burned alive.
"Silly boy," I hear Caterpillar say from the ceiling, "Always look before you leap. Your senses can deceive you; don't trust them."
I look up into the smoke as it parts, and a winged woman descends from the darkness. Reality shifts to the 'bloody state', and the smoke is now trails of blood that fly around another version of Alice. This one floats with Caterpillar's wings, which flap wildly as she lands. Two curling green antennae on her head twitch as the blood trail passes over them.
This Alice wears a green dress, spiraled like Caterpillar's skin. White fur spreads around her bust and waist. Four small insect legs stick out of her midriff. Green gloves, with fur around the edges, cover her hands. A small furry red hat sits beside her antennae. Black-and-white striped tights cover her legs, and curl around her toes. A pendant with the 'Omega' symbol rests around her neck by a string of white fur.
Alice's eyes look dark black at first, but a closer look reveals her pupils are extremely dilated. She looks at me with the expression on Caterpillar's simulacrum; disinterest in the outside world.
"I am the fourth," she exclaims, "Caterpillar. I need no fancy names to prove my worth, just as you don't need to jump into danger to prove your strength. Has my training taught you nothing?"
My jaw still hurts too much to form a coherent answer. 'Caterpillar' struts past me, and places her hands along the wall. Her backside doesn't have any version of the 'Hollow Yves' skull. She pulls at something, and a new door opens up beside the smoking door. How did I not see it before?
"You see," she states as she gestures to a dark passageway beyond the new door, "if you look closely enough, and trust in your instincts, you'll find what you're looking for."
She beckons me over, and I follow her into the darkness. We wind up in a clean, white room with no trace of fire. Instead, cabinets, bottles, and sharp instruments surround a clean white bed with white sheets. A young boy who looks just like me rests on the bed.
His green eyes twitch in panic as a faceless man in a white coat, with clawed fingers, points a needle at his face. I can't say a word as the man takes a hammer from his coat pocket, and slams the needle right into the boy's eye. The boy thrashes with a loud cry as bright-red blood trails down his cheek. I turn away, but gloved hands grip my face and force it back.
"You need to see this," 'Caterpillar' states, her voice like the Wasp's buzzing. "This time has already passed, but history repeats itself. Pain is relative to learning. Remember your own pain, and you'll remember what you once did wrong."
My eyes burn as I shut them, try to block out this sight…
…but I can't block the heat that now flows through me without my consent. The circle beneath me changes from a bright green, to a blinding white. I shut my eyes, but that doesn't help.
"Sister Alice," the chanters say once again, "you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls!"
They grow more insistent now, but I don't open my eyes to make sure. We've worked so hard for this ritual; we can't let it all go to waste!
Then, a roar breaks through the chanting…
…a roar that I let out in anger at the asylum as a whole. I want to break my head apart, so that these memories can leave me alone. Why do I have to take all this pain to learn my past?
Silence is my answer. I eventually turn, and continue to walk. Reality is in the 'decayed state', the shadows thick. They give me no comfort as I turn corner after corner in this maze of madness.
Suddenly, a woman in a long white robe steps into view. The robe trails behind her, and does nothing to cover her extremely-thin body from my sight. Her face is frozen in pain, and a long scar trails down one side of her shaved head. The scar pulses open with each step she takes; each step releases a burst of multicolored fire into the air. Her eyes are pools of white, empty and infinite.
Reality shifts to the 'bloody state' as a nearby pipe on the wall bursts open to spill a beating mass of flesh onto the floor. This mass quickly grows arms, legs, and a head as it stands up by the robed woman. Multiple mouths along the mass's body hiss and click to the woman. She stops in her tracks, and listens.
The woman frowns as the whispers grow louder. Her mouth twists into a snarl, and black blood drips from between her lips. She then turns around as one of the mass's hands wraps around her shoulder. Her hair rises as I feel a crackle of energy flow through the air. My own hair tingles as the woman walks back down the path, but the fleshy mass stays put.
I blink, and the mass grows a face; Alice's face. Its body turns feminine, but it doesn't sprout any clothes. An eye grows above her right breast, teeth sprout where a skirt would be, and blood seeps down her feet and legs like pants. Her hair remains clean of blood or grime. Her eyes are the same white as the walls here, with tiny black pupils.
She chuckles as she looks me over, her smile too happy to be normal. Then, she speaks in the Red Queen's voice: "You look like shit, as you should be."
"You…" I mutter as I raise a shaking finger at this flesh-covered Alice. "Who… are you?"
"I am the fifth," she answers as her mouths mutter strange phrases over each other, "Fleshmaiden. I am human rage taken form. I hear the anger that constantly beats in our hearts. I smell the cold fear everyone has against everyone else. I taste the arousal of power, ambrosia to all who have it. I touch the human body, cradling it for my own use. I see the side of us we keep hidden to protect our foolish reputations. In short," she finishes as she clenches a fist and slams it against her pulsing chest, "I am the true Alice Liddel."
"No," I slowly reply as I step towards her, "you are not Alice. You are a monster."
My jaw hurts from so many words, but I feel some satisfaction when 'Fleshmaiden' frowns at hearing what I say.
"You still call me 'monster'? After all you've seen, felt, and said?" She grabs my bound arm and yanks me up to her face. "Then, you know nothing! You are useless!"
She holds me in place for a moment, and then throws me to the side. She whirls around, and strides down the path. I follow a few steps behind her, and see 'Hollow Yves' is replaced with another eye between two strings of flesh.
We pass by another door, and 'Fleshmaiden' stops to pull it open. She then shoots a long tongue out of her arm at me. The tongue wraps around me, and drags me to her. She throws me inside the room with no warning. I land on my bound arms with a moan. This room is white as the last one, and I see a pair of high-heeled shoes right by me. I don't want to look up; I've seen too much weird shit already.
Claws dig into my neck, pull me up to my feet. 'Fleshmaiden' points to what's in the center of the room. The same boy who had his eye stabbed through with a hammer is strapped down to a metal chair. Wires stretch from the boy's body to a large box that a faceless nurse operates.
"You've been daydreaming for too long, boy," she says despite not having a mouth. "Talk of warriors, monks, and shrines; hogwash! A good current of reality will get you back on track."
She then flips the switch, and the boy screams as electricity crackles across his body. His skin bubbles and burns as tears stream down his face—my face.
"Your flesh is weak," 'Fleshmaiden' says as the electrocution continues before my eyes. "You think you're strong, but that is a false image your mind has sculpted in a dream. You really won't be strong until you accept your anger!"
No, I don't want to see this. I don't want to believe this. This is wrong!
"Sister Alice, you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls!"
The roar sounds out again. Then, one of the chanters screams as they are pulled out of the ring. I turn towards where they were, and stare at a large creature made of tar and muscle as it pounds the chanter into a pulp.
Before I can make a move, the circle bursts apart with white lightning. My body turns into a conductor for its energy.
All I can do is scream as my body burns away. All the chanters can do is scream as they get dragged to the ground by more of these tar creatures.
I can't save them…
…which makes me sob as I come back to the asylum. I stand with my back against a wall in the 'decayed state'. Blood trails from my nose, joining tears from my eyes. I have so many questions that I can't answer.
Are those tar creatures Ruin, or some other monster? Who are the chanters? What is the outcome of the ritual? Did it succeed? I want to know!
I suddenly realize I'm being watched. I look up, and a pair of yellow eyes glow from the blackness at the other wall. Then, a fanged mouth grins in a perfect mimic of the Cheshire Cat. But, it can't be the Cat, just like 'Fleshmaiden' isn't the Red Queen. How could they be here?
"Ah, Kyle," the mouth says, sadly, in the Cat's voice, "I'm not surprised you would eventually break. In fact, you're on the edge of losing it all right now. You just don't want to accept it."
A woman shaped like Alice and the Cheshire Cat fused together walks up to me. A clawed hand with prickly gray fur brushes my cheek. Pierced ears along this Alice's head twitch as a crash comes from nearby. Her eyes don't leave mine as a silver ring on one of the ears jingles. It's too dark for me to see her clearly, but I don't want to see anything weird anymore.
Unfortunately, reality shifts to the 'bloody state' at that moment. Cheshire-Alice, or maybe just 'Cheshire', flattens her ears against the change, and presses her body against mine. I look down at her chest, and see the 'Omega' emblem burned into her skin. Her fur has black stripes, and her rib cage shows through the simple black dress that covers her upper body. The dress has sprinkles of blood along the edge, with the bottom being a ring of torn flesh.
'Cheshire', pulls back when nothing new comes at us. She then notes where my eyes were, and rubs a claw along my cheek. She continues to grin, and a glint in her eyes tells me she knows what I saw. Something wraps around my legs at the same time; I look down, and see a thin cat's tail extend from this Alice's buttocks.
"Be careful with what you discover," she says with a light purr as she nuzzles her forehead against mine. "The price of discovering things is greater than you expect. She's learned that the hard way."
She twitches her ears again, and I hear footsteps a few moments later. 'Cheshire' vanishes in a puff of smoke as a young woman with shaved head and green eyes stumbles around the corner. It's Alice; the actual Alice, this time. She looks so battered and broken that I can hardly believe it's her.
I call out to her, and she doesn't answer. Her eyes are vacant of any expression as she stumbles past me towards a door with the words 'EXIT' above it. I follow her to the door, and it opens for us both.
We step into the light, and enter some kind of reception area. Chairs are open for people to sit, but the front desk has no one there to greet people. Alice moves to a chair and sits down; the moment she does, she instantly freezes up. I wave my hand in front of her face, but there's no response. She seems lost in her own memories, and I can't get her out.
My legs remind me of their pain, and I amble over to a nearby chair. When I take a seat, everything around me goes black, even Alice. I try to get up, but my bottom is stuck fast.
"No, no, no," 'Late But Lucky' says as she walks into view with her pocket watch open, "there's no time to check on her. You've got your own problems to deal with, and they need to be dealt with right now!"
She looks at me like I'm supposed to say something, but I can't figure out what. After a moment, she throws up her hands and runs away, her white tail bobbing furiously.
"Oh, that Rabbit," 'Hattress' says as her metal arm wraps around my shoulder. "She's always so desperate for attention, she'll ask anyone for the time."
I look to my right and see 'Hattress' kneeling there, her face at level with mine. She gives me a wink, and then steps in front of me with a quick spin. I feel like she's about to dance from the way she shakes her hips and taps her feet.
"Just embrace the change," she tells me. "We're all mad, here, though some of us would like to think otherwise. Let yourself go, and you'll see things the way they really are. Creativity is at the edge of your fingertips, so go out and grab it by the balls!"
'Hattress' reaches for my neck with her metal arm, but 'Checkmate' knocks her aside by slamming her shoulder-guard into 'Hattress's' head. The red-and-white Alice then picks 'Hattress' up, and throws her into the darkness beyond. I don't hear the mechanical Alice's body hit the ground, or even scream as she flies into the shadows.
"Creativity does not stem from madness," 'Checkmate' explains as she brushes her hands clean of 'Hattress's' body. She then crosses her hands over her chest as she looks me over. She frowns with narrowed eyes.
"You are broken," she states. "But, order alone can't fix your pain. I've shown you what strength can do, but you need to know how to use it. You haven't been doing that very much."
"Of course he hasn't," 'Caterpillar' speaks out as she flaps into view beside 'Checkmate'. "How can he do something well if he doesn't know the first thing about it? Honestly, he seems a lost cause for all the effort we've put into his growth."
"You can't expect instant results every time," 'Checkmate' counters with a frown at 'Caterpillar'. "A warrior learns his skills from countless battles, not one huge confrontation."
"Of course, of course," the winged Alice says as her antennae wiggle wildly for a moment. "But, when will he get the chance for another battle, or confrontation, after all is said and done? If a warrior grows soft, what good is he in protecting others?"
A scream from the darkness makes the two women draw back from each other. 'Fleshmaiden' storms into view, her many mouths open in silent cries. Her white eyes are alight with a fire all their own, and a river of blood flows from beneath her fleshy dress to the floor.
"You're both wrong," she yells as she points fingers at the two other Alice's. "True strength comes from what you feel in your heart, not in how many ways you can swing a stick! Battles make people embrace their baser instincts, drives them to survive against harsh conditions. There's just you, and the enemy, and one of you will die by the other's hand. That's all you need!"
'Checkmate' rolls her eyes at this, while 'Caterpillar' turns her head away with a sharp flap of her wings. 'Fleshmaiden' turns to me, but I don't want to contribute to this argument. This asylum has made me question how strong I really am, so what could I say to defend myself?
"Worthless wretch," 'Fleshmaiden' screams at me. "What are you afraid of? Get mad, damn it! Rip the world asunder, and watch it fucking burn!"
She leaps towards me with bared claws, but 'Checkmate' and 'Caterpillar' hold her back from mauling me apart. They drag their flesh-covered counterpart into the darkness, kicking and screaming.
Silence falls, but the darkness doesn't get any close to me. I still can't get out of the seat, so I wait for whatever will happen next.
A bony gray tail pops up from beneath the chair. It wags around for a moment, and then disappears from sight. A second later, two clawed hands with prickly fur dig into my shoulders as whiskers scratch my cheek.
"You're almost there," 'Cheshire' whispers into my ear. "You just need one final push. But, that's always the hardest part. We Alices are all correct, in our own way, but we can't work together on fixing our common problem. We're all too independent of each other. You can't let that happen with Alice. The real Alice."
"Let your need guide you," she finishes as her furry hands drape over my eyes. "Resist the urge to be independent. Pursue your memories, and you may yet find your answers."
With that, I fall into thin air…
Alright, that's all for now. Where has Kyle gone, now that he's rejoined with Alice? Stay tuned to find out! I think it won't be as mad as this chapter was.
As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback is well appreciated.
Draconos is taking off!