Chapter 27- A Familiar Offer.
Author's Note: Okay…this is a bad one….I mean…I hate this chapter it's just not organised….please help me. Suggest things or tell me what desperately needs work…saaaaave meeeee!
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White
"I'm a little bit sick of this black and white setting." Touko murmured quietly as she stared up at the blacked out sky. There was no sun here in the frozen world and the few brief moments of life only came for short bursts before the walls were set back up.
Idly Touko flicked one of the floating bits of rubble, she wished that this world held a little bit more weight to it, having constant rocks and parts of walls floating about was a hazard though she didn't think it possible to actually die in this black and white world.
Given how many times they repeated their arcs she assumed if death were possible it would have happened long ago.
"Hm…you're back." Touko heard a door bellow her close and when she looked down a young boy smiled back up at her.
"It's almost time to leave." He told her warmly and she smiled as well.
"Yeah, almost time we left, it'd be nice to break away from this place and see them again." Touko let out a sigh as she lay back on the debris of the cliff ledge, allowing her eyes to slide shut as she dreamed of when this world would finally shatter.
Soon….soon they'd be able to leave this place and be remembered clearly.
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….
N
It was terribly uncomfortable in the room right then. No one was speaking and they all seemed to keep their gazes towards the floor or walls in favour of looking at one another.
Red had his time to explain the situation and he did so in few but well-chosen words. Even so they all seemed to be struggling to swallow this new information, no one more so than Axel. He'd argued with Red on a few occasions but every time he'd been shot back down. It was as though the only reason he refused to accept this was because it terrified him.
In fact there seemed to be a lot of fear floating around the room in that moment
Camilla and Rose had left the room and were downstairs with Chase making something for them all to eat, no doubt an excuse for them to escape the tense situation but N's stomach wasn't complaining at the thought of food.
Now sitting on the edge of his bed N glanced at Hunter by his side, the male seeming no more at ease even now that his claims were backed up by Red's words. As he looked between Axel and Hunter he noticed a particularly tense air about them and he was fairly sure it had everything to do with their earlier argument.
"Tell me." N spoke, breaking the heavy silence after such a long time. "What happened when you were children?"
N was met with uncomfortable stares, Axel almost looked hostile as he stared at N –it had been a while since Axel looked at him like that. N had not missed it. The only person who seemed more than willing to give him a straight forward answer was Hunter who brazenly opened his mouth and stated.
"People died." Hunter tipped his head back and stared at N with the usual scowl but now he just appeared weary to N's eyes.
"Hunter!" Axel looked as though he was reaching his limit with his childhood friend's loose tongue. "How can you just say that?"
"What would you say?" Hunter demanded angrily. "What else happened while we were children? Well? What else do you remember other than that? I don't know about you Axel but all I remember is that, there is nothing else to think about but the people that died! If that's not what you remember then-"
"Of course I do!" Axel snapped furiously before taking a few deep, calming breaths. "Yeah, I remember, we're not all lucky enough to forget."
"Lucky?" Hunter was out of his chair now, looking as though he intended to give Axel one nice solid blow to the head. Thankfully Red was there to remain the voice of level-headed, icy, reason and stopped Hunter with a single hand to the chest.
"You know that's not what I meant." Axel muttered once Red had given the two enough time to cool down slightly.
"Yeah, I got it." Hunter replied gruffly, the two standing on fairly thin ice with one another.
"Look, Hunter. I get it okay. I do…" Axel murmured quietly. "I just…I don't want to believe you about all this. If it's true that means that all this time I thought you were making up stories and you were really…."
"It's fine." Hunter cut across him. "Alright, let's just…focus on now and what we should do."
"I'm sorry." Axel said abruptly. "You know…about everything."
N was a little bit baffled by the two. He watched on curiously as they went through a wide spectrum of emotions and eventually came to a harmonious conclusion. It seemed as though it should have been impossible given all the hostility and disagreement but just like that they seemed to have made up.
N could scarcely begin to wrap his head around it.
"You want to ask about that last bit of the picture right?" Hunter asked, turning back towards N. "Well it's not really our place to tell you and to be honest we wouldn't have the whole story."
"Another secret is it?" N asked warily, when would these memory gaps and secrets end? It had become ridiculous some time ago.
"No it's not that." Axel said quickly. "We'd tell you but it's just that it's not right for us to say anything, it had nothing to do with us the only person that could tell you would be Alice and she burned the photo herself before it got torn."
"Alice did?" N asked in shock.
"Yeah, before she…you know collapsed. The pictures were shared between us so it seemed alright to speak about them ourselves but for that last part it's only something Alice could tell you about and she still isn't going to remember it." Hunter explained.
"It could be best that she didn't remember that part…" Axel admitted. "It's not like she is burdening anyone by not remembering."
"We have more important things to talk about." Oscar cut in, breaking his silence as they turned to face him. "Like how exactly we're going to get her back."
"You believe us now?" N asked, looking at the torn expression on the adult's face. He didn't want to believe them but they had little else to work with right then.
"The grunt." Red spoke up finally. "I wrung a little out of him. Not enough to find a way back but enough to be sure that they'll find a way back here. If all else fails Riley is still on the other side, he's been through this song and dance a few times. He will find a way back I am sure of it."
"Do you need to sit down?" Hunt quipped. "That was a mouthful." Red simply smiled faintly in response but did seemed to go back to his silence.
"So our solution is to sit and wait? Not much of a battle plan." Axel grumbled. "If the time lines down sync up how can we be sure when they'll be back?"
"We can't." N declared simply while standing straight. "In that case I'll go back to where the rip appeared. It's appeared there twice now so it's likely to appear there again."
"If you do happen across another rip." Red spoke slowly, apparently having recharged his battery. "It's likely that it'll be bigger this time…bleeding if you will."
"Bleeding?" Hunter frowned sitting forward. "As in…bleeding into our world? What happens if it does?"
"If it does there's no telling which world you would end up in. When the tear bleeds things…don't make much sense. It's the place in between and it's something like a dream world. Best to avoid it." Red advised.
N wondered if it would really be all that bad, if it bled out completely perhaps pokemon would join this world and he'd even have his guide returned, he didn't see any of that as a bad thing.
As N picked up his jacket and hat to get ready to go Red stopped him with a simple hand around his wrist. Jerking to a stop N glanced over his shoulder at the other's cool eyes.
"Return her here. There is no compromise." Red released him in the next moment after his message came through loud and clear. He was not allowed to take Alice to his world with him. Frustrated N kept his silence and turned away from the group to leave. He hoped that it did not take long, if Riley was really as experienced as Red claimed hopefully they'd already be back home safe and sound.
N paused in the doorway of the kitchen, peering in to see the girls and Chase talking together. It looked like Camilla was reaching the end of her rope and the others helped comfort her. It was another oddity to N.
Camilla had been a problem from day one but now she was friendly with everyone as though nothing had happened between them. Once again they'd made good out of conflict and N failed to see how. Humans were a little bit confusing to the young king.
Taking the front of his hat and tugging it down slightly N turned away from them as well and walked to the door, intending to walk to where the rip had appeared.
"Before you go." N stopped at the door hearing Oscar's quiet voice and turned back to face the frowning adult. "I wanted to tell you about that last person. In the photo." N was surprised that Oscar decided to talk to him about it but none the less he listened.
"I won't say much, the boys were right, it's not our place. But I only want to tell you to be cautious, don't try and dreg up those memories for Alice." Oscar warned him. "The child in the picture was a young boy, Alice's friend and a friend to everyone else here. Ha, no matter what that boy was doing he was always laughing and running about, strange lad that one. I'm worried that to some extent…you may remind her of him. After he left Alice was completely ruined, it happened after the event with those three girls, she was already unstable as it was. His leaving was too much."
Oscar sighed heavily. "If she sees him in you…I'd like you to leave. I'm sorry son, really I am. I like you but…my first priority are these kids here. They're…my children you know?"
"I understand sir." N said stiffly. "But…I make no promises. Being with Alice makes me happy and if being with me makes her happy I have no intention of leaving."
Oscar looked sad but nodded. "I understand." He echoed N.
N had expected him to push more but he realised it was just a warning, for Alice's wellbeing that had Oscar issue that request. "If she is your first priority then…please do not encourage any further remembering on her part. This is where it should end."
N nodded silently and Oscar gave another faint, exhausted smile and vanished back upstairs. N thought about what he had been told for a while longer, wondering what the right thing to do was.
"He left huh?" N murmured quietly while turning back to the door. "He left my guide alone…how could I possibly resemble anyone who would do that?" He hissed while walking out the door. Now he just had to make his way back to the bus stop. But he was interrupted before he could set out yet again.
"Do you know where you're going?" N paused glancing over his shoulder to see Vincent and Elliot standing in the doorway, one glaring at him.
"Yes." He responded curtly.
"Do you know the way?" Vincent pressed and N paused, he didn't know where Oscar's house fit into this world and he didn't know the way from there back to the place he needed to be.
"Thought not." Vincent snapped and walked ahead of him, Elliot out ahead of them. "Come on then!" Vincent glanced over his shoulder still scowling at N. "You coming or what?"
N stared after the two young boys that were acting as his guides and frowned. They were precious to Alice so he decided that he would tolerate them but at the same time he was not keen on taking them towards the tear, it seemed dangerous.
"Until I recognise the road." He agreed walking behind the two. "Then you head home." There was no argument made but N was sure they'd give him trouble when told to turn back. As they trudged on in silence N noticed the occasionally glance from Vincent and decided he would finally solve one mystery.
"It was you wasn't it?" He asked nonchalantly. "That gave me away."
Vincent came to a stop and turned halfway to face N, smirking mirthlessly. How such a young boy could make such a foul face was beyond N.
"So it was." N muttered. "You were the one that told them I was not your cousin."
"You were in the way." Vincent responded simply as he continued to walk ahead of N. "You needed to vanish."
"You caused me some trouble." N said coldly, feeling a great deal of frustration and resentment growing in him. This child had been on his case since day one.
Alice's special little brother. He reminded himself making it into a sort of mantra to stop himself from acting rashly. Alice's precious one.
It only annoyed him to think that this little brat may be more precious to Alice than he was. Still he had to remain level headed. He was family, that was all.
"But you didn't." Vincent muttered, surprising N. "Why didn't you just go away?" When N didn't response Vincent rounded on him in a fury.
"All you've done since you showed up is cause problem after problem. Alice paid more attention to you than anyone else, everything started to change. All you did was make everyone else suffer just by your existence. If you had just left everything would have been fine! Alice wouldn't be missing, Hewie wouldn't have…have…" Gritting his teeth the young boy shouted at N past angry tears.
"Why couldn't you have just died instead!? You god damned heartless freak!" N was taken aback, he couldn't even form a response as the older of two brothers ran to the crying younger.
"You're just like him. That god damned brat…" Vincent muttered angrily. And then it happened…and then he told N something he never should have heard.
N stared wide eyed as the boy's lips moved and all manner of words were set free but they only buzzed around in his brain, creating white noise as he remained frozen in place.
Right before his very eyes a tear stained young Vincent spewed forth the information he was not meant to have. He told N everything….everything about that burned picture.
"You…you remind her of him so…why can't you just go and-" N's mind was chaos, static blurred behind him as his heart hammered away in his chest. Vincent told him everything, he told N everything that the others had held onto for Alice's sake but the young child spat every word with the intent to hurt N and somehow protect his big sister.
N listened in silence as Vincent told him about why Alice had burned the image and why he should just leave before she remembered it herself and for just a moment N considered leaving himself. Just to try and protect Alice from the memory.
"Vince, stop. Stop Vince!" Elliot tried to calm his brother, holding his shoulders tightly. "Come on, calm down." He urged. "Big sis will be just fine. Remember she promised never to leave us and she's never broken a promise to us before has she? Come on, no more crying."
Elliot took the elder brother roll and turned towards N. "Follow the road until you find the bus stop, you'll be fine on your own. We'll head home now. I'm sorry…he shouldn't have told you all that." Ushering his brother away Elliot gave N a last glance and added.
"Please get our sister home…" He murmured before hunching down and getting his little brother gathered up onto his back so that he could run home with him, Vincent didn't say anything else to N.
It took N a while to recollect his thoughts and when he did he simply turned and continued down the road in silence. What Vincent had said was not wrong, in many ways if he'd never come here everything would have remained the same. It would all be a lie but none of this would have happened.
Was it better to forget the importance of truth if it meant living comfortably in ignorance? Now wasn't the time to get philosophical about it, he had to find Alice.
N finally recognised the road he was travelling down and was comforted in knowing it wasn't far to the place he had to be. He could simply sit and wait, perhaps he should have brought Zorua with him… the little pokemon had spent most of its time guarding the grunt and proving that Red really did come from another world. What more proof did they need than a living, breathing pokemon staring up at them with adorable red eyes.
"I wonder if Alice liked the pokemon world." N thought aloud, he hadn't considered it before but Alice would be seeing what it was he saw. It was disappointing he couldn't be there to guide her first steps in his world but just thinking about her excitement to his home was enough to have the young king smiling.
He looked forward to seeing her again, talking about his home with her and perhaps she'd finally change her mind and they'd agree on pokemon liberation. Well…did he really want to argue about that anymore?
N hesitated when he compared pokemon and animals it had meant very little but the more he thought about it, the more he considered what it would be like if he had forcibly removed Hewie from his human kin….the less N felt like liberating anyone.
He still remembered the tears and screams that had come from his guide and the rest of Hewie's family at the time they lost him, if he was to remove pokemon from their trainers…would they feel that same loss? It troubled N that his ideals were put to question but he could not gloss over it this time, he had to very seriously consider what he wanted to do upon his arrival home which seemed to be looming ever closer.
Perhaps he and Alice had a little more to discuss, they could find a common ground somewhere and then surely they'd be able to save both pokemon and trainers…somehow.
N was so lost in his consideration he barely even noticed when the ground under his was no longer earth. It was only when he realised his steps were making quiet splashing sounds that he realised the earth bellow him was now a swirling mess of paint like colours.
Stumbling back in shock N looked behind him to see the inky substance slowly stretching itself across the ground, wherever it touched the world seemed to vanish away and when he looked ahead N saw the world he'd once known as Alice's home distorting into a strange fluid world of inky blacks and blues.
"Is this….the bleeding?" He whispered looking around as the world slowly lost its sense, trees detached themselves from the earth they'd once been rooted to and slabs of cement floated about weightlessly around him. Debris floated all around and it looked as though the entire world had crumbled in on itself to create this unsettling world.
Straightening himself N composed himself and began to walk deeper into the watery mess. If the world was bleeding…that meant that he was close and that a tear had appeared. That thought kept N walking across the watery ground, his steps making a soft splashing sound as he walked, it was the only sound in this eerie watercolour world for N to hear.
So when a second pair of splashing steps joined him N noticed immediately.
Someone was in this world with him.
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White
"You're still here." Touko lifted her head slightly at the sound of a familiar voice. When she turned Touko found herself staring down at the figure of a young boy.
The two were separated by a large void filled with an inky black mess, the substance that filled their world curling and writhing grotesquely. From where Touko sat high above the boy on crumbling bits of stone she could just make out the white tiled ground of the decaying hospital room he stood in. The two of them belonged in very different worlds but they had melded together here some time ago and she had become accustom to speaking with him.
"You to." Touko responded quietly, their voices carrying easily over the deathly quiet landscape they inhabited. "I suppose we'll be leaving soon. It's about time to." She added with a bittersweet smile. "It looks like these worlds are beginning to crumble."
"Hmm, yeah." The boy smiled brightly as he looked out of the slowly rotting world. The colours had long since faded to black and white but the scene had not changed in many years. Touko was still on the highest floor of the castle and he was still in that hospital room.
"You seem happy." Touko noted quietly.
"Aren't you happy to?" He asked with a warm laugh as he turned away from Touko to climb up onto his dirty, unmade hospital bed. "We'll see them soon."
"How could you be happy in a place like this?" Touko asked though she smiled slightly herself.
"Well, it's because I was here with you Touko." He laughed again rolling back on the rusty old bed. "I thought I'd be lonely but since you were here I always had a friend with me and now, finally we'll be able to see them again."
"What if we don't like what we see?" Touko asked sadly. "You said it yourself, how she tried to…"
"Never will I ever hurt another." He reminded her flatly. "Besides we've never doubted them before, why start now?"
"We've been here for so long now…I've forgotten what it was like to see colour and feel warmth. There's nothing here, no wind, no sun, no rain. I don't even remember what it was like to breathe. What if…we no longer see what we did in them?" Touko asked with a frown.
"Hey, Touko." She jumped in surprise as the boy's world shifted closer to hers, the bed rolling towards the cliff she sat on while the hospital ground picked itself up to come to level with her own land. Once they were at eye level with one another the young boy smiled brightly, poking at the corners of his mouth as he did.
"Smile, smile. Remember? Touko has a lovely smile, I'm sure he'll want to see it." Touko did smile, because this boy was here she had remembered how to smile even when everything else faded. "There we go! Beautiful!"
The two laughed together before the world gave an almighty shake and the two looked towards their blacked out sky to see cracks appearing.
"Ah, it's almost time… I suppose it's going to hurt. It always does." Touko noted dully.
"It's the last time." The boy encouraged her. "It's hello and goodbye…so don't forget to smile okay?"
Stepping off his bed the boy landed ankle deep in a black pool of ink as it flooded his hospital room from the door but in that ink there was something incredible. A strand of colour. It was so tiny and so slim that they almost missed it but it was there. A single spot of red in the pool of black.
"It…really is time to go." The boy said in wonder as though he'd not really believed it himself.
"Will we see each other again?" Touko asked, neither really knowing the answer.
Turning back to Touko with a bright smile the boy replied simply. "Sure we will!"
The world began to shudder and shake to life again their world tearing apart violently, as their frozen state began to unwind. Soon Touko would go back up to the top of that castle, she'd fight N like she always did and then finally when the end came…this time she would not wake up back in this world of black and white.
And for the boy…he'd return to that hospital room and end it all over again but this time he'd not come back and remind her to smile.
Oh yes it would hurt, like it always did. But this was the last time and finally this chaotic story would end.
But Touko didn't feel ready, she didn't feel sure of herself as she once had in their colourful world. She was afraid of the final ending and even more than that she feared that they wouldn't ever see each other again.
"Wait!" Touko held her hand out towards the boy who simply smiled all the more, tears forming in his eyes. "Wait, wait, Shiro!"
"Ah, you finally called my name." Shiro laughed past the tears. "But it's a little bit late now. I'll see you again sometime. We promised right? When have I ever broken a promise to you?"
"Go on now…he's waiting for you on the top floor and she's waiting for me in that doorway." Shiro smiled faintly. "I have to tell her properly…that I love her. Tell him, you tell him as well." He called to Touko over the noise of their shattering world.
"Tell N that you love him, okay?"
Shiro stood in the doorway of his hospital room, allowing the flood of inky blacks and red to flood past him as he smiled back at Touko.
"See you next time, White."
And then finally…the world fell in on itself.
It was time for them to end this game.
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Alice
This wasn't right.
Alice had ended up in a place that her mind couldn't quite wrap around. The link had spat her out into some nightmarish world. She was currently sitting with her knees under her and hands pressed against the glassy surface that replaced solid ground.
She knew that time was limited but she was so taken back by this strange land of white that she had been yet to move herself.
Looking down at the glass surface bellow her she could see her own reflection staring back at her with an equally puzzled face. When she turned away from the ground Alice could only stare at the strange assortment of objects floating lazily through the air. It looked as though a child's bedroom had been blown apart, captured mid explosion and now left in a constant floating state. Childishly scribbled pictures floated by along with an assortment of stuffed animals and toys that would have belonged to a very young boy.
Gradually Alice pushed herself up off of the reflecting floor and with hesitant steps began descending deeper into this unnatural world. Where she was and how exactly she'd gotten there was all a little bit hazy but Alice knew that she still had to find N. Which way lead to N….well that was a guess at best.
Her feet tapped loudly against the smooth surface bellow her and as she continued down her uncertain path Alice noticed other objects appearing in the distance. She could smell something like disinfectant and it vaguely reminded her of something one would smell when in a hospital. It was strange how often Alice caught that scent.
Alice was a little bit frustrated, not sure where the way out was but more than anything there was a looming sense of unease in her mind. Being in this place felt eerily familiar to her and she wanted out as soon as possible. But wherever she looked it seemed the vast white space continued on for miles, she could walk in any direction and get nowhere.
Growling her frustrations Alice stamped her foot like an angry child and glared down at the floor. What she saw staring back up at her almost caused Alice to fall over.
Hands pressed against the other side of the glass floor with wide cautious eyes her reflection peered back at her but was very obviously not reflecting her. The reflection girl tapped twice on the glass as if to be sure Alice had seen her. Nervously Alice waved back, not sure what she was meant to do in response to that.
The reflection seemed satisfied and stood back up, linked to Alice by her feet in the reflection but then she took a step and detached herself from Alice's mirror image.
Staring dumbfounded as her own reflection walked away from her Alice tried to figure out just how she felt about this. There was certainly a lot of confusion surrounding the whole situation but there was little fear. Wasn't your reflection coming to life one of the scariest things imaginable?
Noticing that she hadn't moved to reflection turned back to face her with an annoyed expression and gestured for her to follow. Everything she did was upside down and Alice couldn't help but feel like the reflection looked like it was going to fall any minute. It was disorientating to watch the other as they walked, most clearly she could see the etching of the bottom of her shoes as she stepped on the bottom of the glass.
Nervously Alice obeyed, walking after her reflection and as they walked…the reflection changed.
With every step she took the reflections body shifted, melting away from Alice's mirror image into another familiar form.
"White…?" Alice spoke aloud and the reflection paused, having fully taken on the form of the character that she knew. Turning back slightly the reflected image of Touko glanced at Alice and with a tip of her hat grinned.
That was it and then she ran. Alice watched as the soles of Touko's shoes pounded against the crystal ground that separated them, putting a greater distance between them.
"Hey wait up!" Alice shouted, taking off after Touko. She had questions for her, she had to ask Touko what happened between her and N and where she was now. Alice had to ask her everything, what this place was, how she was on the other side of the glass…just everything to try and make this scene have some sense to it.
Most importantly she had to ask if Touko would look after N when he returned home.
Alice couldn't stay with N, she'd always known that so she could at least ask that Touko look after him when they parted.
She was ignored as White continued to run along underside her, easily keeping ahead. Alice was so preoccupied keeping her eyes on Touko that she barely noticed a large darkness growing on the horizon. They were almost upon the tear when she finally noticed its great hulking mass. It moved with a sickly inky black colour and she could not see what was on the other side.
Touko kept running towards it and once they were in reaching distance she leapt up from the mirror image, standing at the same height as Alice who came to a grinding stop in front of her. Touko put a hand on her hip and with a grin grabbed hold of Alice's arm and thrust her through the gap, waving as she fell through the hole.
….
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N
He did not turn at first even when his brain registered that the rapid steps were coming from behind him and nearing him rapidly. Each step came quickly and grew in volume as they neared him, N realised whoever was approaching him was running. It was only when they were almost upon him that he began to turn.
As his body twisted back to face the owner of those echoing steps he just barely missed the small form as it ran by him. For a fleeting moment N thought it was one of Alice's brothers following him but as the boy passed him N was able to take a look at him, he did not know him. As N stepped back away from the running child time seemed slow as he stared wide eyed at the boy.
His face was obscured under messy blond hair but N could see a smile on his face as he passed by him. The boy seemed to look at him as well as he dashed past and his smile grew into a smirk. As they passed one another time sped back up and N was left staring after the running form of the boy. As he looked N noticed that the edges of the boys form seemed to flicker and burn, as though he was made of paper burned and now flaking away. He did not look entirely real or fully solid even as he almost collided with N, laughing all the way.
"He was a young boy. Running, laughing." It hit N so hard he almost fell over but he realised very suddenly that this was the boy. This ghostly figure that ran out ahead of him was Shiro.
Logic no longer mattered as his gut instinct told him it was the boy from the photo. For a moment longer he stared and then before he knew it N was running after the boy.
"Wait!" He shouted after the boy but all he got for his efforts was laughter and the occasionally glance back from the boy as he ran. "Shiro, wait!" He tried calling the boys name but got similar results.
I have to stop him… N thought feverishly. He's heading towards the rip, towards where Alice would be. I have to stop him from getting there!
"He was a freak just like you!" Vincent's words echoed in his head as he raced after Shiro. "Taking up all of Alice's time, playing with bugs and spiders like they were family."
"Please stop!" He tried but the boy ignored him and he was fast. While N's feet sank into the gluggy ink like ground under him the ghostly boy all but glided over the water. N was forced to stumble and force his way through the thick sludge of this strange world in pursuit of the child.
"After all of that time they spent together he clung to her like a leech."
Damn it! N had lost sight of the boy, only his laughter remaining as he searched from his desperately in this disjointed reality. N realised that he had been pulled deeper into this bleeding world. Things no longer held any form, moving like water and floating aimlessly up above him as he kept running in the direction he'd seen the child.
"She did everything for him. She never left his side during the day….she was so caught up in him!"
N could see something in the distance. A large white dot growing on the horizon and although it didn't have the same dark shade as it had when he first saw it he recognised it as the rip. So he ran towards that, knowing that if Alice had returned she'd come through there.
More importantly the boy had appeared again, skimming along the inky, broken ground towards the gap and so N followed him.
"She did everything she could to make him happy. Made sure he was always smiling and happy. Made her own life hard just to try and see him laugh."
N could see someone standing close to the rip and his heart brightened. He hoped desperately that it was Alice he was running towards. As he neared the gap the boy suddenly stopped running, looking up at the figure that stood there. N noticed the boy taking a timid step back but he paid it no mind as he ran.
"And after all of that….he…-"
"Alice!" He called as he reached the figure, moving past the frozen ghost boy. But when the other turned to face him N came to a grinding stop and simply stared.
"Father…?"
Now both N and the boy were standing staring at the form of Ghetsis, unable to speak.
….
….
Alice
Her fall came to a jerking stop as Touko reached in and grasped her wrist tightly.
"Damn it…that man." Touko muttered, Alice startled when the other spoke. "Always in the way…" Touko looked down at Alice as she dangled hopelessly halfway between the white world and the black tear.
"Hey there." She smiled brightly, saluting Alice with the hand that didn't stop her from falling. "I'm glad to have finally met you."
"That's great and all..." Alice laughed nervously. "Could we have this conversation on solid ground by any chance?"
"Sorry, can't help you." White smiled while Alice gave her quite a look. "I was hoping to let go of you at the same time that N got lead in from your side…" She admitted quietly. "But it looks like Ghetsis is in the way again…"
"Ghetsis!?" Alice twisted herself to look down the tear in panic. "Then he got to N before I did…" She murmured in alarm.
Gritting her teeth Alice could imagine what may happen if Ghetsis were to get to N before her. In a snap decision she pulled her arm, trying to dislodge it from White's hold.
"Hey! What are you doing!?" Touko demanded angrily, tightening her grip.
"I have to go and save N!" Alice shouted back, surprising Touko. Her grip loosened just slightly as the two stared at one another, they were otherworld counterparts so they should have seen eye to eye, Alice couldn't understand why Touko was hesitating.
"Save him?" Touko repeated quietly before smiling gently. "I hadn't thought of it like that…Hey, Alice." Touko lent in slightly from where she held Alice and she wondered where the girl got that ungodly strength to hold her so steady.
"You realise it to don't you?" Touko spoke quietly. "You must remember by now…exactly why it is I can't go and protect N in your place."
Alice stared up at the other, a denial on the tip of her tongue but…she never said it. As the two counterparts stared at one another Alice realised exactly what it was she'd been overlooking since N arrived.
"I know how the story ended…you won." She murmured quietly. Touko merely laughed at that and reached down with her free hand to grab the back of Alice's head.
"Because you're my counterpart I'll share this last memory with you." She told Alice quietly and before she could protest or even question the logic of that offer Alice's vision was blinded.
It took only a few seconds for the entire story to be passed onto Alice but to the dangling girl it felt like years, every second of Touko's memory burning itself into her eyes and before she realised it Alice was crying.
Once the memory was broken off Alice gave a sharp gasp and desperately tried to rearrange her thoughts.
"No. No, no, it couldn't have ended like that, I-I remember, you won. It was a happy ending!" Alice exclaimed in horror, not believing the version of the ending that Touko had given her. If N were to remember something like that…wouldn't it just shatter him?
"Was it?" Touko laughed with a sad smile. "Wouldn't that be nice." With that Touko let go of Alice's arm and allowed the girl to fall.
"You couldn't have lost!" Alice screamed back as she fell and Touko simply smiled brightly and saluted her again. "White!"
It was too late, Touko vanished high up above her.
….
….
"N." Ghetsis greeted N with a small amount of warmth, walking towards his ward with a faint smile. "Finally, I've found you."
"Father…how are you?" N was shocked, not expecting Ghetsis to appear in Alice's place. "Where is Alice? Surely she's with you." N asked expectantly but he could not see Alice anywhere.
N noticed the ghost boy staring at Ghetsis, he could not see the boy's eyes but he knew they were locked on his father. Eventually Shiro spoke though it seemed Ghetsis could not hear or see him.
"….scary…" He muttered quietly, crouching down and curling in on himself. N noticed how the boy trembled and whimpered after having seen Ghetsis. "Scary…scary….scary…." He chanted quietly to himself but unable to be seen by Ghetsis his frantic mantra went by unnoticed.
"Ah yes." Ghetsis acknowledged N's question. "The girl, she did come through yes." Ghetsis admitted pleasantly. "But she's not coming back through this way just yet."
"What?" N was aghast. "Why not?"
"Simple, this world is simply too out of control for her to feel safe." Ghetsis lied easily, the honey sweet words easily coming with his serpent tongue.
N frowned and thought back on all he knew about Alice and this world. She did seem frightened by it and she had so many hardships here. It was not hard to believe she may try to escape it. Perhaps…Alice had come to hate this world?
"Oh don't fret!" Ghetsis added quickly. "I have the most ingenious solution to your problem." N looked back up at his father as the older male approached him.
"It's quite simply really. This world, it need some…new management as it were." Ghetsis told him kindly. "Our world is so neatly under control and pokemon are being freed everywhere but this place has no order. Wouldn't it be the most marvellous gift in the world for your… 'guide' to fix that error?"
"Our world is…?" N repeated, he did not remember it that way.
"Of course. After you became king your influence has stretched far past Unova, it's fully under control so your energy could be focused on this new world." N's mind was reeling, he had become king? How had he forgotten such a momentous achievement?
That meant he won, he had won the battle with Touko and she must have finally seen the light! This was absolutely wonderful!
"A gift to her?" N repeated, a smile growing on his face. "Yes, yes, this world is rather unsightly." He agreed quietly. "If I could take away the things that made her upset in it…if I were king here…" Already N's mind was conjuring up images of a new order in this world, one that would make his guide feel safe and happy.
Ghetsis watched as the giddy, childish joy took over N and smirked cruelly. It was easy, N was terribly easy to manipulate when offered the right bait. Even if it was the same bait used a second time.
Shiro seemed to gain some control of himself and without a word he leapt up off of the ground, reaching towards the large white rip. N noticed him out of the corner of his eye and instinctively made to grab him, he couldn't let that boy get anywhere near Alice…if she were to remember something so sad she might just shatter.
Ghetsis said something to N that he didn't quiet catch, obviously alarmed by his sudden lunge back towards that tear, which he most certainly didn't want N going through.
When he grabbed the boy however he only got them both pulled into the rip. Shiro laughed once they began to fall glancing at N and it was only then that he saw the boy's mismatched eyes. One blue and one green and both staring at him in triumph.
"I got you!" Shiro shouted gleefully as they fell. N had not realised that all this time he'd intended to toss him into the rip.
He didn't realise that the place he was about to be dumped would be the same place that Alice ended up…not quite the reunion he had in mind but at the very least it would be close.
Now if only they'd stop being tossed into unknown portals they'd be able to make some sense of the madness.
….
….
Me:" I'm sorry about this one…" *Sighs.* "I'm just trying to piece this story back together but it's not going so well….really…sorry about that. I genuinely dislike this chapter and my current quality of work. I apologise and SERIOUSLY if you have any suggestions to HELP that would be GREAT! Help me out here before a break. :(
Alice: "Do you ever stop whining?"
Me: "Sometimes…" ;~;
Alice: "Do you ever make sense?"
Me: "….no."
Alice: "CAN YOU DO NOTHING RIGHT!?"
Me: "….Nope…" T^T