Chapter 51

The White Rabbit

Nibelheim looked the same as it always had been, but that was to be expected. The place was a Mirror World of the world Vincent once lived in, would still be living in if nothing had gone to hell as it had. Vincent, Wymond, Sam, and Aeris stood in a line, staring silently at Cloud's hometown.

Mirror Worlds, as a rule, always had some sort of switch-up. It was never a perfect reflection, the universe didn't allow for such things. The people within, or how society ran, was always different somehow. Normal for those who existed there, but radically different for those who came from another existence, but so far everything was the same.

"No indication our hunter friends have arrived," Wymond commented, breaking the silence.

"Good, time to look around," Samael said. "Shall we?"

The quartet arrived at the entrance to Nibelheim minutes later, and entered curiously. The place was a bit more bustling than Vincent or Aeris ever remembered it being. People wore the same clothing, and looked the same as the people who would've inhabited the Nibelheim they knew. There just seemed to be a commotion that was incongruous to the norm of the town.

"Who's giving away free stuff?" quipped Sam.

"There's a larger concentration of them over by that building," Vincent pointed out. Indeed, there appeared to be a large group forming near one of the brick buildings.

"Aeris and I are gonna take a look around the Inn, you two see what's going on over there," Sam said. Vincent and Wymond nodded and headed over.

"A lot of people are coming out of the Inn," Aeris noted. "Whatever's over by that building must be interesting."

Sam opened his mouth to respond but a violent shove almost knocked him forward, and off his feet. He just barely regained stable footing and spun on the person who he suspected assaulted him.

A small man, who looked almost an unhealthy pale shade of white, with small round glasses, and white clothing that nearly matched his skin tone. He had beady, dark brown, eyes that Sam could barely make out through the glasses. The man didn't appear to have paid any attention to running into Sam. The man knelt down hurriedly and scrabbled to pick up some dropped items. He mumbled some words under his breath, and he was very short breathed as it was, it sounded like a mixture of heavy breathing and mumbling. The strange man gathered the last of his dropped items, and scurried past.

"Yeah, it's okay, no problem," Sam yelled after him sarcastically.

"He was in a hurry," Aeris said.

"No shit," Sam muttered.

"He was late," Aeris said. "For what, I wonder?"

"Late?" asked Sam.

"Didn't you hear what he was saying, he repeated it twice," Aeris replied.

"All I heard was panting," Sam said.

"He was saying it under his breath, poor guy looked exhausted."

Sam looked across the massing of people and tried to find the little man in the crowd. "What'd he say?"

"Something along the lines of being late for a very important date," Aeris said. "Something like that."

Sam shrugged. "Probably going to see whatever everyone is…"

Aeris looked at Sam curiously when he trailed off mid-sentence. "What's wrong?"

"Late for a very important date," Sam murmured. "Aeris, did he say it like 'I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date,' like that?"

"It sounded like that, yes, why?" asked Aeris.

"Ah, fuck you Alice," Sam growled.

Aeris thought she heard him say Aeris instead of Alice, and looked at him indignantly. "What?"

"The White Rabbit," Sam said, as if that should mean something to her.

"What?" asked Aeris, still confused.

"Doesn't matter, Wymond and I are about to catch a recurring pattern," Sam said. "I know what all the commotion is about now."

Aeris was still confused, and could only stare blankly.

"Invitation to the Tea Party," Sam growled. "This is gonna get fuckin' weird."

"Sam, Sam, dude, we got problems!" Wymond yelled, sprinting back, Vincent in tow.

"Alice in Wonderland," Sam said.

"Shit, you know?" asked Wymond.

"I just saw the White Rabbit," Sam replied ominously.

"Jesus, Paradoxer?" asked Wymond.

"Could be, sometimes these things just happen," Sam shrugged. "Literature and creativity seep into the Lifestream and manifest themselves into twisted versions of themselves, imposing themselves on other existences. Mirror Worlds are especially susceptible to that kinda thing."

"Sorin didn't even consider this," Wymond said worriedly.

"Nobody did, Shar probably hasn't either," Sam said logically. "We might be able to use our surroundings to put him on his heels."

"Can I interrupt?" asked Vincent suddenly.

Sam and Wymond looked to their cloaked companion.

"What are you talking about?" asked Vincent deadpan.

"It's way too hard to explain Alice in Wonderland to you right now, just follow our lead," Sam assured him.

"Tea Party's open invitation," Wymond said.

"And the Queen of Hearts?" asked Sam.

"Referred to as the Red Queen," Wymond replied.

"It's usually something like that, she's Shinra I'd bet," Sam said.

"There's no Queen of Midgar, but the President of Shinra is pretty much just that," Wymond commented.

"The President of Shinra is a woman?" asked Vincent.

"It fits, Queen of Hearts can't be a man, bet she's a mean one, too," Wymond said.

"She usually is," Sam muttered.

Aeris shook her head. "What do we do, then?"

"Off to Midgar, play some Flamingo Croquet perhaps?" Sam smiled.

Wymond chuckled, and Vincent and Aeris appeared left out of the joke once again. However, used to being in the dark, they simply followed Sam and Wymond out of Nibelheim, trusting they knew what they were doing. They usually did.

The entrance to Midgar, which usually required a key, was oddly left open. Though the entry was still guarded, people were entering in droves.

"One crowded tea party," Wymond said.

"There's more to it than that, I'm sure," Sam said.

"I'm late, I'm late!" cried a squeaky voice as the little white man with glasses charge by at a sprint.

"White Rabbit?" asked Aeris.

Sam nodded to Wymond, and then gestured to the entrance to Midgar. "The rabbit-hole."

"No fun if we don't go down, right?" asked Wymond.

Sam turned and headed toward Midgar, or the rabbit-hole, with a grin. "Aeris in Wonderland…cute, very cute."