AN: Hi everyone! First I want to apologize for disappearing for two whole weeks, I was dealing with a lot of stress and some depression and just could not find the time or motivation to write. However! This last week I was relieved of my burden, Praise God!, and was gifted with inspiration galore! So, that's how this chapter came to be. I promise, I am not trying to abandon you guys or this story!

REVIEWERS!:

Liesje2004: Thank you!

Acecove: So happy you liked it! King, because Pirates don't care, and Yesssss! Hiccup's battle style has changed drastically because of everything he's learned and been through, but you haven't seen nothing yet! There's a reason why Hiccup was the one to respond to the "madness" quote: it's not just in earlier books that he's been helping Emma. Anyways, hope you're still pumped after two weeks of stalling! *nervous laughter*

Eris: Thank you, thank you, I do try! You'll just have to wait and see for that one, but the Vikings know nothing about Hiccup being alive. :)

EversoGreen: Thank you so much, that is so sweet! I hope I can continue to provide quality content for you and all of my readers! :)

Guest: Hahaha! No worries! Anyways: YES! All the stuff went down. And if you thought this was crazy, just remember: it's only the set up for what's coming. :3

Guest: I'm so glad you like Talia! She's got plenty more story to come, so you can definitely look forward to seeing her more and more!


Music: "Hold Me Down" by Halsey

NOTES: "A restless seeker, on private business, arrived in the misery infested land. She, despite ignorance, uncertainty, and unhappiness in her own life, could not endure to see them suffering. She began to fight against the savage murderers, abusers, and defilers without quite knowing why or for who's sake she truly fought, or how the struggle would end..."

Chapter 19: Hold Me Down

Winter was quickly giving way to the beginnings of Spring. Half-melted snow clumped up on the sides of walkways and squished into the earth, creating a slushie, slippery mud that clung to everything. The air had a biting chill to it, but the sun shone through the clouds to reveal pale blue sky.

Emma trudged up the path from the greenhouses back towards the castle. She'd spent some of her free period working on an assignment for her Herbology class, but now that it was finished she wanted to get to the Auror's office to continue searching the files. She was certain she could get through at least one box before her next class.

As she walked, though, Emma noticed charred mushrooms sticking out of cracks in the stone floor of the courtyard she entered. A pile of embers lay underneath the giant mushrooms, drawing her eye as she slowed her pace but kept moving forward. She made it to the archway that led into the open corridor and she could see the castle's walls on the other side, but the moment she stepped through the whole world wavered like disturbed water.

Suddenly there was nothing but dry, cracked earth beneath her feet. Forest debris, charred and decayed, floated in the air. The sky was a fiery vortex. The ground shook violently under her as that shrieking Train of destruction flew past her patch of earth and into the vortex, leaving nothing but devastation in it's wake.

"This bloody Ruin! It's corrupting all of Wonderland!" Emma exclaimed as she moved forward, her school robes replaced by a kimono-like dress of dark blue and pink, a floral pattern scattered across the skirt.

"Seeking refuge from the wicked world? Perhaps things only Look like they've gone to hell." Cat drawled as his form solidified a little ways away from her.

"You're not that good a liar, and I'm not that stupid, but something a bit less calamitous would have been welcome." Emma replied as she walked over to him.

"This unmitigated disaster is your own doing and it will get worse. Your Train keeps a hellish schedule." Cat growled low in his throat.

"What's that supposed to mean? It's not like I asked for this!" Emma wanted to argue, but Cat ignored her.

"Get moving!" He said sharply. "Time waits for no one. The Change has begun..."

"The Train is perfectly capable of terrifying me Cat. You should find another job. Is there really so little hope?" Emma asked.

"There's even less." He said. "And if Fear paralyzes you, we are lost."

He vanished and revealed the giant, glass Hookah Pipe that was behind him. Alone, Emma didn't hesitate to go over to the pipe and inspect it. She could tell immediately that it was one of Caterpillar's, but there was nothing unusual about it. Figuring the wise old thing was trying to tell her something, Emma lifted the pipe and took a deep breath of it. Her head filled with a fuzzy feeling and Caterpillar's voice echoed in her mind.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." He told her.

"A single step off Hogwarts' Bridge could end my journey." Emma returned as she, quite literally, surveyed the decay of her own mind.

"Failure is your epitaph? I'd hoped you were more courageous." He mocked her.

"I'm devastated. Look at what's become of my beautiful valley." She felt her eyes itch as she finally had to look away from the fire and oil that had once been lush greenery and brightly colored flowers.

"All things change in the fullness of time. Often not for better." He said in what she assumed was supposed to be a comforting way.

Knowing he was right, or at the very least that there was nothing she could do except keep moving forward, Emma started walking again. She was on a lower plateau and used floating rocks and hot air drafts to climb upwards. The destruction grew worse the farther she went. What was once one giant forest floating in the sky was now cracked and splintered islands of dirt, barely holding together as a cluster.

Traversing the landscape was treacherous at best, and then there were endless Ruins lurking about, attacking anything that moved. Small and big, some with multiple heads some with only one. There were even Slugs made of the disgusting bile that was polluting her once beautiful world.

She found satisfaction in driving her blade through their oily flesh. Feeling the slide of her knife as it cut through the thick sludge like butter. It was the one outlet she had for all of her bottled up fury. Whoever had done this to Wonderland would know her wrath. She was determined to find them and make them face punishment for their crimes.

But Cat's words lingered in her ears, planting a seedling of doubt. Was all this destruction her own fault? What had she done to create such an awful tragedy?

After leaping over a particularly large gap between a ledge and a larger piece of earth, the vortex in the sky gave a mighty crack of thunder that shook the earth and Cat reappeared a few yards from her. He was looking at the sky where the massive clock face that was once part of Hatter's domain now floated aimlessly through the air, but then turned his piercing gaze to her.

"The sight, the stink, the sinister sound. What have you imagined, Emma?" He questioned.

"I've been wondering the same thing myself." Emma admitted, moving close to him as she felt her lip tremble and her eyes swelled. What had she done?

"It's not only about you, Emma." Cat assured her, his tail brushing her arm comfortingly. "Look at the destruction around you. Consider it's cause. Then, go join Caterpillar."

He disappeared, but she knew he was leading her through the chaos. Helping her to find the right path so she wouldn't get lost. And she followed him, confident that he would lead her down the right path. She straightened her spine and lifted her chin, pushing forward along the uneven ground ahead of her.

Emma felt a rush of hope and relief when she caught sight of a small patch of greenery in the distance. Her steps quickened until she was running and leaping across stones, traveling out from the cluster into open space where one source of life still remained. The oasis was nestled on a small island a little ways out from the main piece of land with only some misplaced pieces floating through the air making it accessible to Emma.

When her feet hit the moss-covered stone she came to an abrupt halt, panting. She took a deep breath in to steady herself and enjoy the first glimpse of fresh air she'd had in hours. Feeling more solid on her feet, she walked forward, approaching a stalagmite sort of rock that was at the center of the small pool of water. She walked through the shallow water and inspected the stone, finding what looked to be the top of another pipe with smoke seeping out of it and curling upwards.

"You are familiar with the saying that smoking stunts your growth?" Caterpillar's voice echoed again, and Emma snorted.

"Adults assault children with that adage, usually while they've got a pipe stuck in their mouths." Emma said. And they call her mad, where was the logic in that?

"I won't ask you to inhale. Let the smoke envelope you." Caterpillar said as the smoke coming out of the stone began to curl around Emma. It circled her, spinning around, and as her mind felt that fuzzy feeling again, she realized she was shrinking.

Faster and faster she was getting smaller and smaller, and the smoke was getting thicker and thicker, making it impossible to see. Emma squeezed her eyes shut, feeling them itch from the exposure to all the vapors, and when she finally opened them again, she found herself in an entirely new place.

The area she found herself in resembled Eastern cultures she had read about in books and been told about by Tadashi and Gogo during quiet moments in the common room. Elegant calligraphy covered the stone mountain and floating tiles that lay before her and pristine pottery lay scattered about. The art of catfish and foreign architecture could have kept her occupied with curiosity for hours, but her mind was more focused on the slight tang of copper in what would have been the fresh air of the coastal breeze.

The area was serene and quiet, but the feeling of unease hung in the air, and Emma didn't like it one bit. She started moving forward at a brisk pace, leaping from tile to tile, across small stone islands in the water and on ledges at the mountains foot until she found the pass that would allow her to go up the mountain.

Her heart skipped a beat and then began pounding in her ears when she saw a smear of blood across the ground just before the opening to the pass. Looking out and above the path, she could see smoke rising from the trees and dread pooled into her stomach.

She raced up the path, her feet barely touching the ground as she flew towards the source of blood and fire. Bursting into a clearing, she found the square arch that marked the entrance to a town, but there was more blood smeared across one stone wall in the entrance and Emma could see the flickering light of fire beyond it.

Two corpses hung from the arch by nooses.

Emma wanted to throw up as she passed under them, trying not to look at them. If she did she might never stop crying. So she kept moving, finding every house in the small village on fire and burning down to nothing but ashes. She looked for survivors, but didn't say anything. She didn't want to be caught by surprise by whatever had done this.

She eventually found the center of the town and a giant wasp adorned in Samurai armor dropped from the sky. He hissed at her, brandishing his sword, and Emma drew her blade as he charged at her. The wasp raised his sword above his head, but Emma dodged backwards when he tried to cut through her. She jumped forward at the opening, and the Wasp raised his sword to meet hers.

The clang of metal on metal was a deafening ring in her ears. Their blades met three times before locking in a grating stalemate. The wasp used his superior strength to push her away, but Emma flipped backwards to catch herself before she fell and then swept in low, ducking under his defense.

Her blade caught him across what would have been a man's waist, and the wasp screeched, moving back to get away, but Emma chased after him. She was angry. She was furious. She wanted to blood in payment for the civilians that died in this evil attack. She let her fury rush through her veins, intent on avenging the town she had failed to protect. Her knife cut through the wasp's flesh like it was delicate butterfly wings, splattering blood across the dirt. The wasp dropped it's sword, shrieking as Emma plunged her knife into it's center, and she watched it crumple to the ground with a sick satisfaction and spots of it's blood on her face.

Two more wasps dropped down on either side of her, and Emma felt a spike in her rage and her adrenaline. Both wasps charged, raising their swords, and Emma dodged forwards this time, letting the two samurai clang their swords off of each other. She used the sound as a cue to push hers into the air, using her magic to spring herself high above the two wasps as she flipped over them and then landed in a crouch on the other side, lunging forward to cut into the two intruders.

Within moments, the wasps were nothing but headless bodies at her feet and Emma's upper lip was curled in disgust. Perhaps if they had trained under the tutelage of the peaceful monks that inhabited this mountain as she had they would have made a decent challenge for her.

She didn't need to look to know he had appeared. She could sense him sitting behind her.

"This is my fault." She said without turning to look at him. "If I had been paying better attention I could have protected them."

"We can never know what would have happened, Emma. But what will happen is another matter entirely." Cat said, his deep voice quiet and comforting. "'She who saves a single soul, saves the Universe', remember?"

Cat disappeared, and Emma sighed, her shoulders drooping. Even with his comforting words, she still felt responsible for the tragedy, and she wondered about what else could have been helped if she had been wiser.

Knowing that Cat was right and she shouldn't dwell on 'could have beens', Emma looked up at the large wooden gates on the other side of the square. They were open, revealing the large set of stairs leading up to the temple. She walked over and, to her despair, she found more bodies left carelessly on the stairs. Probably left where they had fallen in their fight.

She moved passed them and climbed the steps until she finally reached the temple where she felt a burst of joy that nearly brought her to tears. Some of the praying mantis people that inhabited the mountain, monks and civilians alike, were huddled together in the temple for safety. Some had blankets draped across their shoulders or held soup in their hands. Children stayed pressed close to their mothers, and elders moved about, trying to take care of everyone. But most importantly; they were Alive.

"Mama, look!" One of the children said, pointing at Emma and drawing attention to her.

"Is she the chosen one? Our savior as Cat promised?" A grown mantis asked.

"It's Emma! The magnificent, the powerful, the brave, the reckless, the rash, the crazy, the imprudent!" Another exclaimed.

"She must be here to speak with the elder!" Another whispered. "He knows things. He even thinks things!"

Emma slowly walked through the crowd to the center of the room, and the leader of the town, the oldest mantis, approached her. His white mustache swayed slightly as he moved, but his eyes were sharp and fixed on her face which still bore the blood of her battle.

"Your victories in combat and conundrums suggest your fitness to confront the challenges ahead. Mental strength will confirm your worthiness, or declare your defeat." He told her, his voice gravelly from age. "The wicked wasps have laid siege to the mountain and control the peaks to the East and West. You must find a way passed them if you wish to speak with Caterpillar."

"I suppose I must go to the mountain top, as it won't come to me." Emma sighed. "I'll handle the Wasps if you can point me in the right direction."

"At the back of this temple you will find the entrance to the sacred caves. They will ease you in your journey and take you directly to our brothers in the village at the summit. They are waging war against the enemy forces." The elder said, moving his long limb to show her the direction to the temple's greatest secret.

"Thank you," Emma said, and hurried passed the elder towards the doors at the back of the room. She put one hand on each door and gave a push, opening the double doors with no trouble and finding a smaller room with a paint on the back wall and a few stairs leading up to the painting.

Emma grinned and walked forward. She slowly took the steps one at a time, and then stepped into the painting, her body melting into ink and paints as the painting itself rippled silently like water, a bright light impairing her vision. When the light faded, Emma found herself in a dark cave, facing the white light of the exit. Looking behind her, Emma saw an identical painting to the one she had stepped into back at the temple, and she smiled. She flicked her hair and started for the exit, intent on finding Caterpillar.

The new landscape was much steeper, settled at the bottom of a ravine with the mountain stretching upwards on either side. Emma exited the cave to find herself in a new clearing, but this time it was also a battlefield.

The praying mantis people were falling to the wasps, though fighting valiantly. Swords clashed, sending sparks flying, and cries of battle echoed across the stone walls of the ravine. Several of the monks were already on the ground, being mercilessly beaten by one or two wasps. They punched and kicked the peaceful monks, the sounds of thumping fists and cracking bones was sickening. Some of the monks lay groaning on the ground, unable to fight any longer.

Emma felt something crack in the pit of her stomach and a rush of adrenaline cause a scream to erupt from her throat as she raced forward, drawing her blade with the hiss of metal that split the air.

The wasps looked up and some of them flinched while others raised their swords, but Emma was already upon the first one with a precise swing of her arm. Her knife sliced through the wasp's neck and it's head fell from it's body.

Everything slowed for a moment as the wasp's body dropped to her feet, and then all of the others came rushing at her. Emma leaped backwards and then side to avoid their attacks. One sword bit into her arm, drawing a significant amount of blood, but luckily the cut couldn't have been too deep as she still had full range of motion with it. Emma retaliated and slipping around one of her opponents swords and grabbing his wrist, yanking his arm behind his body and leaving him open so that one of the other wasps ran him through trying the get Emma.

Confused on how his sword had ended up buried in his comrade, the Wasp paused, and Emma used that opportunity to swipe at his arm, cutting it clean off. The wasp shrieked as the limb fell to the ground, but the noise stopped abruptly when Emma stabbed his stomach.

The battle continued until every last wasp had fallen, cut down by the Vorpal Blade, and Emma stood victorious at the center of the clearing. The monks that were still alive either struggled over to her on tired limbs or supported their brothers who were more gravely injured.

"The wasps have taken the mountain village. They came in such great numbers, we thought the fighting would never end." One of the older warriors said. "They brought death and pollution with them, and the earth trembles in fear!"

"I'm not sure that's fear, I think it's a Train. You all need to leave this place and find safety. Gryphon is building a resistance, you should go and find him." Emma told them, looking around at all of the exhausted and worn praying mantis. "I must speak with Caterpillar, but there's no reason for you to stay any longer and put yourselves in more danger."

"But the women and children have been taken to the gorge! They are trapped in cages, and we must set them free!" Another warrior, leaning on another for support, cried.

"Then we must move quickly. There's still time to evacuate, but you must use it wisely." Emma warned them.

"Fear not, Emma, we will see our people freed. You must go to Caterpillar." The older warrior spoke again. "Come! We will lead you to the path."

The monks turned and moved as quickly as they could with all of their injuries with Emma following close behind. They moved through the mountain village, burned and littered with the dead, and on the other side was a giant chasm that fell into darkness below and opened up to the darkening sky above. Circular wooden cages hung all about the chasm, holding women and children hostage.

"Caterpillar's retreat lies on the other side, just up the pass." The elder explained, and Emma nodded to him.

"Thank you," She said. "I'll do my best to fix everything that has happened."

With that, Emma leaped into the air, using bursts of magic to jump from cage to cage like stepping stones across a river. At each cage she used her blade to slice through the lock, opening the door for the monks that were slowly following her to help the prisoners get free. It slowed her own progress, but she hoped it would help to speed up theirs so that all of the praying mantis people could escape the mountain before the Train arrived, which, judging by the sky that had been turning a dark crimson over the past few hours, would be soon.

Eventually, Emma finally reached the other side of the chasm, and found a very steep, very long staircase before her. At the very top was a structure that looked like the top of a Hookah pipe. It was Caterpillar's Keep, and she felt a fresh wave of determination pushing her onward.

She took the stairs two or three at a time, going as fast as she possibly could. It took her a few minutes to climb all the way to the top, but once she did, she found the entrance wide open to her and a golden figure of Caterpillar placed in the center of the otherwise empty room.

"I've come all this way to find a simulacrum?" Emma demanded, sticking her hands on her hips.

"If I had the time, I'd detail how often you prefer dealing with illusions rather than with the real thing! Problems you refuse to deal with don't exist. You deny reality!" Caterpillar's voice echoed through the space, but Emma wrinkled her nose at his words.

"That's not right!" She argued. "I know what's real."

"No! And you allow other to tell you what isn't real." Caterpillar stated, which had Emma frowning deeper. "Now, come inside!" He said, and as soon as the words were spoken, the floor began to break apart right under Emma's feet. First a few cracks, and then it gave way. Emma fell for a moment, but her magic allowed her to straighten and float gracefully to the ground despite the debris collapsing all around her. She found herself in a dark, underground cavern. The real Caterpillar hung upside down from the ceiling, wrapped up in a cocoon. His eyes were closed, as if he were sleeping, but his words were as sharp as ever.

"My mind is falling to pieces! This wicked Train will drive me Mad, and Wonderland will perish completely as I lose my mind. So much has changed... I can't help Wonderland if I can't even help myself." Emma said, following a path along the wall up to a ledge that would place her right in front of Caterpillar's face.

"Much has changed, but you've got it backwards. Save Wonderland, and you may save yourself! The Carpenter was on to something, but he was hiding from the real. Your goal is to accept it." Caterpillar replied as she made her trek towards him. The tremors continued to rock the mountain peak, causing dust and rocks to fall occasionally.

"Where should I go then? What should I do?" Emma asked desperately, ducking around a rock to look up at him from the side.

"The Queen must be served, Emma. The Queen, in all her guises, must always be served." Caterpillar said as Emma stepped out onto the ledge, and then he finally opened his eyes. The tremors got stronger.

"How can she stem this growing corruption or assist my search? And what does she know that I don't?" Emma wanted to know.

"She is someone you once knew and loved. Time Changes Us All." Caterpillar answered somberly.

"Not all change is good." Emma retorted.

"Remember that when you find the Queen." Caterpillar said as a massive earthquake rocked the mountain, and then out from Caterpillar's cocoon sprouted a brightly colored wing and then another.

Emma reeled back in surprise as Caterpillar broke from his cocoon, and in a flash she was sitting in a memory in her tiny bedroom that she shared with Jack back home in their tiny apartment. A butterfly fluttered by the window as she watched on from her perch on the bed.

"Time Changes Us All..."