Author's Note: Welcome back, my dear Wastelings! Welcome back to season eleven! I missed you all! I have been itching to come back to the Wonderland series. So, here we are again. Last time, a cult from Okinawa tried to take over Ikebukuro, but their leader, Murata, was murdered by the Dante Killer. Saki was murdered to make Masaomi the new player in the Apocalypse Game. Now, he doesn't remember her at all anymore. The screws keep getting tighter for the city. It's only a matter of time before things break. What's going to happen next? You are going to have to stick around and see, my dear Wastelings. Now, enjoy this week's halo.


Dark Alice in a Dark Wonderland

Halo Zero: Nightmare:

It just wanted to be worshiped. It's not easy being a god in a modern world of science and technology. It's learned that over the years. Still, it didn't want to be forgotten in this world. But what is an old nameless god to do?

Why attach itself to a new vessel and form a new religion with itself as the new god, of course. It had a vessel at first, but he was murdered. But that wasn't the end of its little quest. Not by a long shot.

It just needed a new vessel.

Chisa looked around at the congregation in front of her. Her appearance had changed over the past couple of days. Now, the woman wore red and white Shinto priestess robes and a crown of flowers on her head. She appeared to be floating as she walked up to the podium. A cold smile spread across her face.

"Brothers and sisters!" she announced over the microphone. "As you know, our beloved Minister Murata is dead. I was the one to find his body." Her eyes scanned the crowd. Her eyes. Hina noticed the faint gold glowing in Chisa's eyes as she stood beside her. They were just like Murata's before his death.

"But do not worry my flock," Chisa said. "The voice of God spoke to me and told me to lead." A rippling murmur filled the room. The new self-proclaimed mother held up her hand. Everyone in the room went silent.

"Tonight is the beginning of a new era!" she said. Chisa rose up her hands.

"All rise," she said. Murata's former followers all stood up as if in a trance. Chisa got a good look at each and every one of them.

"If you didn't have any problems with Minister Murata, please sit down," she said. Only one old man sat down in the front.

"Good for you, sir," Chisa said over the mic. "Please see me later." The old man shivered, but he said nothing. Hina could've sworn that she saw a hint of malice in Chisa's golden eyes. The child moved her hand to her chest. Chisa reached over and patted the girl on the head.

It's going to be okay, honey. I'm not going to kill him.

Hina froze. Was that in her head just now? Did she just imagine those words? Meanwhile, Chisa held out her hands.

"My brothers and sisters!" she shouted. "The Asahara is no more! It died when Minister Murata was nailed to that cross! We will now be called Ten no Shin'en!" The crowd erupted into cheers. Hina forced herself to smile. Chisa broke into a huge grin. The deity inside of her wanted to be worshipped. Now, it was getting its wish.

However, its desire to be worshipped would pull the city further into the Wasteland.


-Shinjuku-

Dim sunlight shone through the giant pain window. Mikado winced as it touched his face. He slowly opened his blue eyes. A sea of white on the ceiling greeted him. It didn't take him long to realize that he wasn't in his room. No, this was some fancy-looking hotel room. The white walls did little to settle his mind. The western-style bed felt like he was sinking into a marshmallow. He managed to get a better look at the room. It didn't look bad, but he started to remember how he got here. There would only be one reason why he would be in a hotel room like this.

The details of how he ended up in Shinjuku were fuzzy to him. All he knew was that the poison was flaring up again in his body. The tadpole felt someone grabbing him under the arms and dragging him back into the building. From there, a sense of creeping shame bubbled up in his head.

Mikado looked down at his body. The dark marks on his torso were gone. Plus, he started to feel better. Much stronger even.

A low murmuring noise drew his attention next to him. He already knew who this was as he looked down.

Lilith slowly drew open her eyes. She smiled when she saw Mikado staring at her in discomfort. The woman yawned aloud.

"Good morning, moi horoshiy," she cooed at him. Mikado looked away with his face turning red.

"Uh… good morning… Lilith-san…" he mumbled. The tadpole cleared his throat. He's done it again, hasn't he? Lilith started rubbing on his arm, but Mikado pulled away. She gave him a little pout.

"Why do you always have to be so cold, moi horoshiy?" she asked.

"Please don't call me that," Mikado said under his breath. Lilith cuddled up to his side.

"Mmm," she said. "Stay with me." The woman pulled Mikado into her grasp. The tadpole shoved her off.

"Oh come on," Lilith whimpered. Mikado gave up and let her cling to him. She playfully pushed him back onto the bed. The ghost woman giggled as she rested her head on his chest.

"I love mornings like this," Lilith said. Mikado wouldn't even look at her.

"We can't keep doing this," he said. The woman shook her head to herself.

"You always say that when we do this," she said. "But we both know that you are going to keep coming back." Mikado wanted to scream but kept himself calm.

"Well, this is going to stop today," he said.

"You'll be back," Lilith cooed. The tadpole said nothing. She giggled as she ran small circles on Mikado's chest.

"Tell me more about little Anri," the ghost said. Mikado whipped his head around.

"What?!" he asked. Lilith had a catlike smile on her face.

"What's she like in bed?" she asked. Mikado's face turned bright red. He tried to form words, but nothing came out. Lilith started to laugh.

"Oh come on," she said. "You must have something juicy to give me! I put that she's the submissive one. No wait, you two are into that vanilla stuff, aren't you? She doesn't strike me as the kinky type." Here she went again. Anri was the one topic he refused to indulge Lilith with on any information.

This time, she took things a bit too far.

"It's not going to work, you know?" she asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Mikado asked. Lilith smirked as she looked him in the eye.

"You know her womb isn't safe, right?" she asked. "You do realize that petty little human birth control you have her one won't save her. You do realize whatever pills you have her on will be no match for your load." Lilith couldn't help but smile as she spoke.

"You know, sometimes I bet you would destroy her," she said. The ghost leaned in closer to Mikado's ear.

"I even wonder how many doctors it would for little Anri to have any semblance of a normal life," she whispered. Lilith giggled.

"And that is music to my ears," she said. Mikado growled. He turned and grabbed Lilith by the throat. She stared at him with big eyes as she started gagging. Mikado's eyes were blank with rage.

"You keep her name out of your whore mouth!" he shouted. Lilith started to look so pale. His grip grew tighter as he screamed.

Moi horoshiy. Moi horoshiy. Moi horoshiy!

Mikado was propped up onto his side, staring off into space.

"Moi horoshiy!" Lilith yelled.

"Huh?" the tadpole asked as he snapped back into reality. The Russian woman pouted at him.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked. Mikado slowly shook his head.

"No," he said. The tadpole sat up and climbed out of the bed. Lilith sat as she covered her breasts with the sheets.

"You can't escape it, you know?" she asked. "You are going to have to try and face it." Mikado started looking around for his clothes and getting dressed.

"You know how this is going to end," Lilith said.

"I am going to do my all to stop it," Mikado said himself as he slid his shirt over his head.

"Excuse me?" the ghost asked. The tadpole waved her off. He walked over to the door. Lilith tried to look at what he was doing as he turned the doorknob.

"Oh, moi horoshiy!" she called. Mikado froze as he opened the door a crack. He turned and looked over his shoulder. Lilith leaned in with a little smirk on her face.

"I saw your little daydream about me," she said. "I have to say, I found it rather hot." The woman blew a kiss at him. Mikado quickly bolted out the door. Lilith fell back onto the bed and laughed.


Around ten in the morning, Kitano came across an interesting discovery. He was looking around at the monitor when he noticed something odd on the screen. A person walked up to one of the lockers in the entry. The psychiatrist had a puzzled look on his face.

"Huh? What's this?" he asked. The person on the screen looked normal from the shoulders down. From the shoulders up, the head was blurry. Kitano narrowed his eyes with a puzzled look on his face. At first, he checked the monitor. It looked fine. The person stood in front of the locker before walking away. Kitano pulled out his phone.

"Um, sensei could you come up here for a moment?" he asked.

Moments later, there was a knock on his door.

"Come in," Kitano said.

"I'm coming in," Etsuko said as she opened the door. She made her way over to the desk.

"What is it?" the doctor asked.

"Come look at this," Kitano said. Etsuko came around to his side of the desk. She took was watching the monitor. Two interns stood at the lockers talking.

"What do you see?" the therapist asked. Etsuko took a look with narrowed eyes.

"Why do they look so blurry?" she asked. Kitano shrugged.

"I'm not sure myself, to be honest," he said. He turned and looked at the doctor.

"I want to try something," he said.

"Oh?" Etsuko asked. Kitano stood up.

"You stay there," he said.

"Hm?" the doctor asked. Kitano walked out of his office.

"Stay there and watch the monitor," he said in the hallway. Etsuko waited as she heard the footsteps. She turned back to the monitor. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't interested in where this was heading. Sure enough, Kitano walked down to lockers and seemed to be looking up. Etsuko tried to make out his face or head. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. The image didn't change. Kitano started walking back down the hall.

He came back to find Etsuko sitting at his desk looking stunned.

"Well?" Kitano asked.

"I… I couldn't see your face," she said.

"I see," he said. "Now you go down there and I will look at the monitor."

"Alright," Etsuko said. She got up and walked out of the office. Kitano walked back to his desk and sat down. He started to build a little theory in his head. There would be only one way to see.

Sure enough, he saw Etsuko standing at the locker, but he couldn't see her head. Kitano could tell that she was looking up at the camera by how her body was facing. He pulled out his phone.

"Okay, you can come back now," the therapist said.

"Alright," Etsuko said. Kitano would need to test out this theory fully. But now he had some idea of what was at play here. He looked up to see Etsuko standing in the doorway.

"So what does this mean?" she asked. Kitano took a moment to think.

"This could come in handy for us," he said. Another thought crossed his mind.

"Ah, there was another reason I called you up here," he said.

"What?" Etsuko asked.

"Please close the door," he said. The doctor closed the door behind her and walked over to his desk. Kitano showed her the newspaper article he cut up this morning. Etsuko read it to herself.

"More of them keep washing up around the world," Kitano said.

"How much have Mam collected?" Etsuko asked.

"I don't know," he said. "But it won't be long before they are on the move." He looked her deep in the eye.

"We shouldn't worry, but we should get moving if we want to keep up," Kitano finished. A little smile came across Etsuko's face.

"Are you granting us permission to take the project to the next level?" she asked. The doctor saw a gleam in his eye.

"Do you Aceso ready?" he asked.

"Why yes," Etsuko said. Kitano rose to his feet.

"Well, okay," he said. "I will call up the interns and we shall feed the Heartseed again."

"I'm already on it," the doctor said. They got on their phones and contact their interns.


Mikado had just left Shinjuku. The smell and feel of Lilith still lingered on his skin. The poison in his body had been subdued. He wouldn't have to sleep around for a while.

That still left telling Anri where he was last night. Mikado's stomach turned at this thought. Sure, she didn't ask questions about where he had been. Part of him wished that she would.

The tadpole stopped in his tracks.

"I need a moment," he said to himself. Mikado remembered that there was a 7-11 nearby. He didn't have to go and buy anything. Yeah, he could just walk around and browse for a while. Mikado frowned as he imagined Lilith's voice in his head.

"You know you can't keep avoiding her like this, moi horoshiy. You are going to have to go home to her sometime."

Mikado shook the thought out of his head. He already knew that. That didn't change the fact that he could take his sweet time fixing his problems. If escaping to 7-11 helped, so be it.

The tadpole walked up to the building. Just browse around for a little bit before heading home. That should be easy, right?

Mikado made his way to the doors. He was about to go inside when he paused. A girl about his age, maybe a bit older was walking out of the 7-11 with bags in her arms. Her smooth dark skin was the first thing that caught his attention. She had her curly black hair back into a ponytail. She looked great in her flowy purple blouse and brown skirt. Something about this girl looked so familiar.

The girl happened to look up and see him as the doors opened. She and he locked eyes with each other. There was only one name that popped into Mikado's head.

"Akari… -san?" he asked. She perked up when she saw him.

"Mikado? Mikado is that you?" she asked. They stared at each other for a moment. More memories started to fill the tadpole's head.

"It's you," he said. Akari's eyes started to glaze over. Mikado gave her an odd look.

"Akari-san?" he asked. The girl gulped as she started to breathe heavily.

"Akari-san?" Mikado asked again.

"You are so hot!" she shouted. The tadpole had a confused look on his face as his cheeks turned bright red.

"What?!" he asked. Akari raced over and pulled him into her arms. She tried to kiss him on the lips.

"What are you doing?!" the tadpole shouted.

"I just want to fuck you so hard!" Akari shouted. "We have to do it! We have to do it right now!" She pushed him all the way into an alley. The girl pinned him against the wall. Akari forcefully kissed Mikado the lips as she grabbed at his jacket. The tadpole managed to push her off.

"Akari-san, stop!" he shouted. Akari stared at him in shock. She panted with wide eyes.

"What did you do to me?" she asked.

"What?!" Mikado shouted. "I didn't do anything!" Akari thought as she tried to catch her breath. She looked into his eyes.

"I don't think it's you in particular," she said. Akari struggled to get her words out. Mikado reached out to touch her, but she pushed away his hand.

"Don't!" Akari shouted. She looked so flustered as she tried to think. Her cheeks were turning bright red.

"Pheromones!" she blurted out at last. Mikado looked so pale. He was about to speak when his phone rang.

"Excuse me," he said. The tadpole pulled out his phone. The blocked number told him only one thing. Akari noticed the worried look on his face.

"What is it?" she whispered. Mikado gently shushed her. He put the phone on speaker.

"Good morning, my dear tadpoles!" Kitano's pre-recorded voice came over the speaker. Mikado felt himself going numb. He should be used to this by now. In a way, he was. The tadpole braced himself for what was coming next.

"We will now be entering that next phase of the project," the message said. "Time is running out for us all and you will need to be there when it ends. Over the next few days, we will up your dosage and give you new drugs. Now, you will experience a few… extremes over the coming days. But do not worry. You will all come out better in the end. We have so many more plans for you. I wish you all the best and goodbye."


The other tadpoles got the same message too. Megumi frowned as she looked at her phone.

"Here we go again," she muttered to herself. Megumi hung up the phone and tossed it on the bed.

Naomi. Naomi!

What?

You heard all that shit?

Yeah.

Megumi flopped back onto her bed. She pushed her bangs from her forehead. Lame. What do you think they're going to do to us now?

I have no idea.

The younger tadpole held her hand up in the air, spreading out her fingers. What the hell can they do to us?

You tell me.

Heh. Megumi sat up on the bed and looked at her mirror. Her skin was still glowing from her… "feeding". How many was that now? Megumi lost count by this point. Somehow, it didn't matter anymore. She got up and walked over to her mirror. The tadpole picked up and lighter and stuck out her tongue. The flames licked the tip. A dull look glazed over her eyes.

"We're pretty much god now," she said to herself. She didn't even feel the flames from that tiny black and white lighter.


"Let's see… he's dead. And he's dead. And he's dead. And he's dead. And he's dead. Oh, he's dead. She's dead. And he's dead. She's dead too."

Shinra looked at everyone walking around on the streets. He's starting to see more dead people walking around the city lately. It turned into a game of spot the dead person. There seemed to be more of them each day. So far, they couldn't see him. Some of them didn't even know that they were dead at all.

The doctor was on his way home from shopping when he decided to count out the dead again. He had time. To be honest, Shinra grew to enjoy his new abilities. If he could see them, maybe he could talk to them as well?

"You can see them too?" someone asked next to him. The doctor gasped as he whipped his head around. A young man about nineteen years old stood next to him. His short black hair was a chopped-up mess. The black leather jacket made him stand out in the crowd. The jeans and white t-shirt looked rather nice on him. Shinra felt like he had seen him before.

"See who?" the doctor asked. The young man looked out onto the crowded street.

"I see them all of the time," he said.

"Is that your main power?" Shinra asked before he gave the question any thought. Somehow, he knew to ask.

"You can call it that," the young man said. He shrugged as he said this. Slowly the pieces started to come together. Shinra's talked to this man before. They weren't the exact words, but they did talk to each other before. The doctor narrowed his eyes.

"What is your name?" he asked. The young man held out his hand.

"Aoki Yokio," he said. "And you're Kishitani-sensei, aren't you?" It all started to come back to him.

"You're one of the tadpoles, aren't you?" Shinra asked. Yokio sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah," he said. The doctor cleared his throat.

"The others are looking for you," he said. Yokio raised his eyebrow.

"Other tadpoles?" he asked.

"Yes," Shinra said. Yokio looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Is one of them named Hifumi?" he asked. "Ushimaru Hifumi?"

"Yes," the doctor said. "I know where she is in fact."

"Seriously?" Yokio asked. Shinra nodded. The tadpole threw his hands up in the air.

"Take me to her then," he said. The doctor nodded and led the way.


-Four Hours Earlier-

Kitano and Etsuko stood in the heartseed room with their interns. The therapist took a step forward with a small black case in his hand.

"Everyone," he said. "We will now begin the next stage of the program." Kitano opened the case and pulled out a syringe filled with light pink liquid. Etsuko opened her own case and took out a syringe filled with a dark-colored liquid.

"We shall inject the plant together," Kitano told the interns. He turned his attention to Etsuko.

"Ready to do this?" he asked.

"Yes sir," Etsuko said.

"Right," Kitano said. "We will now inject the drugs Aceso and Tenjin." The therapist and the doctor came on either side of the plant. The needle went straight into the root. With one push of the cap, the fluids went into the plants.

Now to sit back and see what happens next.


-December 15, 2015-

Human remains were found in an abandoned building near Ikebukuro West Gate Park in the wee hours of the morning. The icy rain was pouring down hard. People were gathered around for a look. Who was dead in this old yakuza safe house? The police tried to shoe them away. That just made the people even more curious. The remains were carried away under a sheet to a silent ambulance parked nearby.

Shinra pushed his way through the crowd for a better look. He had a sinking back at his place. Celty calling him didn't reach him as he walked out the door.

"Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me," Shinra said as he pushed the people aside. He ignored the shouting at him. The doctor just had to know. Shinra finally made his way to the front. The doctor saw his answer without the sheet being lifted. He had a feeling, but he didn't want to believe it. Now that he saw it, Shinra had no choice but to remove all doubt.

"Oh, it's you," he said.