Chapter 1: Escape to Bloody Surface
After going through the rip in reality, Red Riding Hood had lost consciousness when she kept 'falling' down. However, she never felt herself hitting the bottom, but rather as she slowly regained consciousness she realised she had been laying face first on the floor of somewhere rather familiar.
"(Hm, it seems like I really did travel across worlds...)" Red Riding Hood thought to herself as she surveyed the area she woke up at. It was exactly right where her inherited memories left off when she died: A scene of carnage with blood splattered around. However, the only difference was that the Blood Maidens who should have died along with her are all alive but unconscious despite the blood spilled that showed otherwise. Even though the tower was eerily quiet and without any hint of Marchens, Red Riding Hood still knew that in her current state she was no Blood Maiden and therefore would be exposed to greater danger if anything showed up. Wasting no time, she began to wake the others, hoping they would be alive. "Hey, wake up!"
With a few nudges, Kaguya stirred, then following with both Rapunzel and Cinderella as well. "Hm, where are we? I thought we had died and-what is up with that outfit?" Kaguya asked as she slowly got back up but realised the stark change in Red Riding Hood's uniform.
"Well, I can try to explain later, but right now find let's find everyone and get back to safety first," Red Riding Hood suggested, as much confused as everybody is with the current situation.
Sure enough, Thumbelina and her sisters, along with Gretel and Hameln were found in relatively close proximity along with pools of blood that looked like spilled from themselves. Yet, it was as if they were all just asleep for awhile. Having woken up and gathered up everybody, Red Riding Hood gave brief assurances that their missing members were safe while slowly descending back down the floors of the tower to Hameln's abode. The strangest sight was also the quietness of the tower, most of the Marchen presence was absent and the tower itself seemingly more sentient with small twitching of the walls. Given the circumstances, it was no surprise that the party made it back down to their base, and greeted by a relieved Mamoru.
"Hey! Welcome back! We were worried when we didn't hear from you guys for days-hey, where's Otsuu, Little Mermaid, Jack, and Alice?" Mamoru said, realising the party is much smaller than previously.
"They are not here with us, but I can say that they are safe and fine. But wait, did you just say it was days since we went up the tower?" Red Riding Hood responded, surprised that it had been days, though she was somehow dropped into this world the memories she recovered suggests it was only moments since death.
"Yeah, it has been days and during that time, the Jail Tower started to encroach onto other parts of the Jail, seemingly eating them to grow even bigger than before. By the way, Red Riding Hood, when did you change your outfit?"
"I'll explain everything if the Jail Tower isn't about to eat this place up too."
While back at the relative safety of the underground base, the residents all gathered around to share information with what was going on. Just as Mamoru said, just as all contact with the Blood team was lost few days ago, the Jail Tower began to grow exponentially, especially the base expanding onto other parts of the Jail, devouring them completely to grow even higher. While the rest of the Blood team had recounted their supposed final moments travelling up the Jail Tower, Red Riding Hood began to explain everything that she knew. Starting with the way Dawn proceeded in the absence of Otsuu and Mermaid, Professor's true identity, and then eventually reunion with Otsuu and briefly about the surface ordeal then finally into how she came back into this world.
While Red Riding Hood was expecting weird looks and doubt from everyone, it was surprisingly well received. Given how there were numerous other bizarre things that occurred within the Jail, the truth presented by her seemed to be rather reasonable.
"Of course, this must be one of those plot twist leading into a new arc!" Hameln responded, also barely processing it but having understood it from how mangas have shown time travelling.
"I don't really understand it, but this is Red Riding Hood yes?" Kaguya inquired, not really bothering with too many details as she was simply too exhausted from the descent down.
"I kind of get it, I guess Red came back to save us?" Cinderella half asked, believing well enough that Red Riding Hood is who she says she is.
"Normally I would say you're out of your mind, but... the bits about the White Core and certain details has some weight to them I suppose," Gretel injected after thinking that without concrete evidence, some things are quite questionable.
"I don't have proof of all this, but I can only tell of what I know. Watch," Red Riding Hood responded, as she dabbed some stored Marchen blood on herself and there was no reaction or her eyes glowing pink.
"I have a working theory here, I would say perhaps there may be truth in what we're being told. Based on what Red Riding Hood said, our world is created when Otsuu turned back time, so it may be possible that the Jail and this Witchcraft itself may have undergone a mutation and work differently," Itsuki said, offering an idea of what could be going on.
Even with theories and ideas being thrown around, nobody could really get a grip on the reality that they were currently in. Many things just seemed to be impossible and had no explanations. While the topic had been a bit interesting, Takumi then spoke up, having not understood much of what was being said but having his own concerns.
"So while this is all interesting, perhaps we should focus on the problem going on outside instead?"
"Right, in the few days past, the Jail Tower has expanded outwards and continues to grow. At this rate, this place and us will get consumed too," Itsuki noted, knowing that danger is creeping closer as time passes.
"I guess we have no choice then, if the Tower is growing, then we'll just have to climb to the top and get to the surface to escape. I don't know exactly what will happen, but it is certainly better than staying here to die," Red Riding Hood suggested, knowing that in her world she faced quite an ordeal on the surface.
"Yeah, I guess we'll have to gather up everybody and lead an escape, hopefully the way up is still the same when you guys went in first. Let's get some rest though, I am sure we're all tired after what just happened today," Mamoru said, agreeing that an attempt should be made to escape and to figure out the whole issue with the different worlds later.
With no objections to the plan, everybody dispersed back to their own quarters to rest and prepare tomorrow for the long journey back up the now growing Jail Tower to escape. Though there were uncertainties for the trip back up as well as plan of action with less members in the party now. Out of respect, both Otsuu and Little Mermaid's former rooms were left as they are, as nobody had real interest to move or take anything from there. The only slight oddity was Red Riding Hood 'inheriting' a room from her other self, which was not too strange but yet still a new experience.
"(There is really not much different in this room... except maybe these excess weights)" Red Riding Hood thought, before instinctively picking up one of the heavier weights and promptly dropping it right onto the floor with a loud crash. Of course, had she still been a Blood Maiden the weight would have just been like any other thing she carried, except she no longer had the unholy strength to lift such a heavy object.
"So it seems that you really don't have the strength of a Blood Maiden," Gretel noted as she had somehow slipped into the room unnoticed and unannounced, which did not surprise Red Riding Hood.
"Yeah, that is just how it is. By the way, when did you get in here?"
"Just now, though I was curious to see how you'd handle those weights."
"Well, nothing to see here, just me getting used to this room," Red Riding Hood explained as she slowly and carefully retrieved the weight back into its original place.
"Right, but I do have question. If we are to go up to the surface, we'll likely have to fight, and now that we don't have Jack with us, we are at a disadvantage should we get to the point of Blood Skelter."
"Oh yeah, I have thought about that too. There was a time where everybody was separated and we had to resort to these," Red Riding Hood responded as she produced a whole bottle of Sleeping Pills, still having some leftover from the short time she her small little group was alone.
"I guess this will have to do. We'll really have to avoid fighting unless it is necessary, of course you should especially be careful if you want to live."
"(I get that Gretel is being cautious about we should proceed, but that last bit sounded like she expected me to die... Well, not that she's wrong though, maybe I should at least go check up on everybody else so that we are all ready)" Red Riding Hood thought as there was still a bit of time before actually sleeping. After all, in this very strange circumstance she was more of an outsider with a hugely unbelievable story.
No sooner had Red Riding Hood gone out from her room that a speedy Cinderella blitzed right past her and barely stopping when the latter took notice of her.
"Hey, what's the rush?" Red Riding Hood asked
"Oh, I just wanted to see if I could still run fast like I used to. It seems that I am fine, it just felt weird to be alive again after dying once," Cinderella responded.
"I see, why don't you come along with me? I brought some snacks because Rapunzel wanted some."
"All right, I was thinking of going that direction anyway," Red Riding Hood responded as she followed Cinderella to Rapunzel's room and sat down for a rather relaxed time as Cinderella and Rapunzel did not seem to have a care in the world with tomorrow's journey.
"Mmm, very good! Red not hungry? Rapunzel said, as she enjoyed her snacks but noticed Red Riding Hood had hardly eaten much.
"I think I am good. This was way more than enough..." Red Riding Hood replied, she noted that this 'snack' that Cinderella brought over was much more than she would eat in a single meal. Perhaps it was the difference in biology between humans and Blood Maidens, or maybe Cinderella and Rapunzel just had huge appetites, but regardless of the reason, Red Riding Hood was certain that consuming this amount of food would not constitute as a 'snack'.
"But you barely had any, are you feeling sick maybe?" Cinderella suggested, knowing regardless of which version of Red Riding Hood it was, would always had some appetite.
"No, but maybe it's because I am not a Blood Maiden that I can't do things as I used to anymore. Still, I did want to ask how you guys are holding up after coming down from the Tower and going back up tomorrow."
"Good to be alive. Eat tons, get stronger and beat baddie next time, and then go see Otsuu again!" Rapunzel exclaimed, without a worry but rather looking forwards to the future.
"She's right, it is strange to be woken up like that after we seemingly died, but since we're alive we will make the most of this chance that we have,' Cinderella added.
"(I guess I don't have to worry about them, they may look different in my world but they're honest)"
Sometime later, Red Riding Hood had left the previous room and was back in the hallway when she barely noticed somebody almost running into her and narrowly avoided collision.
"Oh, sorry about that Red Riding Hood," Snow White apologised.
"It's fine, looks like you guys are busy now huh?" Red Riding Hood responded.
"Yes, all three of us had to gather up the followers to get ready to move out. Sleepy had already done her part and left earlier, I just wanted to make sure she got back to her room safely."
"Hm yeah, it would be problematic if she fell asleep in the middle of the hallway."
Travelling into Sleeping Beauty's room, the two of them saw that she was indeed safely in her room and not surprisingly, fast asleep already.
"Looks like she got back just fine, it must be tough on her after everything that's happened," Red Riding Hood commented as she helped Snow White throw a blanket over Sleeping Beauty.
"Yeah, it feels we've really come a long way. Since both my sisters are trying hard, I have to keep up too, but sometimes I am not sure if I measure up..."
"Have some confidence, I am sure they depend on you in times like this. Especially when given a second chance at life, best to take full advantage of it."
Just when the two of them were about to leave the room, the door suddenly swung open and hit Red Riding Hood directly in the face.
"Sleepy, did you-oh what the?" Thumbelina said as she also came to check on Sleeping Beauty but also found Red Riding Hood dropping to the floor and barely restraining from yelling in pain.
"Red Riding Hood!" Snow White half-whispered while she and Thumbelina dragged the fallen Red Riding Hood outside the room to not cause a big commotion and wake up Sleeping Beauty.
"Oh, I am sorry... Red Riding Hood, I didn't know you were behind that door," Thumbelina apologised as Red Riding Hood regained herself.
"It's all right, I believe I've been through worse. Snow White and myself were just making sure Sleeping Beauty got back to her room safely. Guess you just had the same idea, right?"
"Yeah, I know everything is probably fine, but I just couldn't help but worry some times, especially after what we went through up in the Jail Tower."
"Understandable, but whatever the reason everyone is alive now, so just keep pushing forwards. I am sure the three of you will be fine."
"Yes, Red Riding Hood is right, no matter what happens, we'll always be together. I am sure its what Otsuu would have wanted for us," Snow White agreed.
After recovering from the unfortunate confrontation with the door, Red Riding Hood eventually recovered and went on her way around the base again. Knowing that Kaguya might have chosen to be lazy the night of preparations and proceeded to visit her room. However, when she got to the front door, she had this feeling of being watched. Looking around, sure enough there was somebody peering around the corner somehow looking at her for whatever reason. It did not seem like this was a Marchen, but something did feel strange about this, so Red Riding Hood sidetracked to investigate what was going on. As she approached the corner though, there were some quick shuffling noises, followed by a crash.
Looking carefully at the area of the noise, Red Riding Hood could see that it was Hameln up to whatever she was doing as usual. "Hameln? Are you all right?" She asked, reaching out her hand and helping the self-proclaimed Hero back up.
"Yes, I am fine now! It was just an accident," Hameln replied.
"So what were you doing earlier looking over my way?"
"I wash nyot looking at you, I need to make shyure there are no enymies about." Hameln slurred, as per usual when it gets to a certain point in conversation.
"(There she goes with the slurring,)" Red Riding Hood thought as Hameln slowly adjusted back into a proper mindset for talking
"Anyway! Since we're here, why don't we start training for tomorrow?"
"You're training at this hour?"
"Of course! I just realised something when we all woken up again in the Tower."
"And what would that be?"
"A second chance at life, one that should not be wasted. There may be some battles the Hero loses, but you see the only way forward is to get stronger and overcome. I don't understand exactly what happened to Otsuu and Mermaid, but if they are not here anymore, then I shall personally ensure everybody's safety."
"I see, well, good luck with your training. Just don't over do it. After all, we're gonna need you tomorrow,"
"Yesh, praise me! Now let's get to training-hey, where are you going?" Hameln asked as Red Riding Hood was already slipping away.
Finally, having slipped away from Hameln, Red Riding Hood attempted to see Kaguya. With a few knock on the door, there was no response but there were sounds of shuffling coming from inside. After waiting a brief moment, Red Riding Hood tried knocking on the door again, but this time there was only silence. After waiting for another moment, Red Riding Hood called out, partly knowing what Kaguya had done, "Kaguya, are you in there? I am coming in."
Once inside, the scene was predictable and obvious: Kaguya had flopped onto her bedside facing the wall and whatever items she was handling had been sloppily thrown into a corner barely under cover. Needless to say, Kaguya was definitely not asleep but pretending to be. Instead of manually waking Kaguya, Red Riding Hood sighed and began to reach for all of Kaguya's "tools." Naturally, when she did so, Kaguya immediately sat up with a dissatisfied expression.
"What do you think you are doing?" Kaguya said, in the most accusatory tone possible.
"Oh, so you are awake. I was just seeing if you'd wake up if I took your slacking off tools," Red Riding Hood replied with a smile, knowing how Kaguya can be.
"How rude, I simply wanted to rest a bit, especially after having died once."
"Looks more like you just wanted to avoid seeing anybody though..."
"Why, what makes you think that? But never mind, since you're here why not help me pack up all of those into a bag? It would help me so much."
"I guess you really don't change, always asking for the same things."
"The same could be said about you, though you are a bit slightly different... not that it matters that much, we totally had the perfect coordination and teamwork back there against the nightmare. Anyway, once you're finished packing that bag just leave it over here. I am going to sleep and you can continue to get everything else packed up," Kaguya commanded while plopping down back onto her bed and really going off to sleep for real.
Naturally, Red Riding Hood only packed the first bag and left it beside Kaguya while slowly backing off and exiting the room without a word. Though she could have sworn Kaguya muttered something, but then she very quickly wandered down the hallway and away to purposely not hear anything else Kaguya might be saying.
"(Phew, that was close, almost ended up doing everything for her. It would appear nobody is too bothered from dying once up in the Tower. No, this whole time everybody seemed to be even more determined and stronger even without Otsuu and the others. Even though I could see that they miss Otsuu and Mermaid, they're definitely managing)" Red Riding Hood thought to herself as she wandered closer to the amenities area while Mamoru had just popped by.
"Oh hey! I was just looking for you," Mamoru said, a little bit excited for some reason.
"Yeah? Is there something you need?" Red Riding Hood responded, at least it would seem that Mamoru will have a relatively normal conversation compared to some of the other residents.
"So as you told us, in your world Hikari transformed into an Angel right? How did she look like, and what kind of clothes was she wearing?"
"Well, she did have wings like some of the fictional angels, and she wore some light pink clothing and she was also radiant..." Red Riding Hood trailed off as she heard a rather loud clap that sounded like a foot stomping down on the floor nearby.
"Mamoru..." Hikari breathed, in a low but half-threatening tone as she grabbed Mamoru by the ear and began to drag him away.
The scene went quiet very quickly, though Mamoru seemingly had tried to lead Red Riding Hood to somewhere for discussion, it was cut short with his own agenda and Hikari taking him away. Nevertheless, Itsuki came onto the scene relatively soon and began to resume a proper conversation.
"Sorry about that, I had just wanted to ask you a few things in regards to what you have told us, I didn't expect Mamoru to ask about that detail though..."
"That's all right, it looks like this is the normal for you guys anyway. So what did you want to know? I'll try my best to explain, though I am not too good with it."
"No problem, I have been thinking about what you've told us, and I think I have a few theories on whats happening with this 'world' as you'd put it. But that aside for now, I am more concerned about the two individuals described, Mary and Charlotte? If Alice's death is the catalyst for them to reset the world, I'd think if they exist in this world too that they would be acting by now."
"Right. I was not directly in contact with them, but according to Jack they did live in the Liberated District and only came along when we flew up the to surface to escape."
"But the Liberated District was destroyed here, so perhaps they did not make it out alive... but we don't know for certain and they could be hiding right now."
"I hadn't thought about this before, but that is right. Though with the Jail Tower growing and eating away the Jail here maybe we'd find them."
"We'll just have to keep a look out for them, because if they do exist here, then they will attempt to reset this world, and who knows what will happen to us."
"Yeah, I wish I knew more about this. But I guess all we can do is just climb up the Tower to escape tomorrow and see if they show up as well. Anyway, when we got separated on the surface we only had these Sleeping Pills to hold off Blood Skelter, think you can reproduce something like it?"
"Hm, these are similar to what Gretel has made, I suppose I can do that yes. It's a good decision given we don't have Jack here anymore."
After making her requests, Red Riding Hood had finally grown tired enough to retire into her own quarters. It would seem that everybody was ready to scale the Tower again and possibly escape the underground despite the circumstances. Yet, Red Riding Hood knew it would not be an easy road ahead. After all, even if she knew what happened in her world, there was no guarantee that this world would have the exact events play out.
The next day
All preparations had been made for the supposed final escape from the Jail. Of course, expectations were tempered and vigilance was on the forefront as several warnings from Red Riding Hood about how the surface realistically would be. Right before the ascension of the tower though, there was small briefing on the huge risk of the unknown that everybody would be facing.
"All right, I hope everybody is ready for this. There is really no telling what can happen from here, all I can say is be cautious while climbing the tower, and just try to avoid fighting too much because we do not have any means to recover from Blood Skelter," Red Riding Hood stated, knowing it was not the most inspirational thing, especially since she herself had very limited fighting abilities.
"Right, I want to also add that we should have a formation in place as well. In the front will be most of us Blood Maidens, then followed the regular crew and Red Riding Hood. Finally, at the back will be the Order of the Sun along with Thumbelina and her sisters to guide everybody along the way. If we encounter something dangerous, we must evacuate those who cannot fight first," Gretel added in with a simple diagramme picture.
"And finally, I have given you all a small bottle earlier, this is for use in emergencies. In the most simplest terms, a Sleeping Pill. It is not the most preferred way, but use it if things get bad to calm down or by chance we get separated," Itsuki explained, having stayed up a bit later to mass produce said meds on short notice.
"That would be about it, when we get up to the surface, I guess vanguard will go ahead first and see how things are. My last experience up there we were in groups and this Massacre Pink came down on us and picked us off easily. Hopefully it won't end up like that, but that's the plan for now."
Everybody agreed to the plan as it seemed good. Though there was uncertainty and anxiety with the warnings, there was no other choice in this situation, as the Jail Tower had continued to grow and seemingly consuming the rest of the underground Jail area. Ascending up the Tower was the only safe and logical thing to do while trying to avoid death once again.
As everybody gathered and began to travel into and up the Jail Tower from the last known route, there was first a sense of apprehension, but then replaced by a sense of relief as inside the tower was quiet and free of Marchens. Of course, the relief did turn to dread when it became too quiet inside, because nothing seemed to have acknowledged the presence of everybody there, not even the Jail itself produced its usual growl or disgusted wails. Yet nevertheless, the silence did benefit the Blood team as there was a lot less pressure to fight and secure safety for the people around them.
After awhile of alternating between climbing and taking breaks, everybody had eased up a bit, as there was no threat around either by feeling or by sight. The only time the group stopped was on one of the higher floors where the battle with fused Nightmare Jack and Alice. Though the battle was long over, the past memories of the events that followed with death still lingered in everybody's minds. Nevertheless, after scouting the area and confirming that there was indeed nothing there anymore, everybody continued to press on, holding onto a new hope.
With the long walk over, everybody had finally gotten to what seemed to be the top floor, with the most distinguishing feature on this floor being some sort of a window to the side.
"Hey look! I think I can see outside from here!" Hameln exclaimed, tearing through the slim membrane on the side wall.
"Don't go out immediately, something smells bad..." Gretel warned as the moment that Hameln started to tear off the membrane there was a very putrid smell.
"Ugh, smelly," Rapunzel complained as Hameln finally slashed open a way to see into the surface.
The sight outside was similar to what Red Riding Hood had recalled in her own world: Red sky with a depressing atmosphere, buildings and towers warped by influence of the Jail, the stench of blood and death permeated the air. There was one difference however...
"Well, is this exactly what you described?" Gretel motioned to Red Riding Hood, who was actually surprised at the sight, since there was a slight variation to the scene.
"Almost, but... I'd seen dead human bodies, not Marchen corpses," Red Riding Hood replied, noting that the piles of corpses on both sides of the line of sight revealed were indeed Marchen ones with their distinctive coloured blood.
There was a brief moment of silence at Red Riding Hood's response. While it was told that human corpses and Massacre Pink attack would be likely, only seeing Marchen corpses was a deviation from the expected and also threw some doubt into the minds of everybody looking outside and wondering what to do. Nevertheless, the silence was very short lived because a commotion had risen from the far back group ascending the tower, and everybody's attention was redirected there while in full alert.
"We've got some trouble guys," Thumbelina said as she appeared first while Snow White and Sleeping Beauty tried to control the crowd behind them.
"What-" Red Riding Hood said as she stopped mid sentence and her eyes focused on the unnatural shaped figure from way further back dragging along the ground. There was no doubt about it, a strange new Nightmare had appeared, and at the worst time too.
"Looks like we don't have a choice, we have to get out there even if it puts us in danger," Cinderella suggested, seeing as the Nightmare coming up from behind had blocked any means of backtracking.
Everybody agreed and so the Blood Maiden group up front decided to head outside the Tower first, with Hameln leading the way. A few seconds after heading out onto the surface area, there were a few objects thrown into right where Hameln was standing and then a wall of fire rose up. There was a bit of concern as the fire appeared, but Hameln easily shrugged off.
"Hmph, a cheap trick like that won't work on me! Let us proceed!" Hameln declared as she marched forward into the open space.
The next moment, three figures jumped out with their attack, but Hameln bravely charged into battle, thinking no Marchen would be a match against her. Except that what she was fighting were not exactly Marchens, but something resembling human beings.
"Who are these? They look like humans, but..." Gretel questioned as Hameln threw down the assailants, while Gretel wanted to take one as hostage to get information, she was interrupted a larger group of humans all emerged from both sides and threw more projectiles onto the ground in front of everyone.
The smoke bombs had broken up the formation of the Blood Maiden party, yet they instinctively fought the "humans" as their own lives depended on it. However, the situation got worse when the other groups behind the Blood Maidens rushed out of the Tower and onto the surface area, as the mysterious new Nightmare chased them from behind while inside the Tower. Of course, the swarm of people leaving the Tower did not go unnoticed by the surface dwellers, many who poured out of their hiding spots to ambush the party.
"Ahhhhh," muttered one of the assailants as they began another assault.
The situation had become increasingly dangerous, between the assailants from the surface and the mysterious Nightmare approaching from behind from the tower, there was nowhere to run. Doing a very quick scan around the area, Red Riding Hood spotted just one clearing on the right side and made the suggestion as she noticed people flooding out of the Tower and the Nightmare not being too far behind.
"Hey guys, are we able to make a run for it over there? We need to get out of here fast."
"Very well, everybody follow me!" Hameln declared as she rushed to cut down three bodies, then continue forward and effortlessly throw others who had dared to impede her.
With a successful breakthrough, the three groups began to run for the clearing, and while the forward two groups had safely made it to where they wanted to go, the third group with the Order of the Sun had some complications. Firstly, the surface dwellers had almost cut off the third group, but secondly the panic from running away from the Nightmare caused people to scatter about.
Seeing the trouble handling the masses of panicking people, Red Riding Hood turned back towards the direct to help the three sisters handle the people, but after treading half way through, she heard a rather grotesque sound of flesh sloshing about and turned around. Behind her, the previously slain 'humans' had small miniature tentacles growing out of their severed limbs and either reattaching the cut off part or regrowing their flesh into a full recovery. The gross sight had stunned everybody for a few seconds, but after a few moments of realisation everybody reacted.
"How is something like this possible?" Gretel questioned, even though she saw it happen, it was incomprehensible
"Doesn't matter, we need to help the others out!" Hameln declared as she charged forward to fight again, even though at this point she had already expended a bit of strength in the initial breakthrough.
With the strangely reanimated corpses blocking the way between the Blood Maidens, Red Riding Hood decided to retreat to help Thumbelina and her sisters in the mean time. Looking back at the scene it was not too bad, as the sync between the three sisters had them cover enough ground to hold their ground despite being outnumbered. The only problem was trying to usher the helpless and confused followers on the battlefield, to which Red Riding Hood waved them over while Hameln and the rest of the Blood Maidens cleared the path behind her.
Up front in the midst of the battle, Snow White had rolled out bombs to impede and obstruct pursuers while Sleeping Beauty carefully aimed her arrows at anybody breaking through. Thumbelina was able to go on the offensive under these conditions, which allowed the three sisters to hold their own or even make small movements. Unfortunately, the sheer number of assailants and mysterious regenerative powers made the battle of attrition one sided.
Nevertheless, Red Riding Hood took the time bought to evacuate a good number of followers before the three sisters tired out and retreated towards where everybody else had been running. Due to the sustained fighting and expending of strength, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty had slowed down considerably and falling behind even while being chased down.
Seeing the two lag behind, Red Riding Hood and Thumbelina back tracked to help, but there appeared to be more enemies than anybody had anticipated. As the fatigue had really caught up with them, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty had to completely stop. With the unfortunate need to stop, two of the "humans" had immediately caught up to them.
"Snow White, Sleepy, watch out!" Thumbelina said as she ran back, and with a quick chant she was able to interrupt with a flame spell. However, the attack was too weak to halt the opponent and the counter attack with several arrows from a crossbow that plunged right into Thumbelina. Being in the situation with high adrenaline, Thumbelina was able to remove many of the arrows, but it was still painful due to the many arrows that pierced her and drew blood.
"Sister Thumbelina!" Snow White screamed as she tried to check the injuries sustained.
Meanwhile, after helping Sleeping Beauty out of harm's way, Red Riding Hood ran over to where Thumbelina and Snow White were and immediately swung her scissors in one swift motion to decapitate the pursuer, granting a brief but much needed moment of respite as Snow White began to lose composure. Red Riding Hood got down and checked Thumbelina, who was alive but seemed lethargic. Still, the problem remains that Snow White had to calm down before she would lose control into Blood Skelter.
Of course, without a real solution of purifying blood, Red Riding Hood could not do much, but fortunately Sleeping Beauty had already stepped in to console the middle sister. "Mm, she is fine... let's help her together."
"Snow White, she's alive. Try to calm down," Red Riding Hood chimed in, while helping carry Thumbelina up from the ground. At this point, Snow White had regained some composure and a few deep breathes had her finally getting up.
"Right... sorry about that..." Snow White replied as she realised being stunned with fear in the middle of a fight was dangerous.
While the three of them slowly retreated to the clearing, they heard more movement from behind them, but as they were bracing themselves for more attacks, a violent shaking put them on full alert. Turning around, they saw tentacles erupting from the ground near the tower that everyone ran out from, as well as further erection of the tower itself. With the sudden growth of the tower, almost everybody on the surface looked on to see what was going on, but very soon the stillness was broken when the tentacles burst forth and began to devour everything and anything in sight.
With yet another unexpected turn of events and danger approaching, Red Riding Hood immediately prompted Snow White and Sleeping Beauty to fall back where everybody else was, and luckily for her both the sisters were ready and anticipated the urgency. While the sudden interruption by the tower was a welcome distraction for the party with diverting attention away from the unknown pursuers, the sight it brought was not. Though some of the surface welcome committee had fled back into hiding, some chose to stubbornly fight against the unpredictable reach of the tower, which lead to dismemberment of limbs and live consummation of their bodies.
Naturally, nobody tried to to looked at what the tower's tentacles were doing to the surroundings if they could help it, as they just wanted to get to safety themselves. Once back within close proximity of the other group, Red Riding Hood helped Thumbelina to safety while she turned and checked a passed out Hameln on the side. It would appear that while she was helping out the three sisters with their hold up, Hameln had bravely fought off any other incursions by herself, but she too seemed to have succumbed to arrow wounds. While just passed out from sheer fatigue, Red Riding Hood was able to start carrying Hameln away, but the main concern still remains of getting out of the dangerous situation.
From where they were, the growing tower began to encroach through the surface with its hungry white mass and vines while tentacles continue to consume any and all things present. The earlier assailants either ran away hiding or consumed by the tower and now it would look like this small group of escapees could be next. However, when all hope seemed to be lost, a loud and sudden opening of a rusty hatch nearby temporarily interrupted the tense moment.
"Hey, all of you! Get in here now," a voice said from inside.
Despite the uncertainty going into such a suspicious place, the situation left everybody with no choice and so deciding on the risky decision, everybody swarmed into the relatively small opening. As most of the people ran into the opening, Red Riding Hood was slowly dragging along with Hameln in tow. Unfortunately, this was when the tower seemed to notice the evacuating group and take the chance to attack. Thankfully most people had made it in the opening, but as Red Riding Hood got closer with Hameln, she instinctively looked behind with a sense of dread. At that moment, several tentacles had aimed straight where she was, and with a very quick reflexes, she let go of Hameln and fought them off.
At this point, Cinderella and Rapunzel looked out the opening and saw what had happened and were quick to help. Cinderella was quick to run back out and pick up Hameln with Red Riding Hood's help, but while in that moment she was distracted just for a bit, one of the consuming tentacles launched from behind and in an instant, Red Riding Hood felt the intense pain of many small teeth running through her on the upper body from the right shoulder blade.
"Red Riding Hood!" Cinderella screamed in horror as some blood spilled over and the whole sleeve of Red Riding Hood's coat got ripped up.
Before the situation got any worse, Rapunzel's hair reached out, and grabbed everybody right into the small entrance while the hatch was sealed shut. There was finally some relief in the small dark space, but when the initial shock wore off and the bleeding from the wounds intensifying, Red Riding Hood could barely keep herself conscious. Through all the chaos, it was hard to keep track of everybody, and would seemed that some other were either caught dead either by those "humans" or the Jail Tower that decided to devour everything in its path.
Nevertheless, there was now relief even though whoever invited everybody into this space was unknown. For Red Riding Hood however, she only sat down near the entrance and closed her eyes in exhaustion. Having pushed herself way too hard when she was no longer a Blood Maiden along with the earlier attack leaving her bleeding profusely. As much as Cinderella or Rapunzel called for her, Red Riding Hood just slowly slipped into unconsciousness.