After what Happened, Can I still Win? Chapter 10: Dreamless, a great mouse detective fanfic

Author's note: This chapter has the lyrics to "Unwell" by Matchbox Twenty.

Chapter 10: Journey to Julian and Emily Part 2 of 4

"So then, as my father walked through The Haunted Alley, he could hear all these spooky voices. Then my mother starts crying. Her face starts bleeding. It was all because of the Napoleon of Crime himself. Ratigan's voice also echoes. Julian and Emily ran, ran as fast as they could. But it was no good. They still heard the hissing of the malevolent rat! Scaly snakes and snarling cats surround the couple. They were surrounded by merciless beings. The snakes' mouths were covered by the blood of innocent of mice. Drowned in fear, Emily held on to Julian. Black street cats blocked their path. Julian quickly rolled under them. The couple ran out of their surroundings. When they finally reached out of The Haunted Alley, owls and hawks flew in a circle around them. And…" said Arden. Arden looked at the walls of a building they were sitting right next to.

All day staring at the ceiling
Making friends with shadows on my wall
All night hearing voices telling me
That I should get some sleep
Because tomorrow might be good for something

Hold on
Feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown
And I don't know why.

"And what?" asked Olivia frightened.

"The dead hawks and owls ghosts haunt the homes of innocent creatures to this day. It happened to me once. I was lucky. My Father pulled me out in the neck of time. My father has saved my life many times." replied Arden. Olivia put her finger on her mouth.

"No more horror stories please?" asked Olivia. Arden nodded "yes".
"You're really crazy!" said Olivia.
"I'm not crazy. I'm just a little unwell." replied Arden.

But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell
I know right now you can't tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see
A different side of me
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired
I know right now you don't care
But soon enough you're gonna think of me
And how I used to be...me.

While they were sleeping on pillows and blankets that they brought with them, Olivia had to ask Arden something.

"Arden?" asked Olivia. Arden looked at her.
"Yes?" asked Arden.

"Do you remember that fight we had?" asked Olivia.

"Of course I do." replied Arden. The two girls fell asleep. Arden's dream was the fight they had:

FLASHBACK/ DREAM:

Arden was laughing a whooping with glee.

"Oh, I haven't had this much fun in forever!" exclaimed Arden trying to get up without falling with laughter. Olivia got up with no trouble at all. She glared at Arden. Arden looked at her.

"What?" asked Arden?

"You know I think that was really dangerous!" complained Olivia.

"Oh come on! If I'm gonna keep out of Ratigan's reach, can't I have at least some enjoyment in my life." replied Arden.

"What if You-Know-Who was spying on us?" asked Olivia.

"Impossible! If he was, we'd already know by now!" replied Arden. She took Olivia's hand and they started walking back to Baker Street. Olivia glared the whole way back. Arden kept looking at Olivia's sourness.

"Hey what's wrong with you?" asked Arden.

"Why are you doing things that are so RECKLASS!" yelled Olivia.

"Well what's your problem!" asked Arden. Arden and Olivia glared at each other.

"You know remember how I was being all ratty a while back?" asked Arden with a mean look. Olivia narrowed her eyes at her.

"Yes." she replied sounding sour.

"Well I can act the same way!" replied Arden. Olivia pushed her. Arden fell back.

"Don't start with me!" threatened Arden. Arden pushed her back when she got up. They started fighting.

Olivia fell to the ground and Arden got on her. Arden punched and pulled her.

"Stop it!" demanded Olivia.

"Not until you surrender!" yelled Arden. Olivia wrapped her legs around Arden's back. She used all her strength to push her to the ground. Arden's head felt a certain pain.

"You shouldn't have DONE that!" yelled Arden. Arden pounced on her. Olivia screamed. Arden put her hands around Olivia's neck. Olivia and Arden started biting there selves, twisting, turning, and started rolling down through the dirty rode. Arden bit Olivia's neck.

Olivia and Arden stopped turning and rolling and found them back at Flavershum's toy shop. Arden got up and quickly got something out of a pocket in her skirt. Olivia's head was raised up but then she was pointed in the head with Basil's revolver.

"What are you going to do with that?" asked Olivia.

"You're tempting me to do something I DON'T want to do!" replied Arden.

Arden pulled the trigger. It turned out that there wasn't a real bullet. It was just a little arrow like thing that was really harmless. Olivia was shot in the head with it. Her head fell. She fainted. Arden smiled and chuckled. Olivia raised her head back up and gazed at Arden.

"You're mad!" she yelled. She pulled the arrow off her head. Arden just glared.

"How'd you get Basil's revolver?" asked Olivia.

"I swiped it while no one was looking." replied Arden. Olivia glared at her and got back on her feet.

"You really don't want to step to this." said Arden.

Olivia just walked up and punched her. Arden fell back.

"I think I just did!" replied Olivia. Arden got a black eye.

"You do realize that you're…" said Arden.

"What!" scowled Olivia. "You know, you're acting like Ratigan!"

Arden gasped in shock.

"Why you! That's it now I'm MAD!" yelled Arden. Olivia just glared. UN afraid of what she was gonna do.

"You do realize that you are making me mad!" said Arden evilly.

"Yeah well you're acting like Ratigan and his cat put together!" yelled Olivia. Arden's face turned red. She knew she wasn't a cat. She was ready to show that.

Arden faced Olivia and started fighting her.

"I HATE YOU SO MUCH!" yelled Arden. Basil, Dawson, and Flaversham heard this. When they did, they looked for the two girls. When they found them, they saw Arden biting Olivia's neck.

"Girls, girls! Stop it!" ordered Dawson. Basil separated Arden and Olivia. Flaversham pulled Olivia back. Dawson did the same to Arden.

"What's going on!" asked Basil harshly.

"Olivia and I were having what my father a fight! It was just getting good too!" replied Arden. She pulled away from Dawson's grasp.

"Well of course! We saw everything!" said Basil. Arden felt anger in her veins. She gritted her teeth and ran away from the group. She never had a girl fight like that before.

END FLASHBACK/END DREAM

Arden woke up talking to herself.

I'm talking to myself in public

Dodging glances on the train
And I know, I know they've all been talking about me
I can hear them whisper
And it makes me think there must be something wrong with me
Out of all the hours thinking
Somehow I've lost my mind.

Arden looked at Olivia who seemed to be awake already.
"Oh hi Olivia. I had a dream about the dream about the fight we had. What did you dream about?" asked Arden.
"I had a dream about your father. It was about Julian going crazy like you were with those stories last night." replied Olivia.
"I'm not crazy!" said Arden.

I've been talking in my sleep
Pretty soon they'll come to get me
Yeah, they're taking me away.

A few minutes later, they were all packed up and ready to go on.
"Map check!" yelled Arden. Olivia took out the map. She opened it and saw that the only way to get to get to Julian and Emily. They had to go right through…The Rat Trap.
"We have to go right through The Rat Trap." said Olivia. Arden was shocked.
"WHAT! Now YOU'RE acting crazy!" replied Arden. Olivia glared.
"I'm not crazy." replied Olivia.

Olivia and Arden followed the map and saw the opening that led to The Rat Trap. Arden felt discouraged.
"That's it! I admit it! I AM crazy!" said Arden. "I also admit that I feel a little unwell."

Yeah, how I used to be
How I used to be
Well, I'm just a little unwell
How I used to be
How I used to be
I'm just a little unwell.

The two heard footsteps and saw Fidget and two other thugs.
"We meet again." hissed Fidget.

TO BE CONTINUED…