The jail, creepy and cold. Jester Joker wasn't there, instead was the warden, for once quiet as he guided them to a conference room in grey and black. It was very unlike the other territories Coraline had seen. Nightmare slapped his hand down on the table in the conference room to gain everyone's attention. "You all know zeh zituation, I juzt eenfoghrmed you; Coghaline and the twins are not to vee levt alone, at any time, under any zeercoonstanzes. Do you all unperztant!?"

The twins groaned while everyone else nodded, "Why us?! We only went through once, and we're replicable, just like the rest of you."

Nightmare glared at the two, "You fools! Zat opzezeev olt hach pill never let you cho! Anp if she does chet you, she von't just kill you! She'll rip apart your clocks and zuck out your zouls!"

"Please, Dee, Dum...Obey this time" begged Alice. "I know its hard, but we need to work together and keep you three safe"

Cat yawned from his place on the table in front of Coraline, "I propose that the three stay together at all times. ...Alice should stay with them as well; just in case the little miss here gets too curious."

"I agree," said Blood, hugging Alice close. "It would be for the best."

Nightmare nodded relunctantly, "zounts like a plan. Ve vill take tughns protectik zem in eet teghitoghy, ezcortink zem in peetween. Each teghitoghy, EXCEPT ze manzion. Zat teghitoghy is cughently off limits."

He turned to Blood and Elliot, "Yourgh voghkeghs can go to zeir homes, put you ank Elliot vill stay at ze caztl...seeik as zey are ze only teghitoghy zat can tolerhate you."

Blood rolled his eyes, "Thank you so much."

"We believe we can manage will with them. A temporary truce" said the Queen nodding her head.

"As long as I'm not called a rabbit," said Elliot.

"Insolent, idiot! That's what you are!" answered Peter angrily.

Nightmare cleared his throat, successfully interrupting the argument, "Ughtil I feegur out hov to approgt tis, tis iz hov tings vill pe. Eveghrypoty...ztay aleght, ztay ghready...and ztay zafe."

"Well then, I'll do what ever I motherfucking can to find any shitty door that could lead to that fucking creepy dimension," said Warden Joker nodding. "But, if any of you four idiots dare to disobey, we will punish all of you!"

They were transported to the tower of Clover with the power of Joker. Coraline and the twins were taken to a large room in the tower to spend the night. As the three sat in boredom, Alice finally came in and she, Coraline and Cat got down to the interrogation of the twins. It felt strange to be back at the tower for the blonde, she was used to being in the mansion. Then again, in Joker Season she didn't come so often.

Coraline got right down to business, "Were you two the first ones to find the key?"

Dee nodded, "Yeah, but we always locked the door after going in!"

Dum nodded and added to that, "But one day, at a Circus event, we lost it!"

Alice tapped her chin, "...What was that world like?"

Dee grinned, "It was amazing! The Other old man and the Other Elliot were the ones guarding the gates and the Other Mother she said that she owned the Other mansion let us do whatever we wanted! We even got to play with our new knives! Even the Other father was cool!"

Dum nodded, "Yeah! And we could play killing games all we wanted and everyone would be proud of us and clap when we killed someone!"

Alice shuddered at the thought, 'there's a copy of ME there?! And one that allows them to kill?.', "Just what about this Other me?"

Dee shrugged, "Eh, she looked just like you, except she had black button eyes. She could play with us whenever we wanted."

Dum jumped in, "B-but she couldn't replace you, Mom!"

Coraline couldn't believe it, Alice was their mom? But she was so young! The bluenette looked at Alice who was more horrified about the situation than the fact of the twins revealing that bit of information. It couldn't be questioned now, Coraline crossed her arms in front of her, "Now wait a minute! How many Other's does she have over there?! Does everyone in Wonderland have an Other?!"

Dum shrugged, "The only ones we saw were the Other Boss, Elliot, and Alice. There weren't any faceless Other."

"Who is your mother and father, you didn't mention Alice or Blood before this. You only said, Other father and mother"

At Coraline's prodding, Alice let out a sigh. "The last round, I fell in love with Blood, thus he won the game. We both started to treat the twins as our own...and only in private, with the mafia, they call us Dad and Mom"

"I see..."

"Coraline, let's keep on with the interview" interrupted Cat.

"How many times did you go in?"

Dum sighed, "We only went twice. We couldn't get the door open after we lost the key at the Joker's event."

Scratching alerted them. The air tensed up. The twins jumped off the bed and took up their axes, Coraline assuming her best fighting stance and Cat hissed loudly. Alice was standing in front of them as well as she could. As soon as it started though, the scratching stopped. They all frowned and Alice slowly walked to the door, opening it just a crack. Her eyes widened and she bent down, snatching up something and retreating to the others. She locked the door, stiffly sitting down. They all gathered around and stared down at the note in sickened horror.

It was an envelope, inside was a white sheet of paper with a blue, red, teal, and a black button sewn on it with thick black thread. The lettering was written in delicate, feminine cursive.

You think you're safe my dear,

you think you can escape.

You think you can take it all away,

the man with whom you stay

the children you love

they will live with you and me.

Dearest sweet Coraline, I'll make you taste

the bittersweetness of my love yet.

Tweedles, mother will arrive,

father will come,

oh such a joy to make you a home.

You will be mine, Coraline,

The pain you gave I shall give back.

Now that we're all here, its time

to let the game begin.

I'll see you all soon my darling children.

With love,

your dear Mother.

Alice let the note drop from her cold fingers. "...She...she wants me to? Why?"

Coraline swallowed and stepped on the note, giving a nervous chuckle, "I don't know, but you'd think she could come up with something more original than a love letter."

Cat looked up at Alice, "Aside from Coraline, you're the only being in this world with a heart. You're brave and have a strong spirit. Plus, if she has you, she can lure the rest of the Role Holders to her world." Everybody stared blankly for a moment. "Coraline, tell her your dream"

"A girl said her sister wanted you, she said" suddenly her eyes changed color, to the same ones Alice had. Everyone in the room was shocked as another voice spoke "My sister wished to capture you. She wants to have everyone who might interfere with having her prize. You are her food, and Alice her desire. This is all I can do for now. She will never let me go."

"Edith..." mumbled Alice as Coraline fell to the floor.

The twins were the first to recover, "We need to get Nightmare!"

"Please!"

Coraline smiled as the ghost children appeared. The girl with the braids waved her hands, frantic, "It's not safe!"

Coraline looked at her, startled, "What happened?!"

The boy swallowed, "It isn't just the mansion; ALL of the territories have doors!"

Coraline paled and the boy quickly added, "E-except the Joker's territory! That's the only safe place!"

The tall girl pointed to a small, familiar door that she conjured, "Find the doors in each territory with its Role Holders to play the game."

"You need to take all the targets, and not just any role holder but the ones who live in that territory," said the cute girl.

Coraline nodded as the dream world crumbled, "Thank you!"

"Please...Save them" whispered the girl with button eyes when the children vanished. "Please..."

"-in..."

"-line..."

"CORALINE!" The bluenette started awake at the twins' yelling, tossed the blankets off of her, and scrambled to get her shoes on. Alice walked over, "Coraline, what's wrong?"

Coraline looked up distractedly, "Umm...you all remember the ghost children from the story I told you? They've been in my dreams, helping me. And they just told me that the game the Other Mother's note was talking about was to find a little door in each territory with the Role Holders of that territory."

"At last, it was hard to keep them in the room or explain what was happening," said Cat with a sigh.

The children and Alice stared at her in shock- how would they find these doors? Alice sank to the edge of the bed, running her hand through her hair, "...You say there's a door in every territory now?"

Coraline nodded, "All except the Joker."

"Hey...but...why were you speaking with my sister's voice?"

"Your sister? The one with black hair and dark dress?"

"Yes!"

"So that means...both your sisters are here and one is the other mother!"

The twins turned to the door, "We need to find pirate!"

Cat rolled his eyes, recalling his first meeting with the incubus, "He's probably slacking off."

"HEY, ZAT'S MEAN! ANT IM NOT A PIGHATE!" Everyone jumped at the random voice and Coraline ran over and opened the door. And, low and behold, there stood Nightmare! With a vein popping.

Alice huffed at him, "Nightmare, calm down. I think we deserve to joke a little bit."

Cat sat up from his place on the bed, "There has been an important turn around in the situation." Coraline handed Nightmare the note and explained the situation.

Nightmare sighed and rubbed at his hair, "Yes, I unteghstant...teegh me, vat a mess."

Soon enough, none of them were able to leave for many time changes. Yet, people would still visit to bring food or entertainment. That's when Coraline found out why people said Gray sucked at cooking. The twins and she ended up daring each other to eat it or throw it at a random faceless. And well, Coraline admitted they were good at that. Cat and Boris always were happy to get salmon from Gray.

Alice, on the other hand, was trying to convince Coraline not to ask for a weapon. The stubborn girl refused of course. Yet, every time a role-holder, besides Blood and Peter, got in, they seemed to have a particular interest. To the point were Pierce almost kissed her, Coraline was saved by Cat and the twins. Elliot declared his love with carrot cake, earning a world of teasing later. Nightmare tried to slack off being held out by Gray who also didn't want to lose. It was insane and embarrassing.

"Why do they do this?"

"Because that's the game. They all will fall for you or love you one way or another. And in the end, you will choose to stay here with one of them and make them win or, you will leave" explained Alice.

"Well, at least they don't want to eat me"

"Maybe they won't literally," said Cat making the girls faces turn red.

Soon, when they were able to be let out, Blood would never leave Alice's side, Coraline and Cat wondered if they were married instead of just being together. Dee and Dum were babysat by Elliot, much to his annoyance and Coraline's relief. Cat would go where he pleased, soon discovering he could use the doors Boris traveled through. As for Coraline, many would fight to be the ones to escort her. But, Boris would always grab her hand and whisk her away. It was fun, he was nice, almost like Wybie.

Cat noticed they were getting closer and closer, silently wishing them luck. But this was one of those times Boris had taken them to the amusement park. And he started doing the sniffing weird thing, Cat understood, but Coraline was pretty uncomfortable.

"Uh...Boris?"

"Hmm...you smell like something different than normal. Like...the bagworm!" He said hugging her.

"Dude! You know I get visited by others. Calm down!" Said Coraline blushing.

"Though it is true, remember they all are competing for your affection." Said Cat calmly.

"But, why would anyone care? I'm not even that pretty"

"It interests me! And Cory, that ain't true! You are very cute!" Said Boris putting his hands on her shoulders, at last giving them space.

"Uh...thanks? Anyway, I am only here by accident, and we need to kill that thing. So...sorry to burst your bubble"

"We felines like to be in charge of the humans we protect. Like you with your things" explained Cat calmly.

"Yea! You're so popular that I might need to lock you up!" Agreed Boris.

"Not again! And that is a crime! Plus, I'm not property!" Exclaimed Coraline pushing him off.

"Leave 'er alone Pinky!" Scolded Gowland walking towards them.

Coraline and Cat only laughed as they watched the argument unfold. It had been so long. They almost forgot about the danger.

Almost.