Chapter 18: Unsupervised

He-lloo~ People! XD

First, I want to say Sorry! To all of you readers. I said I'll come back August and it's already October now. I'm the worst :'(

But I can't lie that I'm very, like, VERY busy. I even let my commission unattended because of all these papers :'(

And I was also originally uploading a new story, but refrain from doing so because I cannot promise it can be ready. I was like... Only wrote 3 chapters already and that was like forever ago. But I don't want to upload it with only 3 chapters ready so... I think I will make sure I got to chapter 6 before I will upload it. If you guys are waiting for it, well... I will make another announcement whether it's ready for upload or not, and then you can start your hopes up. xD

This chapter is umm... Will, make you hate me for a bit xD

But that's okay! xD

A little spark of determination is needed for motivation. Or so they say! xD

I still have 5 chapters of this story ready for the future, but I will be uploading maybe once a month now... Or at least when I'm not very busy like today—err—right now. Ehehehe! xD

Well... Enjoy~

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This is what happens when you let children wander by themselves unsupervised.

Disclaimer: I don't own HNKNA or any characters in it, they belong to Quinrose. I only own my characters and this story.

She ran through the souvenirs section part of the park while whipping her head around. She needed to hide, but where? She saw as souvenirs hanged on the racks of each shop and her eyes wandered inside the shops in a glance, trying to spot a good place to hide where she would not be found. A nearby clothing shop caught her attention and she made her way to it. Opening the glass door, she was immediately greeted by the sound of jingling bells and the workers inside.

"Hello and welcome to Vee's Clothing Shop!" greeted the female workers with a big smile on their face.

"Hello, ma'am." She greeted back with a smile.

"Oh dear are you looking for a headwear? How about these cute hairbands and a free hair-do?" one of the workers crouched to her height and held a box of cute and colorful hairbands.

"Or a straw hat for that cute-tomboyish look you choose?" one of the workers approached her with a straw hat with a cute red ribbon on it.

She giggled, "No thank you ma'am. I'm playing hide and seek with my friend. Can I hide here?"

"Oh?" both workers turned at each other for a moment, giggled, before turning back at her. "Sure sweety!"

Remy giggled and ran around the store to find a good spot. The store was not that big and there wasn't any good small area that she could hide in. So she settled inside one of the boxes under the cashier desk. She was, after all, small, so she could fit in easily inside it.

A few minutes passed and the sound of jingling bells could be heard again, signaling someone entering the store. Remy could hear the workers greeting the customer. She could also hear the voice of the customer which was very familiar and the one who she was trying to hide from.

"No thanks. I'm dazzling enough in this outfit. Now you wouldn't happen to see any cute li'l girl passing by, would you?" said the voice.

"Oh I'm sorry. I don't think we do."

Remy was suppressing her giggle now. She hoped the person take the bait and search somewhere else. But no, the person was too smart, and she could feel her heart raced and her smile widened as she heard the next sentence.

"But you don't mind I take a look around here, do you?" the person asked.

"Well..."

The person wasted no time to hear the workers and took a sniff at the air.

Remy pulled her hands to her mouth and nose, trying to slow and soften her breathing as she heard footsteps closing in her direction. The footsteps stopped just a few feet away from her place and she held her breath and waited. A minute seemed an hour with the presence of silence, however, the soft knock above managed to surprise her that she slightly jolted and knocked the box a bit.

"Come out Remy~ I know you're in there."

She kept silence and still. She thought that if she sit still and do nothing, the person will leave and search somewhere else. But it seemed that her actions made the person's patience ran out, as the boxes she was in got dragged out and the top was opened.

She looked up to see Boris looking at her with slight annoyed expression. She felt herself grinned, and then let her laughter breaks out. The chesire cat pulled her out and rested her on his hips as he walked out of the shop. Muttering a single thank you to the workers.

He guided both of them to the food court as he listened to her point of view before she got caught, adding the story with his own. Alice and Gowland were already there, along with Patrick, drinking their own respective drinks. Gowland pushed Patrick's chair away and pulled another chair to replace the spot when he noticed the kiddo came back. The doctor didn't mind, as he adjusted his position next to Alice.

The cat then plopped himself down on the chair and earned a rose eyebrow from the park owner.

"It's for her." Gowland said.

"She's on it." Boris replied, earning a grunt from the marquis and a giggle from Remy.

'More like she's on you.' Gowland thought, but he didn't say it out loud.

"Hello everyone." Remy greeted them with a smile.

"Hello Remy. Did you have good time?" asked Alice, putting her juice glass down and smiled at the little one.

Remy grinned. "Plenty!" she then continued telling her how she and Boris ran after each other and then played hide and seek; re-telling her activities of the day. While she herself was pretty down because her wound still felt the same, she was glad she was permitted to go out and play. And what's more, Nightmare kept her dress for her! She also tried to think less now and it worked a bit to prevent her headache. Yes, she still had it sometimes, but it hurt less now that she learned how to lessen it. She was so glad.

She laughed at the end of her story where Boris finally caught her hiding inside the box while looking a bit annoyed. Boris pinched her on the cheek and nuzzled her good head after that.

"It's so much fun!" she exclaimed.

The other three in the table laughed lightly.

"Don't be too excited, Yemy. Remember." Patrick pointed his index finger to his forehead for her.

She giggled and nodded, understanding his warning.

Gowland put down his cup and looked at her, "Are you done for the day or you're still up for something?"

Remy chucked her head to the side, confused. "Up for something?"

"You haven't tried all the rides here!" Gowland exclaimed with grin.

Boris scowled. "She has. With me." He boasted it with a pride smile—erm smirk.

"Not with me!" Gowland protested.

"She doesn't need you to play with her. She only needs me. Right, Remy?" Boris turned to her, smiling.

Remy smiled awkwardly and turned to Alice, ignoring both of them. "Alice. My bandage okay?" she was about to ask whether her bandage had come undone, but she couldn't find the right word.

"Hm?" Alice didn't understand what she'd just said, but she seemed to quite get it. "Oh it's a bit undone actually." She answered, then she raised her hands to fix it. "Just let me—"

"No no no. Leeet~ Me." Patrick stood from his seat and strutted over to them. "I'm the doctor here." He said as he tended to Remy.

Alice raised her hands and smiled to him. "Right. You're the doc~"

"Hey don't ignore me, Remy." Said Boris.

"She doesn't like you clinging to her all the time."

"Shut up, old man."

Listening to Gowland and Boris bickering made her giggles. It was strange, and she should've put a stop to them, but it was funny at the same time and she didn't want them to stop. Is she a bad girl?

"No sweety, you're not." Gowland answered her with a smile.

It seemed that she spoke her thoughts out loud.

Gowland reached his hands to her. "Come. Let's ride the Spinning Teacup and then off you go."

Remy grinned. "Okay!"

"A'righty. Off you go." Patrick finished. "I'm going back to my place."

"And I'll be at the entrance when you finished." Alice fixed Remy's hair and poked her cheek.

Remy giggled again. "Okay. See you Alice. See you doctor Patwick!"

"See you." Both of them went together.

Gowland tried to take her from Boris's hands but the cats hands held to her firmly. "What are you doing?" the cat spurted.

"Taking her." Gowland simply answered.

"I'm coming along." The cat stood up with hers still latched on his hips and walked out.

"Oh come on!" Gowland followed them.

Her tiny hands hugged the carton in front of her tightly as her eyes raced back and forth between her front and the carton to keep her from falling. The little foreigner was having difficulty carrying the bag of materials requested by Julius. She insisted on helping Alice carry one of the bags (because she felt bad seeing Alice carry something so heavy by herself, and Alice actually cannot let her carry something that's almost as heavy as her no matter how small she is, but the little one insisted) and was given a bag with half of the content in the end, while Alice carried the other bag with the same—more than her—amount. But even though it's only half full, it was still so heavy.

"Why Julee need heavy things?"

"Julius."

"Julee..?"

"No, no. Spell with me. Joo-lee-oos."

"No no, Alice. I think it's Yoo-lie—yes." The cat intervened.

It took a second before Alice cracked.

Boris snickered.

"What is so funny?" Remy looked at the both of them on her each her side with confusion.

Boris and Alice were each at her side to supervise. And the cat was there for safety keep. The Cheshire cat offered to help, but she refused him politely. He thought to insert some jokes to lighten up the mood, but it seemed that she didn't understand puns yet.

"Nope. Nothing. Are you sure you want to carry it yourself?" He asked for the fifth time.

Remy nodded her head again with an "Umph!" and carried on.

The Cheshire cat shrugged. It wasn't until they reached the tower that she finally let him carry it for her. Beads of sweats ran down the side of her face as she tried to catch her breath.

Alice smiled at her. "Go to the kitchen and help yourself. We'll be back in a minute."

Remy nodded her head and guided herself to the direction Alice ha dpointed her, as Alice and Boris went upstairs to Julee's room. Oh right, Julius. She didn't know Julee need those heavy things for such small clocks. Oh wait, there were a lot of small things inside the bag. Um, Julius. Yes, that was what made it so heavy. No, no, not Julee, but Julius. Err... Not Julius, it's the... Mm... Remy pursed her lips. Being tired must have been messing with her head a bit. She swallowed, trying to wet her dry throat as she entered the kitchen.

This was the first time she entered the kitchen since her visit in the Clock Tower. Which...was her first time too.

There was a table and two chairs in the middle of the room, counters and a stove by the wall opposite the door and cupboards above it. There was a sink in the center counter. She walked to the table and pushed a chair so she can get up the counter.

Coffee cans, tea boxes, and sugar cans were the only things on the counter by the wall. And a single cloth. She didn't see any cups or one of Julee's mugs anywhere on the counter, so she assumed they were put on the cupboards above. She looked upwards. Those cupboards were pretty high. Well, for her anyway. Why does she have to be so short? She's really thirsty and she needed a drink right now. But she didn't want to get up the counter and make it dirty with her shoes. She felt a headache started to form and she sighed.

She turned her attention to the rest of the kitchen, hoping to spot some cups or mugs lying around, and she spotted something on the table. It was small, shiny, and transparent. She jumped down and moved the chair closer to where the thing was before climbing up again. She took the thing in her hands and checked. She saw as something watery-like moved as she moved the place. Her eyes beamed.

"Here Julius. I got the nuts and some new screws for you." Alice said as she entered the workroom.

"Thank—" Julius was cut off by another presence who immediately announced its presence by shouting... "Alice!"

"Peter?" Alice's brows rose up in surprise.

"Oh I missed you so much, my dear. This yearning I felt I can no longer bear!" the white rabbit threw himself to her but she stepped aside, making him fell to the floor. "Oh dear..." he muttered as he got up.

"Hi there, hare!" Boris greeted.

"I am no hare!" Peter countered.

"Move away would you? Julius needs this." Boris said as he walked inside the room and to Julius.

"Well it's such a random visit." Alice said, walking over to Julius's desk and putting down the carton. Boris followed soon after.

"It's because he's here on an occasion." Julius said, taking out the carton's contents.

"Oh?" Alice glanced at the clockmaker.

"The other foreigner." Julius continued.

Alice turned her head to the white rabbit that was already standing again. "Remy?"

Boris turned his attention to the rabbit too. "What about her?"

Peter knitted his eyebrows. And parted his lips.

"I'm here to take her home."

Remy was panting again. The little thingy was so hard to be pulled open. She tried pulling the cork off but to no avail. It was so tight. Maybe her hands are too slippery? Realizing her mistake, she put the little thingy on her breast pocket and got down.

She pushed the chair back to the counter and got up to the sink to wash her hands. After drying her hands with the cloth, she tried to open the little thingy again and... With a lot amount of determination on her face...

Pluck!

"But why?!" Alice shouted.

Peter gritted his teeth. "Because her time and place could be different from you. You could end up in a time and place unknown to you."

Alice crossed her hands. "No. You're lying. How are you going to take her? You have to drink the potion to get home. I did that."

"Yes, but, she's not a player. And there's only one bottle of the potion because every game only has one foreigner."

"You can make one more bottle." She said.

"No, Alice." Boris replied to her.

Alice turned to Boris. "Huh? What do you mean 'no'?"

Boris turned his head to her. "You see, since every game only has one outsider, supposed to anyway, so there is only one bottle. No one can make the bottle but the game itself."

"And we cannot make the game do what we want." Julius added.

"Why?" Alice asked again.

"Because it's the game. And we are the players." This time, Peter answered.

Alice stopped asking and seemed to think as Peter watched her. He didn't want to lie, but it was a logic possibility. It was a scenario he constructed on the way here. It wasn't the truth, but it was safe to assume something like that would happen. At least, it was an act of caution.

Alice seemed to have thought of something, because she raised her head and looked at Peter again. "What if she drinks the potion?"

Peter blinked. He did not expect that.

Then she continued. "What if, drinking the potion makes her return where she belongs? Just like me?"

Boris seemed to disagree. "But Alice, that would mean you have to give up your potion to her."

Alice looked at Boris. "It's alright. I'd rather stay here for a longer time rather than her. She doesn't belong here. All of you know that." She glanced at Julius and Peter too when she said that. "And she's hurt, and not healing at all."

Julius didn't really care what would happen to the little foreigner. However, if what was happening to her is true, then he would be just fine to vote for her safe return.

To Boris, he wanted to agree only because of the last part Alice just said. He didn't want her to go home. He liked her so much. She was fun, had a good petting, and enjoyed him being around her all the time. But she's hurt. It was hard, but Boris agreed to let her go. For her sake.

To Peter, it was fine of course. He still loved Alice with all his heart. But what made him to not immediately agree is because he didn't know what would really happen if the little foreigner drinks the potion. As long as he lived, he never once knows of a case where there are two foreigners in the same game.

"It should be alright. Right? I mean, this potion was made only for us outsiders. It should be okay, right?" Alice felt her pocket to take the potion but felt nothing. "Huh? Where's the potion?" she mumbled out loud.

"Don't tell me you lost it." Julius stated.

"No. It was here before I left! L-Let me check my room." Alice walked out the room, leaving the males behind. She walked down the stairs and went inside her room to search. Three minutes passed and the bottle was nowhere to be found. Boris was waiting by the door when she didn't come back.

"Found it?" the cat asked worriedly.

Alice turned to the door. "No. Help me search on the roof. I'll go to the kitchen." Boris instantly leaped.

Alice walked down the stairs again and strutted over to the kitchen. She couldn't lose that bottle. It's now their first hope of bringing her home. Bringing Remy, home. And herself too. But Remy is the one who needs it like, right now. As Alice opened the kitchen door and stepped inside, she immediately stood still as stone.

There was a bit of blood on the front side of the sink counter and Remy was lying on the kitchen floor. One of her hands was clutching her head and the other was lying on the floor. Near that one hand is the very bottle she was looking for. The Potion of Hearts.

Alice's eyes widened.

"REMY!"

And that's the end of this chapter... Sorry! DX

I feel bad. I truly am. Making a child hurt over and over again. Oh dear readers don't flame me. TwT

I love kids. TwT

I truly am. TwT

I am one too. TwT

-Nakamura Yuuichi-