Chapter 19: What Happened Later

HAAAAPPPY NEW YEAR!

This is my gift to you guys! :D

I finished my thesis guys, girls. Finally! But I still got my revisions to discuss xD

So uhh, we're entering a new arc in a few more chapters or after this, I'll make sure to take a good look at it again. I won't make you too curious! xD

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

Previously... On MBPB...

"I apologize for interrupting, but isn't she better off should more problem arise?" Peter cut him.

Nightmare nodded and added, "Yes. I'm worried that her presence in this world is what hampered her wound to heal. Moreover, she seems to attract problems."

.-.

Alice crossed her hands. "No. You're lying. Then 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, 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 seemed to have thought of something, because she raised her head and looked at Peter again. "What if she drinks the potion?"

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.

.-.

"Found it?" the cat asked.

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

.-.

"REMY!"

Alice ran inside and instantly checked on Remy. She turned Remy's body to lie onto her back to take a better look. Her bandage was soaked red with blood, and her lips apart. A wave of panic washed over the older girl as she noticed that the little one's chest wasn't moving at all. She checked one of Remy's little hand for any pulses. She clenched her teeth when she didn't feel anything. She laid her head down on Remy's chest to hear her heartbeat, and would've felt very relieved if it weren't for the very low sound of Remy's heartbeat. She was relieved nonetheless, Remy's heart was beating but it seemed to be so weak.

Alice's scream probably reached the upper floors, because footsteps were heard outside the kitchen.

"Alice! What is—" Julius stopped his question and widened his eyes when he saw the crime scene. You can tell he was shocked as hell. I mean as well.

Alice heard him coming and turned to him for help. "She's not breathing!"

At that, Julius was instantly by her side and helping. Digging up the experiences he could find about first aid and did what he had to do. Fortunately, these kinds of cases were common in Wonderland, the body of the Wonderlanders will usually breathe on its own after a few minutes and their consciousness will return. Unfortunately, Remy is not a Wonderlander, so Julius is not sure how he could be of help.

"Go fetch the doctor." Julius said, a hint of panic touched the tone of his voice.

Alice did not need to be told twice as she fled the room, passing by Peter who just reached the kitchen.

"Alice? What is the—" Peter did not get the chance to continue as she went past him in a rush. The white rabbit turned his head to the kitchen door that was left open and walked inside.

It seemed that what Nightmare said was true, the girl was a magnet of trouble. Peter could now understand what Nightmare meant by 'attracting trouble' as he watched the scene with unexplainable expression, and his feelings of guilt returned. He knew it was because of him that she's here and caused these troubles to her.

Julius felt a presence behind him and turned to find Peter standing in the doorway with a rather depressed state. But he ignored it and opened his mouth to call the white rabbit.

"You can sulk but drag that monkey here. We need his help, now!" Julius snapped at him.

That snapped Peter out. He needed to apologize, he felt guilty; but as Julius said, now's not the time. He turned his heels and went on his way to the Amusement Park.

Julius examined Remy once again for pulses and gritted his teeth when he felt the pulses were getting weaker. He didn't want to move her anywhere fearing he would break her or something, but she could not just lie here. He reached his hands under her and picked her up carefully.

When Boris saw Alice ran out of the tower, he went to the roof door and using his power to teleport between doors, he opened it, opening the front door at the same time. Then he ran after her. Alice said that they need to get the doctor and fast. Even though she didn't tell him what happened, he could guess it wasn't a good thing. He just hoped that whatever it was, it wasn't worse than before.

Boris was the first to arrive at the park and while running, yelling at the faceless who stood in his way and effectively creating a way for him to arrive at the infirmary. When he reached the place, he slammed the door open with a loud bang.

"Monkey!" he yelled, but stopped his next sentence when he saw the monkey hanging from the white rabbit's shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

It turned out, Boris wasn't the one who reached here first. It was Peter. The white rabbit immediately explained the situation and the doctor ape immediately asked to be picked up. And so Peter did, and then Boris stormed in.

"Hey! Watch the door you pussy cat!" Patrick yelled back while swinging his fist up at Boris. "And I'm NOT A MONKEY!"

"How'd you get here so fast?" Boris asked Peter, ignoring the doctor.

"We have no time for this." Peter said, and he ran towards Boris in a very fast speed. Boris instantly leapt out of the rabbit's way as Peter ran past him towards the Clock Tower. Boris saw Peter running and was awed for a few seconds at how fast the white rabbit could be when urgency is needed. As he watched the direction where they ran to, Alice came into view and Boris was reminded of something. He facepalmed.

Alice reached him with a heave.

"Boris.. Peter... The doctor..." she stopped and tried to catch her breath.

Boris blinked, "Yea that... You know, we can actually reach the tower through this door. And the other way around." He said, pointing to the infirmary door with his thumb.

Alice looked at him like he just grew two heads. "Huh? How?"

The chesire cat smiled awkwardly, "Let's just say, I can make it that way." Boris closed the infirmary door and channeled his power, after a few seconds, he opened it again and it showed the inside of the Julius's work room.

Alice blinked a few times, feeling strange for a moment. She was distracted for a second before coming back to reality.

"Then why didn't you stop them?" she asked.

"Well I kinda just remembered it now and they're already far, so..."

Alie swayed her hand, "Alright whatever. I'm sure Peter can get back fast. He's a rabbit for goodness sake." She said as she went in.

Boris shrugged and followed her in before closing the door.

Alice opened the door again which now lead to the hallway outside of Julius's workroom and stepped out.

"Let's go to Remy's room. I'm sure Julius had..." but before she could finish her sentence, she fell forward.

"Alice!" Boris reacted instantly and moved in front of Alice to keep her from falling. He let her lean on him as he checked her condition. "Alice?" he called. Her eyes were closed but he could hear her breaths coming in and out of her parted lips. He realized that Alice had just fainted. Boris did not have a good feeling about this. Alice wasn't like this. She didn't just faint from running.

With both foreigners out, what will happen now?

A pair of salmon pink eyes fluttered open and darkness was what they see.

'What is...?'

Remy voiced out inside her mind. She looked around, trying to see anything in particular but finding nothing, as all she could see was the darkness around her. She could feel she was lying on a floor. She raised herself up slowly and sat.

She blinked her eyes a few times and tried to look around again, but she found nothing. Just then, a light appeared pretty far from where she sat. It was the kind of light that you saw coming from street lamps, only there wasn't any street lamps anywhere.

Remy got to her feet and walked towards the light. The closer she got, the brighter the light became and when she finally reached under it, the light became so bright that she had to close her eyes from the intensity. She waited for a few moments before opening her eyes, and finally she could see something.

She was standing on a black tiled floor, no, checkered floor, but each square is a very big square with black and white and black and white like a big chess board. She looked around and noticed a big pair of shoes to her right. Wait. Shoes?

She looked at the pair of big black, rather pointy shoes staring back at her with that shiny look on it. She looked upward but saw nothing or exactly no one wearing the shoes. She turned her attention back to the shoes and she saw as they got smaller. When the shoes stopped shrinking, she stepped up to it and crouched down to take a look at it. Something made her feel interested in the shoes but she didn't know what, and feeling so curious, she reached out her index finger to touch it.

"Hello little girl."

Remy stopped her movements. She blinked her eyes a few times and withdrew her hand. Was that someone talking?

"Yes."

She was startled yet again for the sudden answer. She could feel the familiarity of this as she stood up, the feeling of someone reading her mind and answering what she was thinking. But she could not remember who. It's just a quite familiar feeling. Now her curiosity is directed to the voice. It was gentle and deep, but not that deep. It was a bit sweet too, like.. like.. Like how a prince in the movie sounds like. She heard the voice chuckled after that thought.

"You are quite interesting." The voice said.

She would like to turn around now.

"Oh of course you can. Turn around."

The voice felt closer at that last sentence, but did not stop her to turn around.

In front of her was a man. A rather tall man with a messy, short white hair, but she could not see his eyes because some strands covered them. He wore a black and white stripped shirt, and white pants. And.. no shoes. So the shoes belong to him?

"Yes. They're mine." The man said as he stepped closer to her. He stopped right in front of her and that was when she could clearly see his eyes. Different colors; the left one was lemony yellow with a...triangle in it? And the right one was stunning green with a...square in it. They were strange, she thought, but they were also beautiful somehow.

She could see the man's lips grew to a smile. It was a friendly smile that she could not refuse to smile back.

"Hello sir." She greeted.

The man watched her for a moment, before replying, "Hello."

"How are they?" Boris asked immediately when Patrick opened the door.

The doctor ape closed the door and stood in front of everyone that was present at the moment. Gowland, Julius, Boris, and the white rabbit.

Peter and Patrick reached the tower just as Boris put Alice beside Remy. The doctor instantly kicked everyone out of the room and locked the door to do his job. Since there was a ruckus in the park, made by none other than his favorite freeloader, Gowland went to check out. He ran here as soon as he found out Patrick was gone, putting the pieces together himself. While Julius, Julius was here the whole time. Watching over the little girl and tending her wound as best as he could.

The doctor glanced at them one by one before opening his lips.

"They're breathing." Patrick said.

Everyone looked at him, waiting in anticipation for his next sentence. But the doctor did not continue.

"That's it?" the park owner spoke up, his brows already casted downward.

The doc nodded.

"That can't be just it. Tell us more you monkey!" Boris walked up to him in rage.

Patrick looked at Boris indifferently but did not answer. The cat then grabbed the doctor's shirt and pulled him closer to his face.

"Tell me how she's doing or else—"

"Boris." Julius called.

The chesire cat growled at the ape before finally letting him go. His eyes casted downward. "I'm worried."

Patrick fixed his shirt and went to lean by the wall beside Gowland. "We all are."

There were a few minutes of silence before someone spoke up again.

"At least they're breathing. I'll say that's better than not at all." Julius said. He's not that type to admit it out loud.

Gowland grunted. "But still not good at all."

Julius did not reply to that.

Peter watched as they casted their eyes down. He chose to keep silence since he didn't know what he should say right now. That wave of guilt was still at bay and wouldn't seem to subside anytime soon. This was his fault. If only he kept his head straight to the mission, if only he wasn't dilly-dallying—

"Tell us why."

Everyone turned to Julius.

There was silence for a few seconds before Julius turned his gaze to Peter.

"Tell us. Why did you bring her here?" the clockmaker asked.

Peter was... Taken aback.

Of course. Of all people, other than Nightmare, Julius would be the one to figure it out. It's Julius. But the white rabbit did not know what he should say right now. Should he really say it? Tell the truth? They need to know. Especially if Alice now also in danger because of it. But that would also take toll on Nightmare as he was his partner in crime. What should he do now?

Peter thought about his decision and gazed back at Julius.

"A game?" Remy asked, looking at the man with curiosity in her eyes.

The man chucked his head to the side, "Would you like to?"

"Mmm... What game?"

The man smiled sweetly. "An interesting one."

She put her hands behind her back and fiddled her fingers. "Mmm..."

"If you win, I will grant you three wishes."

That caught her attention. "Wishes?"

The man nodded with a hum.

"Mmm..." she didn't know why, but she felt like she shouldn't play this game. He's a stranger. But if she wins, she will get three wishes granted. It's hard for her to decide, but she eventually answered.

"Okay."

The man smiled. "There are rounds and requirements."

"Rounds and requirements...?" those words had lots of 'R' to be pronounced.

"This game is single player."

She paused. She have to play alone? She received a nod, and then she waited for him to continue.

...

But the man stopped there. That's all?

No answer.

She decided to ask something. "Um.. Is there rules?"

There was a pause before the man chucked his head back up and raised his left hand. "Of course."

"What are they?" she asked.

The man stopped his hand mid-air and curled, then pointed his index finger upward. "Fair play."

She responded by humming and nodding. Then his middle finger curled upward, "Prepare for everything."

She blinked a few times. She did not really understand what he meant by that, but she nodded anyway. He pointed his ring finger upward, "Always have someone close by."

That means she had to have a friend to play with her, right? The man nodded his head, as if he knew again what she was thinking. But didn't he say she has to play alone...? But she received no answer. Then the man stepped closer and crouched down to her level.

She watched as the man lifted up only his pinky, she asked, "Is it the last?"

The man nodded again. And then she saw as his pinky drew close to her face and touched her nose.

"Take care."

She blinked her eyes twice before smiling. "Okay!"

"Let's meet again."

She saw as the man turned around and walk away, with his shoes already on. Wait, when did he put them on?

And then everything went black.