It was already late at night and Jackie was resting on Julius couch, mentally exhausted as she struggled to flush out the truth and what she knew. She had taken the time to try and let the information sink in her mind but her thoughts were still a terrible mess.
"Here, take some. I know you don't like coffee but you look like you need some." Julius offered, setting a mug in front of her as she heavily sighed, running a hand through her hair. Her head was starting to hurt from all this thinking.
"Thanks." She said, picking up the mug and holding the warmness between her hands, staring at the dark brown coffee swirling about in her mug. " … hey, Julius, can I ask you something?" Jackie asked, looking over at him uneasily.
"Since you came to me so distraught I doubt I can avoid it." Julius countered as he sat at his desk to work, already bunkering himself down and preparing to hear about her troubles. Alice did this to him often but to have the other foreigner also start using him as a psychiatrist was troubling. He mildly wondered what it was about him that made him so likable to foreigners that they would talk to him about their problems. After a moment, he sighed. Of course they would speak to him; he was perhaps the most mentally steady of all the Role Holders.
"Well … yeah, not really." Jackie agreed as Julius slumped over a little bit more, picking up his tools.
"Well, go on then. I may not have very many answers but the least I can do is lend an ear." He offered, seeing as she wasn't going to be leading anytime soon.
"Julius … is it true that it's possible for me to leave Wonderland without anyone winning the game?" Jackie asked, keeping a careful eye on him and watching for his reaction.
"Did Nightmare not properly explain the rules of Wonderland to you?" He smoothly asked, hardly seeming perturbed by the question. Jackie frowned; he didn't give much of an answer at all but at least he wasn't running away.
"Yeah but … is that part true?" Jackie pushed, holding the coffee closer as her fingers lightly trembled. Julius remained completely silent, either formulating an answer or not listening. The young engineer shifted in her seat, uncomfortable. "Everyone else I've asked keeps running away from me. It's starting to freak me out," Jackie admitted, trying to provoke an answer from him.
"A foreigner's game should end. But if you don't get answers, then it's maybe because some answers can't be given," he smoothly kept on.
"Hmm … sounds like a roundabout answer to me," Jackie heavily sighed, setting the coffee down before she laid down on the couch with a deep frown.
"Doesn't mean it is," Julius merely remarked without any change in tone, now apparently bored.
" … Julius," Jackie said, staring at the wall with a nervous and almost frightened expression that was hidden from him, "I feel like I'm going insane over here." She admitted, rubbing her head.
"Don't go insane in this world. It's already filled with insane idiots"- Julius then moved towards the door. "I'll go bring you another coffee and some toast. You seem to need another one."
"Yeah … thanks." Jackie sighed, turning back around and pressing her head against the soft back of the couch. Unable to take the pressure any longer, she slumped onto the couch, losing track of all time and sense.
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Jackie was sleeping with unease, halfway awake when a firm grip on her throat lightly jostled her awake. As the grip tightened on her windpipe, her hands shot up and clutched the wrists of her attacker to try and push him or her off but to no avail. Her vision fell into place and she spied Ace over her with his hands on her neck, choking her. "Ace-!" She gasped, struggling against him in her surprise. " … wait, why are you trying to strangle me?" She asked, baffled and knowing better than to struggle; he liked seeing people struggle.
"So you want to know the truth of Wonderland? Funny. Who told you all those things? You aren't supposed to know any of that," Ace smiled from above her, clearly amused. His eyes were shifty, and his grip, trembling; this was 'mentally unstable' Ace at the moment, a side of Ace Jackie rarely saw or knew how to handle, "that's not nice, Jackie. You could ruin the game and that wouldn't be fun," he said and his grip tightened a bit. A few moments of struggling later, Jackie's eyes rolled into the back of her head before falling limp, unconscious.
Ace debated if he should end it. He felt very uneasy, as if he wanted to prevent something but he wasn't sure himself just what it was. There was just this clutching sensation at the back of his throat and over his clock, urging him to continue. Yes, maybe it was better if he simply killed her. That would end it all. Just as Ace's gaze turned more decisive, he heard Julius's footsteps drawing nearer. He heavily sighed, letting go of Jackie's neck and instead laid down with his head on her chest, savoring the faint echo of her steady heartbeat. Julius's feet tapped against the ground as he entered the room with a box of supplies lightly clacking against each other.
"If you're going to continue trying to sleep, then you should go home," Julius suggested as he walked into the room, his back to the couch as Ace smugly smiled, thinking of ways to surprise the clockmaker but deciding against it, finding himself too lazy as he listened to Jackie's beating heart. Both the foreigners had such different heartbeats despite both having a heart. For some reason he thought it would be amusing if a heart were to be steady. It would be a challenge
Julius paused, however, sensing something off before he turned around and saw the knave lying on Jackie's chest, making her breath become labored from the weight as Ace cheerfully smiled back. "Look Julius, she fell asleep." He very innocently pointed out, turning against Jackie and letting out a pleased hum as he continued to listen to her heartbeat.
Julius frowned, looking over the both of them with worry before letting out a heavy sigh, biting his tongue for now. There were more pressing matters at hand. "Let's go, Ace. The tea party will soon and with you we'll barely made it in time."
"Ok, lets go. Just follow me!" Ace eagerly hopped up and walked towards the door, not even glancing back at Julius before he stopped, looking up slightly, "hey, Julius, do you care about Jackie at all?"
"Why you ask that?" Julius looked at the insane knave.
"Hmm~ no reason. I was just thinking how fun it could be to kill the foreigner." He lightly smiled, seriously pondering the option. Killing her before she found the truth … or letting her live and fall into insanity like someone else. He couldn't decide which would be more merciful.
"Ace-!" Julius started in a biting and reprimanding tone before Ace let out a sigh, turning back with a very cheerful smile.
"Don't worry, I won't do it." Ace cheerfully smiled, deciding that watching the foreigner become more and more lost would be much more entertaining. "I just wanted to see your reaction." Ace tacked on, grinning like a little kid.
"Somehow I doubt that." Julius grumpily countered, glancing over Jackie in concern. After a brief moment of staring he left with Ace, deeply disturbed by the knight of heart's sudden turn of indecipherable maliciousness. Normally Ace became like this when it came to Alice and her game. However, his own visible instability could be connected with Jackie's sudden turn to such deep confusion about the game somehow. Regardless of whatever possessed Ace to say such things, or for whatever caused Jackie to suddenly start demanding for answers she should not know about, it was serious and others needed to know about this. Whatever was going on, the players of the game needed to quickly come to terms the cause of it to avoid losing another foreigner.
"What? Don't you trust me?" Ace asked as Julius went to unlock the front door. He paused, however, suddenly feeling quite faint and despite trying to ward off Nightmare's calling for him, he began to collapse. Ace's arms shot around the Clock Maker, barely holding him up as he began slumping to the side. "Ah~ Nightmare is calling. Seems serious … ," Ace trailed off, falling asleep as well, hugging Julius.
They suddenly awoke in the mists of the dream world. A paved road led them towards a floating door, which upon opening it, led to a rose garden where all holders were already seated. They took their places without a word and then when Nightmare greeted everyone the door opened once more to reveal Joker; both of them.
"Joker?" Vivaldi questioned in distaste.
"And a good evening to you all as well." White cheerfully smiled as Black sneered, both of them taking their seats amongst the other Role Holders.
"It seems this meeting is more serious than I thought." Blood smiled, both amused at seeing Joker here and uneasy. It appeared all the Role Holders in Heart and Clover country were called; that was not a very good sign by any means.
The roses around were in full bloom and the table full of desserts despite being a world Nightmare created to house all of the Role Holders. Everyone was rather quiet; even the bloody twins were not up to their usual tomfoolery. They could all sense the tension in the room and the reason why they were there; something was amiss in Wonderland. Something slow and insidious that was not part of the usual game was afoot. None of them knew what it was or how it was happening but they could sense it, hence the reason for this unscheduled and sudden meeting called by Nightmare.
They were all aware of the issue; rumors and various spies for everyone had already informed the Role Holders of the problems lurking within the newest foreigner, Jackie. The problem regarding her 'madness' at hand could represent the end of the game, Jackie's game, in a way that would be less than preferable for all the Role Holders, but there was something else. They could feel it but didn't know what it was, just that it was wrong in every way.
Blood questioned, seeming rather amused with the situation rather than horrified stak
rted things on. "So it seems that whatever is up is enough intersting to call everyone out. I wonder if the changes in Jackie's behavior are part of it."
"Yeah; so who here broke the rule of speaking about 'the game' to the unfortunate foreigner?" The Warden questioned with a twisted grin on his face, enjoying the glares of the Role Holders directed at him.
"It really doesn't matter now; the deed was done and it's doubtful whoever did tell her these things will speak up, Hatter," Gowland heavily sighed, surprisingly calm and collected as he worriedly frowned, "I'm just worried about my little worker."
"Yeah. It would suck if we lost her," Boris agreed, looking more glum than his usual goofy self. Maybe of them nodded, but Elliot looked rather confused.
"Jackie's strange behavior is only a precursor. You are all aware of the loss of a past foreigner, no?" White cheerfully smiled, seeing the other Role Holder's annoyance, "well, in relation to that … Jackie is beginning to show some alarming signs that could indeed lead Wonderland to losing another foreigner." White admitted with a smile that his smile was indeed troubled, "Wonderland cannot afford to lose another foreigner, as I am sure you are all aware."
"That wouldn't be a problem," Blood was already declared the winner of Alice's game so whatever happened to Jackie did not bother him; regardless, he was admittedly curious.
"It would be this time," Nightmare gave a pull to his pipe, visibly trying to remain calm and think of a solution.
"What change in behavior?" Elliot asked, looking between everyone, deeply disturbed. He knew that things were going wrong but he didn't realize Jackie herself was involved in all of this. All he had heard of so far were rumors; just as many others in the meeting had known.
"You haven't heard?" Boris lightly laughed with a strained grin, his ears lowered and tail twisting in worry, "Someone's been telling her about Wonderland. The kind of stuff a player shouldn't know and stuff even we players don't know about." He answered, feeling a pit of worry deep in his gut. Jackie was indeed acted very strange lately; she wouldn't have otherwise tried to dislocate his tail if it was anything but something she desperately wanted to know. "It all started after that night when I smelled that strange scent in her room about a dozen or so Time Changes ago." Boris noted, frowning deeply, "it wasn't the scent of a faceless or a Role Holder. At least not a known one; I have no idea what it was."
"And she is suspecting stuff, chu … she tried to grab me and asked what other ways to finish the game were," the mouse meekly tacked on.
"It appears that someone's been telling the young lady about the truth of the game," White smiled rather tenderly, "it seems that she now knows that she can go away at any moment."
"It seems that someone has a loose tongue. Any idea who that could be, Mary? You are her employer, after all." Blood noted with a smirk, seeing Mary's face twist in anger but held himself back somehow. Blood of course didn't care much for Jackie's fate; he already had Alice even if they didn't know it. However, this problem also caused more questions for himself. If Alice already had his conector, then why hadn't Jackie's game started? The Role Holders could sense it before but the sensation was becoming stronger; Jackie's game as indeed not started even though Alice's game had ended. So the question remained, who's game was it? And who would be disclosing such heavy information to the young engineer? He'd have to take care of this to prevent Alice from finding out. Even if she had decided to stay with him, such information could prove troublesome if she too learned how to leave Wonderland when she wanted to.
"I ain't the one telling' her. I … think she's getting it from someone else." Mary said, more troubled about his precious engineer than Blood's words. "Not a Role Holder and not a faceless. But then who would it be?" He asked, looking to Boris as he shrugged.
"There is another possibility." Nightmare chimed in, remembering the conversation with her, "she mentioned another foreigner telling her, someone different than Alice."
"That's impossible. The last foreigner is lost, dead." The warden stated, not bothering to scowl at the incubus.
Vivaldi sat quiet before all the men, clenching her teeth before standing up and smacking her scepter against the table for their attention on her. "Keep quiet and let the sick insect speak!"
Everyone stared at her before Nightmare coughed offhandedly, regaining their attention.
"I doubt that possibility. Two foreigners at the same time is already extremely rare. There would have been generations before another game. But 3 foreigners at the same time and in the same country? I also tried looking for the person she described; I found nothing, no dreams and no thoughts. Which leads me to believe that she is imagining it," Nightmare honestly observed with an uneasy grimace, "but what's really troubling is that she really believes it."
"Hey, what about what I smelled in her room?" Boris questioned, frowning deeply as he went ignored. Boris scowled. He knew he smelled something in Jackie's room that time and he remembered it well. Someone else was there and must have been feeding that information to Jackie. Nightmare casted Boris a glance, hearing his determined thoughts, but otherwise ignored the feline. If there was a person telling Jackie these things then he would have detected her by now.
"So she really is going crazy?" Ace added with a fun tone, "maybe she's getting the 'Madness'."
Everyone fell silent except for the murmurs towards one another. The madness of Wonderland was nothing to bring up lightly.
"If sis gets the madness we'll have to kill her, right?" Dum asked with unease.
"I don't want to kill sis. She's nice and gives us ice cream." Dee frowned as both twins nodded in agreement.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Gowland snapped. "Jackie is a very down to earth woman. How could she be getting the madness?" Gowland reasoned, not wanting to believe it. The madness was scary. Sometimes a foreigner's mind breaks down from the violence and occurrences of Wonderland, and then the foreigner becomes even more brutal and violent that wonderlanders … they would try to kill and destroy everyone and everything, and then they would have to be killed. But with the game going on, it meant that the Role Holders would have to kill someone they were forced to love.
"It's still just a possibility. Maybe she is just tired," Gray reasoned, "but keep in mind that sometimes this world does get to foreigners, and if that happens … there is no choice. It's for their and Wonderland's best interest. "
"Yes, to put them down like rabid dogs." Julius sarcastically scowled, not liking it but knowing it was a necessity if it came to that. "You speak as if she is disposable to Wonderland. There's still plenty of time to rid her of the madness and get her back on track with the game."
"So let us kill the germ before she infects my dear Alice or before any of you get so far in her game that you can't do it." Peter stated with a huff.
"I won't let it happen." Gowland said, absolutely firm.
"There's no guarantee that she has it." Elliot butted in.
Julius crossed his arms, "it could be that she is just starting to get it. I saw her ranting to the air about the craziness from this world."
"She doesn't." Boris interjected with a growl again, and again he was ignored, "what if there's really another foreigner? I know I smelled something." He hissed, grasping at straws. He was beginning to doubt himself but he had to hold on to what he smelled and trust his nose. Someone strange was in Jackie's apartment and he knew it.
"How in the hell could there be another foreigner and we not know about it?" Peter snapped impatiently.
"I don't think there is. We would know it. We would have felt it the moment a foreigner entered wonderland and we would feel the game going on." Nightmare said, "but now that it's Jackie's game … why hasn't her 'game' started already?" He asked aloud and more to himself.
The Jester blinked; there was another possibility. There had been another foreigner but she was dead … or lost, and lost didn't necessarily mean dead. He looked at Nightmare, waiting for the incubus to pick it up and saw him turn his way, looking to Joker in confusion.
"There was another after Alice and before Jackie?" Nightmare asked in accordance to Joker's thoughts just before the incubus sucked in a fast breath, sensing a strange presence. He whipped around, making the environment suddenly vanish into a pristine white sheet that nothing could hide in.
Without warning a swirl of shadows and darkness enveloped the room as everyone looked up, seeing the large Jabberwocky form within Nightmare's dream realm before it sucked in a deep breath. Before it could let out a dream shattering roar, Nightmare broke the connection between all the Role Holders and the dream, allowing them to escape with exception to Joker before the piercing screech nearly shattered the entire dream. Nightmare held up, however, glaring at the Jabberwocky.
"Oh dear, the Jabberwocky? This could get messy," the Jester noted, hiding behind Nightmare while the Warden stared the the Jabberwocky in annoyance.
"It's fake, dumba**. That's not real." The Warden huffed, "Nightmare, get rid of it."
"You act as if it could overpower me here in the dreamworld," Nightmare snapped at Joker, sensing this was not the actual Jabberwocky himself. The incubus pulled off his eyepatch, glaring up at the creature with both eyes and pushed back against the force, beginning to dispel the illusion; except there was no illusion to dispel.
The creature flapped its wings back and reformed into a formless mass of shadows and blinking lines and dots of light that shrunk into a vaguely humanoid form that seems to be wearing slick armor of some kind. It then created a couple blades that protrude from along its forearms and forward and some kind of baton that sparked electricity in it's hand. Immediately it charged at Nightmare. Hitting with the batton not at nightmare, but in front and then emitting a huge burst of light while using the maneuver to keep on running away, jumping forward and changing form again into some quadruped predatory feline, sleek and impossibly fast.
Nightmare recovered from the surprise attack and his eye focused on the scaping figure and transported himself in front of it, stopping it short in its tracks. It once more adopted a humanoid form btu Nightmare quickly hold it steady despite its attempts to break free. The incubus stared long and hard at the human-like form. "What are you?" Nightmare questioned, narrowing its eyes before the form vanished, escaping from his grasp through the break of reality. Something, or someone had pulled it away from the dream realm.
"Ooh~ looks like it escaped." White playfully noted, unable to contain his excitement as the incubus coughed up some blood, wiping it off with his handkerchief before turning back to Joker.
"You know what is doing all of this?" Nightmare asked, puzzled as he tried to delve further into Joker's mind to see what it was but in his weakened state, Joker managed to deflect him.
"Perhaps now I do. We'll just have to find out." Joker smiled rather cheerfully before a door appeared. "If you'd excuse us, we'll see ourselves out." They both grinned quite maliciously before shutting the door, walking into the Jail through the mirror they used to enter Nightmare's realm on their own. Both of Joker's counterparts began to deeply laugh, grasping at themselves and trembling in excitement as their crimson eyes glowed, hardly able to contain themselves.
"ThE gAmE hAs JuSt BeCoMe MuCh MoRe InTeReStInG."
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Just barely, Jackie heard a voice calling her. She let out a slight groan, trying to go towards it. Who was calling for her? Nightmare again? That couldn't be right; he usually woke her up in a dreamworld. She groggily came to, seeing a much more plain dream world but just barely.
"Ah~ it seems our powers are just barely powerful enough to call people to us. And that's only if we call them." White smiled as Jackie felt an arm hold her back.
"Hey, s***head, get yourself together. We need you to come to the circus right away" Black demanded as she felt something poking her forehead.
"Joker?" She asked, rubbing her eyes and gradually becoming more and more aware within Joker's smaller dreamworld, "what are you doing here? You … don't usually do this." Jackie noted, wondering why Joker came into her dream to talk to her. She opened her eyes, looking up and seeing both Jokers in front of her.
"Who else, dimwit?" Black poked her forehead again. "Just be a good girl and do as we say. Move your a** and come see us."
" … you do know you can't capture me, right? Not my game." Jackie said, puzzled. She's heard horror stories from Alice about Joker but she personally liked them. The jail and Circus had cells and rides that she could fix and they paid her sometimes to come and fix things in particular. "Oh, wait, do you need me to fix something?" She asked.
"We don't care about you, f***head," Black growled, getting impatient.
"Yes, there is something broken around," White smiled, "and we need you immediately." He then seemed to recall something, "and you should be careful with the questions you ask around"
" … instead of money this time around, could you explain some things to me instead?" Jackie asked with a frown, "everyone else keeps giving me the run around and it's annoying." She said, looking a little more hopeful. Maybe Joker, who runs a little outside of 'the game', could answer her.
"But it's not your game, so we can't mess with you, can we?" White remained smiling.
"But since it's not my game yet you can tell me the truth, right?" She questioned, pressing on.
"Unless my duties prevent me from doing so," White seemed to get impatient too.
"You swear?" Jackie asked, her eyes shining.
"Just f***ing come already!" Black snapped.
"See you soon Jackie." White snapped his fingers and Jackie found herself waking up.
Jackie awoke with a sudden gasp, startled as she sat up on Julius's couch. Ah, right, she fell asleep here. Her sore neck ached as she wrung her neck, remembering Ace strangling her before she passed out again. He mentioned something about the questions too and asking around. Jeez … Ace could really be creepy when he wants to be. Terrifying even. She shook her head and hopped up, slipping on her shoes before heading towards the Circus. Joker was probably right; she should be more careful about who she asks these questions too. But if she didn't ask, then how was she supposed to get answers from any of them?
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Jackie trotted into the Circus, looking around for Joker in high hopes of getting some answers. Although she doubted that he would give her any good answers, she was still hopeful that he would tell her more than anyone else was willing to say.
Finally approaching the center of the Circus she found that both Jokers were already waiting for her at the entrance of their territory. She was surprised to see both Jokers waiting for her in the Circus considering Black hated loud noises and fun. This was clearly urgent.
"You're slow," Black scowled.
"But at least you arrived." White interjected and gave her a small sealed envelop. "Now this is very important. We need you to deliver this."
"Deliver it to who?" She asked, taking the envelope from him, "I'm not exactly a carrier pigeon." Jackie said, disappointed there wasn't a ride to fix.
"It's of utter importance. And you should deliver it fast." White's smile beamed with urgency.
"Well, alright that's fine. But to who?" Jackie asked, looking at the completely blank envelope.
Joker smirked. Black pulled her close and whispered in her ear as she listened, her eyes widening slightly.
"You know her?" Jackie asked, surprised.
"Remember when I told you that I had a friend once?" White's smile turned slightly scary. "Go and give her that letter, Jackie."
"Well, yeah that's fine but I have no idea where to find her. She just pops into existence whenever she feels like it." The young engineer answered with a frown but, seeing his excitement, didn't have the heart to tell him no, "the next time she poofs into thin air I'll go ahead and give it to her." Jackie said, relieved that someone else believed her at least.
Black grabbed her shoulders and forced her to turn around before pushing her forward. "Then go away already and find that idiotic mercenary! Or let yourself be find by her, I don't care, just give her that letter, d***it."
"Mercenary?!" Jackie shouted, startled, "b-but, but she's a foreigner, isn't she?" Jackie asked, startled.
"So? She has any talents, you could say," White's smile was a bit tense. "Now go." He waved her off.
"But wait, what about my questions?" Jackie asked, disheartened. Of course she wasn't going to get any answers that easy was she?
"MUST I KICK YOUR A**!?" Black took out his whip. "GET THE F*** GOING, NOW!" He shouted, startling
"Whoa!" Jackie shouted, startled as she backed away, "alright, alright fine! Good luck finding some other engineer to fix your stupid Jail and Circus!" Jackie snapped at them, quickly trotting off with an uneasy just feeling. She had never seen Joker so … uh, eager? desperate? She couldn't really put a word to it. She frowned more deeply, glaring off to the side. Well, since it was clear no one was going to answer all these questions she had, she might as well go back home and read some of the notes she found.
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Meanwhile Julius was going to check on Jackie and found that she had left at some point. Which was perfectly fine; but that wasn't all that was gone. Sensing something wrong, he went to the heart of the Clock Tower and found that something else wasn't there. A relic; it simply had disappeared, and although he didn't wanted to think bad about Jackie, no one else could have been there without him noticing. He deeply frowned, shaking his head. It would have been impossible for Jackie to find it, let alone figure out how to take it.
Ace, on the other hand, was not as trusting. His expression was entirely neutral before he turned and left, ignoring Julius trying to stop him before Ace hopped out into the streets. Julius chased him down part of the way, quickly realizing that Ace wasn't listening to him at all. Desperate and worried about what he would do, Julius rushed off to the Amusement Park to find Gowland.
From the dark window of one of the adjacent buildings, Aria was looking towards the Clock tower. She had her digital binoculars in her hand and was looking at Julius look around up and down. "Looks like he found out." In her other hand she was playing with a pocket watch of exquisite manufacture.
"It seems so, master." A little feline creature made out of shadows and technology spoke without opening it's mouth besides the mercenary woman, looking out the window and watched the clock maker running towards the Amusement Park.
"Not that it matters. But it's a bit surprising how fast they would blame Jackie for it … or for everything." Aria move away from the window and chuckled, "it will be fun to see their reactions once she'd done and they learn she was innocent from all they blamed her for." She placed the pocket watch inside the creature's body easily trespassing the shadows. "Or perhaps she will go crazy first and they really will kill her. That would be entertaining as well."
"Either way the data will be valuable," the creature stretched, "what's next in your plans?"
"Just causing a bit more havoc in all territories, steal more relics, bring up general mayhem among the faceless, give Jackeline some more maddening revelation, and have some ice cream." She turned around and began heading for the door, stopping for a second as the creature melted into her shadow as darkness crawled upwards and added volume to her armor. "Maybe I should get the ice cream first."
"Perhaps rather than ice cream, a more substantial and nutritious meal would be advisable." The creature moved on the floor between her legs, but rather than moving around them, it dissolved as it passed through them.
"Also letting Jackie hear all I have recorded from the holders talking about her too. It amazes me how little they truly think of a foreigner." The merc grinned maliciously.
"That is foolish, but the foreigner normally brought to this world are not much to think off it seems" The critter agreed.
Aria was quite bothered. The holders didn't deserve any consideration, but Jackie wasn't smart enough either. An engineer that didn't think outside of the box wasn't of much value. She was more useful as a test subject foreigner or as a tool to mess with the Role Holders. After all, she wanted to see how far she could push Jackie until her mind clicked by itself and she began using her brain to get away from the traps of this world and of the game. She also wanted to observe the tactics the holders were willing to use. Oh, this was going to be interesting. "Why don't I make Jacqueline remember more of whatever happened to her before she was brought here? Maybe a little visit to the castle will help her." A few mad chuckled were heard "Will the queen take her head right away?"
"Would you like to wager on that?" The creature dissolved into the shadow below her feet as her armor got thicker.
"Perhaps the push she needs is to be exposed to her deepest nightmares. I hardly survived that. Will she succumb to those too?" Aria moved her messy hair back "Rather the question is 'how will she succumb'. Let's find out."
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5 REVIEWS for the next chapter! :D
And here I shamelessly promote our newest collaboration, 'CNKNA - Who is this Naked Man next to Me?' the newest series matching up Jackie with a faceless. The story is a shoot off from this one :3 enjoy!
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Chaos-dark-lord: Hello everyone! We finally came back to this story, and now that Joker knows, things will take a wild round. So stand up for what's to come.
About the new story, don't worry, it's an independent one.