HITOBASHIRA ALICE

The portal closed up behind her. Freya stopped. Wait. What about that girl? She had noticed Freya. Freya decided to think on that. But for now, what she really needed to know was where the hell she was. Freya surveyed the land; there were trees and plants and an odd blood colored path.

"Hm." Freya muttered. The trees were creepy and twisted looking; they gave the forest a foreboding look. Suddenly a shadow passed behind her. Freya whirled around, her skirt flying with her.

"Who's there?" Freya had thought this rather creepy world would be boring, but it was proving itself otherwise. A young man with blue hair peered down at her. Freya gave him a sideways look.

" Who are you?" she slowly asked.

" I'm the second Alice, but some know me better as Kaito. Who are you?" he answered/asked. Weirdo, though Freya.

" And what are those weird ear things?"

"Oh. Right. You don't have those in this world, do you…?"

"This world?" Kaito interrupted.

"Ehhh… Nothing. Anyways, these are electronic ports. Don't think about it too hard. So what is this place? Oh, right, and my name is Freya." Freya breathed. She didn't like to talk for too long.

" Okay, Freya… This is Wonderland." Suddenly the blue boy began to sing with his eyes closed, peeking at her every once in while as if expecting something to happen.

" Er. Pretty?" Freya looked confused, but so did the boy. "Why aren't you doing my bid?"

"Huh? OH!!!" Freya began to laugh. "I'm a CHOBIT, stupid… I don't respond to mind control."

"Oh…" Suddenly the boy's eyes took a dazed look, and he said. "What am I doing over here?"

"Huh?(why was this becoming a habit?)" Freya stared as the dazed boy took no notice of her and walked away humming to himself. Freya decided to follow him and try for further contact.

"Hey!"

"Heeellloooo."

"Can you even hear me?"

"HELLO!!!"

Freya eventually stopped trying and just followed him. Soon, the two came to a village valley thing where Kaito began singing in earnest to the people there.

Their faces took on a dazed look, and after a bit they began running around as if crazy. So this was what the blue boy meant. Suddenly, one of the people shot him in the head. Freya looked away and shivered. While she sickeningly glanced away, she noticed a green castle in the distance, and decided to head in that direction; perhaps there was someone there who could help her with her predicament. After a long while of walking,

Freya realized someone was creeping behind her. She looked over her shoulder. Twins, a boy and a girl with blond hair were behind her.

"Do you think this is the way?" the girl questioned. "Yeah, don't worry about it Rin." The boy looked uncertain though.

"Ugh. Forget it. Seriously though, I think we got turned around, and to be honest, your sense of direction isn't that good, Len."

"SHUT UP LEN!!!"

"Whatever, Rin…"

Freya giggled; classic sibling arguments were always funny. As they walked, the Len kid looked to get more and more unsure of his where they were going, and began to glance around anxiously. Rin, however, looked quite at peace, in fact, she was whistling and looking around. Freya got bored with this silence quickly, though, and started to look around herself.

The weird trees just got creepier and creepier by the minute. Eventually, the trio came to a red cage by the side of the road. Its lock was broken, and when Freya peered in cautiously, she noticed nothing(or no one) was inside. As the three investigated the mysterious cage, the leaves rustled behind them. The twins noticed nothing, and kept exploring, but Freya, slightly annoyed people kept coming up behind her(had they no courtesy?), turned around to face whatever was there.

Then her teeth chattered. There was a woman who looked near to 18 wearing a red dress and holding a bloody longsword in her right hand. She had an insane look on her face, and was holding an invitation similar to the one the twins had gotten. Freya tried desperately to warn the innocent twins, but the red woman slowly snuck up behind them, wielding her sword with murderous intent. Freya hit, yelled, and kicked her, but as before, she kept going, unaffected. Freya fell to the ground helplessly and watched in horror as the red women slashed and chopped up the children. Suddenly, something unexpected happened: The twins' spirits rose out of their bodies. Freya, eyes wide, gasped loudly. The children's' mangled bodies lay there, but there the essence of them was. How was that even possible? Freya watched as the spirits started to slowly walk again. A whooshing noise sounded behind her, and Freya glanced over her shoulder.

Another portal. Picking herself up, Freya started to walk towards it. Then she stopped and looked back. The red woman was back in her cage somehow, the twins bodies still bloodily lying there. Freya made a disgusted noise, and walked into the portal. Where would she end up next?