Black Kitten Chara: Here is chapter 19 of "Lucy in Wonderland"! This chapter revolve around Simon in the Kingdom of Spades, so enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollow Fields or American McGee's Alice!
Darkness and gun shots. That is all Simon saw and heard when he was stuck into Wonderland by himself. He remembered falling and hitting his back on something hard, then the gun shots filled with ears as he felt dizzy and blood filling his mouth. The gun shots were close, so close that Simon thought he felt a bullt graze over his shirt as he began to feel numb from falling down thousands of feet and landing on a hard surface.
After a moment, Simon woke up in a decent-sized makeshift cave. The cave was constructed out of wood and metal, with different covers on top to keep anything out of the cave. Simon was laying on a dirty mattress and his eyes scanned the room, seeing that there was a lamp, some covers and pillows, a small stove with two pans on it, a full-sized mirror and a collection of books near the bed. But what caught his attention was the collection of weapons in a trapdoor that was opened.
Simon blinked a few times as he got up from the bed and went over to the hidden trapdoor to look at each weapon; there was a Colt M4A1 Carbine, a Remington 870, a broadsword, microbombs, knives, a Heckler & Koch UMP45, grenades, tomahawks, a Daewoo K3, two guns that looked like Glock 17, two M1911A1 Pistols, katanas, a .303 British Lewis Gun, and makeshift Molotov cocktails.
The blonde teenager was in awe at the collection of weapons, wondering who had these dangerous tools in a makeshift cave like this. Not only was he a huge fan of anime and manga, but he loved weapons like these because his father and older brothers were huge hunters.
He smiled as he turned his head to the sides, looking to see if anyone was even living in here. But his eyes were caught by his reflection in the mirror, which was broken in some places. simon saw that he was now wearing an army green jacket with decorative badges and zipper details. On the front of the jacket, there was a wide grey zipper and the collar of the jacket was popped up. Under the jacket, he wore a plain white t-shirt. Along with the outfit, he wore black jeans with matching black, knee-high combat boots and matching black fingerless gloves. His pants had zipper details on the sides, with three zippers on each thigh. He wore a pair of white goggles with orange lenses around his neck.
He smiled at his reflection before returning his attention to the weapons, grabbing the two Glock 17 guns and held them carefully in his hands. But he didn't have time to fully inspect the weapons as he heard a CLICK! of a gun behind him.
The blonde turned around, dropping the guns and thankfully that they were not loaded, as he saw the end of a Flintlock Pistol in front of his face. He gulped nervously as he raised his hands in surrdener and said, "Don't hurt me! I was just looking!"
But it was too late. A bullet whizzed pass Simon's ear, but the blonde thought it hit him until he heard the scream of a dying animal. He turned to see a monster fall on the ground as blood gushed out of its chest, but he couldn't see it well due to the lack of light in both this new world and in the makeshift cave.
He turned back to the Flintlock Pistol, but he saw that it was now at the side of a girl as the girl said, "That was close. I didn't bring you all the way into my home just for you to get killed by a Devil O'Whine."
The girl was no more than fourteen or fifteen. She had flawless pale skin, blue-green eyes, and white-blonde hair. Her hair was long and wavy, which were placed into girlish pigtails. She was short and has a slender built along with pouty lips and large, vulnerable eyes that make her look younger. She had a distinctive nose feature, with her nose being long and slender with a soft tip. She had a strawbery lollipop in her mouth. Her outfit looked like a Japanese school girl (sailor fuku). Her outfit featured a midriff-bearing top with nautical collar and flap, and a miniskirt with a large slit. She wore a black headband with thigh-high, black stockings and white, Mary Jane heels with black heels. It was navy blue, covered in sparkles and rhinestones.
Simon was in shock by this sweet-looking girl holding a gun like a Flintlock Pistol, but the girl snapped him out of it by snapping her fingers in front of his face. She smiled when he was snapped out of his trance and said, "My name is Dollie. What is your name?"
"Um, Simon." The blonde teenager said.
Dollie snapped her navy-painted nails as she said, "Dang it. For a moment, I thought you were the supposely dead prince of this land, Troy. But of course, Troy had red hair and golden eyes and you obivously don't."
Simon laughed lightly as Dollie picked up the two Glock 17 guns form the floor and handed them back to Simon. She smirked, with a hand on her hip, and said "You will need this to survive the Kingdom of Spades."
Simon nodded his head numbly as Dollie sat on the bed, smiling as she said "You must be wondering what happened, right?"
"Yeah." The blonde said right away, not remembering how he got into this makeshift cave.
Dollie smiled as she crossed her legs like a lady, placing her Flintlock Pistol to the side like a lady should. She gave a warm smile and said, "I found you when you fell fom the sky. A bunch of Devil O'Whines were around you, but I killed them before they got to you. Then I dragged you back here, to my home, and I have been keeping a watch out for a safe getaway."
"A safe getaway?"
"Yeah. you are going to help me invade the castle and stop Him." Dollie said.
"Who?" Simon asked.
"Him. He is a disgusting monster who took over after the Queen of Spades was excuted when Troy died. She had four kids, three sons and one daughter, but the daughter and other son went missing after Troy died and before their mother was excuted. So, as the only heir left, Him took over and it was been Hell since." Dollie explained.
Simon nodded his head like he understood as Dollie got up, grabbed her gun, and grabbed something from the side of the bed. It was a skateboard with red wheels and a green deck that had a picture of a skull at the jaw.
Simon looked at awe of the skateboard as Dollie handed it to him and said, "You will need this. I know the path, so use this to keep up with me."
"Keep up with you?" Simon asked in confusion.
~0~
Within a minute seconds after leaving the makeshift cave, Simon understood real quick why he needed a skateboard to keep up with Dollie into the war-like kingdom he was in, completed with a dark grey sky, murky rivers, trenches, and bodies stacked up on other another.
He was riding the skateboard, which Dollie called Marvick, as he was holding a rope that was tied around Dollie's petite waist. And as he rode along the piles of ruined buildings, Dollie was running at high speed even though she was in high heels and was shooting at Devil O'Whines with perfect aim.
Since he was in the light, Simon could see the Devil O'Whines better now and he was not happy with the sight he saw.
They are long, lean, black creatures that was banded with champagne red and crimson red. They had six legs, with each paw having three toe and an opposite thumb. Their hairless skins appeared burnished and their low-slung heads had chitinois armor around the neck, which turned to amphipod plating on the back of their necks and spines. They had distensible, snakelike jaws with obsidian black teeth and a paddle-like tail that had a triangular point. Thei heads were rounds with curved horns over their pure white eyes, and they had long and huge noses.
Dollie shot with increible aim as Simon got a shot in every once and while, since he was too busy holding the rope to wory about shooting.
After getting through an attack with one group of Devil O'Whines, Dollie stopped as Simon stopped the skateboard and said, "Wow, that was hard..."
For that comment, he felt the Flintlock Pistol hit his head with great force and he fell to the ground in pain. He rubbed his head as he looked up to see Dollie holding her gun in her hand and she had an annoyed look on her face that was directed to Simon. She gritted her teeth and snapped, "You idiot! You haven't killed one Devil O'Whine yet! I have been doing all of the work!"
Simon grimaced as he thought about how much this girl reminded him of Carmen, whether he liked it or not. Not that he hated Carmen, it was just that he somehow got on her nerves and she got on his nerves. But this girl reminded him of Carmen's stubborness, her pride, her strength in a fight, and her habit of hitting Simon over the head when he says or does something stupid.
But his mind wandered off as he watched Dollie sat down on a pile of rubble. She looked so much like Francine with her youthful appearance and pigtails, so it wasn't hard for Simon to think about his best friend. Dollie shared so many traits with Francine; the brains, her loving and caring nature, the innocence she has in her when she wasn't in battle, and the amazing laugh that sent chills up Simon's spine. He could also see the beautiful nature between Dollie and Francine as they both had a hopeful spark in their eyes.
After thinking over the traits Francine and Dollie shared, Simon stopped his train of thoughts as a deep blush came across his face.
"I can't actually be in... Francine is my best friend. I have known her since we were in sixth grade! I woud have known if I liked her by now, right?" Simon thought as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. But then he felt his heart grow with fondness as he smiled softly at the thought of being with Francine. "Maybe being in love with her isn't so bad."
He thought about how wonderful Francine was, but then his mind wandered to his two other friends. "As much as I hate to say this, I miss Claude and Carmen as much as I love Francine."
But before he could go deeper into thought, Simon heard a gun shot go off as he looked up to see Dollie shooting at more Devil O'Whines. Simon got up and began shooting at them, surprising himself by his great aim as he killed off about three in a row.
"All right, Simon!" Dollie yelled as she began running again.
Simon jumped back on the skateboard and grabbed on to the rope as Dollie carried him away, but he kept his perfect aim as he killed off more upcoming Devil O'Whines.
~0~
After a while and a few more dead Devil O'Whines, the two came upon a castle in ruins. There was basically four walls still, but there was no roof and there was a large hole on the front of the castle. The towers were torn down and the moat was dried up to the point where Simon could see the dead fish. It looked like the castle had been through many wars without repairs in the last hundreds of years. There was dried-up corpses in the moat with bones pilling up.
And the first thing Simon did when they stopped was vomit. The smell of the dead bodies was so bad that the blonde had to go behind the bushes and throw up. But after he was done, he began to get used to the smell real quick. He wiped the vomit off with the sleeve of his jacket and went back over to Dollie, who was looking around. "He lives here, but..." She trailed off and Simon looked at her with confused eyes.
She pointed to something far away in curiousity, but Simon noticed it quickly. It was a door with flames behind the window and the top of the door bearing the name SNOW. The window had metal bars and the bronze doorknob had a green glowing Loki symbol that even Simon could see from afar.
He looked at Dollie and said, "Wait here" as he walked up to the door and opened it, walking into the flames with no fear.
[MEMORY DOOR]
Simon opened his eyes to find himself feeling like he was twelve again. He was much shorter at that age, even though he still towered over his classmates. But how he knew he was twelve or so was the fact he was in a crowd of adults that he was shorter than and he saw a house burning.
Now he remembered. Him and Claude stayed behind to ask police questions about what happened, but Simon wandered into the crowd.
The blonde started to go foward, wanting to see Lucy as something crunched under his foot. Simon looked down to see a piece of paper in the snow, so he went down and picked it up as he unfolded it.
Dear Lucy
I am sorry for telling you my darkest secret; how I am being stalked by that Dales character. I regret telling you because I don't want you to worry about me or protect me. I know you have been insulting Dales and attacking him. I don't want you to be harmed by this character, knowing that he is unstable. I don't know why he assumes I am teasing him when really, I find all of Father's undergraduates are toadies or weaklings as they grovel to another man, even if that man is our wonderful father.
Lucy, I love you more than anything and all I want for you is to grow up happy and find a wonderful man to love you. But knowing you, how stubborn and hot-headed you can be, you will find a way to make things hard on yourself. But I mean that with love as you are the most beautiful little sister anyone can ask for. You are beautiful not only looks (us Snow girls have wonderful genes) but in personality; you're innocent, kind, funny, intelligent, stubborn, strong-willed, and so much more that I cannot put into words.
I know I haven't been an angel, like you; losing my purity at fourteen, sneaking out at night, drinking and smoking, and hanging around kids who were not a good influence on me. But I changed and I don't want you to be like me at that age. The only reason I acted like that because Mum and Dad were not paying attention to me and instead worrying about you going to that school, but at fourteen years old I didn't know how scared they were when they thought you were dead or missing or kidnapped. I want you to be a happy, young teenager who is pure and innocent like you are now.
Love,
Phoebe
Simon felt his heart stop as he realize this could be the final letter from Phoebe, Lucy's dead sister. But what disturbed him even more that when he looked back down, he saw the open copy of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", where the note was placed in.
[MEMORY DOOR]
Simon left the Memory Door as he thought of one thing and one thing only; He should have shown Lucy the letter from Phoebe. That was her sister after all, but then Simon remembered only days before the fire, Lucy said something about her sister being stuck-up and a tattle-tale because Lucy had Claude over so they could do some homework. But now Simon realized that Phoebe was only acting that way in Lucy's eyes because Phoebe cared for.
But he didn't have time to think as he heard Dollie shooting at something. He pulled at his pistols, but the shooting stopped as soon as it started.
Simon walked back over to Dollie as something rummbled into the bushes, both of them having their weapons ready to fight. They were both tense as two figures appeared from the bushes, but Dollie already cocked her gun's barrel as she was to kill them even though one was human.
The human was a boy around 17 or 18, so Simon dropped his weapons as he realized that he didn't want to harm someone close to his age. The boy was tall and lanky, but he didn't have the muscle definition Simon had. He had a gaunt face with his chin being covered in a thin layer of a brown goatee. He was pale-skinned with dark brown hair that was messed up and gloomy brown eyes that had dark rings under them. He wore a white button-down shirt with brown pants that had a hole in the right knee, suspenders with the one on his right shoulder hanging down a little, and black dress shoes taht were covered in mud.
The other figure was a huge Devil O'Whine. Simon held up his guns again, preparing to fire at the Devil O'Whine instead of the boy. Dollie must have been thinking the same thing because she was ready to fire as well.
But then, the strangest thing happened that even Simon, who has been in Wonderful for the past few days, was confuse.
The boy jumped in front of the Devil O'Whine and looked panicky. He waved his hands at the two but didn't say anything. Simon and Dollie dropped their weapons, as the boy pointed at the Devil O'Whine and began gesturing to the creature as Simon saw Dollie's face soften.
"Oh... So, what you are saying is that this Devil O'Whine is a tamed one? That's rare." Dollie said. The boy nodded his head rapidly as the Devil O'Whine walked towards the two teenagers that were planning to kill it.
The monster smiled and did the second most surprising thing: "Hello, there. My name is Spirit and the boy over here is Frank. We are very pleased to meet you." The talking monster bowed as Dollie and Simon stood there in shock.
Spirit laughed as he said, "Why so surprised? This is Wonderland, after all."
Dollie was still in shock as Simon regained his cool, something he learned when being turned down by girls constantly, as he kept a straight face and said "So, why are you talking and Frank isn't?"
Spirit laughed again as he gave a toothy grin at the blonde teenager. "Well, I found Frank a while back after the Queen was excuted. He could not speak at all, poor thing. Me, being one of the more refined creature of my kind instead of a mindless killer, decided to take him in. It was then we established a mental connection where whatever he needs to say, I translate for him. Of course the girl over there..." Spirit jerked his head at Dollie, "seems to know sign language."
Dollie regained her posture and cool as she smiled at Spirit and Frank, Her eyes were shining in a way that Simon have not seen since he had met her, but he assume that it was something good. She bounced on her heels as she grined widely and petted Spirit, which the Devil O'Whine didn't take so lightly as he tried to bite her hand off. But Dollie was still smiling and even giggled a little.
"This is great! We can all team up and fight Him! He can't possible go against a weapon expert like me, a strange forgeiner like Simon, and a Devil O'Whine that has a physic connection with a human who can led him! This is awesome!" Dollie said with excitement.
Simon at first thought that Spirit or Frank was going to back out, but then the third oddest thing happened within the last few minutes; both of them nodded their heads in agreement as Dollie squealed happily. She grabbed Simon's wrist as she led him to the castle with Spirit and Frank behind them.
~0~
The four entered the castle to find themselves in the main room with someone waiting for them on the other side of the room.
There, sitting on a destroyed stone throne with bones and trash around the bottom, was a small and chubby boy around ten years old at least. The boy had pale skin, with wavy white-blonde hair and brown eyes with dark circles under them. He had pouty lips for a boy, with his brown eyes large and vulnerable-looking. He had a distinctive nose feature like Dollie, with his nose being long and slender with a soft tip. He wore a black t-shirt with baggy black jeans, black boots, and silver bracelets on his wrists.
And in front of the throne, knocked out, was Lucy. Her red hair was piled into high bun on her head, adorned with a set of black goggles on her head. She wore a leotard-inspired, black bodysuit with a plunging neckline and a zip front closure, faux leather brown glovelettes with long fringe detail, black belts hanging off her hips, a choker spiked choker on her neck, knee-high black combat boots, fishnet stockings, and a faux leather black mini-skirt.
"LUCY!" Simon screamed, but Dollie kept him back as the boy's eyes found them in the darkly-lit castle.
"Hello, there..." The boy said, speaking in a voice meant for a thirty-year-old. He chuckled for a moment at Simon's outburst, kicking Lucy's head slightly as a small trickle of blood came down. Then he looked back at the three teens and devil O'Whine at the enterance.
"Who are you?" Dollie asked in fear as she held up her gun.
The boy chuckled as he looked at the four. He pointed at Dollie then at Frank, but his eyes wandered to Simon but he didn't point at the blonde teenager. He smirked as he leaned his head on one hand and said, "You two are my siblings. That one.." He pointed at Simon, "looks like our brother who died."
"What...?" Dollie asked, fearing rattling her voice.
The boy snickered as he continued. "Prince Troy was our brother and you are my siblings. I am the Him you feared so much, or Herrick as you used to know me. During a battle that broke out when our mother was excuted, you two lost your memories and wandered off, leaving me to rule this kingdom. You two were suppsoed to rule with me but instead you fight against me."
Simon looked over at Dollie and saw she was listening with interest. But then, her face twisted in anger and she screamed on the top of her lungs, "NO! YOU'RE WRONG! I WOULD NEVER BE A PART OF THIS AWFUL REIGN! YOU'RE LYING!" Frank hid behind Spirit as Dollie screamed.
Herrick's face twisted in anger like Dollie's was, and Simon could see the family resemblance unfortunately. He pushed a button on his throne as huge tubes and a screen appeared behind the throne. The tubes connected to Herrick's back and the screen started to show charts of Herrick's body.
Soon, Herrick was lifted off his throne as his body twisted and turn in gruesome ways. Foam started to form in his mouth as fangs appeared in it and his eyes rolled behind his head as they were replaced with red eyes that had slits. His torso twisted as he began growing in both height and size. His skin pulled over his newly-formed muscles and his head puleld outward for his long neck to be form.
Simon stared in shock (along with Dollie, Frank, and Spirit) as Herrick became a hulking monster with long arms and legs, a long neck that had a monsterous face, his torso was muscular now with veins popping out, and only his jeans stayed on as his shirt was ripped into pieces.
Herrick growled loudly as he swung his arm and caught Simon right away. Dollie screamed as the blonde teenager was slammed into the wall of the castle and was thrown outside as the wall came down instantly like an explosion happened. Dollie began crying, but her and Spirit began fighting as Frank hid behind the front of the castle, out of sight of Herrick.
As the fight began, Simon laid there in pain as his hearing began to dull. He was pretty sure that he had broken something, and he felt like he couldn't breath form that impact. He closed his eyes, giving into whatever was coming upon him at the moment.
But then he remembered when he first met Lucy and the frighten look on her face when he was sent to the Windmill, when he saved her and Claude from the Windmill Children, when he regained his memories back in a clone of his body, and Lucy's last few days at Hollow Fields. He remembered Claude and Carmen, who were hard on him because they cared for him but not his stupidity. Then, his final memory, was of Francine smiling and laughing at one of his stupid jokes when no other girl did.
Simon snapped his eyes opened, suddenly feeling stronger, as he pulled himself up and coughed up blood, but he didn't care. He remembered how his friends were so strong and brave during fights, and for some odd reason, he felt like they were there with him.
He got up to see Herrick lifting Dollie up by the throat and Frank was shaking Spirit, who was breathing but knocked out. Spirit was in a gaint crater and he was bleeding a lot. Dollie was shaking and she had a huge cut down her thigh as she began coughing for air.
Simon suddenly felt strength and power overcoming him as he charged back into the castle. Instead of using his guns, he grabbed a sword that was hanging off the wall and began charging right at Herrick. He slashed at Herrick's hand, cutting them off as Dollie fell to the ground and backed away while getting the monsterous hands off of her neck.
Herrick growled at Simon as he grabbed the blonde's forearm with his free hand. Simon almost dropped the sword and screamed, smelling acid around him. He looked to see Herrick drooling on his hands, which the drool was acidic and began burning Simon's hand. The blonde kept tears from flowing, but one escaped.
But since Simon grabbed the sword with his other hand, he slashed at Herrick's face and the monster boy let the blonde go. Simon caught Herrick's eye, which caused the monster to scream.
While he was distracted, Simon took this chance and began slashing at Herrick's tubes and screen that was on his back. Each tube came off and acid poured on the ground, and the screen fell and stattered into a million pieces as Herrick slowly began turning back to his human form.
But he was still raging mad as he grabbed one of Simon's pistols, which fell when the blonde was charging at him, and shot Simon's thigh. The blonde dropped the sword as he grabbed his thigh, jumping up and down while yelling "Son of a bitch! You shot at my fucking leg!"
Herrick began chucking evilly at the sight, but Dollie ran at him and kicked him in the jaw, causing Herrick to drop the pistol. She sat on the boy's back as she wrapped her arms around his chest and began pulling his arms upwards, making the cruel ruler scream in pain. She smirked as Frank got Spirit to get up then they both came over there.
Spirit looked at Simon as he began licking the shot wound, but Simon let this one slide as he was in too much pain to care. Then the blonde pointed at Lucy, who was still knocked out, and Spirit nodded his head as he went over to the redhead and began licking her wounds and trying to get her up.
Dollie and Frank looked at Herrick for a moment as their memories began rushing back in; They were supposed to rule together after their brother died and their mother was excuted, but Frank was to be king as he was the oldest after Troy. Both of them looked at Herrick with disgust, then Frank looked at Simon.
Him and the blonde teeanger shared some kind of phsyic connection because Simon understood what the king wanted as he grabbed the sword off the ground and handed it to Frank. As he saw his older brother grabbing the sword, Herrick growled at him and looked at Frank with pure evil clouding his eyes.
A tear rolled down the king's cheek as he stabbed his own brother in the heart from the back. Herrick stood there for a moment before coughing up blood before his eyes rolled behind his head and he went limp. Dollie held back tears as she got up, her face covered in blood, while Spirit was bringing a semi-conscious Lucy over to the group. Simon smiled at her and she smiled back as she leaned against Spirit for support.
Then Simon turned to see Frank and Dollie looking at him as Dollie whispered, "That sword..."
"What about it?" Simon asked.
"Nothing could hurt our brother. It is a trait the children of the Spade Kingdom have, is to be immune to local weapons. But the sword you held was touched by a foreign king. It was touched by you." Dollie said in shock as she began reaching for something in her pocket.
But she couldn't get to it in time before Simon began bowing to them, leaving even Lucy in shock. He smiled at them, no words were needed as they understood how grateful he was to them. Dollie began crying happy tears as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a long, thin string that had a twisted piece of metal at the end at looked like a spade.
She placed in Simon's hand as she said, "This was our brother's. It is known as the War Pendant. Keep it safe."
Then she kissed him on the cheek, which caused Simon to blush and Lucy to snicker at him. He stuck his tongue out at Lucy and glared at her, but she did the same thing back as he touched his cheek. But he didn't have time to think about the kiss before a wave of darkness overcame him.
~0~
Simon returned to the real world around five o'clock and to the sound of running, screaming, and crying all happening at once. He dropped the Eyestaff as the murky grey with green streaks began to change to a brown color that had an amber tint to it.
He got up right when the front door opened and a small being tackled Simon back down to the ground. The blonde looked to see Carmen and Claude glaring at him from above, all while Francine sobbed into his t-shirt madly. Simon had no idea what was going on until Francine stood up and was straddling his chest with her thin legs.
"Simon... Flazel... Belljoy!" She screamed as she began hitting his chest. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? You decide to take a little trip to Wonderland and not even tell me?! How selfish can you be!"
Simon guarded himself as Francine started to hit his face, but his arms were stronger than her bony hands which hurt still. So, she grabbed a pillow and began beating Simon with it before trying to suffocate him with it. He struggled as he got her off of him and held her in the air, a perk of being taller than everyone else in your class.
Once she was in the air, Francine calmed down enough where she began crying again. Simon sighed as he put her down and kneel to her level. But he grabbed the War Pendant fom the waistband of his boxers and threw it at Claude. The brunette caught it mid-air as Simon tilted Francine's head so she would be looking at him.
She looked at him with teary eyes as he pushed a loose piece of hair behind her hair. "Francine, I'm sorry. I promise on my life that I will never leave you again as long as I live. Hell, I won't leave your side if I was dead."
Francine stopped crying long enough to say, "You mean that?"
Simon nodded his head as he leaned in and kissed her cheek, just like Dollie did to him. He saw her blush as the tears started to come down again, but she just hugged him instead of saying anything. He hugged back as he had one hand in her hair, trying to keep her head on his shoulder for as long as possible.
As Simon let Francine cry, Carmen rolled her eyes at the scene. She looked at Simon as she made a line with her finger across her neck and mouthed, "We will talk about this later, dork." Claude rolled his eyes at Carmen as she was just being jealous that she didn't have a boyfriend or a huge crush on someone or someone to have a huge crush on her.
Claude let the scene go on as he went to the coffee table and placed the War Pendant with the Snow Crystal. Along with those two was the Heart Locket, which was the name Claude gave that heart necklace the Elder Gnome gave him.
As she continued to cry, Simon kissed Francine's ear and she stopped crying long enough to glare at him and say, "If you want to kiss him, do it al-" But she didn't need to tell him twice as Simon gave her a quick but deep kiss on the lips. When they parted, Simon smirked at her before she began hitting his shoulder.
"OW! What is this for?" Simon asked.
"For taking so long!" Francine yelled as Claude began laughing at the scene that was happening.
But his laughter was cut short when he heard a thumping sound. Then he thought about how Carmen hasn't said a word in a while.
Him, Francine, and Simon quickly turned around to see Carmen on the floor behind Claude. She was on her knees, with the Eyestaff in her hands, her eyes closed tightly, and amber marks covering her face as Lucy turned in her sleep as she was sent to a new Kingdom.