HELLO, HELLO! YET ANOTHER CHAPPY, AND THE WHELLS OF THIS STORY ARE A TURNIN'! PLEASE REVIEW! IF I OWNED HnKnA, THE MANGA WOULDN'T HAVE HAD SUCH A CRAPP ENDING.

Ch. 27: Recruitment

I threw open the doors of the tower to be greeted once more by the sight of the grand hall. I sighed deeply, relived to be back at what seemed like long last.

"C.J?" I looked back up to see Alice running at top speed towards me. She crashed into me and started babbling again, (is it just me, or have we been through this before?) "C.J! I'm so glad you're alright! You are alright, aren't you? You're soaked? What happened? Did you-" I pushed her away and held her at arm's length, "We're both fine. We ended up getting chased down by the Jabberwocky again and had to jump in a river to throw it off our trail. And no, we didn't find Alister. But we've got a clue." She blinked teary eyed at me, too speechless to answer, and simply nodded. Then she took my hand and tugged me towards the fire place. "You two must be freezing! Sit down and warm up while I got fetch the others." I nestled down in an overstuffed arm chair while Yuri plopped down directly in front of the fire place. Hey, he does have all that fur to dry off.

We sat there shivering for a little while as Alice's footsteps gradually disappeared down the hall and up the stairs. I looked at Yuri as soon as I was sure she was out of earshot, "How do you think we should break it to them?" He shrugged, "I think tis best if we tell the whole story, then our theories." I nodded, "Agreed. Then we can decide on what to do about it…what would we do about it?" Yuri tapped his chin, "…I don't know quite why, but I feel that Alister isn't dead. Perhaps the Jabberwocky has done something to him." I rubbed my temples, "This is a wild animal you're talking about Yuri. It shouldn't be able to think like that. Anything that would attack us like that can't be smart enough to stash some food for latter." "Perhaps. But then, we do not know much about this world. We should ask Nightmare about it." I nodded. "You're right. We should-"

"Down here!" Alice came in, followed by the other residents. Gray's eyes widened, "What happened to you two?" I grimaced, "Oh, nothing really. We just decided to take a leisurely swim in the freezing river while a monster was trying to take our heads off. No biggie." They all found a seat, Alice, having nowhere else to sit, perched herself on the arm of the couch next to Julius. Their eyes shifted from me to Yuri. I looked at them, "So what happedned out there after we split up?" Julius shrugged, "Not much." I raised an eyebrow at the hint of a blush that rose to his face. Not much, hmmm? Gray nodded, "None of us found anything. Nightmare-sama and I got a little lost and ended up meeting with those two. We all ooked a little more, and the sun came up. We were already pretty close to the tower, so I guess we must have beaten you two here by just a few minutes."

Nightmare nodded, "so what did happened to you? Exactly."

` I pushed a sodden clump of my bangs back out of my face, "Well, we were looking for Alister when we heard this growling. I was calling out to see who was when a tree came down and almost hit me! Thank goodness it fell, cause that was the only real warning we got." Yuri chipped in, "We saw his eye through the open space." I nodded, "Yeah, then the Jabberwocky just came crashing through the trees! We ran and…." Nightmare raised an eyebrow, "And….?" I shoved down the memory of my vision; they would all think I was insane! Remembering that Nightmare could read minds, I quickly continued, editing out my space out. "And I started looking for something to save our skins. And our bones. And our-" "We get the picture." Julius, always up for some fun, huh?

I rolled my eyes, "Anyways, I managed to find a pack of these awesome fireworks extras I used to prank a coworker." I grinned, "Thank god I haven't clean out my bag for months. So I light them, chucked them, and pegged the Jabberwocky right in his eye with them!" "Which eye?" "I don't remember." Yuri helped out again here, "It was his right. I recon you burned it out." Alice gasped, "You put its eye out?" I nodded, "Yeah, and then we ran like hell. We ended up at the river; we jumped in, hid in a tree, and came on back once it had taken off. That's pretty much it." Yuri looked back at us from warming his tail, "Except one detail." I nodded, "Yeah. Yuri here says the Jabberwocky reeked of Alisters scent."

All motion in the room halted, as did any noise. I coughed awkwardly, "Yuri says he doesn't think Alisters dead." Yuri shook his head, "No. I'm positive he's not dead. I can feel it." Julius paused for a moment, and then closed his eyes. "…You're right. He's not dead." I gaped at him, "WHAT? How can you know that?" He opened his eyes to look at us, "As the clock maker, I have the ability to sense when a role holder had died. When a role holder dies, I'm supposed to sense it immediately and for some time after; that is, until the clock is in my possession." I whistled, "Well isn't that handy?"

I overlooked everyone in the room. Gray sighed, "O.K, so we know he's alive, but we still don't know where he is!" I sat in silence for a moment. "…Yes we do." Alice looked at me curiously, "Really? Where?" I grinned broadly, "The obvious place. The place where monsters of all breed and genre hoard their treasure, protect their young, and lock up their prisoners." Yuri, catching on, looked up and stared them all in the eyes, "We must venture in to the very heart of the dragons keep."

…..

"…And so, I propose a rescue mission." I put my hand down on the desk, staring at the Clover Tower's conference room, all the role holders sitting in it. Blood stood, "You propose that several of us gang up," I nodded, "Yup." "March into the Badlands," "Uh huh." "Storm into the beast's layer, which may or may not exist," "Pretty much." "And try to escape with not only our clocks, but with our sanity and a man whom we hardly are acquainted with and whose condition aside from living is unknown?" "That's the jist of it."

He threw his hands up and sat down, "Sheer madness!" The rest of them started to mumble about how dangerous it was. I smacked my palm down on the wood to quite them, "Order! Now listen, I know it's dangerous, but since when the hell do you people care about danger?" I pointed at Boris, "YOU run around in the queen's garden just to freak out the heavily armed guards!" I pointed to the twins, "You two sleep with huge a** axes!" Then my finger landed on Ace, "And YOU get lost, regardless of the danger in that, constantly pick fights with people, and walk around with a sword! I've never seen you afraid of anything!"

I panted both palms on the desk, "The Jabberwocky was roaming around OUTSIDE of the Badlands. Who's to say he won't come back? What's stopping him? And I can guarantee you that he won't want a nice chat over tea!" I looked over the room. All the role holders had their heads down, looks of concentration on their faces. (Except Ace, who seemed to have already made his decision?)

I sighed, "Look, maybe Alister isn't important as a person to you. Maybe no one is. But his life, as well as every life, is important to me. And I'd rather die trying to save him than keep living knowing there was SOMETHING I could have done. …Besides, I feel like I'm SUPPOSED to go save him. I don't know why, but I have to." I stood up, "And that's why, not matter if any of you decides to come with me, I'm going to the Badlands. And I'm saving Alister, and if I can, killing the Jabberwocky once and for all." There was a moment of silence, then Yuri stood, "I to feel this compulsion…I will join you." I looked the rest of them over, "So who's coming?"

White and Ace didn't even hesitate. White, however, was the first on his feet. "I will go as well." Black yelled from the white mask, "But Joker, the-" "The circus can very well manage without me for a few days. This is far more pressing." Black mumbled a bit as Ace continued to grin. "You had me at 'proposal'." I rolled my eyes at the slightly suggestive use of the word. "Who else?" Boris and Peirce stood. I raised a brow, "You sure Peirce?" He nodded, "Yes. I can't be scared now; if it comes back, it could hurt you and Alice!" Rather touched by his concern, I turned to Boris, "And you?" He nodded, "I like Alister. He's quiet, but he's not a bad guy. If there's a chance of getting him back, I'm taking it!" I grinned, "Now there's some enthusiasm! …I think I'd be best to go in a smaller group. Easier to keep us all together that way and harder to detect. The rest of you, go home."

I turned to my new rescue team, "As for all of you, go home and get some rest. Pack your supplies; food, water, and medical stuff are a must, and anything else you think we'll need. We'll all meet up here at the tower. And if any of you decide to duck out, try to send word. Otherwise, we'll wait for you. So, umm…that'll be all. I guess."

The team as well as the role holders all dispersed from the tower. I sighed. Alice came up to me, "That was a good speech C.J. …you should take your own advice and go rest. You've got a big journey ahead of you." I watched her as tears started to form in the corner of her eyes, "…Will you be O.K?" I gave her a dismissive gesture, "come on Alice, it's me you're talking about! Things have a way of turning out alright for me." Not at all convinced, she gave me a look, "Go to bed and get some sleep." I grinned and saluted, "Aye aye, captain!" With that, I bounded up the stairs in at a fast lope, eger to get to my room.

Then, I stopped about halfway up. …what about that vision I had? I know it's important somehow, but how? I blinked as I realized the only way to find out. I would have to pay Elda, the elder of the gypsy camps one more visit.

I continued to climb up the stairs as I plotted on how I was going to pull this off. I made it to my room and, unlike the initial plan to jump into bed after a nice long shower; I pulled the map that the Jokers had given me. Thanks to its little dip in the river, the map was bleary, but legible. Not that that did me any good. The map had no sign of the camp. I cranked my brain for an idea. I didn't remember how to get there, but I remember which way I left the tower from. Like that would do me a whole lot of good. I massaged my temples, "With my luck, I'll end up in the Badlands again. Come on, think!"

I don't know why, but I had an urgent feeling that I had to speak with BEFORE we went to the Badlands. I HAD to. I looked at the useless map once more and sighed, "I've got no choice. Time to do the thing I do best; get myself neck high in s*** and luck the f*** out!"

I looked down at my clothes, still damp and chilly. I sighed, then peeled off the clothes and tossed them in the chute. It'll just have to wait….I opened up the dresser to huge shock!

Instead of a huge selection of mismatched night gowns, the dresser was full of normal cloths! Well, as normal as this world gets with cloths. I squealed in excitement; now I could leave right now! I closed the dresser and stepped into the bathroom, grabbed a quick shower, then hit the dresser. After a little digging, I found a pair of tough looking pants that fit just like my own. They must have gotten the measurements while they were washing my cloths! I pulled out a white tank with tiny lace trimmings, then a black jacket with lots of zippers and pockets. Perfect for an outing. I pulled on the new outfit and laced on my boots. With dressing done, I yanked my hair back into a ponytail, deciding to go different from my usual braid. A new wardrobe calls for a new change in hair, right?

I padded over to my bag and emptied it of its contents. Thankfully, the bag was a canvas with good water resistance, which had kept many of my possessions intact. I pulled Haru out, and silently thanked the Lord he was fine. I set him on the nightstand. I then sorted out all of the items that were ruined from fine. My flashlights, my knife, my cuffs, and surprisingly, two more boxes of the fireworks were all still intact. Unfortunately, my notebook, had not survived. Not a bad deal.

I loaded up all the good stuff and tossed the ruined stack of paper in the waste bin. After double checking that I had everything, I opened my door carefully; cautious not to let anyone know I was trying to leave. If they found me out, they'd demand explanation, and when I told them, they wouldn't believe me! Alice was probably up with Julius, and I could hear Nightmare and Gray running around upstairs. I was in the clear. I booked it to the stairs, taking them down three at a time. On the second floor, however, I was caught.

I ran smack into someone's chest, mushing my nose. I tottered away, a little dazed, and then cleared my head to be staring right into the ruby eyes of the ring master! He blinked at me, surprised, "C.J? I thought you were…." His gaze drifted down at my attire. "Where are you going?" "Stupid b****! You need to rest for the trip!" I hushed them, "Look, I know, but there's something I really have to do first!" White tilted his head, "What's that?"

I looked around to make sure no one was listening in, and then I leaned in to whisper, "I have to go to the Gypsy camp! I need to talk to Elda, it's urgent!" His eye narrowed, "And you were going all by yourself?" "Do you even know where you're going moron?" "No. But I have to!" He grabbed my arm as I tried to walk by, "Tell me why." I tried to struggle, but his grip was iron clad. His scarlet gaze burned deep into mine, "Tell me why." I gulped, "I had…I had…a dream, I think. No, more like a vision. She was in it, and I think she can tell me about it. It's important I know what happened, I can feel it!"

His gaze burned at me for a moment longer, and then he released his grip, "Very well. I'll take you there." My eyes widened, "Wait, I-" "You don't know the way, I do. Accept my help." I huffed, "Fine. But don't get in my way!" He smiled as he turned toward the next flight down, "Wouldn't dream of it."

OH MY! C.J AND WHITE ON AN OUTING THAT MY VERY WELL MEAN CERTAIN DEATH? STICK AROUND FOR THE NEXT INSTALMENT! F.Y.I: IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHITE, IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO TURN THE TIDES ON MY POLL!

STUFF FROM PREVIOUS CHAPTER I FAILED TO EXPLAIN_

-C.J WAS QUOTEING BENDER OF FUTURAMA FOR THOSE WHO KNOW.

-I HAVEN'T A CLUE IF THERE IS ACTUALLY A FIREWORK NAMED THIS, BUT IF ANY OF YOU FIND ONE, TELL ME! (And I in that case, I don't own it)

PRESS THE BUTTON BELOW! (As a commenter complained, I will not threaten to send Black after you anymore. Instead, I will send a fluffy bunny of dooooooommmmmmm! –lightning crashes-) DOOMIE- FEAR ME! ME-AWZZZZZ