"Alfie?" Alice breathed in disbelief.
"Hey princess," he chuckled. Alice waisted no time to run into his arms. "Look at you, you've grown." Alfie released her, but kept her hands in his.
"B-but, how are you here? Wherever 'here' is."
"Well, this is more of…the middle. It's neither life nor death. More of a state of mind. Your state of mind."
"You know about this place?"
"Not really, I just know that it has something to do with you."
Alice sighed. "What's going on?"
"Albion's in danger," he said gently, looking concerned.
Alice furrowed her eyebrows. "Danger?"
He nodded, "Soon there will be darkness. You need to prepare Alice. Cause the darkness won't be the least of your worries."
"What do you mean by that?"
"It'll come sooner than you think. You listen to me, friends can betray you, and it's going to happen, be careful who you trust. I'm not allowed to tell you who it is, but promise me…please promise me," Alfie's voice was filled with so much emotion, it made Alice worry. "Don't do anything reckless…and don't go to Mistpeak."
"Why? What happens in Mistpeak?"
"I'll see you soon Princess," he smiled, before everything became distorted.
"Alice!"
Alice's eyes shot wide open at the sound of a female voice. Her eyes adjusted to the light coming over the horizon, until landing on Jade who was leaning over her, her face filled with worry and concern.
"Does she need mouth to mouth?" Ben asked, looking down at Alice.
Alice rolled her eyes, "Shut up Ben."
Jade helped Alice up. She felt a little dizzy, but it soon passed.
"Are you all right?" Jade asked softly, keeping a firm grip on Alice's forearm.
"Yeah, just a little dizzy," Alice said, giving a weak smile. The two girls, Sadie, Ben, Walter and Swift all headed to the entrance gate.
"That was pretty damn impressive," Ben began, clearly impressed. "So, your mother wasn't the last Hero of Albion after all."
"We did it!" Swift cheered proudly. "No really, we did!"
"Let the poets tell our epic tale. The Swift Brigade fought against impossible odds. They won. The end. Well Sir Walter," Ben turned to Walter. "You didn't do to bad, for an old man."
"Neither did you, for a buffoon," Walter joked back, setting the men into a hearty laugh. Alice and Jade chuckled at the three of them.
"So, what do you say, will you join us?" Walter asked. "With your help we can put a stop to Logan's madness. Bring back the real Albion Army."
"I swore to serve my king to the death," Swift began. "We all did. But this isn't the way it's meant to be. The old guard has been shoved aside and these new soldiers Logan's been gathering, they don't care about this land or it's people."
"Yeah, and I bet they get paid more," Ben mumbled.
"Walter has absolute faith in you," the Major said, facing Jade. "And after seeing you in action, so do I. All I ask is that you make a soldiers oath. Let your Army's protect the people instead of oppressing them. Bring honor back to this uniform."
"Yeah, and don't forget the pay rise," Ben added.
"Shut up ben," Walter and Alice both warned.
"I promise," the Princess said, shaking the hand of Major Swift.
"So Alice, are you coming with us?" Walter asked the immortal. "We could use your help."
"Of course I'm coming, provided that Major Swift here is all right with that," Alice said, looking at Swift for confirmation.
"My dear girl, the Princess is going to need your help even more now," Swift said.
"Thank you Swifty," Alice smiled, before turning back to Walter. "So where are we going?"
"Bowerstone," Walter answered.
Walter, Jade, Alice, and Jade's loyal companion Sadie, left the Mourningwood Fort, venturing through the less marshy parts of Mourningwood.
The made their way to the Bowerstone Sewers. Jade thought Mourningwood was bad enough…the sewers were worse. Sadie whined, feeling the same amount of distaste as the others. It didn't take long for them to get out of the sewers, arriving at the docks of Bowerstone Industries. Alice looked around her surroundings. The place had a dark atmosphere, not just from the smoke coming from the factories. Homeless people sat begging almost everywhere. Children in rags running into the factories, covered in dirt and soot.
"….but this, is where it gets ugly," Alice heard Walter say, snapping her from her thoughts. "And buried somewhere beneath it all are the people Logan has left behind. You won't see too many kids running around here, most of them have no choice but to work. It's either that or begging."
"This is horrible," Alice said sadly, as they walked through the streets.
"This is on Logan's hands. He put Reaver in charge, what you're seeing is the makings of Reaver Industries."
The sound of rioting soon filled their ears, getting their attention.
"I wonder what's going on up there," Walter mused. That's when Alice saw it, the big sign with a cursive 'R'. Her eyes widened, heart pounding as they ran towards it. Several people, all workers by the looks of it, were protesting, being lead my a bald man on a stage.
"Reaver is exploiting us!" the man yelled to the crowd. "We deserve fair pay! We demand better working conditions! We're workers! We're not slaves!" There was a loud 'cling' sound, which caused Alice to look up at the balcony…and there he was.
A black top hat, white coat lined with black fur. Dark hair and eyes that seemed darker since the last time she saw him. There was a small black love heart on his upper right cheek, that looked as though it was tattooed, and a scowl on his face.
"Reaver treats us like animals! And we're not gonna take it any more!"
Reaver banged his cane against the railing of the factories balcony once more, but still none of the workers acknowledged it.
"There's only one thing for it! We have to stand up to Reaver!"
Reaver then pulled his Dragonstomper out, shooting the man in the leg, causing Alice to clasp her hands over her mouth in horror.
"But lying down is so much easier than standing up," Reaver began, his posh and somewhat nasally voice was laced with bitterness and enthusiasm ."My dear friends, in order to raise morale, I am offering prizes to the most deserving workers. The rules that will govern what I'd like to call, the Reaver Team Spirit Award are these; Firstly, Any worker who so much as murmurs another complaint will be shot," he said, shooting the man again who cried out in pain. "Secondly; Any worker who takes more than a three second break, will be shot." He once again shot the man. "Thirdly, any worker who breaks any other rules I have yet to formulate will, yes, you guessed it, be shot." He shot the man once more in the leg. "You may return to work now, as you know I'm a generous man and likely to start handing out prizes right away! So go on, shoo! Be off with you!" and with that, everyone scattered, heading back into the building. "Chop chop!"
Alice looked at the man on the stage, dying, then back up at Reaver, who seemed to have noticed her presence and was looking right at her. His expression was dark and unreadable. Without another word, Reaver turned and left, disappearing back into the factory.
"That's why we're here," Walter said grimly, turning to Jade. "That's why Albion needs you."
"I really love how much time we're spending in caves and sewers these days," Walter said as they walked through the sewer that leads to a secret hide out. "No really, I should warn you, I don't know what kind of reception we'll get. I know their leader well enough. But it was never safe." He picked up a fire torch. "Hello?!" No one came, it was silent.
"Maybe we came to the wrong place?" Alice suggested.
"Don't move," a voice said firmly. Suddenly, we spotted several men, pointing guns at us. Jade drew her sword.
"We won't move if you don't shoot, deal?" Walter reasoned.
"You'd better tell your friend that," the man said.
"It's alright, just do as he says," Walter told Jade, and she put her sword away.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"I'm Walter, we're here to speak with page."
"Put your weapons down!" a female voice commanded. "I thought I gave the orders around here Kidd."
"Sorry Page, got a bit carried away," the man 'Kidd' said, as he and the other men put their guns away.
"Walter, glad you're alright," the woman 'Page' said.
"And I'm glad you came in when you did," Walter said.
"I wasn't exactly expecting you, lets talk somewhere a bit more private." She led them away.
"I had this whole plan you see, I…well, we ended up leaving the castle more earlier than I thought," Walter explained.
"I heard, pity." Page deadpanned. "Your messages were always useful."
"I can give you something better." They all gathered around another map table. "Page, this is…."
"I know who she is," Page said. "I thought you'd know better than to bring the princess here."
"She's not just a princess, she's a hero."
"Great, give her a medal."
"No, no, I meant, she's a hero, like her mother."
"Really? It doesn't change anything, your brother is the reason we live underground, he's the reason we fight. How do we know she's any better?" Page snapped.
"Then let her prove it."
"It's not just me she need's to convince. It's the whole city that needs someone to believe in. Prove to them that they should follow you, then we'll talk, for now I have work to do."
"Well, it looks like you have work to do to Jade, you have a whole city to inspire."
Jade sent Alice a small smile before leaving with Sadie.
"What would you like me to do Walter?" Alice asked.
"Here," Page said, throwing Alice an outfit. "You'll be needing this later. You should get something to eat and get cleaned up."
Alice frowned slightly, looking down at the masquerade mask sat on top of the bundle of clothes.
A/N: Ooh, the Masquerade is coming up next! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
Please review and let me know if you want Alfie to be in the story every now and then (but it'll only be in the forest).