Thanks a lot to Sleeping moon and Sour Mochi.

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PAST IN TWO WORLDS

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Walking towards a place that wasn't there before, Julius was experiencing a throbbing headache due to his hangover as much as from the wave of uncertainty wafting through the air, if at some point it something would burst despite the presenting timeless importance of his destination. That worsened his headache. Whatever that place was, it was a breach in Wonderland's time and thus he needed to check on it. Yet he felt that going there was also breaking the rules somehow.

Over the suspended bridge of cards that supported his steps, Julius felt the shift of time and space and knew that he had stepped into a warp touched by the dream realm. And the annoying but urging voice of Nightmare confirmed it.

"Hurry up mortician or you'll lose them, They are..."

Julius couldn't even ask anything to Nightmare before the incubus's voice was cut short, overwhelmed by the immediate foreboding presence of the nightmare realm getting near and covering the gap between the dream realm and the bridge of time. Tendrils of darkness came from the shadows below and began extending from across the card's bridge to form a staircase on their own, and letting a man that Julius had never seen, step over the catwalk of cards and bound stopped time.

Wearing an elegant angular styled black suit that seemed to be made of darkness rather than fabrics, the black haired young man seemed to be in his 20's. His face had angular features and his sharp, swamp green, slitted eyes glowed with thirsty malice, and although he seemed calm, he gave an oppressive aura of ghastly danger and restlessness that made Julius tense up at the sheer overwhelming presence.

The newcomer looked around boredly and then at Julius. He smiled wickedly, and when he spoke, his voice was a cavern of darkness. It wasn't particularly deep, but it held a cavernous echo full of sharp and ornery edges.

"The Mortician… "

"And you are?"- Julius had never seen this holder. In fact, what was in front of him wasn't even the holder. It was an wraith-like time of the real holder. This was just an avatar, a projection of someone who's time has always been there, yet was fairly new to the realm. Something so vexing that the time master didn't know what it meant.

"Searching For Someone."- The newcomer answered as if he was speaking to anyone unimportant.

"Here?" -Julius eyes narrowed as he immediately thought that the only person that he knew had escaped from the nightmare realm. -"Who are you looking for? … And who are you?" - The dreading sensation didn't knew of any holder that had such control over the nightmare realm except for Nightmare, and the incubus had lost that power after the storm.

The figure chuckled and took a step forward. "Your Fears Are Meaningless But Useful. The Nightmare's Want Her Back And Although I'm Merely Riding Them, We Shall Reach Her First."- The darkness started condensing behind the figure into the tridimensional swirling mist with the form of a draconic creature made of shadows; the form of what this person really was. -"You Have No Claim On Her. You All Betrayed Her And She Made A Deal With Me And With Wonderland."

Julius took a step back as his eyes widened in shock as a cold shiver traveled along his back.- "Impossible!" ( It´'s not possible, she defeated 'IT' in Diamond, and in Spades… ! )

The Dragon under human disguise took a step forward and smiled with wicked pride - "She Made It possible."

Julius didn't know if this 'man' was indeed the creature it seemed, but if it was, then it was urgent to find her now. As quick as he could, the clock master took out his his gun and shot but the bullets were lost in swirl of darkness that appeared in front of the man like a shield, just like the shadows had done when Aria had come and saved him in that alley.

Before the man could counterattack, Julius had turned tail and ran towards where he was not supposed to go. To her tomb. however, although he was near he hadn't got far.

He ran as fast as he could, but Julius was not quick enough to evade the dark tendrils aimed at his feet. Once they shackled him around the ankles, more darkness surrounded him until his lithe frame was cocooned in black ooze. He shuddered in shivering disgust as he felt the cold seep into his clothes, and then his skin. A shudder crawled down his spine as the abyssal echoing voice purred in the shell of his ear with spite.

"It's No Use, Clockmaker. No Matter How Hard Or Far You Try To Run, There Is No Escaping The Darkness. Not Even From Your Own Past."

Before he could say or do anything, Julius was assaulted with a burning cold sensation in his mind followed by a kaleidoscope of memories.

Memories from when he had friends, a loving family, and a job he enjoyed until Wonderland chose him to be the Clockmaker. That happy time vanished within an instant, and the people he knew, those who had loved him, now wanted to kill him.

"You Had Everything, Yet This World Decided To Take It All As Compensation For A Being A Role Holder. Nothing Will Be Yours. Not That Alice Girl. Not Even Aria Hadron Scherzi."

Julius gritted his teeth in anger and closed his eyes trying to block out that infuriating voice ringing in his ears.-"Shut up. SHUT UP, DAMN YOU!" - But at the very moment more images flashed before him.

There was Aria, all proud and firm, holding in her hands the Vorpal sword and the Winxy pistol, the only weapons in Wonderland that could truly harm the Jabberwocky and deal heavy damage to any of the frumius beasts. She smirked and her voice was alluring and seductive. . -"Given That You Are Already The Duties Part Of A Role, I Can Try To Complete You As A Full Role; The Role That The Jabberwocky Was Meant To Be…Allow You To Perform Those Duties And Any Other Needed Without Being Overwhelmed By Them, To Be One With A Holder And Truly Exist, To Be Alive And Participate In 'The Game', To Have A Chance To Win Such... 'Sensations' From A Foreigner…"- Without notice, she dropped the legendary weapons, her only defense against the frumius creature.

The scene shifted now it showed Aria's voluptuous legs wrapped around an inky male physique, growling mechanically among passionate kisses as the pair reached their sexual climax. Julius's clock felt like it just shattered. The Outsider he had come to love had slept with…this monster?!

A melodious chuckle reached his ears just as the tendrils around his frame squeezed him like a vice.

"That's Right. I Fucked Lady Aria Until She Could Barely Move, Clockmaker. She Fucked Me Until I Was Full, Real And Alive. She Chose Me."- The Jabberwocky rejoiced in the clock master's he replayed the images in front of Julius - "How Does It Feel, To Know That Your Precious Outsider Is More Corrupt Than You And That Knight Combined?"

Julius honestly did not know what to say at those words as he began to see only darkness from the corners of his eyes. Was he...going to die in this place, without saying how much he loved that crazy woman? His and Ace's...Aria?

The dragon's voice turned deadly serious. -"Aria Hadron Scherzi Doesn't Belong To Either Of You, Clockmaker. She Belongs To The Country Of Spades."

Julius looked up and glared heatedly at the condemned Role Holder. - "And she doesn't belong to you, Jabberwocky." - He spat.

"Wrong Again." - The Jabberwocky responded evenly before he waved a shadowy hand in front of the mortician's cobalt orbs, and immediately presented another wave of images. This time, Julius saw Aria with another man who had spiky hair reaching to his mid back in a silvery gradient that started greyish white at the skin but ended in darker tips, almost like metallic needles. He had electric blue, slitted eyes and furry triangular wolf-like ears on top of his head, that matched the his long fluffy tail. It was the Bandersnatch, and it made Julius felt sick to his stomach as he watched the frumius beast play with the mercenary's naked body.

The Bandersnatch was already deep inside her during the sexual assault, still he growled and then hesitated. Then raised his shaking hand and extended his claws to pierce Aria's sensible nipple, which extracted a scream of betrayal, pain and surprise from the girl. The beast flinched, but noticing she had reacted, he did it again and began mauling her with claws and fangs, and before his poison could spread, he licked the open wounds and his saliva cancelled the toxins effects, healing the damage immediately only for the process to repeat the harmful deed as he went along the forceful sex on her.

"Stop it." -Julius begged silently in a whisper as the dreadful spectacle invaded his vision.- "Stop it. I...I don't want to see any more!"

"Now You're Telling Me This, Clockmaker? Do You Realize That You're Almost Saying The Very Words That My Comrades Have Said Before They Were Cut Down By Your Damned Dog? Do You Even Know How Many Friends The Bandersnatch And I Have Lost Because Of This World?" - The Jabberwocky hissed, covering Julius' face with his open palm and attacked the Role Holder with even more memories. -"Do You Know How Much This World Had Hurt 'Her'? How Much She Had Been Hurt And How Often?"

"That...That doesn't matter anymore" - Julius gritted through the excruciating pain that thrummed through his mind. - "For Aria's sake… And...I'm taking her back home! Her…and that damned knight!"

The Jabberwocky narrowed his eyes at his prisoner with barely concealed anger, the tendrils tightened even further around Julius and began cutting through clothes and skin.- "Didn't You Hear What I Just Said? Aria Belongs To The Future Country Of Spades As The Motherland, And Not In Your Fucking Cage!"

The navy-haired man grunted, struggling against the darkness that was threatening to consume him until he could feel the concealed item stitched around the inside of his coat loosen. Once it was in his grasp, he took out an item that Ace had found on the hideout where he accompanied Aria to reclaim a backpack; it was a little transformable charm in the form of a start. While bullets from his preferred weapon would be of no use here, a flash grenade would. He closed his eyes and turned his head to the other side before activating the item and dropping it away from his body.

The grenade flashed and its overwhelming light vanished the tendrils that held the mortician bounded, leaving Julius free to run towards the mausoleum.

Barely missing the tendrils that reformed and aimed for his head, Julius crossed the dimensional border to the new territory and locked the doors behind him by twisting time before and around them. And without even realizing it, as he slumped against the stone wall to catch his breath, deep angry tears began to trickle down his slightly flushed face and gritted teeth. Something that he had not done in a very, very, long time.

However, the mortician wasn't the only one learning of Aria's past experiences.

Ace had taken a sit and rested his feet on top of the desk while crossing his arms at the back of his head. When the merc finally entered the castle, the camera in the control room magically changed the angle to follow her from above, and he had been observing her walk around, killing all the shadow enemies with a confident stroll, and occasionally avoiding all the traps that appeared out of nowhere that Ace himself had activated by carelessly pushing all those buttons.

"Some popcorn would be nice!"

Ace pouted but didn't moved from his seat. Even though his smile looked calm and entertained, his feet kept tapping restlessly over the board and his gaze kept shifting between the images of Aria merrily destroying the hordes of creatures that came her way, and the screen that sporadically showed some of what had happened to her in her world.

He wasn't sure how to respond to either. The only reason he was staying put was because he had witnessed some very interesting scenes. Like how when she was barely more than a teen around the age he had when his Julius was killed, she had barely survived after suiting up in that armor for the first time during some attack in the building she was; and right after that,he had seen her flip through various transmissions into a machine, where he managed to catch the words 'youth diplomat', 'Killed in action' and 'state funeral'.

He could hardly comprehend the foreigner's view on death. In wonderland it wouldn't have mattered. Even if the king or Queen were killed there would not be any fuss over it at all. But Aria… she had been mourned officially. Her false death had mattered in her world, and if she died here then it would hurt him and Julius even more that he thought would be possible. There would be no second chances, there would be no replacements. She would be forever gone and just thinking about it made his stomach sink.

As the images moved without any pattern or order between scenes, he saw stuff that even he found hard to see. Her mercenary missions had changed into a lab of some sort.

In a white sterile room, a bright light shone above and the top of a syringe suspended from the tip of a robotic machine starting getting close to her opened eyes right over her retina, while a woman in a suit was besides the operation table while a guy in a white coat handled the equipment exchanged some words about Bio-weapons. They happily commented about 'adding improvements' as the syringe went down into Aria's olive eye, inserting something below the surface and enhancing her lenses without any movement on her part.

Ace kept watching. He had the sensation that she had been aware all the time through all the nearby machines, hearing, seeing, getting her humanity destroying and doing nothing about it. Now she was in a fluid chamber with needles in her everywhere when a small group of people that stopped in front of the tank.-

"And this is the first T-EVE model. A bio-electro-organical weapon. She's capable of machine interaction and control besides an extended combat effectiveness. Some of the improvements include resistance materials in her components like joints and cartilages, reinforced carbon structures in her bones, extended wireless connection and direct connection with an armored suit device that as you can she , she ain't wearing now. The suit has her genetic firm imprinted so no one else can use it. Once this stage of the process is completed where suiting her again and testing shall start. "

The knave remained glued to the screen and initially didn't notice when the other screen showed the floor disappearing below the foreigner mercenary and dropping her down a ladder into some sort of ruins

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Oh yeah, the Jabberwocky is back and it's looking her. He doesn't seem to happy about meeting other holders or about Aria not being in Spades, does he? :D

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I have a confession.

When I re-read this chap it made me feel how intense were the emotions and the direness of all from Julius POV. It clutched my gut. I mean, he was forced to see his own loses, which he hadn't cared or even though off for a long time, and then be completely powerless while watching the woman he has come to love be so brutally overabused in Wonderlan, and maybe even choosing the worst possible monster as winner of her game. That hurts.

But Julius ain't the only one, Ace is seeing her past in her world from the moment she was forced to become a mercenary. And now he knows how she got some of those enhancements, but he hasn't seen it all :(

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