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-"Dialogue"-

("Inner thinking")

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DAMSEL IN DISTRESS

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Except for a colorful collar around his neck, Julius found himself to be completely naked when woke up on the floor of the clock tower, disoriented and unhinged. Groaning, he rolled over his back. The cold floor made his skin shiver while his mind could barely even focus on whohe was. He tried to curl into a ball so the fur on his tail would cover him more, except he didn't have a tail anymore.

"What? My... fur?"

Julius blinked a few times while lifting his hands in front of his face and focused his gaze on them, before looking down at his own body. As naked as he was, it was pretty clear he was human, except he didn't feel so. At least not completely. All sounds were still sharp and so were the clear and almost overwhelming smells. He even felt his tail and was dumbfounded when his ears didn't flickered when he wanted them to. With a grunt he struggled to stand up on two legs, finding it hard enough and feeling somewhat unnatural about it.

Licking his lips and not finding his fangs, Julius spoke out aloud, his deep voice quite different from what his foxy barks had been. "Am I back?"

"Did Aria's plan to change you back worked only on appearance level too? That happened with the knave."

The accented voice of Aegis made Julius look down to a blob of darkness that materialized to form a fox's body, and Julius noted with some satisfaction that it wasn't as fluffy as he was… or had been. The mortician then a hand over his face.- "Where's Ace? What happe…" .- He stopped himself mid-sentence when he remembered what had actually occurred, which set him into a small mini panic and caused him to fall flat on his face when he tried running in two legs while moving as if he was a quadruped.

"I suggest you calm down and regain control of bipedal motion first."- Aegis jumped in front of Julius and pawed the mortician's head.- "I must assess the situation. So tell me how are you feeling and any symptoms you may be experiencing."

"How can you be here? Your master is in danger, and where is Ace?"- Julius got off the floor again and glared at the clock-less creature.

Aegis tilted his head- "The knight woke up first and headed out already. He took a bigger part of me with him for mobility and to track down Aria. "

"Don't get in my way then. " - Julius was about to try going out once more but a small tendril of darkness threw his own clean underwear on his face.

"Perhaps you should dress first."- The A.I. chuckled amused and then pointed towards the rest of Julius clothes that it had previously prepared for the clock master.- "I don't intent to stop you. My actions correspond to my duties and programming."- Aegis explained as he jump over a chair. -"My first duty is to ensure the mission objectives set by my user are accomplished. My second duty is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of my user so the objectives are set and the mission is fulfilled. In this case, the objective of the mission was to change you back to human form or as close to resembling your past human body as possible. Until such mission is fulfilled I cant deem it as finished. So please state your symptoms so we can move on to ensure the safety and wellbeing of my user."

"Tell me what happened first"- Julius, still not grabbing his clothes, insisted and whined, feeling his ears and tail perk even though he didn't have fox ears or tail anymore- "Make my body resemble my past body? What does that mean? And why do I still feel … not completely human?"

Aegis shrugged. -"We had no experience or data on how to transform one creature into another. Aria handled the flow of mana and I merely made the calculations necessary to to add mass and reshape your bodies to how they used to look before you were changed into foxes."- The shadow creature sighed.- "That was the best that could have been accomplished before it was impossible to even do that. At least regarding your bodies. As for your minds, my user's potion of hearts stopped and reverted to a great degree the mental deterioration."

Julius understood and nodded. - "So basically I am a fox in a human body. Reshaped but not transformed. "- He wasn't disappointed. He was amazed and thankful that it had worked at all, and he was happy to have hands and opposable thumbs again.

"Yes, and if you remove the collar you'll see the transformation was not complete. You still possess the animal features you feel, like at the restaurant, so I suggest you don't remove it." -A tendril of darkness crawled around to give Julius his usual clothes, urging the mortician to get dressed.- "Now please assess your situation so I can deem this mission as finished. As you stated, my user needs me."

Julius grabbed his clothes, barely noticing that he hadn't even minded that he was naked.- "I still feel my ears different and the tail feels like a phantom limb. My senses are sharper and some instincts are still there, but in general I am back."- He mentioned while dressing up. -"Now can you tell me where Aria and Ace are?"

Aegis took on a crow form.- "Aria has been taken captive by a huge group and is currently unconscious, however and since I can track my user, the knave took a bigger portion of me to reach her position and serve as support"

"So you know where they are?"- Julius look around at the hundreds of clocks he needed to fix, but for once he thought they'd have to wait for just a little bit.

"I have no contact with the rest of me at the moment given the components needed to separate in various forms, but I have enough components to track my user. "- It's beady eyes flickered in red .-"And for the lectures I'm receiving, you will need an army's help. Neither Aria or I estimated such a big group seeking her."

"An army? Nothing stands against time, and once I'm there we'll have all the time in this world"- Julius narrowed his eyes and finally stepped out of the door.

"Or Aria will run out of time before we get there because what is happening right now is the present." - Aegis flew towards Julius's shoulder - "How lucky that there's an army on her side"

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Somewhere else, an imposing black war cyborg-unicorn covered in metallic plates was galloping across the streets and heading off towards the forests outside of Clover. Its rider, a knight, was wearing a black armor that seemed to be made out of shadows.

"A black knight, how proper"- The red eyed rider smiled.

"I am made of darkness and technologic components. Most of my layers include graphene. That is why all is black; the fact that you are a knight is mere coincidence." - Aegis responded while galloping as fast as this form could.

"You didn't include a cape" - Ace pouted. - "A cape would look cool with the wind moving it now. It would be very knightly to have a cape."

"Capes are inadvisable"- Aegis retorted. - "They are nothing more than safety hazards."

"But they look cool. How can a cape be a safety hazard? It only stay behind and looks gallant" - Ace stroke the reigns of the best steed he had ever ridden.

"Is that a real question?" - Aegis asked, sounding annoyed. - "Capes are nothing more than ceremonial pieces of clothing. As for actual combat, capes prove to be a hindrance as when you move, the capes have a chance to inhibit your movement, thus potentially raising the chances of failure."

Ace tilted his head.- "But I'm a knight, a knight should have a cape. I want to look good when rescuing Ari"- The knight whined.- "It's part of the full knightly service. A handsome knight rescuing the dame, all clad in shiny armor and wearing a cape. If I'm using you then I wanna take advantage of you magic."

"There's nothing magical about me, and your preference on looks are irrelevant for this mission." - Aegis reprimanded and decided to settle it.- "I also remind you that I am merely providing aide. You are not using me. No one but my user's blood can use me, that is why I only formed a layer of outer protection. Nothing more is possible. All my specialized functions and devised are restricted. If anything I am using you to fulfill my duties and prerogatives regarding my user."

"Boo, Mr. horsey. We both want to rescue Ari but I'm her knight in shining armor. You are only the armor."- Ace stroke the reigns to make the creature move faster. -" … now what about a feathery helmet?"

"Feathery helmets are a terrible fashion choice." - Aegis changed slightly his body's design to make it more sleek and faster instead of study.

"But I have some feathers right here"- From out of nowhere, Ace pulled some long and fluffy feathers.- " If you give me a helmet…"

"They look ridiculous and provide no aid in battle."- Aegis grunted - "They are as bad as capes"

"But they aren't a hindrance, are they?"

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At the farthest edge of the forests of Clover where no territory had made a claim to the far away terrains, a plan was coming to its climax now that the allied faceless factions had captured the key component for their plan, and said key component, the foreigner, was already waking up.

Damp morning earth was what Aria could smell, vague shapes of forest terrain were what she could see and general human movement around her was what she could hear. She felt dizzy; her senses were drowning her with information that made no sense to the already confused and tired foreigner. Much less when her broken memories made no sense to her. It took her some time to collect herself and her scattered thoughts, but once she did, she gathered that she was wearing a thin black dress and her body held bruises, scrapes. Most notably, her wrists were tied together with a strong wire rope. How she got here or what had happened prior, she had no recollections of. However worrying that was, it didn't distract her from noticing that she was at the edge of a rocky hill that stood in front of an enormous structure being built and mounted facing her position. Said construction was a great mirror shaped like a door.

"Are you conscious now, dear foreigner?"- A faceless man dressed up in a well-tailored brown suit stepped in front of the groggy outsider, his presence too near contrast to the huge amounts of people all around the hill and the meadow under it that held the mirror. There were more than a couple hundred faceless, maybe even far more that she could not see. - "Good morning, it seems that although you have escaped us occasion after occasion, we finally got a hold of you. This time you won't be escaping."

The man delicately grabbed her chin and made her look at him. With some mild surprise, Aria noticed she didn't have what it took to bite his fingers off; it was more than obvious now that she was drugged. "Who are you anyways?" - Her senses were dulling her mind and she could not concentrate but on the very moment she was at. - "What drug did you give me? My headache is terrible."

The man seemed baffled for a second before letting go of her chin. - "No matter which drug, what matters is that we made sure you were drugged well enough, perhaps a bit more." - He turned around to see the faceless pawns that were just finishing up mounting the mirror up in the field - "I don't know if I should feel hurt or proud of you not knowing who we are, but since you were busy courting two role holders then it's understandable your attention was elsewhere." - The man crossed his hands behind his back. - "We almost had you in that room during the fight with the hatters; it took us long to get that dream trap set. I admit we didn't consider the knave chasing you then or the clock master arriving so fast. We almost got you then, but so did we on the other occasions. You have been a sly prey, Miss Hadron."

Aria remembered getting trapped in a dream; there were monsters and a succubus. But… something had happened then? She had fought with someone. -("The knave?... ") - She closed her eyes to prevent the digital glow to disclose her mind focusing on the annoying brunette. She couldn't picture his face, but her memory was starting to work, even if at the moment she could only recall that he possessed a dashing but stupid grin and that his rants were more than annoying, bothersome, and sometimes long winded.

"We thought we wouldn't have any trouble the night when we assembled a whole task force to intercept you outside of the restaurant when you went in with your pet foxes." - The man took a step forward to the edge of the hill before turning around to look at Aria. - "We didn't expect you to be supported by a faction. There were of course rumors of some big underground group, but nothing related to the mysterious second foreigner. May I ask who those faceless are? I am indeed curious. We are indeed curious. We have been unable to gather but rumors about them even though it seems their influence is bigger than anyone can guess."

The foreigner grunted and squeezed her eyes. She didn't answer; she was busy remembering a couple foxes that turned into sexy guys that night. Had she being scared for them? Why had she been apprehensive? - ("Oh yes, they are role holders")

The man walked back to her and tapped her head twice. - "I guess you are still a bit dizzy, so no matter. We are here now and you are finally awake, so let's proceed. We are The Allies, and with your help we'll take control of this country."

The captive shook her head. -"What do you want me for?" - She suspected it was some complot about the people holding grudges against the holders. Most likely they would use her as bait in a trap or so she initially thought, but she found herself surprised when the man answered her question.

"Simple. We want you to summon a frumious beast again, like you did in the forest of doors" - With an air of confidence and eagerness he hummed, looking at his nails before his hand formed a first while his lips formed a smirk.

Silverine fur and electric blue eyes appeared in Aria's mind. -("The Bandersnatch!") - Oh yes, Aria remembered the frumious beast. Out of all the situations, a frumious beast was something not to mess with, if she had accidentally called one that time, it had been because she had been scared, cornered and desperate. She licked her dry lips and looked at the mind with a more focused yet calm expression. -"That'd be a very bad idea" - In spite of her plain words and controlled tone, her stomach tightened and a cold chill traveled along her spine. - "Don't you know that frumious beasts can devour your afterimage?"

"We do. Out of all the wonderful ways in which we could use a foreigner..." -The smile on the man's lips was barely controlled as he leaned again over Aria. - "We aren't asking, dear outsider." - He patted her cheek. - "You don't have a choice. I could bother with explaining our reasons, but since you are affiliated with holders in a biased personal way I know it won't matter. So I'll have to inform you that we'll seal your heart away if you don't do as we say. Do you know what that means?"

Of course she knew. Sealing her heart away would quickly bring her back to the point where she had left her world; an almost mindless bio-organic weapon; all her knowledge and memories of Wonderland would be overridden and her mind would be void of any consideration to this world or even to herself. That was how she ended up before being dragged into this dimension, and admittedly that was probably the one things that could actually scar her; to lose her mind and thus to lose herself. Aria bit her lower lip and felt her temperature rise. If they did that, a frumious beast would be the least of this world's problems. - "That's an even worse idea. You don't know how terrible that would be for you and everyone else."

"Terrible to us? Not at all" - The smile on the man's lips broadened into a crazy smirk. - "This is the moment to attack. All territories are depleted and holders seem quite weak with a game lost and the second foreigner seemingly about to choose. We have the surprise advantage and with a frumious beast we'll wipe them out."

Green eyes rolled in exasperation. - "Listen well, idiot. Madness is already consuming me. Madness from this world and from mine. You do not want to seal away my heart and let me lose it." - Terrible she was, terrifying she could be; but worst of all was the power and capability to exert the most horrible possibilities in this world. She wasn't a damsel in distress, she was a contained disaster in potential even if she didn't want to be so. -"And it's not as if you can control a frumious bast anyways. Those are powerful roles."

Had the man possessed eyes he would have blinked or stared, instead his semblance turned more serious albeit it was clear his semblance was now tense. - "That would be lovely, but it won't matter once a frumious beast is here. We'll do what we need to get you to summon a frumious beast for us. Even if that requires some madness. Here there is no extra faction or meddling holders to stop us, and we're well prepared to submit the Bandersnatch you'll summon for us, and summoning it for us will ensure we don't do any nasty thing to you. It's just that simple." - "The man pointed at the people gathering. Many weapons could be seen, especially rifles. - "We have enough tranquilizers to knock out even the Bandersnatch and we don't mind mauling it if needed. Even if some of us die, there are way more ready to take on the beast."

"You don't get how madness works." - Aria chuckled and licked her lips. - "It feels good. Too good. Better than what any of you can even imagine." -The mercenary foreigner knew first hand how good the madness of this world felt. It made you feel powerful and invincible, it was delicious delirium straight out from the wildest dreams of power, but so was the madness of her own world, except that the madness of her world added the desire for quest for conquest and gain. It was a sensation more intoxicating than any drug or vice could ever be. It was something to fear.- "You really don't know what you'd be unleashing" - Saliva passed down her throat. The mercenary knew her own mind was on a thin rope and far from stable, and if she went to the deep end...

"It seems you need a bit more encouragement." - The man pulled out a syringe package from his jacket and very carefully inserted the needle before he grabbed a small container from his pocket, then he used the syringe to pull out the liquid, gave it a few taps, and squished it just enough to get rid of any air bubbles. - "This is a specially prepared cocktail that will defuse the influence of this world on you. In a minute you won't even think on your dear holders or even yourself anymore, and it should last long enough for our purpose."

"Don't do it." - Aria warned one last time, her eyes narrowing. - "You will regret it."

Her words were ignored and the man struck the needle in her neck to inject the substance. - "You'll only want to call what we need you to call."

Aria grunted, hating to be so weak at the moment that she couldn't even squirm.

The syringe was dropped to the floor and the faceless man stepped aside and pointed towards the mirror.- "Now please do your magic, der foreigner. Call out the frumious beast for us."

Her body tensed, her stomach knotted and she felt her face grow hot with anger, yet Aria was unable to conjure any strength to try and fight or escape. - "You don't know what you unleashed." - Faced with the knowledge that she would not be able to think properly for long once the drug numbed her mind completely, the foreigner decided to choose the lesser of evils between summoning a frumious beast or getting her heart sealed and becoming an even bigger monster, anyways, one way or another she would succumb to madness. She just hoped someone would be able to do something about it. Her mind was getting fuzzy, fuzzy like foxes… there were foxes in her memory … or weren't they? She couldn't remember but it didn't matter, did it?

"We'll be able to handle the Bandersnatch" - The man assured her and removed her bindings so she could do whatever it was needed of her.

A dark chuckle came from the outsider as her brightening green eyes flickered towards the mirror structure. -"Implore that he can defeat me, beg that we can be stopped… beseech to me anyways" - As the madness found the strength of her mind being weakened by the drugs, the foreigner began drifting towards thoughts of power and conquest. - "It's me whom you unleashed."

Looking out towards the field below, the foreigner humming before her lips began singing without lyrics random notes, just a messy tune contained in basic sounds and notes. No one but her could see it, but energy began to gather around and crawl towards the mirror setup in front of the hill where she was, and it began resonating in response to her call, or rather, something at the other side was knocking back on this door.

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We are already on the final chapters. Would you prefer a bad ending or a good one? Or do you think there are stuff I need to a dress or any plot hole to fill?