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Chapter 9- What Was Lost

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As Wonderland was falling apart, the joker dubbed as White was the one in the prison and he was restlessly crawling around trying to find the key or at least a clue. The key to open up her heart was supposed to be in the place where it started, meaning the prison. There surely was a clue somewhere in here, the place where her heart broke.

He began doing a round along the places she used to visit. First the so called 'medical bay', kinda her office and playroom for torturing prisoners that he was letting her have. Fun memories came to his mind, making him smile. All the other idiots that underestimated her as a foreigner clearly had no idea how fucked up she was and the kind of disturbing experiments and dissections she performed here. Antics that used to amuse him before she went batshit insane and decided to seal up her heart.

After hours of carefully checking out the area he found naught. There was nothing here but old bloodstains, sterile instruments, medical journals, records of prisoners and experiments, and some old moldy lunch. Except for the lunch, most have been well hidden and he had no doubt that there was even more stuff hidden around, but ultimately nothing related to her heart. So he headed to the next place that came to his mind; the kitchen.

For a place as terrible as the prison, he surely had some fancy living accomodations, including a decently big kitchen that thanks to her became well stocked. Whenever she came she always passed by the kitchen for some snack or to prepare something, and she always brought or prepared something for both of him, sometimes she prepared things just for him. He had to admit her food was pretty decent and he had gotten her to lease him fun recipes for the circus too. Recipes that she prepared here for him so that he could see the preparation methods and could enjoy the very first batch of recipes that have never before been seen or tasted in this world.

Every single pantry and nook was opened as he began searching around, from the dreaded pink apron that hung on a wall, to the old unique ingredient cans that had been rough in as she visited more and more in the past. But this place was empty too and most food had rotten away.

There were only a couple places in the prison that she had visited with any regularity in the past, and he felt a knot on the back of his palatar as if something very sour had crawled up from his throat just thinking that he may find out more than he wanted. Her room was next.

With some rusty creaking the door opened and he came into her room, although now that he thought about it, her room was used less than the medical bay. He remembered finding her napping more in the medical bay than in here, but surely anything personal had to be here.

Joker entered the room and found it bare - completely bare. At first glance it looked to be just as he had presented it to her when he said she could stay at his territory if she wanted. Nothing seemed out of place.

The sensation was strange, somewhat anxious. Something he was not used to. He began looking around but found nothing of hers but a change of underwear and some shampoo and soap in the bathroom. Nothing fucking else. His fist clenched and he wanted to punch a wall. How the fuck could there not be traces of her with how much time she had spend in his territory!? Then it hit him. During her stays here it had not been unusual that she stayed in HIS room with him, whether it was at the prison or the circus. She had been staying with him whenever she came.

He wanted to rip out his own clock as he stormed towards the warden's room, the last place he had wanted to check because it was the place where she had healed Joker with care for days and the place where the Jester had fucked it all up. Also the place where he had tossed the stupid critter.

As soon as he entered he heard the critter cowering inside the crate. A brief glance let him see that it looked utterly miserable, lonely and scared; trying to back up and get away from him inside the cage.

He ignored it and began looking around. Contrary to his expectations he didn't find much either different than her room. The only thing he found besides another chance of underwear and more bathroom products was the little fox plushie he had given her at some point. The little keychain toy was soft and cute; he picked it up and then approached the critter.

Hissing as it saw him approach, the little feline thing immediately backed away and hissed. It was completely terrified of him. That made him angry. How dare it. He had been keeping it safe! In a small fit of anger he opened the crate and tossed the fox plushie inside, hitting the critter in the face. The little animal froze and remained silent as if broken, looking at Joker with a sad expression that seemed to give up any and all hope. The same expression he had since for a fleeting moment on Aria's eyes when he had tried to force her to kill him.

It hit him harder than it should have. Harder than he thought he could even feel. He had broken it and it mattered. This was not one of the many toys he had in the prison, it was the thing that could fix the stupid foreigner that used to be his so called 'friend'. He had fucked it up again.

"Hey! How do I unseal her?" He growled at the critter. It didn't even mew back.

Joker began pacing around. This stupid critter was a seal created by Aria's own reactions and feelings. How can he have fucked up in the first place? There should be something he was missing. Yes, he had broken her, but it hadn't been immediate and only one of him had done so. She had even remained to heal his other part. He had practically won her game and her over! How could she just cut out her stupid friendship agreement with him like that! Only because he had tried to … well, ok, he had fucked up.

Aria was an incredibly fun toy. She was HIS toy and HIS friend and HIS all over. She was the only person that never gave a damn about how bad he is. Heck, she deeply respected his role and his duties. She had helped and supported him, and was all friendly without utter motives or made the motives very clear and direct with that open and greedy nature of hers. He had never thought about it before, but that was probably the most sought after traits of a foreigner, what his instincts as a holder pushed him to seek. not her stupid greediness, but that stupid tendency to approach creatures as dangerous as the holders so casually. And had lost her. Her heart was lost.

He had practically won her game before shit went down to spade. Something he had found and won and never fuckign considered as such until now that he lost it … and he hadn't just lost it himself, his actions and that moment of weakness had made her an enemy of this world now. An enemy with the actual power and madness to be a real danger, and thus something he had to fix because if she died all the shit happening around would be permanent.

He looked back at the critter. It was cowering in a corner of the crate and holding the little plushie. Joker, with a softer and somber gaze, tried the chicken trick but the little critter refused to even move. As a trail from a foreigner this creature reflected a foreigner, and it would die anyways if he couldn't do something. He was killing it, this critter, as far fetched as it was, was probably the only remnant of his friend and the only clue too as to how to fix this mess. This made things trickier. If the stupid creature died so would the changes of unsealing her heart.

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Aria didn't even notice that she was bleeding from her nostrils and ears until someone passed her a rag. Dealing with the amusement park had been more troublesome than she thought because it had to be done in full. She had burned the surface, started by the edges while she flooded all the underground areas and everything from the surface down.

The cat was missing but there had been no reports of him being in the park, and the dormouse … well, that one was troublesome to get rid of. He could be in any of his dozens of miniature lairs around. He had been spotted in the park while Gowland was being led to the underground areas. So she had begun her operation by burning out the buildings and rides at the edge of the park as the underground were being flooded. Hopefully he had drowned or then escaped towards fires to be burned alive or spotted so he could be finished off. And if not, the rat was not as important. He was one of the least important holders and with Gowland dead the park was done too.

She could take a break so she began heading to the town to take a small break and a drink. After all, there was some reading she had to do. She had to check the last book that the king wrote.

The town was already empty and she was walking alone through one of the main streets. She had instructed her cards to focus on their missions and to leave her look alone just in case she stumbled upon holders. She would rather risk herself than risking her plans being found out and soon she would reach the no-return point. It would be glorious in a terrible karmic way.

"Hello, sis!"

Aria stopped as the twins, in their older forms, stepped on her way.

"Ahhh … hello. Are you slacking off again?" She asked casually, not bothered.

"Not this time, sis." Dee crossed his halberd over his shoulders.

"Yeah, the boss sent us to check things." Dum leaned on his own weapon.

"Oh, then you are here for negotiations, right?" Aria nodded as if clueless. "But where is Elliot, then?"

"The chicky rabbit went to Clover." Dee shrugged. "Are you here to have fun, sis?"

Aria shrugged too and pointed in the general direction of the park. "Well, the park is on fire, so there is little to do there."

"Great! Then why don't you come with us, sis?" Dum smirked casually taking a hold of his weapon.

The merc tapped her chin as if considering it. If she followed them then she would reach Blood directly. But that encounter would be in his territory and under his control, so it was better to get rid of both of them here. "I wasn't planning to go visit the hatter yet, but," her smirk was feral. "Dear gatekeepers," she began and they felt a pull on their clocks to stand in attention to her words. "Kill each other right now, and whoever of you survives, then kill yourselves."

As soon as she stated that, they attacked each other. Faceless appearing over the nearby roofs to watch, making beds and enjoying the show, ready with flamethrowers and grenades.

Aria smirked and went on her way, her form shifting in time, more metallic lines appearing on her flesh and more enhancements and components fussing with her body.

This was witnessed by the dormouse from a hole in a building in town. He was wet and his clothes looked half charred, and he had trouble understanding what was going on, so he had to hurry and tell Blood.

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