This is exactly what he tried to avoid. This is exactly what he feared the most. His palms perspired with gallons of sweat and goosebumps protruded along his arms and neck as the most horrible and terrifying thoughts emerged inside his brain. As a father, Kenta avoided the mere notion that this day would come - a day where for even a fraction of a second that one of his children would wander off.

Or run away.

Or be taken.

The endless possibilities rooted themselves in the core of his mind and he couldn't shut them out. No matter the pain that poisoned his entire body, these terrifying possibilities were the only thing keeping his senses on high alert. It was one thing to be lost in Ingary, where they have family and friends in nearly every city and the advantage of magic on their side.

This reality was far more horrid - a magician lost in the realm of human territory petrified him.

"Wynne!" He shouted her name, but he could barely see over the height of the passersby. He squirmed through the crowd like a fish caught in an overloaded net hoping for a loose hole but counting its breath until the inevitable end had approached. There were too many people, too many confused and now curious looks in his direction as he made their presence in this world more known.

It was like everyone had suddenly become cognizant that he was an outsider.

"Hold up!" A bolt of lightning surged through his core as a familiar hand forced him to turn around - Gwenda. She pulled him through the mass of partiers, her towering height an advantage Kenta would never experience. He was grateful to be away from the congregation of foreigners. They stood on a lonely sidewalk whereby only a few people strolled. His anxieties diminished and he could finally feel his heart rate gradually lessen.

"Where's Wynne?" Gwenda asked, her eyes scouring the distant festival.

"I don't know." Anger took root inside of him. "Why weren't you watching her?"

Gwenda's voice was loud even though she was directly in front of him. "I was until you went all hypnotic and walked away. What was that all about?"

"I was looking for something." His teeth chattered, remembering the faint glow of that slimy, green anomaly. "Something that didn't seem right."

"What was it?"

Kenta shook his head. It was probably all a mirage, anyway. "Nevermind what I saw. Why didn't you stay with her?"

Gwenda jammed an irate finger against his bulky chest. "Don't even try to put this on me. I told her to follow me. I grabbed her hand and the next minute I couldn't feel it anymore. She must have gotten stuck in the crowd."

"Then you should have gone back to find her."

Gwenda dropped her jaw. "She's your daughter! You shouldn't have walked away from her in the first place!"

Kenta stopped breathing as the air around him refused to inhale. His mind was a spinning fall or a dizzying throb and there was no clarity in sight. The possibilities amplified inside; the pervasive list of Wynne's whereabouts and her condition pressed deeper and pushed further into the heart of his worry.

As they spun and wove extensively around his core, Kenta finally broke down and relinquished his fears through an onslaught of tears.

Gwenda dropped her frustration upon seeing his reddened eyes and cheeks, the streams falling down like a river. "I can't lose her. I can't, I just - I just can't, Gwenda. I-I don't know what I would do if she was stuck here in this horrible place. We've been here less than a day and I've already lost my daughter. I… I can't take it anymore. I hate Wales."

A few people glanced over at them, resentful of Kenta's words. Gwenda rolled her eyes and paid them no mind. He needed reassurance right now; he needed a friend. "We're going to find Wynne. I mean, look around you - how many little Japanese girls do you think are walking through this town?"

He rubbed his dripping nose as the mucus tried latching onto his beard. She wasn't wrong; even in Ingary, Kenta's family was one of the few whose origins were rooted in Earth's Japanese ancestry. It was this prospect that calmed his anxieties and heightened his determination.

They would find her - he couldn't return home without his little girl.

✧ ･ : * ✧ ･ : * ･ ✧

Ultimately, they decided to split up. The plan was to reunite on the same sidewalk in an hour, whether they had found Wynne or not. Both wished it wouldn't come to that, so expanding their distance was the best option.

Gwenda walked in the opposite direction of the food stands, keenly observing each and every person in her path. Some of their stares were questionable, however, and she was not oblivious to their obvious looks. As irritating as it was, she was fairly accustomed to this, even in Ingary. Gwenda was always the tallest in her family, even more than their father once she had grown into her teenage years. She'd always felt a slight annoyance from the way people silently judged her or softly whispered about her stark deviance.

But that didn't matter - not today, and certainly not in this pressing moment. She had lived through obnoxious judgment in the past, and she would not let it dictate her now.

After nearly a half-hour of inquisitive searching, even Gwenda had to rest away from the boisterous party. She pressed her hands firmly on her knees, the confidence that once filled her slowly drifting into thin air - how were they ever going to find Wynne like this? She had hoped Kenta could just flash a location spell, but there were more limitations in this world than she originally believed.

Another reason why Kenta wants to get the hell out of here, she thought.

She took one more glance, cutting through the people as they milled about. All their aryan faces conformed into a stream of likeness, a school of fish with the same scales and repetitive patterns. Lights danced in their flickering candles and beaming lampposts, yet her own mind was a black void of nothingness. Their jubilant smiles of such entertainment were a mockery of Gwenda's fierce panic.

She nearly found this task entirely impossible - until the appearance of a different outlier forced her thoughts to pause.

Gwenda gasped and stood straight. Every muscle, every bone and nerve and vein twitched in a polymerization of surprise and excitement and terror. This wasn't Wynne - no, not by a longshot. The girl she saw was older than her niece, but younger than Gwenda herself. Her dark hair flowed down her back like a midnight waterfall, and her smile was tainted in a melancholic grace. Like a faded photograph, her mere presence was an eerie nostalgia.

She couldn't help but stare at this ghost, a phantom from the past appearing after years of separation and loss. As quickly as she had appeared among the exuberant festival-goers, however, had she waltzed down the sidewalk. Like she was just another pedestrian.

But she wasn't - not to Gwenda. The sullen and morose visage that glistened on Martha Hatter was too haunting to forget.

Gwenda quivered her lips, barely finding the words to say, yet her feet moved on autopilot. She thrust her way through the crowd toward her long-lost friend. "Martha... oh my goodness, Martha!"

"Aunt Gwenda!" Two tiny arms wrapped around Gwenda's midsection and halted her pursuit. Little Wynne clasped around her in such haste that her aunt had no time to react.

"Wynne-" Gwenda looked down at the little girl, her niece's familiarity overloading her with relief. The thoughts she had paused flung back at her, and she knelt down in a close embrace. "You came back to me. Thank heavens you're okay."

"I found this nice lady." Wynne said, pointing up to a stranger, "She helped me when I told her I got lost."

Gwenda turned to the woman and almost fainted. It was the girl she had seen. Though her instincts begged to wrap her arms around her wiry friend in a long-awaited reunion, the fantasy dissipated into bitter truth.

From far away, the memory of Martha Hatter resurfaced and twisted her mind into thinking she was real again. However, seeing her up close, this woman only shared physical resemblances. Her hair, though dark and mysterious, had a slight curl from her roots to the ends. Her visage was not nearly as dismal as the youngest Hatter sister, either. No, this woman showed no experience of the affliction Martha had acquired in her short life.

Gwenda released a saddened sigh. It was a disappointing reality, but even she knew that nothing could cheat death.

The woman noticed her staring and sighing. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yes," Gwenda replied quickly. "I'm sorry. You just… you look like an old friend of mine."

She shrugged. "No worries. I actually get that a lot, surprisingly."

Gwenda moved her attention to Wynne. "Your father is worried sick right now looking for you. Just wait until he-"

"Wynnie!" As if overhearing their conversation, Kenta rushed up and flung his arms around his daughter. "Oh, thank goodness you're safe. I was a mess trying to find you."

"I'm sorry I scared you." Wynne's voice was high and filled with joyous content. "But Miss Teacher helped me!"

The lady with Martha's hair laughed lightly, her voice a sweet sing-song lullaby. "I'm an English teacher at the high school nearby, so I get a little worried when I see kids without their parents."

Kenta finally let go of Wynne long enough to have the same reaction as Gwenda's from moments earlier. At least she knew she wasn't imagining things. It was impossible to take his eyes off her; though slightly older than the Martha they knew years ago, this woman was the probability of her stolen future.

Kenta widened his eyes before remembering how rude it was to stare. He reached a shaky hand toward her. "Very nice to meet you... and thank you for finding my daughter. I don't believe I quite got your name."

The woman smiled without showing her teeth. Her face looked like a casual photo, still tainted in a beautiful flair. "My name is Lily, but my students call me Miss Angorian. And from cute little Wynne here, I'm going to assume you are dad and Aunt Gwenda."

He released an irritated exhale. "Kenta." Part of his game plan was sheltering their true identities from this world. However, with two names already revealed - and Wynne's inability to hold a secret - it was better not to be caught in a lie.

He cleared his throat. "Pleased to meet you, Lily Angorian. And thank you again for your help. You are a lifesaver."

Lily tilted her head, making Gwenda and Kenta shiver. Not only did she have similar features to Martha, but she even captured some of her innate quirks. "You don't look like you're from here."

Kenta tightened small fists at his side, his eyes narrowed with frustration. "Oh? And how do we look then?"

Immediately, Lily raised her hands in a frightened defense. "No, not that… I mean, I-I didn't mean it in that way. I-it's not a big town and being a teacher, I usually meet a lot of the families here and well..." As her voice trailed to cover her seemingly inconsiderate phrasing, she searched her coat pocket and pulled out a small, white box. While it appeared as though she didn't mean any harm by her words, her flustering anguish was highly prevalent.

Lily's finger frantically lifted a dense, cylindrical paper filled with nicotine and tar while her defensive plea was still in pursuit. Gwenda scrunched her nose as Lily put the heinous lung-killer between her lips, and with shaky hands reached for a silver lighter. Gwenda rubbed her nose cautiously and stood close to Wynne, hoping to breathe in as little of the fume as possible. For a schoolteacher, she seemed to have no problem smoking around children.

Wynne darted curious eyes between her dad, aunt, and the teacher. She sensed a strange uneasiness, picking up on her father's distaste for the woman who protected her. Aunt Gwenda was less suspicious of her, but something in her eyes stared at this teacher with visible pain.

She wondered what about Miss Teacher made them so scared.

Lily flicked open the light with an awkward grace, and as she lit the tip of the cigarette, Kenta shuddered at the green flame waving in the brisk wind. His mind ignored all that she spoke and instead focused on his previous quest.

"That fire..." He sputtered out as he nearly stumbled over. Lily flipped the lighter top and it clanged shut, shielding the mysterious fire away from them. She watched him through a foggy haze of poisonous smoke, but his curiosity would not cease. "Is there something changing the color from orange to green? I noticed it earlier in the other candles here and-"

"You saw that?" Lily held the cigarette between firm fingers. Her demeanor had quickly shifted from a nervous, loquacious wreck to somewhat calmer and more relaxed. It was a hasty transformation. "Ah, I get it now. Of course! You're who I sensed popping into town earlier tonight."

Gwenda leaned forward. "Uh… sensed?" She turned to Kenta for understanding, yet he simply bowed his head, almost in defeat. While Gwenda failed to read into Lily's words, he was unsure if he should feel more relieved or wary of this stranger now. Not only had she gotten their identities, but she had already expected their arrival.

Lily inhaled dry smoke and exhaled it away from them. "I think you're all very well aware of what I mean. Besides, how many magicians do you think pop in and out of Fishguard? This is so exciting!"

Gwenda and Kenta shared an unnerving glance. Her mind unraveled all the ways this stranger could have possibly known - or, as she put it, sensed - their coming to this world while Kenta worried about those surrounding them. No one seemed to hear or care about Lily's words.

No matter the insignificance of these humans - Lily now had all his attention.

Wynne chimed in. "W-we're not magicians. I don't even know what that is. Who's ever heard of such a thing?" Her laughter was coaxed with flustering nerves, so Kenta rested an easy hand on her.

"It's okay," he whispered, "She's one of us."

"Very perceptive," Lily said with a side smirk. "You don't have the same ability as me, do you?"

Kenta met her gaze. Her pale skin glowed in comparison to the darkness around her. No, darkness wasn't her source. There was really just a strange, mysterious vibe about her. He tried searching her soul for the root of her power. Verdant, light, cyclone, lunar - none of which he could think that suited her aura.

Once he focused on those eyes, however, once he truly saw into the depth of her power and source, it made sense how she was completely aware of their presence.

She resembled Martha Hatter in more ways than her appearance.

"Why don't I invite you over for the night?" Lily gestured away from the candlelit festival and toward the desolate, darkened street. "I can set up my guest bedroom and give you all a place to stay for the night. Might give you time to work on a way back home to Ingary."

Gwenda wasn't sure if they should conjure up a lie and risk sleeping outdoors for one more night, or if Kenta had already formulated another plan. He didn't seem to argue with her, though, and honestly Gwenda didn't have the strength to, either. Everything was happening so fast - a magician willing to help and a place to stay for the night. It was like this world foresaw their coming ages ago.

Or maybe, it was just Lily Angorian.