A Fool's Guide to the In-Between [A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic]

Chapter 7

A/N: I was not expecting this story, or any other for that matter, to get so much love, so thank you so much to everyone who has commented, voted, and read my stories! <3 This chapter is fairly dark, at least to me, so if you aren't comfortable with reading that, then just skip to the end. Hopefully, the chapters will get lighter soon, but we have to get through the darkness of the Nowhere first. 

The chill was like ice, clinging to everything warm and turning it frigid in a matter of seconds. The liquid cold seeped into blood and stole the breath from everything living. It came from the mist and clouds, spiralling down and sweeping through the crevasses of Nowhere like a cursed spider web, bringing madness with it. 

"Such a beautiful domain." 

The one who spoke stood atop a tower, his eyes shut in pleasure as he felt the bite of the wind and the shrieks that the breeze brought. It was the life force of his domain. The screams of longing, the dreary ash mist that smelled like distress, and the taste of metal that clung to the air like a parasite. Few would consider this place beautiful, and even fewer would be willing to reside in the castle where the man did. 

A mere replica of castles in the world above, cast in shadows and as cold as the deep wells that littered the Nowhere, said to be thick with the screams of tortured victims and creatures of the Nowhere. Shadow vultures that stole souls from the edge of the In-Between, dragging them down to the darkness, snakes of mist that could enter the bright world above, luring people into their traps.

And of course, a darling little kitty cat had been blind to their tempting lures, stumbling along in the shadows of doubt and depression. Right into the trap of the master of Nowhere. 

"How is she," the master asked, turning to a vulture that sat next to him, perched on a cold shadow stone. It squawked a scream that echoed around the valley. The victims left alive, if you could call them that, covered their ears in terror and fled to their dwellings, seeking shelter from the horrifying malice.

"Good. I shall go and pay her a visit. She shall prove quite useful if we are to extend our realm."

. . . 

"Round and round like a horse on a carousel we go..." a dull thump echoed off of the wall, followed by a clatter of metal. "Will I catch up to love? I could never tell... I know..." Two thumps hitting stone, and the scrape of nails on metal. "Chasing after you is like a fairytale, but I... feel like I'm glued on tight to this carousel."

Hands the colour of pewter slowly emerged from the darkness of the cell, resting on the charcoal coloured bars. Nails as black as night broken and splintered rested on the tips of Y/N's fingers, threatening to break and fall at any moment. The kitty pressed her shallow face to the bars, shutting her eyes at the cold sensation and allowing her face to slip down, the bars making stains of black on her cheeks as she did so. 

"Come... come on... come on... you must be this tall..." She lifted one of her hands and lazily drew a line up to her chin. She pretended to draw a line and giggled. Her hand dropped. "To ride at the carnival."

In the cell across from Y/N, a young boy cowered in the corner, his arms wrapped around his torso as he watched the girl in front of him. She had been here longer than she had. While he still had the colour of his flushed peachy cheeks, the young girl had lost all colour, save the dead e/c of her eyes. 

She smiled at the boy, showing off her rows of teeth, the tips blackened from the blood that trickled down from a cut on her shoulder. Her starving body hadn't been able to resist the delectable liquid.

"Come sweet boy," she cooed, her voice dripping with an eerie sweetness. She beckoned to him with her index finger, the only one without a broken nail. "Come my darling. It's time to ride the carousel..." She tilted her head to the side, her hair covering her eyes as she did so. "I promise that it'll be fun..."

The boy shook his head and searched his cell for something to protect himself from the madness. Though there were two rows of bars between them, he couldn't help but be frightened. 

Suddenly, the doors at the end of the hall swung open. It sounded like they were about to crash into the walls, but like everything else in the world, the crash was strange. Silent. 

"Where'd you go? Mr Houdini, you're a freakshow."

The man chuckled and strode quickly down the hall, ignoring the other prisoners who cowered in fear. They hadn't succumbed to the madness as quickly as Y/N had. While the others had been able to keep their heads a little longer, Y/N's head was long gone, rolling on the ground at her feet as she kicked it about. 

"Hello little kitten," the man said with a smirk as he neared Y/N's cell.

"Mr Houdini, you're a freakshow..." Y/N sang again. In her days in the cell, the other prisoners had become accustomed to her strange voice. Like it was trapped a mile underwater while still standing atop the highest mountain in any of the worlds. 

The man, who was not named Houdini, chuckled. He stood in silence, watching as Y/N gripped the crossbar in front of her and leaned her body back, her tail twitching as she rolled her head around in a circle.

"How would you like to come for a walk in the light," he asked, pulling out a ring of keys.

Y/N shook her head slowly, her greasy hair sticking to her sweaty forehead as she did so. "No... no... no... no... Mr... Houdini..." She walked away from the bars, a drunken sway in her step, "Round and round like a horse on a carousel, we go..." She stopped halfway into her cell and turned to the master of the Nowhere. "Sing... sing... sing with me Mr. You know this song..."

The man chuckled, deciding it best to entertain the mad girl's pleas. 

The girl sank to her feet in the cell and pulled out a small doll made of straw and fabric, ripped from her clothes. 

"Tired, blue boy walks my way. Holding a girl's hand. That basic b**** leaves finally. Now I can take her man..." Y/N sang, pretending that the little doll was dancing around like a ballerina. She turned to the man standing outside her cell and watched him intently.

The man chuckled and stepped through the cell bars, taking a seat in front of Y/N and holding his hand out. She passed him the doll and allowed him to play with it. "Someone told me stay away from things that aren't yours. But was he yours, if he wanted me so bad?"

"Pacify her. She's getting on my nerves. You don't love her. Stop lying with those words." Y/N rocked back and forth as she sang, her eyes focused on the doll. It reminded her of a time long ago. A time when there was colour and happiness in the world. In a time when she could feel wood beneath her hands, and the warmth on her skin. 

"What are you thinking about, my little mist?" 

Y/N took the doll from the man and pulled off the hair. She ripped it to shreds and reattached it in a shorter fashion. Then she ripped off another piece of fabric from the hem of her shirt and tied it around the doll's neck.

"Riddle... Riddle... Riddle me this... how much longer... till a neck... snaps like this..."

. . . 

Riddle stopped dead where he stood, his hand flying to his neck as he heard the haunting words echo in his head. He knew exactly who had said them, and it sent a chill down his spine like someone had poured a bucket of glacier water on him.

"Riddle?"

Che'nya and Trey had turned back just in time to see Riddle crumble to the ground, silent tears dripping down his face as he watched Y/N through strange eyes. She was only a shadow of what she had once been.

"Riddle?"

"This is all my fault," Riddle whispered, clutching at the clothing around his neck and tearing it off. "It's all my fault. We're losing her and it's all my fault." 

A/N: A short update. I hope you enjoy it!