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

Chapter 8

A/N: Again a dark chapter. I'm hoping that chapter 10 will start to be a little lighter because we are almost done with our time in the Nowhere. 

There was nothing comforting about the Nowhere, and as the three boys emerged into the Nowhere, they felt all sense of joy leak from their bodies, as if the ground was thirsty for a taste of anything. Riddle glanced down at the ground beneath him and felt his blood turn cold. Flowers wilted next to shadow gravestones, a small trickle of water flowed silently, and a bunny lay on its back next to the distant stone, a strange red mark on its chest. The small boy subtly shifted closer to the two taller boys, seeking some form of comfort.

"This is the Nowhere," Trey asked quietly, not wishing to break the silence. His eyes were drawn to a small shack sitting on the edge of the woods. A small girl was lying on the bench, a small flower dangling from her fingers while her other hand hung down beside her at an angle that wasn't any sort of natural.

"Welcome... welcome... I bid thee three welcome bees." 

The three boys flinched at the eerily high voice, Trey instinctively wrapping his arms around his two companions. Riddle gladly accepted the embrace as he whipped out his pen. Che'nya cowered at Trey's side, his eyes wide and fearful.

The giggle of a small child filled the air. "Fear... scared... they're so scared..." Another giggle. "Why do they feel the need to be scared? There's... nothing... scary..." 

"Who said that," Riddle snapped, getting annoyed.

The girl suddenly jumped off of the bench, throwing the flower over her shoulder, and landed in front of the boys. Her smirk was stretched too long and her lips were too shallow. Her eyes were lifeless, save the tint of green, and her skin clung to barren bones, lacking muscle and fat. 

"Me, my dearest three, I bid thee." She giggled again and threw her body back. She would have fallen and crumpled if not for the magical cushion that seemed to catch her mid-air. "What brings you three to the Nowhere?" She flipped her body around so that she was lying on the strange force and smirked again.

Riddle gagged as the girl's head tumbled off of her shoulders, landing on the ground in front of the boys with a sickening thud. Her dead hair fluttered down on the stump of her neck, sticking to the dark onyx blood that slowly seeped out of the open veins. 

"Oh dear," the girl sighed. "Would you mind picking that up for me?" One of her fingers pointed toward the mangled skull lying on the ground.

Riddle looked up at Trey, fearing what would happen if he was to touch it. Trey didn't return the look, but swallowed and took a step forward.

"T-there." Trey swallowed the lump in his throat as he set the girl's head back down on her shoulders. "Is that okay?"

The head nearly fell off again, but the girl grabbed herself by her throat and with a sickening crack that seemed to echo around the clearing, her spine snapped back into place.

"Yes. Now, you three..." she twirled her blood-stained finger at the boys. "Are here for someone, aren't you? You're perfectly perfect sane." 

"Yes," Riddle said, taking a step forward. "We're looking for a girl named Y/N. Y/N Pinka. Have you seen her?"

Another eerie giggle trickled out of the girl's lips, followed by a dark purple mist that pooled on the ground at their feet. 

"Why... yes, I do believe I have. But not for many... many... many... many..."

"You haven't seen her for a while," Riddle snapped, growing impatient.

"Well, that was quite rude. I don't think I shall tell you now." She started to float away, a cruel and twisted grin on her face. "Good luck finding the little kitty cat without my help~"

"Wait," Che'nya yelled. "Please! She's my sister." 

A black smoke suddenly encircled the boys, forcing them together as it snaked around them, bringing with it the scent of decay. It continued to spiral around them until they were entirely captured in a dark dome. What little light they had had before was completely gone now, and only when an image appeared on the side of the dome were they able to see anything again.

"Trippin' out, spinnin' around. I'm underground. I fell down, yeah, I fell down." 

"Y/N," Riddle whispered, taking a step forward. She wasn't passing through the arch, as they had. She had passed through the cloud barrier of the Nowhere, her hands resting on her arms as she rubbed them up and down. She seemed cold, and the moment she stepped through the barrier, her voice turned dark and a shadow fell over her body.

"I'm freaking out, where am I now? Upside down. And I can't stop it now. It can't stop me now, oh, oh. I, I'll get by..."

Y/N raised her eyes to the sky and Riddle felt a piece of his heart chip as he saw the fear cross her face. She knew where she was. Her beautiful e/c eyes had turned a shade of fright and Riddle longed to reach out and embrace her. He wished to tell her how sorry he was and how he wished that he could take back the words that had lost her to this torture. 

"Y/N..."

"I, I'll survive... When the world's crashing down. When I fall and hit the ground, I will turn myself around. Don't you try to stop me, I, I won't cry. I found myself in Wonderland. Get back on my feet, on the ground... Is this real? Is this pretend? I'll take a stand until the end..."

Che'nya took a step forward, raising his hand to drift across the bottom of the picture. This was a song that he knew well. Y/N often sang it when she felt particularly distraught for one reason or another, and clearly, she was emotional enough now. 

"Why didn't you stay with me," he asked her whispy image.

It disappeared behind his hand and Che'nya felt his heart drop into the bottom of his stomach. He collapsed to the ground, his ears drooping as he stared at the black smoke in front of him. 

Suddenly, another image appeared on the opposite side of the dome and all the boys turned to see Y/N hiding behind a tree. Her hair looked like a bird's nest, her clothes were ripped, and Trey noticed that there was a branch of brambles clinging to a shred of her skirt like a clawed hand hoping to drag her down to the depths of Nowhere.

"Welcome to your life," a deep voice sang. As soon as she heard it, Y/N whipped around, pressing her back against the tree. The boys noticed a line of blood dripping down her arm.

"There's no turning back. Even while we sleep. We will find you... Acting on your best behaviour. Turn your back on mother nature. Everybody wants to rule the world. It's my own desire. It's my own desire."

A dark figure seemed to emerge from the depths of the trees and Y/N let out a small scream, her ears pressed flat against her head. She turned and sprinted away, tripping and stumbling over a root as she tried to escape whatever it was that was coming for her. Her shoe hit a rock and she fell, crashing into a mess of thorns. 

"Y/N," Riddle cried out. His body was wracked with pain as he longed to pull her free from the brambles and hold her close. 

"Help me to decide," the voice called after Y/N. "Help me make the most of freedom. And of pleasure. Nothing ever lasts forever. Everybody wants to rule the world. There's a room where the light won't find you, holding hands while the walls come tumbling down. When they do I'll be right behind you. So glad we've almost made it, so sad we had to fade it."

Y/N didn't push herself up and instead lay in the brambles, tears flowing freely from her face.

"Get up, N/N," Trey urged, watching as the shadow came closer.

Suddenly, a familiar girl swept down and plucked Y/N from the brambles, carrying her off into the sky and away from the figure. And yet, as they flew, and as the image started to darken once more, the boys heard the song once more.

"Everybody wants to rule the world... Everybody wants to rule the world... Everybody wants to rule... the world."

As the mist fell away, the boys noticed that they weren't alone. Standing among them was the little girl with a sad look on her face.