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

Chapter 9

"Tell us where to find her."

⚔⚜⚔

Eerie music swept through the air as Y/N danced, no longer in her usual attire. Now, she was dressed in a strange dress that flared out around her thighs, almost like a limp tutu. The fabric was stained with blood and tar, pulling some flimsier fabrics down, while others, perfectly white, remained upright. Her hair was slick with oil and a hauntingly red liquid that trickled down her face, dripping onto the bow tied around her neck. The white makeup on her face was streaked with colour too bright for this world, but it seemed perfectly placed compared to the strange scene behind her.

A carnival tent had been erected, the spire stretching up into the heavens of mist, while the ground around the tent had momentarily gained some of its colour back. The dirt was a familiar brown, the small sparse patches of grass the same emerald green that Y/N could remember from a dream, and of course, the tent itself had been made from elegant ribbons of scarlet and gold. 

This fantastic dream was a gift from the master of Nowhere. He had persuaded his subjects to join him in putting on a fantastic carnival at the mention of three new guests who had not gone quite mad yet. Some subjects were dressed as clowns with wigs of blue and purple on their heads, while others were dressed as acrobats, though they seemed less than interested in successfully completing a routine. They had only been working at the carnival for an hour or so and yet already some had dropped to the floor with a sickening crack as they landed on their wrist. 

Y/N was one of the more eager participants. She skipped across the dusty floor in her ballet clown attire, the rings in her hair bouncing with every step she took. She seemed oddly alive as she danced from one stone to the next, leaving little splotches of dark ink wherever she went.

Seated at the top of the tent was the Master of the Nowhere, watching as Y/N performed for him with the help of his other lifeless zombies. 

"Such a wonder," he chuckled, stroking his chin with his finger as he watched her freeze. Another servant came up behind her and inserted a key into her back, twisting it around a few times before pulling it out. Black ink seeped into Y/N's clothes as started dancing once more, the eerie smile still plastered on her face.

"Master," one of the birds croaked in his ear. "The intruders, Master."

The man gave the bird a sickening grin. Like lightning, his hand shot out and wrapped around the bird's neck, a sickening crack echoing through the wood as the bird's head lolled to the side, unable to support itself. "They will be here shortly. And they will be..." he smirked and leaned forward, resting the tips of his fingers against each other, "Horrified... by what my magnificent creation has become."

⚔⚜⚔

"Do you hear that?" 

The boys paused as Che'nya's arm shot out in front of them, pausing them in their step.

"What?" Riddle felt like a criminal, creeping through the undergrowth in his shredded clothes. The girl had been able to sneak them past the first line of defences and into the main domain of the Master, but they still weren't close to the castle, which they could now see sprouting up in the distance like a briar bush. 

"That music," Che'nya hissed. He quickly changed direction and headed east instead of north like they had been going for the past three hours. 

"Wait, Che'nya," Riddle snapped, creeping after his friend. "The girl told us to keep going north! We have to get to the castle if we want any chance of finding Y/N!"

Che'nya ignored Riddle and continued slinking along the undergrowth, his tail twitching with the music that seemed to grow louder with every step they took. Eventually, Che'nya's tail was moving too quickly to be stealthy and he was forced to hold it firmly in one hand. 

The trio emerged from the forest, and knelt behind a row of bushes, gasping at what they saw. A large carnival of sorts, bigger than any that they had seen before, with more colour in the one tent than they had seen in the rest of the Nowhere combined. It seemed like an army of zombies lined the pathway into the main tent, swaying in time with the music, though just off enough that it made Riddle snap the branch in his hands. 

The three ducked down as the zombies turned toward the noise, curious as to what made it. But the death in their eyes quickly pulled them away from the sound and they returned to their swaying, now lifting one arm to welcome another group of zombies that seemed to be some sort of audience. 

"Where are they going," Trey asked.

"The tent," Che'nya deadpanned.

Trey rolled his eyes. "I know that, Che'nya. What I mean is what's in the tent? It doesn't seem like any sort of entertainment."

Che'nya glanced down at his hand and blanched when he saw that it was starting to lose some of its colour. The world of Nowhere affected those who could travel between the worlds much easier than those who couldn't comprehend the secrets of the In-Between and the Nowhere. He stole a glance at Trey and Riddle and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they still had all their colour. 

Suddenly an eerily high laugh echoed through the courtyard and Che'nya nearly sobbed when he saw his sister dancing among the death and decay. She swung around on the centre lamp post in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by the zombies, calling out for them to enter the tent.

"Come one, come all," she called in a dry voice, swinging from one side of the post to the other. "Come to the Carnival of Death, for all of your desires shall be revealed within!" She giggled again and swung around the pole, slowly climbing to the top of it and balancing on the old iron structure. She twirled on the small ball at the top and as she was about to set her foot down again, she slipped and fell to the ground, landing on her wrist with a sickening crack. 

"Y/N," Che'nya yelped. He was about to charge out of the bushes but Trey managed to hold him back. While Riddle and Che'nya had been worried about the girl, Trey had noticed the man sitting at the top of the tent, watching as everyone entered. 

"Let me go, Trey," Che'nya almost screamed. "That's my sister!"

"If you rush out now, with no plan, you'll get caught and you'll end up just like her!" He spun Che'nya around again, pointing through the brush. 

Everyone watched in horror as Y/N pushed herself to her feet, using her obviously broken wrist. She held it in front of her and stared at it as if contemplating whether or not to keep her hand. She shrugged and continued dancing, her now limp hand dangling at an odd angle and jerking every time her arm moved in the wrong way.

"That's not right," Trey muttered.

Riddle was terrified by what he saw. It seemed as if Y/N was entirely dead. And too far gone to save... He sunk to the ground and pressed his face to the dirt, softly sobbing as he remembered the day that he had shouted at her. If only he had managed to hold his tongue. She would never have been sent into this twisted world that drained all humanity from her.

"Riddle," Trey asked. He was holding Che'nya tight to try and keep him from running to his sister as he watched her enter the tent, hiding her from their sight. "Riddle, what is it?"

Riddle pushed himself up from the ground. "You saw her, Trey... She's too far gone." The tears started to slip from his eyes and tumbled to the floor one after the other, staining the ground. As Trey watched, he noticed that the ground seemed to bring back some colour, slowly turning brown and then green as small shoots of grass started to grow. 

Che'nya nearly threw himself at Riddle in anger. "She's too far gone!? That's my sister, Rosehearts! I will not give up on her until she stops breathing!" He pinned Riddle to the ground, frightening the smaller boy as the redhead stared up into the nearly murderous eyes of his friend. "You sent her here! You cursed her! You cursed my sister!"

"Che'nya," Trey hissed, pulling Che'nya from Riddle. "You're taking this too far! Yes, Riddle got upset, and yes, Y/N is lost here, but we can get her back!"

Riddle was too stunned to move. He lay there in the brush, hardly able to breathe. He couldn't hear Trey consoling Che'nya. He couldn't hear Trey explaining a possible plan to Che'nya. He didn't hear Che'nya leave their hiding place in hopes of retrieving his sister from her prison, and he didn't hear Trey trying to bring him out of his shocked stupor. And he certainly didn't hear Che'nya screaming for help as two vulture-like birds swooped down, one with a broken neck, and carry Che'nya off to see their twisted master.