After she fell

24|Flight

Unfortunately they had no choice of whether to go up or not, as almost the whole crew of villains were chasing them. Almost. The Lady and the Thin Man had gone back to The Lady's bedroom. But as they raced inside, time seemed to slow down and their pursuers could not follow. It was like trudging through mud with the pace that they seemed to be stuck in, and the staircases kept shifting and clicking into place again, at an entirely different location. Just like Hogwarts, and, just like Hogwarts, the staircases would always end up in the forbidden area. This time the staircases took them to the area in which the inhabitants of the Maw kept their sadness, and fear. Their humanness.

For the Teacher, it showed her sitting at a piano, playing a lilting sonata. Mono and Six recognized this scene, but instead, this time around, they could see the Teacher's face. See the tear tracks that wound their way down the old, dusty face...and instead of a music book, it was a photo album.....and in the photo album was a photo. A family photo, with a young girl, that Alice recognized. The Pretender. Six saw her and spared a quick glance over to her, seeing Alice wipe away a tear, and harden her eyes.

The other person, apart from the teacher in the photo, was one that no one immediately realized that they had seen before. It's just- when all you have is a picture of some legs...it's a bit hard to remember who those legs belong to. It's also just a bit hard to care.

Next up were the twin chefs. For them it was more blurred, like painting when your eyes are slowly giving up. A Claude Monet, you could say.

The memory had clearly been stitched over many times, and they used pain as the thread. In the...picture? Mr non Snoozy was watching TV and clearly trying to imitate the lady who was on the screen, Veronica. Tormented in more ways than one.

After that was the person that they had just escaped from, the Janitor.

It was of something that seemed to be of the future, Roger getting his arms cut off, and then returning to the Lair, looking at the children and remembering his own, when little Boo was born- born dead.

With long forgotten things from long forgotten places, he fled the world and found The Maw. Now as The Janitor he is a tall tale hiding in the shadows, stalking the silence, a monster alone.

For the Granny, it was a montage. Living in the nest- training. Living in the maw-working. Left in the depths-only raging, and decaying further. RK still shrunk inside at even the smallest glimpse of her. Alice patted his shoulder gently.

The doctor watched his fiancee die without tears. Perfection is important to The Doctor and he will not allow anything to interfere with his life's work. With his adoring patients clattering the halls, you may not hear The Doctor coming, not until it's too late. Only then will you learn to look up to him.

The Hunter seems to work alone, stalking the wilderness with a rusty shotgun and a lantern-style flashlight. His motives are unknown, but he does appear to have an interest in taxidermy. Taxidermying humans. Taxidermying his family. Only one escaped. Olivia was her name. Now he is a rogue by the name of 0. He prowls the forest, never looking back for fear he'll see her father.

Alice remembered him calling her Olivia and felt her questions pause their ever-increasing whirr, slowing to a flutter. Six stared at the scene before them, watching 0 run. Like the nursery rhyme....

Three blind mice...

See how they run....

Mono felt anger towards the Hunter, for keeping Six captive. But RK was indifferent.

The Lady only had a swirling black and purple mist. Nothing more.

Then finally, it ended. They commenced running, and when there was a jump that Mono didn't quite make, they all helped pull him up.

Mono put his hands on the television and they teleported to who-knows-where. Oh wait! I do...