The Crucivire

Chapter Thirty Three: Reborn

Fourteen years ago.

Alice was pretty young the first time she went to an amusement park, and Arthur was even younger. They played games, went on rides, went through a mirror maze, the works. All in all, it was almost a perfect day. There was just one hiccup that happened about halfway through the trip, right about when Alice was about to go on a roller coaster for the first time.

"I wanna go on the roller coaster," Arthur had whined.

Alice, standing next to the 'you must be this tall to ride' sigh, smirked. Arthur pouted angrily.

"Alice," said Mom warningly. "Don't tease your brother."

"Don't worry, kid," said their dad to Arthur. "If you take after me, you'll be taller than Alice when you grow up."

"Dad!" Alice protested.

Her father just laughed, "Come on, Alice. Your mother doesn't like roller coasters."

Alice pouted for about ten seconds, but quickly got in line for the ride with a smile on her face. It was a long wait that day, and Alice kept fidgeting, ready to go, which her father found quite amusing. Finally, they reached the front of the line. Alice was so excited she ran up to the roller coaster as fast as she could.

"Honey!" said Dad. "Slow dow..."

It was too late, however. Alice tripped on the stairs leading up to the roller coaster and hit her head on the side of the ride. A moment later, Alice was on the ground, crying. Her dad had to politely ask the amusement park staff for a band-aid. A moment later, they were outside the ride and Alice had a band-aid on her head and a miserable expression on her face.

Dad gently pressed on Alice's head where she'd hit it.

"Does that hurt?" he asked.

"No," said Alice.

"Good. That means nothing is broken. It will be sore for a little while, but you'll be fine. Hate to say it, but you should probably wait until next time to try the roller coaster, just to be on the safe side."

Alice looked down, feeling miserable, "It hurts."

"I know, sweetie," he said.

"Can we go home now?"

"Alice, just give it a few minutes. You'll be fine, I promise. There's no reason this has to ruin our day."

Alice groaned, and her father sighed.

"Come on," he said. "I think I know how to cheer you up."

Alice reluctantly followed as her father took her to the games area. He led her to the air gun game with three conveyer belts of moving targets. Alice wondered how this was supposed to cheer her up until her father pointed to the prizes.

"Which prize would you like most?"

Alice, her head still throbbing, reluctantly pointed to a plush pink bunny. Her father then got in line, paid the attendant, cracked his knuckles, and then began the game. It only took him a few seconds to shoot every target dead on and win a prize. Alice's eyes grew wide.

"Whoa," she said.

Before she knew it, Alice had a little pink bunny plush in her hands.

"How did you do that so quickly?" she asked.