X No Sekai

o16; A Little Token of Thanks

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“4th ALICE, can’t you sense that we’re close to the Red Queen now?!” Oz exclaimed through the heavy breathing and panting. All of them are running towards where the mysterious girl had pointed the direction. Right now, their only hope was the 4th ALICE to trace the scent of the Red Queen, since they can’t depend anyone that is skilled in tracking anymore.

The 4th ALICE shook his head. “Still no. I can’t trace them, but I can smell the scent of roses. Could it be a trap?” he asked them. The 2nd ALICE shrugged and joked, “The Red Queen doesn’t seem to be as pretty as a rose, so I’ll take that as a no.”

“There’s not enough time, if we want to hurry up, let’s split up,” the 1st ALICE said quickly, glancing back at them. “That way, we can find the Red Queen. We’ll just meet each other…um, somewhere.” The rest nodded. The 1st, 2nd and 4th ALICE split and went on the other way, leaving Oz with the 6th and 5th ALICEs.

Blocking their way was the Right Guardian, grinning at them. The three stopped. “Get out of the way!” Oz ordered. The Right Guardian only smiled at them bigger. “Why are you telling me? Are you in a hurry?”

“Well, duh, as you can see?” the 5th ALICE scoffed. She lit her hands both on flames. “Get out of the way or I’ll burn you into pieces.”

Oz grabbed the 5th ALICE shoulder. “Don’t be too harsh.” Then he turned at the Right Guardian. “We’re asking you politely and kindly, if possible. Please answer our question. Where is the Red Queen hiding?”

“Why should I tell you?” the Right Guardian said, sticking out her tongue. Then she jumped in the air and unlocked her giant black key and out came lots of undead creatures under them. “It’s time to use my real powers now.”

All three of them quickly looked everywhere as the rotting, hideous-looking dead creatures as it started to come out of the ground magically and swooning are after them. Quickly, all of them ducked and ran away from the zombies. But whichever they go, they always come out of the ground quickly in front of them. The Right Guardian laughed. “I think my power is stronger and better than my twin.” She scoffed. But then she grinned at them grotesquely. “But still, this is so fun seeing you flee!”

Oz grabbed the nearest metal on the ground and hit it hard with the incoming dead body towards him. Then he glanced and saw the 6th ALICE was now surrounded with the dead bodies. He ran towards them and hit them with his metal one by one. The 6th ALICE almost got teary-eyed. “Th-thanks…” but Oz didn’t listened to her anymore, as they were being cornered by the gathering zombies. He glanced at the 5th ALICE. She was being cornered too, no matter how fierce she uses her powers are.

The 6th ALICE took a step forward and said, “I-I…let me handle this…”

But she was stopped when Oz held out his hand to block her way. “No. Stay back and leave this work to us, the 5th ALICE.” The 6th ALICE refused and insisted, but Oz just smiled at her and said, “I know you want your best to help us, too. But you can’t stand these rotting creatures. We appreciate your help, really.”

As Oz and the 5th ALICE tried to drive off the dead creatures, the 6th ALICE didn’t like being staying alone and wait for them to finish. I want to…I want to show them I’m not weak as they thought! I want to use my power and help them! I want to help them!! The 6th ALICE thought inside her head as she stood up. Then she exclaimed, startling everyone, “I want to help, too!” Then she raised both of her hands out front as lots of creeping vines with blooming Cherry Blossom flowers that crept towards the zombies and tied them all.

“A-ALICE!” Oz exclaimed. Then he noticed the Right Guardian went towards the 6th ALICE. Oz ran towards them. “ALICE!” he called desperately for the 6th ALICE. The 5th ALICE was now beside him and doing the same.

The 6th ALICE glared at the Right Guardian. “Oh my, how a cute face. It’s such a bad thing they called you weak, right?” she said. “Let me test your strength!” then she raised a lot of undead creatures walking and crawling towards the 6th ALICE. A trickle of sweat dropped from the 6th ALICE’s forehead and her fear of the dead blocked her mind. But she shook it off. It’s for their own good, the 6th ALICE thought, gaining courage.

First, she created a barrier of vines between Oz and the 5th ALICE to them and the Right Guardian. “So, you don’t want your friends to interfere, eh?” the Right Guardian taunted. “How ridiculous.” The 6th ALICE gritted her teeth, “It’s for their own good.”

Oz kicked the vines, but it wouldn’t budge. The 5th ALICE tried to burn it, but it wouldn’t. “This is the best magic the 6th ALICE made,” the 5th ALICE noted, touching the thick vines and flowering Cherry Blossoms. “She used 120% of her power and her energy for this.”

“So then…” Oz stammered. Then he recalled to what happened to the 3rd ALICE. He remembered what the 4th ALICE had told him, using 120% of his power and energy just to use his total max of power. And after that, the 3rd ALICE died from the loss of blood, energy and power. Oz bit his lower lip. “NO! Then the 6th ALICE will…”

The 5th ALICE nodded. “Yes, she will die too.” Then she felt some aura. When she closed her eyes, she saw the vision of the 1st, 2nd and 4th ALICEs already waiting for them. Then she grabbed Oz’s hand and said, “Let’s go. The rest are waiting for us.”

Oz let go of the 5th ALICE grasp. “I won’t go till we’re going to save the 6th ALICE.” Then he turned at the vine wall. Much to his surprise, the 6th ALICE glanced at him, smiled and said, “Go on! I’m doing this to you guys as a little token of thanks for saving and protecting me all the time. Let me handle this, you can count on me.” Oz stared at her for a long time, unable to move and think, too stiffen from what the 6th ALICE told him.

Finally he nodded and together with the 5th ALICE they ran away. A tear dropped on the 5th ALICE eyes as Oz had noticed. The 6th ALICE will be alright, will she? She will make it and defeat the Right Guardian, can she? She won’t die, would she? Oz thought inside his head. When they finally met the rest of the ALICEs not far away, they heard a very loud explosion.

When they opened their eyes, there were cherry blossom flowers falling everywhere. The sight was very pretty, but the message itself was unpleasant. The 2nd ALICE noticed the 6th ALICE wasn’t with Oz and the 5th ALICE. “Where is…?” he asked, glancing at Oz. But Oz only looked down on the floor, looking guilty and regretful. The 1st ALICE opened her hands to catch a falling cherry blossom. “She sacrificed herself for us, am I right?” she glanced up on Oz.

A tear dropped on Oz’s eye. He nodded slowly. The 4th ALICE blew a wind out of his mouth softly, calling a gentle breeze to gently pushing away the cherry blossoms. “Let’s go…” he said solemnly. Not a word came out from their mouths. All of them quickly ran away from the place. Oz dropped behind and stopped running. He turned around to where the explosion was earlier and saw a cherry blossom dropped on his nose. He picked it up and closed his eyes as tears poured out more.

“I’m sorry and thank you, 6th ALICE,” he said softly. Then he put down the cherry blossom on the ground and ran after the rest of the ALICEs. The cherry blossom itself disappeared bit by bit, as well as the 6th ALICE’s memories…

'

It wasn’t long before they finally came to the place where the mysterious girl pointed and said that the Red Queen was. “This place is…” the 2nd ALICE began. All of them stared in wonder and awe at how the place was very rotting, twisted and dark. Not a single light entered the room. And the walls seemed to have chained remaining bones.

The 5th ALICE shivered. “Is this the execution room?”

“I think so,” the 1st ALICE agreed. She noticed the lines of remaining and rotted bones as they were mostly chained, with some dark markings behind them. It seemed it was their blood. Some bones were pressed on the wall, as if they were being pushed and had but cement on them. But whichever it was the right conclusion, the 1st ALICE also shivered. As well as the others.

But the 4th ALICE was busy. He was looking ahead. Then he pointed and said, “What…is that?”

As all of them followed his glance, there, in the middle of the execution room was a very big chair that was faced away from them. But there was a crackling sound. When the big chair turned, it was someone they don’t know yet. And none of them hadn’t seen him.

He was the crazy doctor.

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