Living in the Hatter Mansion, I've been told, is not an easy thing to get used to. Much in the same way, I've been told that living in Wonderland isn't easy for a "normal" person- once, a girl told me all of this in a dream, a black bow on her head and a crisp white apron over her dress. I still don't know who she was, and I definitely did not know about anything she was talking about then.

I woke up after that dream, and at that point, I knew I wasn't in my bed, my soft and warm and comfy bed- and not only that, I knew that I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Day did not turn to night so quickly before my eyes there- this had to be nothing more than a dream- a simple dream.

I woke up, on the floor of a forest, and I did what all lost things do- I wandered. It was a dream, I told myself, as I wandered through the forest.

I stumbled upon a dead body. Impulse told me to loot it. I quelled the impulse- noting to that weird part of my brain that it would be equal parts impractical and rude, as I watched shadowlike figures surround the body- something in my mind told me that I might want to walk a little wider.

My mind wanders as much as my body, thinking back to the girl with the black bow. Did she send me here? As I think, I trip and fall onto some brambles on the way, and begrudgingly accept that this may not be a dream at all, hissing through my teeth as I pull them out. They bleed down my leg momentarily, leaving ugly red marks- but the bleeding stopped quickly.

Only moments later, I stumbled upon gates. And I stumbled upon the guards, who all threatened to kill me with equal amounts amusement and malice in their eyes.

A man in a ridiculous hat stopped them from killing me. A similar impulse to the one that told me to loot the body told me to steal the hat. I have no idea what's up with that part of my brain and stealing, but I kept from acting on it, regardless of it all.

I was invited for tea by Blood Dupre, the man who saved my life.

I sat uncomfortably as the three people who had threatened to kill me earlier sat, staring at me like I was amusing, yet suspicious. I sipped the tea in front of me daintily- their eyes did not move away, they merely watched me. I turned my attention to the only person who didn't seem to regard me much at all- the same man who saved me earlier, in his ridiculous and oh-so-steal-worthy top hat.

"So, you are an Outsider, correct?" Blood asks.

I hesitate- the way he says it makes me think that he means something that might be outside of my definition of outsider. I take a breath and give my best response, regardless. "I'm certainly not from around here, if that's what you mean- I don't even know how I got here, to tell you the truth- I just woke up in the forest, and I honestly don't remember anything before that, other than a dream I had."

The man with the rabbit ears next to me chuckles a little. I shift in my seat, still a little wary of sitting next to the men who pulled a gun on me with the intention of shooting it to "test it out."

I don't know how to open my mouth without saying something stupid, so I sit awkwardly and sip my tea a little more.

"So, what is your name, young lady?" Blood asks, obviously aware of my discomfort. I'm wearing it like a neon sign.

"Amber. I-I don't like my last name, so I'm not going to say it, if that's okay." I say, taking another nervous sip of my tea. "So, what exactly do you mean by 'outsider'? The way you said it makes me a little confused."

Blood smiles. "It means that you don't come from Wonderland, which is where we are now. It also means several other things, but you'll find those out in time."

The initial sense that the statement makes comforts, and the second only serves to make me feel even more alienated. I take another sip of my teacup, only to find it's empty- a maid comes forward and refills it for me.

"The unfortunate thing is that I really don't have a place to stay." I say, taking perhaps the twenty-fifth sip of tea in the mere minutes I have been sitting here. This time I let it linger. It is, in fact, really good tea. I notice that all eyes are on me- including the servants', which only serves to make me more uncomfortable. "I only just got here, and other than the forest, this is the only place I know about."

"You may stay here in the mansion with us, if you'd like." Blood says with a smile. "It's dangerous here in Wonderland, after all; it's only courteous of us to offer shelter."

"Thank you very much- I would like that, if only for just the night," I say, with a little nod,. "I will try not to be a burden."

"You may stay as long as you like. This could potentially be very interesting, judging from your current reactions." Blood says. Everyone else around the table nods in unison.

"I'm sorry that I'm so nervous, I just wasn't exactly planning on sitting next to the person who tried to kill me." I say, with a weak little gesture of notation towards the man with the rabbit ears next to me.

"Don't worry about you- I've got the Boss's orders not to kill you, anyways. I'm Elliot March." The rabbit-eared man says, reaching his hand out for me to shake it. Hesitantly, I take it, and shake it. The rabbit-eared man smiles at me, and his ears move- confirming that no, they are not fake. I can't help but wonder if he has a tail.

"And I'm Dee," One of the twins says.

"And I'm Dum." The other says, directly after the first.

"And we won't kill you either." They both say in unison.

I smile at the twins- they're almost cute when they're not trying to kill me. I put down my teacup and relax a little. "So, what do you do here at Hatter Mansion?"

"Various things- we take care of pests, issues, and some other things around Wonderland." Blood says calmly. "I'm the head of the household."

"What he's saying is that we're the mafia, to put it bluntly." Elliot says.

I tense up again, putting on my best "I-have-made-a-huge-mistake-and-am-currently-trying-not-to-panic" smile.

Perhaps it wasn't my best decision.

Living in the mansion with a mafia is an interesting experience from the beginning.

The servants always come in pairs. Always. And they almost always tote a gun in some pocket of their outfit- sometimes visible, sometimes not, but they always do.

I manage to avoid talking to any of the other tenants for a bit- I just decide to explore whatever areas I can. If there is an open door, I'm always tempted to walk through it.

Two of the maids lead me to the guest room- it's spacious, with a table in the middle of the room, a bed off to the side, and a very nice window with a spacious windowsill to look out onto. There's a dresser near the table and plenty of coatracks, and the entire toom is in shades of ged, green, pink, gold and brown. An empty teapot lays on the area near the doorway, various teacups scattered around it.

I thank the maids and they take their leave.

I decide to take this time to poke around every possible thing in the room.

The drawers are empty- on top of the drawers, the various vases and bottles are similarly empty. The tea set is sparkling clean and completely empty as well. There isn't anything underneath the bed, but the bed does have a nice, springy, fluffiness to it. The sheets are warm and slightly fuzzy.

I look up at the various top hats around me.

This Blood guy really likes his hats. I'm surprised a mafia boss takes so much pride in themed decor. Maybe he has a secret enjoyment of aesthetics? Maybe not, with that outfit of his...

I chuckle to myself for a moment, and then I decide to look out the window and bird-watch. My room has a nice view of some gardens.

It gets boring quickly, and I find myself laying on the bed again, staring up at the cieling and kicking my legs.

That also gets boring quickly.

I leave my boring room, take a note of what the door looks like, and set off to explore. The room gets darker around me- and I realise that it's probably nighttime.

I do feel a little tired.

I turn on my heel and head back to my room, utterly dumbfounded by the amount of stupidity that just occured.

My head hits the pillow and I drift off into a nice, dreamless sleep.

I am almost disappointed when I wake up in the same place- though, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, though.

I stretch, get up out of the very comfy bed, and look out the window only to find that it's the middle of the day. Momentarily, I panic- how could I have slept in for so long?!

I look down, realise that I am still in my regular clothes, and decide to march out of the door regardless. I pass by a couple of maids just by the door.

"Can you tell me where the food is?"

"Of course- breakfast, correct?" One of the maids asks. I nod. "You will be dining alone- the Hatter family is out on business early today- but we will have something for you right away, miss- down the hall and to your right, and you'll find it from there."

"Thank you very much." I say, with a little bow- I take off towards my destination.

I make it to the kitchen in no time flat, and the servants surrounding the very empty table as I eat make me feel very uncomfortable. It's a nice breakfast, but I can't help but feel a little odd eating alone in a big, empty room.

When I'm done, I decide to wander into the kitchen. They seem to be storing what bit of breakfast wasn't eaten- it's a lot of it. The cooking areas are relatively clear, though.

"Um, excuse me?" I ask a servant.

"Yes?" One in a chef's hat replies.

"May I bake some things? I would like to give thanks to the Hatter family for letting me stay here, and it sounds appropriate." I say. The chef smiles at me and nods.

I realise that the chef doesn't have any eyes. Neither did any of the maids. This all hits me like a freight trein as I look through cabinets- I pull out a baking cookbook.

There are three bookmarked pages- carrot cake cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, and vanilla cupcakes. I look for all the ingredients, and find them pretty easily in the well-stocked and organized kitchen.

I get out several big mixing bowls and start making everything. The mix doesn't take too long to make- and, of course, I make a few small adjustments to the recipe for more flavor- and at that point it's just baking it. Once they're in the oven, I wash up and then use the clean bowls to make the frosting.

I check on the cupcakes pretty often- they're ready after I finish making all the frosting. Luckily, I didn't forget about or burn them- they look pretty good.

I manage to find frosting bags in this very well-organized kitchens- I use the cheap plastic ones, so I don't dirty another dish. I make sure the cupcakes are cooled, and then I take them out of the tin, put them on plates, and frost them.

I admire my handiwork, looking down to see that I've become a flour-covered mess. Everything but my outfit went through it unscathed, and that's probably only because I cleaned. Maybe I should have asked for an apron?

I take the cupcake plates one at a time out to the dining room table, and- as if by some weird coincidence- all four of them walk into the dining room, Elliot and Blood at the front and the Twins at the back.

My beaming, "look-at-what-I-did-aren't-I-nice?" smile turns into a frown as I realise that, oh my stars, they are covered in blood- every one of them. Elliot is the worst out of all of them, and he seems to be walking with a slight limp.

"What happened to you guys?" I ask, utterly shocked by the amount of blood. "No, wait- mafia crap, nevermind, whatever, that's not important. More importantly- are any of you hurt?"

They all shake their heads, and Elliot gives a little shrug, pointing to his shoulder, which is wrapped with his scarf. I run over to him and unwrap the scarf, looking at the wound. He smirks. "It's not that bad, really."

I shake my head. "Are you kidding me? Those are pretty deep, and they're still bleeding- come with me, I'll get you cleaned up- where are the medical supplies?"

"Don't let him bleed on my wood floor." Blood requests. My eyes dart to him and I resist the urge to give him a slightly puzzled and slightly disgusted look, instead focusing on the man who is heavily bleeding in front of me.

"Um, excuse me!" I shouting to some maids- it manages to get their attention. "Could you get me some medical supplies? He's hurt!"

The maids hesitate for a second, shrug, and then run off.

"...Are those carrot cake cupcakes?" Elliot asks, turning his attention to the cupcakes.

"Yes, I baked them, but that's not important- we have to clean that so it doesn't get infected, Elliot-"

"You baked them?" Elliot asks. I nod, opening my mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by being pulled into a bloody hug. "That's so sweet of you!"

Blood looks as if he's amused by this. The twins just look angry. I don't know how to feel about this, especially when I'm distracted by the feeling of something wet seeping through my clothes.

"I'm so sorry, but please move back, you're getting blood on my clothes and that's very hard to get out..."

"Oh, sorry." Elliot says, backing away. He takes a bite of the cupcake. I look down on my clothes to see how bad the bloodstain is.

The maids return with the medical supplies, and I take them quickly. They point me towards a room where I can do my cleaning, and as I look, I see Blood shaking slightly and covering his mouth and the Twins staring angrily- not at me, but at Elliot. What kind of weird family unit is this?

"Maids! Bring the carrot cupcakes to my room!" Elliot requests. The maids look as if they're about to bust a gut.

"W-why do we have to go to your room?!" I shriek, trying desprately to make myself not look like a ripened tomato.

Elliot takes a bite of his carrot cupcake, walking unusually casually next to me despite his shoulder being pretty badly injured. "You want to clean me up, right? My room's the closest. Unless you want to go to the bathhouse-"

"No thanks, I'm fine with cleaning you in your room." I say- so quickly, in fact, that it creates an awkward silence as we approach his room.

Elliot pushes open his door and I walk- more stubmle- him over to his couch. I fumble with the medical supplies- they're unbelievably skimpy supplies for people from the mafia. You'd think they'd take care of their members better!

The maids follow behind us, coming in, setting the cupcakes on a red cherry wood table near some windows, and waving to me with mischevious smiles as they leave the room.

I have never felt so weirded out by a pair of maids in my life.

I take off the bloodied scarf and set it aside, on top of a rag so the blood doesn't soak into the floor. I examine the wounds a little closer- they don't look too deep, but they are still bleeding.

"Um- I'm going to need you to take off your shirt to clean the wound." I say.

Elliot smiles a little and chuckles softly. I turn my head to gather some of the medical supplies, setting up as decent a selection of supplies as I can. It should, at least, stop the bleeding. I can tell he's watching me- silently, intently. It's a little creepy, to be honest.

I turn around, trying to avoid staring too much at his chest, focusing my intention instead on the wounded area. I take a wet rag and I start to clean off some of the blood and any debris in the wound, trying to avoid his gaze.

"This will probably hurt," I say, picking up antibacterial cream and bringing it up to the wound- he hisses a little through his teeth. "Sorry."

"No, no, it's fine." He says with a smile.

I put a bit of cotton over the wound and then bandage his shoulder up as well as I can, considering the circumstances.

I sigh and put the rest of the supplies back in the container before checking my handiwork for any gaps where blood might seep out. I'm not too satisfied with it, but it'll do the job.

"Thank you." Elliot says warmly, smiling for the nth time- he walks over to the plate of carrot cupcakes and picks another up, taking a bite of one. "These are the best carrot cupcakes I've ever tasted!"

He runs over and gives me another hug. I am face deep in bandaged shoulder as I curse my unbelievable shortness and he flinches a little. I squirm a little in his grasp- he breaks apart, holding me by the shoulders.

He steps back a little on his bad leg and stumbles backwards, but I make a feeble attempt to catch him first- this results in me hovering over him, holding myself up by my arms so I don't fall down. As soon as I realise the position that I'm in I try to get off as soon as possible. The attempt to make myself look anything less than flustered and scarlet likely works about as well as the rest of my glorious plans.

"Sorry- I meant to actually catch you." I say, taking a seat down on the couch.

"You're absolutely adorable." He says.

"Did you hit your head too hard?" This is part sencerity and part sarcasm.

He laughs a little. "No, you're just really cute."

"Okay, you definitely hit your head too hard." I say, giggling a little bit.

Elliot sits on the floor for a solid minute before he opens his mouth again. He cartoonishly reaches his arms up, waving them a little."Can you help me up?"

I have to resist the urge to burst into laughter. "I can't believe you're second-in-command of a mafia. You don't act like it."

"C'mooon," He says, waving them more. "Help me."

I roll my eyes and take one of his arms- he shudders a little when I grab his bad arm, and I let go immediately by impulse- before he can hit the floor, I lean over and put a hand on his back- his other arm supports the rest of him, so with these efforts combined we manage to sit him up, at least.

"How are we going to get you up now, though?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I don't know. Can you go grab a cupcake for me?"

"Not until I've figured out how to get you up; I'm determined now." I say, resting my hand against my chin and looking at this.

I'm probably doomed- this guy is six foot five and buff- like, ridiculously buff- and I'm barely over five feet tall and of relatively average strength.

I sigh and relinquish myself to my fate. I walk behind him, crouch down, and put an arm around his back- he slings his good arm over my shoulder and uses the other one for support. With quite a bit of effort from the both of us, we get him up. The first thing he does is limp over to the bed and fall back on it, with a soft poof noise, throwing his good arm up and the palm of his hand over her face in an incredible feat of theatrics.

"Go get me a cupcake." He says with a devious smile, peeking through his fingertips.

"Not after you just ruined all my hard work!" I giggle, looking down to the upper corner of my blouse. "And my blouse...the only one I have."

"Oh- right." Elliot slowly sits up, resting his chin on the palm of his hand, looking pensive. His ears droop over his face, further exaggerating the emotion.

I look down at my flour, chocolate, and orange-spattered blouse again. "I guess I did already ruin it with all the baking, though, so you're not the only one to blame."

I walk over, grab a couple of cupcakes, and hand one to Elliot. He pats the space next to him and I take a seat, munching on my handiwork.

It finally hits me that he's been shirtless the whole time, mid-bite, as I eat my cupcake. I bite down a little slower and try to avert my gaze. Note the "try"- it's very difficult when the shirtless person in particular has very, very nice abs.

I resist the urge to slap myself in the face, instead focusing in on my cupcake.

Yep, I did good. The frosting is nice and sweet, the spices in the cupcake perfectly compliment the rest of the dish, and I don't really have anything to complain about with these. Mmm-hmm. Delicious.

I glance over quickly, but catch myself. Instead of slapping myself, I settle for biting down on my own tongue hard.

"You all right over there?" Elliot asks, one ear propped up.

I nod and smile, trying to ignore the fact that I am literally sitting and eating cupcakes with a shirtless member of the mafia on his bed. What has my life become?

"I should probably get some new clothes, though. I'm not sure how long I want to sit in clothes that are covered in blood, chocolate, and flour." I say, noting the stains.

Elliot pauses for a moment, before perking up. "Maybe we should go out into town tomorrow! We can go out and eat, and you can get some new clothes!"

"That sounds fun. Sure!" I say. Elliot reaches over and hugs me a bit with one arm. Wow, this guy has nice muscles...wait, what?

"I should probably get back to work for now, though...I've got loads of paperwork to do." Elliot says, almost...deflating, to put it bluntly. His posture slumps- as do his ears- and his face falls.

Members of the mafia do paperwork? "I'm sorry- I didn't mean to keep you from that."

"No, no, it's fine! It was fun." He says, patting me on the shoulder. "Why don't you go take a bath and I'll have some maids send over a change of clothes for you."

"Thank you- see you later!" I say, getting up, and leaving the room, giving Elliot a little wave as I go.

I can't believe that the person who tried to kill me earlier is such a useless dork.

The room gets darker around me. I look around, puzzled- I can hear footsteps coming from the door behind me. Elliot swings open the door.

"Thank you again." He says, wrapping me up in a hug. "But, for future reference, they always heal once the time changes."

"Of course they do." I say, almost pouting- all my hard work, ruined by whatever just happened to make the time change. Elliot waves to me again before returning to his room, and I wave back.

I turn around to see two maids staring me in the face, smiling wickedly.

I try not to be embarrased, but with the way they're whispering behind me about my relationship with Elliot, it's pretty difficult...

The bath water is nice and warm, but the tub is like, ten sizes bigger than it needs to be.

I guess I'm just not used to the whole idea of a communal bath. It's a little weird, but at the very least, I'll get over it, because I'm alone, at least.

I think about a few things, but none of them are particularly focused on any current events. I note how nice the color in the bathroom is- a nice color, almost like pink salt. The designs are swirly, and they don't have hats on them anywhere, which is honestly kind of nice, considering that the guest room has top hats on every concievable surface.

I guess I shouldn't complain, though, because I am basically being given food and board for no reason whatsoever.

I am being housed and sheltered by members of the mafia. Perhaps not my brightest idea, but...they were available. Nothing else was, really. I'll have to ask Elliot what the rest of this Wonderland place is like- I don't really know a lot about it.

It's kind of nice, sitting here, in a warm bath, completely alone. I feel like some kind of rich person.

Until I recall that I am, still, mooching room and board from members of the mafia, and the only pair of clothes in my posession that are truly my own have been bloodstained and covered in chocolate and flour and carrot and whatever else I used to bake the cupcakes. Probably the only reason I'm still here is because that Blood guy is amused by my reactions to- well, everything.

I sink below the warm water a little further, huffing a little.

My hands are pruny by the time I get out to dry off, and the maids direct me to a changing area where my clothes are.

I find a pair of normal and...a dress.

An orange- kind of a spicy orange, almost like the color of hot sauce- dress, ruffly and made of silky fabric.

It looks vaguely nightgown-ish, but not quite.

I momentarily wonder why this all-male mafia family has a dress like this among their collection, but it's a house full of men and I'm not entirely keen on trying to figure that out. Who knows what these people do.

I put on the frilly garment- which comes down to about my knees in a poofy sort of manner, the sleeves coming down to my elbows- I slip on my shoes and I walk out the door, hair still slightly damp put pulled back in a loose ponytail to keep the short, fluffy beast contained, my headband holding back my bangs.

"Miss Amber," One of the maids says. "dinner is ready, if you'll come this way."

Blood looks amused from the second I walk through the door into the dining room wearing the orange dress, like a giant neon sign saying, "Yes, hello! Guess who picked out my clothes this evening? I bet you can't guess. Here's a tiny hint: IT WAS ELLIOT."

Elliot is just sitting, with a vacant seat next to him presumably saved for me, smiling innocently at me. I don't even want to know what the Twins' faces look like, so my eyes just kind of travel to the food on the table.

There is so much of food. I didn't even realise how hungry I was until I saw the sheer amount of food. All manner of food- including a load of deserts of all manner.

I take a seat next to Elliot, noticing that the Twins are directly across from us; they look skeptical on my outfit, and almost a little scheming. Then again, in the small amount of time I've known them, when have they not looked scheming? There's always that mischevious glint in their eyes.

Everyone else is already eating, so I help myself to whatever dishes there are (I pretend that they're all vegetarian, despite knowing better) and dig in.

"Did you guys have any of the other cupcakes?" I manage to ask between shoveling foods in my face. I specifically adress the twins with this one, hoping to make them stop glaring at Elliot for more than two seconds.

"Mm-hmm!" They reply.

"I liked the vanilla!" Dee- or was that Dum? I don't know, whichever one had the blue eyes- says.

"The chocolate ones were good!" The other one replies. How am I supposed to get their name straight?

I smile. They are actually kind of cute when they're not plotting murder. "That's good."

There's not much actual talking done before or after we've finished the meal. I wave to them all, and then I walk to my room, collapse on my bed, and fall into another dreamless sleep.

I like it that way.

When Elliot said that he wanted to go into town, I assumed that it would have been just the two of us.

I was, sadly, mistaken.

Instead of it being just the two of us- which would be significantly less attention-getting- the entire Hatter household decided to come shopping, too.

The twins walk in the back and I'm in the middle of the group in the center, with Blood and Elliot up front.

Elliot's wearing his usual outfit- including the scarf and the top from yesterday. The maids must know how to get blood stains out well, and he must own an extra jacket- because it doesn't really look like it's been much of anything, not even the scarf- at least, not more than when I had first seen it.

All the faceless people around either stop and stare or walk widely around us. I honestly feel a little bad about it. What do these people do to make the townspeople so scared of them? I mean, they're the mafia, but they don't seem that bad... Right?

Maybe no one else in Wonderland points guns at people at the drop of a hat? Maybe it was a little rash of me to choose the first available place to stay.

We turn towards a clothing store and my thoughts immediately clear up. They have an adorable dress in the display, and I wantit.

"Get whatever you want." Famous last words.

I don't spend much time in the clothing store, but I do walk out with quite a few dresses, and some hair thingies, and some cardigans, and a couple of skirts and blouses, and a couple more pairs of shoes, and some other things... okay, maybe it's less like a few and more like a lot. We're in and out in under an hour, which is certainly a first for me and shopping, but that's only because everything is adorable.

And there's no orange. (Except in maybe a couple of accessories.)

No one speaks to me in the clothing store. Not the cashiers except for nervous pleasantries, not anyone in my group. We leave and they're equally as silent.

What did I do to make everyone not talk to me?

...Did I buy too much?

No, it's not me. They're looking in more...specific directions, very focused. It's odd.

"Amber, why don't we go into this restaurant over here?" Elliot says, taking my hand and making us turn into a cafe. He's glances over at me for a second, almost nervous, but he shifts his attention away.

We take a seat in a quiet booth in the corner of the cafe. The rest of them sit in booths around us, spread out a little- so it's just the two of us in this particular booth.

Something's up.

I try to act like I'm just being paranoid and nothing is actually wrong, but there's a nagging feeling in the back of my head that says otherwise. I try to quiet it.

A waitress approaches the our booth after a minute or two...but something's not quite right about her, I notice. Her uniform is different from the rest of them- the color is off, just by a touch- instead of a pale pink, it's more of a coral color. I nudge Elliot's side while she looks away for a second, and I give him a nervous look.

She doesn't speak, she just smiles. It's made even creepier by the fact that she doesn't have eyes to stare at us with. None of the other people do here, though. Have I managed to find the only group of people with eyes in this place?

The rest happens too quickly for me to even fully process what's happening. Before I know it, everyone in the restaurant scatters- Elliot has slung me over his shoulder and is running, well, somewhere- I can hear all manner of gunshots around me. What kind of place is this where people will attack people in broad daylight?!

I don't bother trying to reorient myself, knowing that Elliot has other matters to worry about, judging by the amount of loud gunfire coming from his direction- I just grab onto whatever I can find to help gain some semblance of balance and I try to ignore the blood rushing to my head as I let it hang downward.

I pay attention to the floors and the sounds, as it's pretty much all I can do. I can see the rush of feet- all manner of people in motion, and I don't know the feet, so I assume none of them are from my group, which makes it more frightening.

I see a blood-soaked body in my peripheral, laying limp and motionless on the tile floor as we leave the diner, blood pooling around it, mouth laying open and gaped- there is a bullet hole where one of their eyes would have been. I shut my eyes tight.

A heavy, metallic smell fills the air, and the sound of gunshots and curses spat from fretting mouths keep my shut eyes from isolating me.

It gets brighter. The air is fresh again. He's still running, and I'm just as limp and useless as I was from the start.

I crack open one of my eyes and can see the feet of Blood and the twins- so, at least, they got out relatively unscathed, as Elliot obviously has, even with the hinderance slumped over his shoulder.

Blood walks up next to Elliot and I can see the twins in the back.

"Hi." I croak out to the twins, with a weak little smile as I bring my head up to maybe drain some of the blood that's brought along with it a throbbing headache. "We're all still alive and unscathed, I see."

I ignore the slumped-over bodies I see in the background and try to focus on the cute little kids in front of me.

...The little kids who are covered in blood.

With axes, fresh blood dripping from the sharpened tips, a madness and in their eyes and a wicked smile on their faces, fresh and old blood adorning their usually somewhat cute faces, now more...

Well.

So much for what semblance of sanity I still attempted to grasp onto. Even the cute little kids are homicidal maniacs here.

"How are you holding up?" Elliot asks- the gunshots have slowed down, so it seems that the fight is dying down as well.

I think for a moment, trying to come up with an appropriate response. "I'm alive and unscathed? Except mentally, maybe."

Elliot chuckles. "Well, welcome to Wonderland."