Clockwork

Chapter Three

Wonderland Woods

Unnoticed by the March Hare, Emilia had in a fit of disgust to the red liquid on her hands, rubbed it onto her beautiful dress, not thinking at the time how she would have ruined it. The outfit that had provided her with immense happiness from Hare's words was now stained in the liquid that had caused the day to make a turn for the complete and utter worse. Her pale hands were still slightly discoloured with faint red but that didn't matter. As the leftover liquid tried her skin felt tighter, almost like her heart. It may have been unnoticed, it may have not, but Hare made no comment about her wrecking her dress though she knew if any attention were pulled to it he would. A sharp gust of wind curled itself around the two walking away from the Tea Party, causing Emilia to almost freeze in her steps as a shiver overcame her frail body. Hare gave a reaction of notice, slowing his footsteps until she had regained herself in time. Each step was a step away from the Hatter, a step away from the morbid hell and the death underneath the table that was supposed to be the source of laughter and joy yet she did not feel herself uplifting like she did every time she walked away, leaving Hatter behind. It may have been that the death in her eyes had dug a deep enough scar to wound her or it may have been the fact she finally realized this to be her life. Passing through the thick, black iron gates that were more like the teeth of a monster, Emilia allowed her bloodshot eyes to glance up at March Hare. His ice coloured eyes were staring foreword in concentration yet they still contained their playfulness. An emotion so warm to Emilia that even though she had no idea the Hatter could see them she reached foreword and snatched his hand in hers.

As she curled her slightly red fingers around his larger, paler ones she immediately realized the wondrous heat he unconsciously emitted from his skin. Even though the Hare had no fur amongst his skin unlike an actual hare his flesh was as soft as silk just as soft as the hair would be. Looking up in the corner of her colourless eye, she saw the Hare gaze down at her with a bewildered expression yet he squeezed her hand tightly in return; his fingers ever so long she could feel the sharp claws protruding on the ends of them graze upon the top of her hand, leaving faint white marks along the red. Their walking had considerably shortened in length as one of the Hare's brows were raised, showing obvious emotions of confusion from the teenagers foreword action that had even shocked herself. For once she could not feel the burning eyes of Hatter upon her, thankfully. As they stared at one another she realized the stupidity of her action she performed – how much trouble that could get her into with the Hatter himself. The lips of the Hare parted with difficulty, like they had been sealed together. Once they had done, he finally began to speak in a tone of confusion she hadn't heard before.

"Is this a rather peculiar way of gaining my attention?" he asked her rather gently, though his voice was entangled with hints of confusion like his face and eyes were showing. Finally, the situation at hand caused them both to stop their walking at the entrance to the woods; Hare's eyes set upon the hand he found himself holding onto in return. She could see one of his "fangs" slip from between his lips to push against the bottom one in a nervous manner as he blinked a few more times. She herself was unable to speak, to justify her answers or reasons as to why she was holding his hand. Desperation was the reason, she knew that. She was desperate to grab onto the last thing in her world that was slowly turning into a nightmare. Hare was the only "normal" person that she knew within Wonderland, and she used the word normal rather loosely. He wasn't normal, he was far from it, but his madness was nothing to compare to the Hatter. He was kind, he was gentle and he wouldn't touch her when she didn't wish to be. On the contrary she touched him. Not in a wrong way whatsoever, she would fuss and pet him – treat him like her favourite pet but he was more then that. He was her best friend, as best as he could get.

"Emilia," he muttered finally, seeing the distracted girl looking between the shadowed trees. Reacting to her name, she snapped her head to the hare; her cheeks a distinct shade of red he hadn't seen in quite a while. When was the last time he had saw her cheeks that colour? Had it been the first day of her arrival? Yes that was possibly it. When he had inquired on her discolouration she described her feelings of shyness caused her to become red. Frowning gently, he took his spare hand from his side and nibbled softly on the end of his index finger claw. "Emilia why ever are you shy? I believe there is nothing to shy from – we are not strangers or have you lost your memory? Do you understand who I am?"

All she could do was blink a few times, trying to register what the Hare was asking her. Shaking her head, she realized everything and began to speak in a low, slightly shaking voice. "Of course I do know who you are, Hare, how in the world could I forget you?"

"Then why are your cheeks red so? I believe you told me it was because of shyness which came from meeting strangers…" he told her, tilting his head slightly to the left. One of his ash blonde ears fell to the side, creating a cute manner as he gazed the girl confidently in the eye. She returned it with a smile, her lips curling perfectly as she tucked some hair behind her small ears.

"Sometimes situations that do not involve strangers spark shyness," she told him informatively. "And to answer your previous question it's an interaction like a hug."

He gave a small hum and a smile as bright as the sun appeared on his face, causing her own to widen so much her white teeth were on show – a facial expression she rarely had, especially in the presence of Hatter. Gazing down at the hand he held tightly on he pondered for a moment before letting his thoughts spread out into the air. "Am I doing the correct thing in response?"

"Yes, Hare, you are," she nodded with a grin. Within a few moments she allowed him to lead them into the Wonderland Woods, an area she wasn't too familiar with nor too fanatical on. The trees twisted and intertwined with on another, their branches sticking out like old fingers, wrinkled and bent. As they passed each darkened tree the world seemed to turn to night in an instant and the ice cool air spiralled around the pair of them. The fingers of the trees seemed to reach out either in desperation or eeriness, to capture and take away either her or him to kill. Yes, the trees were evil, she knew that. They had their own personalities, cruel and cold – the woods were a place to take seriously. Her cold hand tightened in fear around his warmer one, which had stayed the same temperature despite the everlasting cold wind around them. When she looked up at Hare she could see a face of silent concentration; his eyes having turned emotionless as he kept looking at the trees. It was not the safest route to the Castle but it was the shortest. Anyway, no routes were safe – not anymore at least. Wonderland was transforming, into something more and more morbid just like Hatter. The more crazed he became the more crazed Wonderland was as well. She knew some of the inhibitors had turned cannibalistic and murderous. It was not rare to hear of a death in Wonderland. The only person that didn't seem effected was Hare, thankfully. Some were losing their minds, slowly but surely. Well, losing what they had left of them. It wasn't childish like it had been at one point. It was now a nightmare. Protectively, Hare brought her close to him, allowing her to feel the body heat coming from him. If life could be like this, despite having to be in the terrifying woods, she would have preferred it. Just her and Hare, no more Hatter …

A gasp of terror ran through her lungs as she felt her hand tearing from Hare's first. In reaction, he gripped hard onto her fingertips yet she still slide from his warmth. The heartbeat of the pair began to speed considerably, especially Emilia's as she found something gripping the end of her bloodied dress. Still trying to walk away from the grip within the split second of feeling it she felt her feet become entangled within the roots of a large tree. Before she knew it she had landed onto the ground, feeling the bark of the tree scrap against her right arm. A cry of pain rang through her throat as she could feel branches, stones and the roots of the trees penetrating her skin. She had landed with her lower legs, knees, elbows and forearms on the ground; the scent of her blood apparent in her nostrils straight away. Even though she didn't care as the pain was taking up most of her attention, the grip on her dress was let go of and in the back of her head she could hear the cruel laughter of the trees around her – enjoying the pain they had inflicted upon the innocent teenager. She stayed there for a few moments, unable to conduct her mind to work properly through the throbbing. Tears streamed down her face like turned on taps, dripping from her chin to join the small pool of blood on the ground. As she lifted her head, groaning as she did she felt an empty coldness around her. The blood in her veins seemed to stop pumping as her heart froze at the sight before her. There were trees upon trees and between the trees was no Hare. Her companion had disappeared, left her behind in a bloody, pained mess. Blinking the tears from her bland eyes she coughed slightly, wincing above the pain as she shuffled her position. Breathing heavily, she pulled herself to lean against the trunk of the now silent tree that had caused her to fall and stared out ahead of her.

"Hare!" she called out desperately, feeling her voice cracking from the volume of her scream. "Hare!" she repeated once more, needing to know where he was. Hissing, she looked down at her bloody legs and sighed as she realized she could do nothing more but try to get the rocks and pieces of branch from her flesh. Hare wouldn't have left her like this, not on purpose. Something must have happened within the Woods. Trying to postpone getting the dirt from her cuts she turned her head from left to right, trying to wonder if she could actually make her way back to the Tea Party to ask the Hatter for assistance. And of course, she did not know the way. Emilia was now in the thick of the woods, in the most dangerous place she could be in. Alone. Groaning, she returned her attention to her legs and arms, slowly, carefully trying to clean them the best she could.

After what seemed like hours, a low growl appeared from the corner of her ear. "Emilia…"