---

There are many interpretations of Hell, some of which become incomprehensible to mere mortal minds. Personal Hell. Eternal Hell. Physical Hell. This was Hell. In every sense of the phrase and forevermore.

The room must have been in one of the lower branches of the facility, the lowest in fact. The gathering point where all fresh meat was gathered to display for the veterans of this damned place. Greeneburg. A name only known to those most tortured and depraved souls. Urban legends had spawned over time of a place where insanity is brewed. Where people are taken off the streets and forced to endure the rest of their lives under constant observation and experimentation, never to see the light of the external world again.

But they were just that: stories. Right?

The room had dirt flooring and no windows, the area being enclosed by sandy brown bricks. A single wooden door separated the room’s occupants from the interior hallways, and the beginning of their escape. The ceiling lay low overhead with several carcasses of dead bugs plastered on its surface like old pieces of candy, and a salty dank smell reeked throughout the place.

There were five occupants in total inside: four fresh teenagers and one adult male. A predator and his daily meal. Things were supposed to run smoothly. Get the kids initiated, make a little threat here and there, maybe promise them some false hope and a ransom to their families that would never come.…but no. No, that one brat captured much earlier than all the rest just had to ruin the night’s entertainment. That swine. That lowlife. That bitch….oh well. And now Miss Screw Loose was running around in the facility doing god knew what…well so what?

The others, those who had been kidnapped this very night, were trapped in the room in more ways than one. As each of them would wake up one by one, they would find themselves in low darkness thanks to the power outage. That, and they were all tied up rather nicely. Ropes binded their legs, wrists, and ankles together, while a simple dirty cloth wedged between each of their pretty little lips silenced them.

From the corner, the fifth prisoner, a veteran just by his smell and appearance alone, began to scratch away at the ground with loosely shattered teeth. His skin was both ashen and blackened at once due to some unknown cause, and his torso found itself locked in a rather torn and aging straitjacket. His hair lay matted and sagging over his shoulder to one side and he gave a soft sighing sound with each creak of his heavy step. Each of his eyes had been gouged out with dried blood crusting down his cheeks, and he crawled around on the floor in vain, gradually getting closer to the bound children.

His voice was one of quiet endurance, the barest of whispers.

“Meat. I smell….food. Yes…fresh flesh with warm blood running in your bodies to sate my thirst and make me full and make me happy again. He comes. He comes for you and me and everyone….heheh, he comes."

The man paused suddenly, as if he saw or heard something the children could not, and then continued with his madness mantra.

"I can smell his handiwork…you all….tied up nice and…tight. Makes the sweat and the blood collect all over your squirming masses. Ahaha, he cares after all!"

The man's voice began to pick up into a keening wail, almost a scream of intense recognition.

"A gift for me! He knows how I like them to struggle! Thank you…oh blessed your black soul Jabberwocky! Ahahahaha!”

The man was foaming slightly at the mouth now, his presence gradually closing the distance between the four children….

Outside, the sound of metal clanging on metal resonated and reached into the ears of the children. The sound of prisoners escaping their Hell, not let loose to wander these halls freely.

Ah, but this tale is not played solely on only one front. Oh no…there are many stories to observe. The mad girl who caused this misguided calamity was currently being pursued by the huntress…a huntress employed by her very own dearly beloved. Yes, yes there they were now! Maybe the mad girl was aware of her stalker, and maybe she wasn't. Regardless, she was close enough to the other children…only a mere turn of the hallway….her steps rang out in the darkness like deep blood ringing in one’s ear.

Loud enough for the huntress to follow in silence and anticipation.

“Well now…this is a very interesting situation here, don’t you think? Hmm, how about you go ahead and greet our little sleepyheads!. Oh, and as for our power culprit…do be sure not to leave so many cuts on the body, ok? Just enough for me to still salvage the leftovers.”

Those had been the Jabberwocky's words to his precious Queen of Hearts…simple orders yes, but that was the simplicity of all things, no?

The slaughter had begun.

And where was the sixth child then? For indeed, there were six children who each had unique roles in this living nightmare. Not too far away from the others actually. In fact, they were being held in the room right next to the other children, although the location seemed to have drastically changed in appearances. Instead of a closed up dungeon much like the other children, this room looked more like an emergency room.

Cold blue tile lined the floor and walls while medical equipment was evidently scattered about on a small table that rested next to an operating table. Lashed to this table was none other than the missing sixth child. Long, black cables held them down over their limbs, eyes, and mouth to cut off all senses to the outside world. Everything but their perception of sound…unbeknownst to them, the room was pitch black with no present power running. Indeed, the only thing this poor child could possibly detect in the slightest was a low hitched breathing that seemed to become more rapid with each passing second.

It came directly above.

-???-
"(Ugh..... What the fuck? Where am I?!)"

The young man began looking around, his eyes darting around at the environment around him. Bleak blackness shrouded the young man as he made his awakening to the lifeless facility. The musty place smelled like a cat pissed inside of a rotting, year old body rolled over in dirt. Where exactly was he? As he tried to answer these questions, he heard a low whispering sound. He froze so that he could carefully listen to what the person was saying.

"(.... Oh great, I'm trapped somewhere in the dark with a cannibal who is somehow struggling to get... Us? Wait,there is more people here?! I need to save them before this bastard finds us!)"

The boy tried to move his hands and feet, but alas, it was no use. They were bound together tightly by some rope their captors tied them up with. As he squirmed to free himself from this calamity her heard the man wail in pleasure about.... Someone named Jabberwocky? He would worry about it later, but right now he needed to free himself and the others from these bounds before they sated that mans hunger. The teen felt the ropes around his wrists were beginning to give out, as he continued struggling to get them off, rubbing his wrists back and forth. It took a bit until finally...

"(Ah, finally, freedom!... Now, I need to get rid of the ropes binding my legs...)"

As he freed himself from his cuffs, he felt the area around his wrists. No surely they were red from what he did to get them unbound, but it wasn't a bad price to pay to save yourself from a crazy cannibalistic bastard who spouted nonsense about Jabberwocky and all that good stuff. He began to quickly feel around his legs and ankles for the ropes keeping him from moving. He then got to work as he began his attempts to try and unravel what his assailants had tied him up in. The work was gruelling and just plain annoying, but he finally got the ropes around his ankles now it was his turn for his legs, but before he could do anything, he checked his pockets for his wallet or cellphone.

"(Of course, they took most of my stuff away, that's just peachy... I wonder if they got my flashlight I had.)"

The boy continued working away at the rope, barely hearing the scraping of the man's teeth. He was anxious and afraid for the others safety. What if he had gotten to them before him? What if he did have his flashlight and he clicked it on to the grizzly sight of one of the inmates being eaten alive by that man. He shuddered at the thought an quickly worked away at the rope binding his feet, until finally they came off. He then quickly ripped off his gag, and pushed himself up from the dirty floor, dusting himself off.

The teens next course of action was to find his mini-flashlight. Hopefully they missed taking that so he wouldn't be forced to blindly wander in the dark. The teen deftly searched his pockets before hearing a small clinking noise on the ground. He sighed, before putting his plam to his face.

"God damnit," he murmured to himself as he tried to forcibly adjust his eyes to the darkened room. He could barely make out what looked like figures lying on the floor. He noticed one squirming towards him, barely at his foot. "Is this the guy who was talking to us?"

??? quickly passed the man, stepping by him before he could reach the sole of his foot. He then quickly felt the man over, before getting a good grip of the man's feet. He grasped the man, dragging him back to the other wall, away from the others. He heard the small screeching of the teeth amongst the floor and ignored all statements coming from the man. He needed to find his flashlight, and free the others.

He felt around the dirt floor as he searched for his flashlight. As he looked around his hand bumped into someone's neck. He felt around the persons head, before feeling a small, metallic cylinder by their neck. "(Male or female, because I need get a good semblence of who I'm stuck with.)" He sighed as he clicked his flashlight, and shined it over most of the people in the room, effectively identifying that most of the inmates were girls. He then clicked his flashlight off, and felt around one of the girls, finding their wrists. He then began to get to work at removing their bindings.

((If you want me to change anything/I did something wrong, please tell me what I did and ask me to alter it if you like... Also left it ambiguous so anyone can choose to be tied or stuck.))

Darkness...great. Darkness, piss, and whatever the hell that guy was. She'd been awake for a while, just getting her bearings and looking for any semblance of light. She'd been keeping the crazed goon busy with small, sharp whistles. The cloth had been easy to get rid of, just spit it out after working your tongue through it. The ropes had been a little more difficult, but the know was a simple one. Effective, but simple. She guessed their captors hadn't counted on her athleticism, arm exercises meant to limber up the core made her a little more flexible than most would believe her to be.

Regardless, It had been...amusing to hear him scramble about, chasing after the echoing sound. Far as she deduced, the room was sealed. Which meant little air circulation if there were any at all.

Which...this moron was now taking more of as he scrambled around. She whistled again, shrill and high pitched so as to disturb the man and get the boy's attention. What good was it to try and wake up the others if there wasn't a plan of escape. Hell...from the few sounds she could hear, escape sounded like a death wish.

Thanks to the boy's flashlight, she was able to see what exactly was in the room with them. It was really gross to say the least, but she really didn't want to freak out the others by letting THAT be the first thing they saw. His mad musings did give some insight on what exactly was going on, but she wasn't keen on being its meal.

"Sit down." her voice was husky but clear. It wasn't a suggestion. "And don't panic. He smells fear and sweat. Said so himself."

-???-
"Yeah, how about no," ??? hissed quietly to the girl who was strangely unbound already as he began undoing the ropes tied around the girls wrists. He was irritated by her suggestion just to stay and do nothing, since that was a death wish. "You can stay here and become the next human caterpillar without eyes, but I'm leaving, and hopefully these other lovely ladies will have the sense to get out of here."

They had their chance to get out of... Wherever the heck they were, and he wasn't going to screw it up. He glared in the darkness at where the voice came from before turning his head back to the ropes on the wrist. He was almost dones, just one more little thing to undo, and...

"Gotcha," he murmured quietly to himself.

The ropes came right off her wrists, and her hands slowly slid off of her chest, plummeting to the side. He then began feeling down her body to where the next ropes were - legs and ankles. He began undoing the ropes around the girls legs, tirelessly at work to free her. His bright eyes were dulled in the darkness, as he still tried to make out anything than strange shapes. He sighed, and ignored the scraping sound of the crazy inmate who he had probably set back a couple of hours.

"How about instead of sitting around, waiting for some bad shit to happen to us, why don't you help me untie these girls or look for a way out?"

The voice was low, and surprisingly void of any emotion. He didn't sound angry, scared or in a rush to leave this hole. ??? just sounded surprisingly calm now, despite the situation and the way he was acting earlier. He couldn't afford to get excited over the situation and trip up, he had to remain relaxed. After a bit, he finally undid her legs and ankles. He pushed himself off his knees, and dusted himself off.

"Anyways, how long have you been untied Missy? And if you were unbound longer than I why didn't you help us?"

"We are in a sealed room, with no food, no water, and a thing that apparently lives on helpless kids." her voice was faintly mocking. "Dreamland is a little more appealing than reality at this point." she explained.

"Now, will you sit down? I've been toying with this thing for a while. You making unnecessary movements isn't helping me figure out a way out of hear any faster." she looked in the direction of the sounds. "Besides...cant you hear the screams outside? Something is going on out there and it sounds bad. I'm not looking to die before I step out of that door. We should bide our time until the pandemonium does down." she grunted and stood up slowly. "If this...thing is any gauge, we are not in a very happy place. Leave them tied for now and keep slow and creepy over there away from the others. You still got the flashlight?" she asked as she began to knock on the walls near her.

Mizuki Tsubomi
Location - ???

It's so bloody dark. A hide and seek game would be nice. That is, if I could move. And perhaps if it didn't smell so absolutely revolting. But I'm not the only one who has the same idea. There's somebody else there. And they're very animalistic. And they're being a bit of a pain in my neck, if I'm to be honest.
Oh. Thud. Something has fallen. Oh, it's moving further away now. Oh. I think it's far enough. The voice has stopped for the moment. That's good.

Two pairs of bright blue-green eyes blinked up at the ceiling for a couple of seconds as consciousness slowly but surely returned, albeit a tiny bit later than the first of the lot to have awoken, to the little lady, tied up like she would soon come to discover was the state of the surprising other inhabitants of the little cell. Cave? No. Cell. Maybe. The floor was dirt. It was difficult to remember where or what happened prior. Or why. Always why. Never why. Why
There was something there earlier, musing about food, and blood and sweat and it wouldn't take long to suss out that it was flesh it was after. Unless of course there was something else. But that couldn't be. Human flesh would have to be the only option. Why else would Mizuki be tied up tighter and offered on a platter akin to a Thanksgiving Turkey. Being eaten wasn't really...plausible, now. It made her struggle. She was afraid yes but more afraid she was annoyed, or even disturbed, you could call it.

"Fhhhfhfhmmhmrrrh" was the first thing she even tried to say, though it didn't have any meaning behind it really. It was more a frustrated series of grunts against the fabric stuffed between those pretty little lips indeed. The sounds quieted down and she worked her way around the cloth like required. Since it wasn't fastened by anything, it was pretty easy to spit out after a sufficient amount of wriggling about. Success! And the accompanying sound of little conversation somewhere across the room. And the flash of a flashlight? Interesting.

Throwing caution to the wind, the girl cried out, "Oi! If there's anyone out there, I demand to be let out of these binds." and she stopped here to struggle a little harder for effect's sake, though nobody would come to see it. "I don't care who or what you are, or who or what you want...well, you might want me, since I'm here and all quite obviously, but I'd like to be untied please! If there's anyone else there, who doesn't sound like they've got half a brain or the alls of a problem with me, would you please, for fuck's sake, come to my assistance."
Her mouth ran when she was nervous. Though the condescending aura never truly left her speech, neither did the sarcastic tone really. And little droplets of sweat indeed formed on her forehead, and throat, and her wrists came to be rubbed raw with how much she struggled restlessly. Only the socks at her ankles kept the flesh there from turning as raw, but the rope still cut through. Her following words came in a soft, malevolent hiss when she spoke, fiddling with the knot at her wrists and her body heaving and to the point of thrashing around as quietly, pathetically menacingly as possible.

"The lavender canary sings,
Such a pretty song.
But when she's shot and the song is done,
You'll realise you went wrong.
To bring a canary is a prize,
One that's worth the struggle.
Because if this canary sings on your side
The odds of survival are inevitably doubled."

-???-
The teens eyes darted to where the sound of another newly awaken inmate was shouting. He stared at where the sound came from before speaking to the other lady who escaped her captors binds earlier. "Yes, I can hear the screams, also, other girl who I haven't unbound, shut it before someone other than the cannibal caterpillar hears you." He began to get to work at trying to free the girl with glasses, balls of sweat dripped from his knuckles.

"Stay calm, and don't wriggle too much Missy, it'll go a lot faster if you don't move an inch."

In a bit, he unfurled the rope binding her wrists together. "Sorry for this next part if I touch anywhere that makes you uncomfortable, or some crap." He began going for where he last saw the legs bound, and began moving his hand to that area. He begins feeling around (don't get the wrong idea) the legs, moving down them finding the ropes binding her legs.

"(Got it, now where is that knot...)"

??? mpved his fingers along the rope, eventually finding the knot, and began to get to work. He hummed silently to himself as he made quick work of the rope, freeing her legs from theor binding. He then moved down to where her ankles, and repeated what he did with the previous ropes. Eventually she was also freed from the bindings, and could now freely move around.

"There you go missy, now..."

??? walks over to where he pulled the caterpillar cannibal, and feels around, finding the man's spine. He then holds the man down, keeping him from making any progress with the new weight on him. He turned to where he last heard the short haired girls voice, and began speaking to her.

"Alright missy, you got a plan or something, because I'm going to ask Mr. Pillar over here a few things..."

He speaks in a whisper to the girls and turns his head downward to the mans head. "Hey, Hungry, mind telling us what is going on and where we are? You look like you've been here longer than us... So could you help us out, we need your wisdom."

"Get away from that! I'm sorry, are you dull in the head or did you miss the whole "mad, cannibalism" thing that he is obviously explaining?" she hissed angrily when she hears how close the boy was to the position when she last heard his mad musings. She shook her head and continued to knock on the walls, "Whatever. You're a big boy, something happens to you, it isn't my fault."

She was careful to avoid the two males in the room as she moved from one wall to the other. She counted her steps as she tried to gauge how big the room was. If she could figure that out, she maybe able to gauge how high the ceiling was. She whistled up towards the ceiling. She doubted there was a shaft of some sort since she didn't feel any broken bones or other evidence of an unbraced landing from a tall height. "Girlie, how tall are you?" she asked the newly awoken girl.

"There's...nobody else here in this room. Are you implying there are others here? Are you implying there's an outside? Hohoho, let me at'em!"
The girl, whose eyes glittered with manic glee now, was on the brink of laughing a little laugh in delight. Though she was stopped again, when the older man had asked her to stay still, so she zipped her lip in a pout and held still for as long as he'd asked. Though she couldn't help but whisper "pervert" when he went out grabbing down her legs in the darkness to find the rope. Eventually, she was untied, and the body sprang to life, and she even did a little twirl in the darkness to savour the pleasure of being able to move again. "Huzzah, I can move again...goodness, it's such a pleasure."

Her celebration didn't last long before another voice shook her back to her senses, and she turned in the direction she heard it come from. "Me? I'm five foot six awesome inches. Why do you need to know, miss? Who are...you, by the way? Not that I can see, of course, but..."

Somewhere else in this wonderful Hell was a girl dressed completely in red, strolling through the corridors of the building. The light was flickering, and each corner was filled with pure darkness. Scarlet, dressed in her red dress. A dress that was elegant, yet not a hazard in battle... or actually slaughtering, there never was any real battle after the drugs had been injected. The edge of the top was decorated with black feathers, the same black feathers that made up her boa. On her chest was also a beautiful red rose, so red that it seemed to have been dipped in fresh blood. Her other acessories included some rings, a fancy black necklace and a tiny red hat with a black cloth covering the leaft part of her forehead, and of course not to forget her black sleeves. In her hand was a giant hatchet. The edge of the brutal weapon was covered with blood, it wasn't fresh. The blood had become part of the appearance of the weapon.

“Well now…this is a very interesting situation here, don’t you think? Hmm, how about you go ahead and greet our little sleepyheads!. Oh, and as for our power culprit…do be sure not to leave so many cuts on the body, ok? Just enough for me to still salvage the leftovers.”

Yes, my lover.

Were the words that Scarlet and "he" had whispered in each others ears. She was still strolling through the immense building. She couldn't be far away now anymore, a mad person couldn't last this long. And she was as mad as they come. "Where are you little hatter?" Scarlet shouted with pleasure in her voice, her words echoing in the distance. Scarlet began humming a song, the sound would keep getting louder as she was approaching Mairu. "I'm coming to kill you, and then the rest... one by one." she said and continued her lullaby.

Power off! Easy peasy.

Darkness fell all at once, enshrouding the facility with the proper haunting, doom and gloom vibe she thought it lacked. It was disappointing, really. For such an elaborately executed mystery game, they really skimped on the setting. Her holding cell, for instance, was quite inefficient. Waking up to a dimly lit, dirty and reeking room was okay, but it left plenty of leeway for the captive. She was a prime example: she had been tightly bound, but because she could survey the room, she managed to concoct an escape plan rather effortlessly. Anyway, the point was, waking up to a completely dark, dirty, and reeking room was way better. Not only would escape be more challenging, but it's scarier when you can't see things, don't you think? All sorts of things could be lurking in the dark, things that existed only when you can't see them. Mairu fervently nodded in agreement with herself, looking around and smiling appreciatively as she saw nothing but black.

Oh, wait, no. Not all black—there was that, too! Mairu turned to her handiwork, eyes transfixed on the sporadic sparks coming from the haphazardly cut wires. Thanks to her, it was the only remaining source of light in the whole facility. She watched it for little over a minute, enjoying the sound it made, these barely audible crackling noises that sounded like a mini pyrotechnic show. Mairu giggled in delight, images of miniscule people playing with itty bitty fireworks filling her mind. She lingered just a few moments longer before suddenly remembering there were things she had to do. Turning the power off was only the first step. Next on the list was to find friends to play with; otherwise, the whole game would be boring.

"Whoopsie, I have to go!" she thought loudly, stuffing the old rusty pliers she'd used to cut the wires in her skirt pocket. She'd found it lying on the floor, right next to a couple of bloody teeth (gross ones that looked like they had cavity, yuck!), just outside the breaker room. It was such a happy coincidence, she was convinced she was destined to happen upon it.

Mairu felt her way out of the room she was in, stumbling a few times over whatever crap was littered all over the dirt flooring. From there, she started following a corridor at random, skipping in the darkness like she was taking a leisurely stroll in the park. Giddiness bubbled within her every time she heard some muffled noises in the distance. Were those sounds coming from the friends she sought? She continued her aimless trek along the facility, using only her hunches as a guide, turning this way and that. Such a big place this was! It was only after she rounded another hallway that she heard it: a haunting tune that drifted in the dank indoor air, echoing loudly in the empty hallway.

Mairu stopped for a moment to listen to the song. It was quite catchy! She had a sudden urge to trace the origin of the sound, to see if the person humming the song looked like how she imagined her to be, but she managed to stop herself. The lady just said she was going to kill 'the rest' after she killed her, but there won't be a 'the rest' until she finds her friends, so she has to find 'the rest' first or this whole thing won't make sense. She nodded to herself again and picked up the pace, breaking out into a sprint to widen the distance between her and humming lady. Mairu giggled; it was like she was playing tag and hide-and-seek all at once. She stopped running only when the music died down to the faintest of whisper, and she turned left at the next fork she hit. Now where could my friends be? she thought as she approached the unassuming wooden door at the end of the hall.

The physically deformed man jolted with a start when he felt the boy pin him down with his weight. As he stared with his eyeless face up at the child, his expression one of blank recognition, a slow grin began to widen across his face, revealing the remains and shrapnels of his teeth.

“Where you are….you’re in Greeneburg! Ahaha, Greeneburg you tasty piece of meat! Juicy and warm and crispy…Mine! I want you all to myself! Fuck the others; I’ll feast like a king tonight!”

Drool poured down the man’s chin and collected on his lower neck in small dirty bubbles. With a pounce and the strength of an animal, the man lunged forward and sank his shattered maw directly onto the boy’s hand. Thankfully for the teen, his teeth were not enough to penetrate bone and flesh, but the man did back off when the familiar metallic tang of blood washed his lips.

“Sweet! Sweeter than juice! More, give me more!”

The man thrashed around wildly, bucking the boy off and inching his way closer and closer to the children with a renewed bloodlust. He aimed for the next one closest to him…the girl who chatted ideally. Reaching over to her ankles, he reared his head back and plunged his teeth right into her, latching on with a powerful grip. Mad snorts of laughter were heard from around his still foaming mouth, and he would have continued had a loud crackling sound not intruded his thoughts. At once, he let go of the Cheshire’s ankle and backed away; whether he was whimpering in fear or crying in joy was beyond anyone’s guess.

“He comes…blessed me, he comes!”

The crackling eventually subsided into a rusty static until finally all was well again. That was when the voice spoke.

“….zz…z…wel…..Well, there we go! See, that didn’t take too long, did it? Ah, hello there everyone! Welcome to Greeneburg! Maybe you’ve heard of the place? Anyway, I’m the boss of this fine establishment. I, hope everyone’s had a good nap, yes?”

The voice behind the intercom sounded pleasant and disturbingly cheerful, and one could almost hear the casual grin being displayed. Another thing to note was how young it sounded as well, as if the progenitor of all this chaos was a teen much like the captured children.

“Jabberwocky! Jabberwocky!”

By now, the man had convulsed into a series of harsh laughter and choking, violently banging his head on the floor until blood pooled over where his eyes used to be. Likewise, the noises outside became more potent as well.

If one were to listen very closely, they would be treated to a number of different things. Most of them cursed his name, while others actually praised it. And still some broke down into a panicked hysteria. Of course, the man behind it all cared little for their expense. Why should he?

“Now, you all may be wondering the same thing. Or, at least, that's what you’re supposed to do…why, oh why did big bad Jabberwocky kidnap me like such a cruel person? Well for one thing, I’m actually a pretty cool guy. Don’t you hear them? The people love me!”

The mayhem outside only intensified in volume and duration.

“So why are you all here? Well…hmmm….I could tell you that this is all fake and these are just really, really, really good actors…but that’s false advertising and I have a honest image to keep. No, I think it’s best you not know. Don’t wanna cook your brains too much on day one. Oh! That reminds me: you’ve been a very naughty girl Miss Hatter. Bad girl, turning off the power like that. Guess it was smart of me to have just enough juice for the intercom, right? Hey, Chi-chan? I know you can hear me, so please be sure to keep one of them alive. Pretty please?”

The man apparently referred to the Queen of Hearts in such an affectionate manner; evidently, he was the only man alive who could possibly get away with doing such a thing.

“Well, I better sit back and wait for you all then! Because, surely, you all hate me for putting you all in this, right? Right? So why, you ask, am I even bothering you all in the first place? It’s actually, um….how do I put this….basically, you’re all fucked to begin with. Yeah, sounds about right…oh, and one more thing!”

The intercom paused for a while, as if dragging out a tense moment.

“Hey Ryuko….your Kaa-san looks damn right cute with makeup running down her cheeks. Seriously, you should have seen how much she cried when she found out you were missing! Oh man, it felt great…I mean, something about the way she just broke all over is so damn arousing…hey Chi-chan, you should probably keep Ryuko alive! You know, drag it out more…bye now!”

And just like that, the intercom crackled back into dead silence. With it were the silenced noises of the crowd, no longer caught in the moment. Even the man in the cell was quiet, cowering pathetically in the fetal position. Unbeknownst to the children, most, if not all the prisoners had run off to hide in what little sanctuary they could scavenge.

For something else had accompanied the Jabberwocky’s statements. Something that everyone in the facility knew full well…a predator at work.

The hallways became filled with the soft melody of violin music.

-???-
The boy groaned with pain as the man bit at his hand, making him bleed a bit. It was a simple cut that wasn't too deep, but he would be ok for the time being. He however underestimated the strength of the man, and was launched a few inches away from him. The boy held his hand, and felt the crimson blood dripping down his hand. It stinged, but he ignored the pain as the prison they were in broke out into hysteria. He bared his teeth, and walked over to the slumbering white queen. He gave her a little nudge, while listening to the announcement at hand.

The teen listened as the person who controlled this facility told them about this place, and he turned his head and saw how the once ravenous cannibal caterpillar was cowering in fear in the corner, and noticed that he was shivering more than usual when Chi-chan was mentioned. The teen became more angered at the situation at hand, his anger began to reach an overflow.

"That.... That fucking bastard," he uttered to himself as the man began taunting one of the prisoners. He felt sympathetic for the girl, and he was starting to feel a lot more sympathetic for the people trapped in here. "So these fuckers intend to do what they want to us, and cause that man to be broken.... Both of you get up, and get sleeping beauty up. Missy, this is no time to be sitting around and waiting, other wise we might as well end our lives. This is our chance for escape, so don't make me force you out of here, because I'm going to get us out pf here alive... And I'm going to end this sick bastards life...." He spoke in an emotionless manner, his voice and speech becoming cold the moment the Jabberwocky spoke.

"So get up, and lets go.... Hey, girly at the door, are you ok," he asked, his voice seemingly reverting back to a tone of compassion and friendliness.The girl was bitten on the leg, but he didn't know how bad it was at the moment, but he decided to try and comfort her. "I would say this is a time for introducing ourselves, but this is more or less a time for getting ourselves as far away from this person Mr. Jabberwocky holds so dear... And in a nutshell, Greeneburg."

He shook his head, before uttering a few more words. "I thought they were just rumors... Guess I was wrong, hell really does exist in wonderland... Come on, lets go... Get her up please."

Kotori's eyes slowly blinked open as she lay on the dirt ground, stirring uneasily. Was that someone nudging at her? Her gaze moved to the boy standing beside her, blinking against the sudden light from his flashlight. A sleepy smile made its way onto her face as she blinked a few times. "Just five more minutes," she muttered almost inaudibly, "I'm not going to be late for school, I promise." As her eyes adjusted to the light, however, she soon realizing she wasn't exactly in her bedroom. Or anywhere she recognized, for that matter.

Her eyes shot wide open as she immediately stumbled onto her feet, alarmed. Loosing control of herself and letting out a frantic hiss for a split moment, Kotori soon recomposed herself and caught her breath, . Gaze darting all over the room, she quickly concluded this place was most definitely somewhere she didn't want to be.

She didn't seem to be alone, though. There was the boy who had woke her up, another girl (was she bleeding?) and ... something else. She gave the man a brief glance, but then averted her gaze as she instead started to wonder exactly where she was. How had she even gotten here, anyhow? There were dozens of questions floating in her mind in a jumbled, incoherent mess. It was probably best for her to not voice these thoughts until they were less jumbled, she knew, so she kept quiet for the most part. Well, at least she could ask them if they knew what was going on.

"Alright, where are we?" she quipped as she completely regained her composture, her usual grin abruptly plastering itself onto her face. It was rather unfitting considering the circumstances, but Kotori brushed it off. None of the others looked to be the type capable of keeping the moral up, so she appointed herself as the one. (Judging by the look of the rest of the group, she thought herself to be the best for the job, anyhow.) "Actually, more importantly, I should probably get to know you two first.~" She smiled serenely as she waited for an answer.

But gllancing around at the others, she noticed the boy was rather riled up. Kotori only managed to catch the last few words of the announcement, but couldn't make any sense of it. Chi-chan? Ryuko? Who are they? She knew she had just missed something important, but couldn't help but feel uncomfortable knowing the other two knew more than her.

She'd begun to try and force the door open when the Jabberwockey began to talk. She stopped though when he said her name. She listened to his words before she growled animalistically. "You son of a bitch! Leave her alone!" she yelled into the darkness.

She lost herself in her anger, if he touched her mother...she was going to rip him apart. Slowly...for now though, she needed to punch something. Badly. Not the wall, she'd need her hand. She paced like an agitated tiger...just ready to lash out. Her foot caught on the Pillar and she looked down.

"I can't get my hands on the ones I want. So..you'll do just fine..." the next few sounds were of the Pillar being rammed viciously and bodily against the door like a battering ram.

"I'll get the girl in a second. I'm taking care of four problems in one go." her voice was deadly calm.

(ignore)

Oh my fuck, that hurts!

The girl with the glasses kicked violently against the man for the time in which she felt something wrap around her ankle and sink into it. It was still incredibly dark, but the sounds were evidently clear. When the first crackling came, she almost thought the man had bitten right through her bone and she'd lose her ability to walk properly forever. That wouldn't happen. For the entire duration of the ordeal, she screamed and cried and her fists rained punches down on the creature's head. "You don't know who you're messing with. I'll kill you, you bastard!"
And when the man pulled away she fell backwards, panting with a sense of triumphance, that her punches had done the trick. But it was not to be, when the speaker cracked and came to life and her ears shot upwards, and the pain in her leg was numbed for the time being.

Though she had wanted to yell, she held her tongue for the moment. The man couldn't hear her. She didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. It would prove easier for escape but at the expense of all the trickery she wanted to commit and slurs she wanted to spit at him. Mizuki growled a little under her breath, a little shaken when the uproar rose from somewhere muffled, somewhere far away. Somewhere outside the little..."thing" they were inside. There was music that followed after.
Who the hell is Ryuko? Whoever she is, hell, he'd better stop torturing her family. If...if they're anything like mine... Oh, Mama, Papa...no! No no no!
She wanted to curl up and pound the ground with her fists. "No...no no no no no!"
Someone asked her if she was okay. Evidently not.
"...me? Yeah, I'm...fine. Just bleeding." the wet, sticky feeling at her ankle confirmed her suspicions. "And I wanna get out of here. Introductions sound fine. I have no idea who you all are, but you can call me Neko-chan. No, I kid, haha. Mizuki. The pleasure of being stuck with you is all mine. "
She smirked here, though in the darkness nothing could be seen still.
So far it was a young man, and a young woman, and herself. Was that all?
Apparently not. Another voice filled the room, calm and soothing, and Mizuki's ears darted around to find the source.
"Actually, I think we're in hell. Its embodiment, anyway, ahaha! No, no really, we're just probably in some really dark room in some really creepy research facility with some really creepy mad scientist called 'Jabberwocky' who makes mutant creatures just to come after and kill innocent children like ourselves."
Wait. That sounded too much like out of a comic book.
"I couuuuuld be wrong, of course..."

"So you're bleeding, huh?" Kotori made her way across the dark room towards Mizuki, kneeling down and examining her ankle. "...I don't know much about wounds, but you should probably wrap that up." The girl scanned the room for some sort of cloth, but could only make out the ropes on the ground in the darkness. Is my bag still here? I think I had a few useful things in there, she wondered as she patted the dirt floor around her in an attempt to find something other than the scattered ropes.

The girl supposed she wouldn't miss the ribbons in her hair, so she combed through her hair, yanking out all the ribbons she could find. Kotori removed a few from her dress as well, saving a few for later. (She did regret wearing the dress that particular day - it was already starting to get in the way, and they hadn't even gotten out of the room yet.) "That's all I have, but it should help a little." She stood back up, extending a hand to offer Mizuki the ribbons. Ah, well, that was the best she could do for now. Stopping the bleeding seemed like the reasonable thing to do, but Kotori didn't know much other than that.

The girl suddenly realized she had forgotten to introduce herself. "Oh, and you can call me Kotori, Mizuki-chan and... you two," she said, giving them a glance, "So are you two going to introduce yourselves, hmm?~"

As another voice started to speak, Kotori couldn't pinpoint who it was. Research facilities and someone called 'Jabberwocky', she repeated to herself rather dubiously, Mutant creatures trying to kill... us? That was so cheesy sounding to her that it barely got through her shield of skepticism. Besides, she was fairly sure it was extremely unlikely anyone would want to randomly snatch a group of teenagers off the streets. "And how do we know we can believe you? Let me guess - this is a prank," she said, the doubt in her voice clearly showing through.

-Hymn-
??? Just stared in surprise at how Mizukis personality jumped up and down in a matter of just seconds. She went into a ball of fury, to a mad crying mess. She then went back to her calmish, teasing like personality thag she originally had. The teen didn't know whether to be worried about her state or just creeped out from the wayshe acted. He shrugged it off as introductions were put into place. He sighed as they told each other who they were before calmly interjecting in.

"So we are doing introductions instead of taking this opportunity to escape? Seems veeeery logical... If it makes you guys go any quicker, just call me Hymn... By the way, pleasure to meet you all."

Hymn gave a small bow, before walking over to the short haired girl. "Mind giving me my flashlight back?... Also, could you stop smashing Mr. Pillars head in because we've got more important things to do." Before she could answer Hymn,the girl whose name was Kotori spoke up in nervousness that this was a prank. Maybe it was a prank, maybe it was all a dream. Hymn licked some of the blood from his hand, tasting the familiar copper tangyness. His mouth formed into a frown before addressing the group in the cell.

"Kotori-san, this ain't a prank... Nor is it a dream or nightmare, because I shouldn't be feeling the wound on my hand, and I shouldn't be able to truly know its taste. Face it, this is reality, and if we don't accept reality or leave, we are going to die in here."

With that being said, Hymn strolled over to the door, and felt the handle and door. The door was seemingly made out of wood, and he could easily turn the handle to leave the room. He could of kicked it down with style, but it would be illogical to do so. They were being hunted, and if she was nearby she could follow the sound to them, and murder them. The teen slowly pushed the door open, and looked around the area, noticing a shadowy figure before the door.

"Oh no... Please don't be the psychopath that's coming for us," he uttered silently to himself.

The poor man that Ryuko was so generously taking all of her frustrations out on did nothing to stop her onslaught, only slumping forward as he heard what they failed to. His ears had been trained to flee from that tune, and he whimpered more so at what was to come than any actual blows Ryuko inflicted.

When Hymn opened the door to Hell, the man attempted to crawl and slither away in quick succession, failing miserably as the music would be able to reach the children in full length now. Even if they failed to notice it before, it was clear now that one single tune completely encompassed the hallway that was once busy and bustling with activity only mere seconds before.

It was violin music. Beautiful violin music. The kind music that would make children cry in public and move men’s hearts. The melody began to gather and swirl within the air, gradually coming closer and closer until finally, Hymn saw it. A shadowy form at the end of the hallway.

It was not the Hatter or even the Queen. No, the abomination that stood before Hymn could hardly be considered as human at all. It was certainly shaped like one, but there were things that seemed just….off about it. It was too tall, with long arms, and dressed in a torn suit that must have once swooned any surrounding females. Pieces of straw and…were those rabbit ears? Yes, straw and rabbit ears found themselves both plastered and messily stapled directly onto its chest. Its hair was long and wild, becoming a living bush and hiding its ugly head. Its left arm was bloody; torn and mutilated flesh and bone hung loosely from overexposure to some hellish procedure. In its right arm was a shiny violin stick covered in crimson, and in one swift movement, the creature brought it down to its left arm and began to slice upon it violently.

The sound of music started up once more.

No doubt this sickening revelation would not go unheard. However, most haunting was its face, or lack thereof. It held upon its visage a pale white mask covered in a chalky substance and two pupil-less slits, and it’s neck jerked every second or so in small spasms. As it fixed its blank stare right back at Hymn, a chilling sensation would sweep over the boy. A feeling of cold dread and unforeseen killing intent…and then the thing began to move forward. In jerky movements which rattled its creaking limbs aloud, the damned creature slowly made its way over to the children, silent in its hunt.

A monster. A predator. Although it could not rival the Queen of Hearts, its robotic-like instinct could very well steal her kills unintentionally.

The cowering Caterpillar looked up and screeched, his blind eyes being his only present salvation to the horror before them all.

“The Friagne,” he whispered pathetically.

Within moments, the creature found itself towering right over Hymn.

Back in the “emergency room”, another creature was anxiously awaiting for its chance to strike. Positioned directly above the sixth child, it was evident even in darkness that the monster had mass. It lacked intelligence yes, but made up for that particular factor in sheer size and a hunter’s prowess. Not as smart as the Friagne, but still a threat to the bound child.

Getting impatient for its prey to react to its presence, the creature slowly lowered itself down and hovered over the trapped teen. A black tongue as dark as coal slid out of….something, and began to lick and caress the child’s cheek and neck.