Leon refrained from rolling his eyes at Hakuren’s remark but he couldn’t help but smirk. Hakuren was an interesting character, obviously smart and philosophic but at that moment, he was displaying several perverted qualities as well. Leon snorted to himself, inwardly attributing the addition title of ‘Slightly Perverted’ to Hakuren’s mental profile.

He grinned at the pair and dropped his eyes down to the bag that Mado held, noticing the sharp, sword-like edge sticking out through the material. Oh, that carrot. A laugh burst out from his lips as soon as Mado cuffed Hakuren’s hand and he nearly doubled over, committing the priceless image to memory for all eternity. This gave him endless ammunition to use against Hakuren, something Leon would be sure to tease him about for weeks to come.

He sniggered at Mado’s description of the items as ‘armor’. “Well, I don’t know how much protection a vibrating carrot would give you but the whips could surely be counted as a weapon.” He placed emphasis on the ‘vibrating carrot’ and nudged Mado’s bag with his leg as a way of pointing towards it. However, he must’ve kicked it slightly too hard because said carrot fell out and promptly started vibrating the moment it made contact with the ground. The vibrating made the thing shuffle in Hakuren and Leila's direction at a slow, ominous pace, as if threathing, 'I'm coming to get you,'. Leon hunched over slightly, his shoulders shaking at the effort of trying not to laugh. “You might want to switch that off, Mado-san, my bad. Unless you plan on using it.” Great, he was turning into a pervert too. Leon shook his head and grinned to himself, finding the situation amusing, even with Mado’s complete cluelessness towards the situation.

Raising his arms above his head, Leon stretched his arms and back, feeling his joints crackle and snap. His lack of a jacket was starting to bother him less and less; it had been ages since he had been out in only a shirt. His mind went back to the encounter with Mrs. Syook and the abandoned house; the abandoned house could wait for later, and Mrs. Syook’s interest in him could wait forever. “We found out some information from a sea urchin, though. I forgot her name but this is what she said.” His forgetting Mrs. Syook’s name was a minor lie, however, something Leon was conveniently going to ignore until he needed it again. Turning towards Leila and Hakuren, Leon recited the old sea urchin’s story word by word.

“Long, long ago, a terrible event took place that even the most educated of Nobodies knows the exact details and causes of. A woman was accused of being a witch, with several followers and animals that people demanded be executed. Instead, it was decided that the woman was to be drowned, this woman who everyone saw as a dangerous witch capable of untold things. And so the witch hunts began…”

Leon went on and on, describing the event in detail, only pausing here and there to let his companions soak in the massive amount of details. Except for Mado, of course, whom Leon wasn’t really sure whether she was listening or not at any given time. He could’ve proposed to her and he wouldn’t be sure whether she’d have a reaction, let alone a plausible one. However, he went on, his sharp golden eyes settling on Leila and Hakuren at random intervals. When he was done, he ended with a flourish and a small, warm smile. He had done his part, now for the caves.

“So, now that we’re all together, how does heading for the caves sound?” And with that, Leon skipped off towards the direction of the caves, not too fast that the others would lose sight and track of him. He was nearly prancing but the peculiarity of his gait didn’t bother him. A cool breeze picked up from the direction of the caves, allowing him to take in fresh, clean air. “Hurry up, would you? You guys walk so slowly…” He turned, slowing down as he walked backwards, beckoning the others towards him.

The very moment Mado cuffed his hand, Hakuren couldn't help himself from shaking with laughter. Albeit he refrained from allowing the eruption within his throat to escape, Leon, the newest member of their group, did it in his stead. The boy laughed like a drain, loud and clear, so hard one would presume he would fall over himself. The young man in the midnight green coat did not take this to heart at all. In fact, he was pleased with this reaction. It hinted that the two of them had a similar taste for jokes.
Indeed, this was a laughable situation, one so ridiculous that the best of comedians would die on sight from lung exhaustion. A half naked murderer-to-be, who wore a playful mistress suit and held a knife in her hand, had just handcuffed a male from her group, whilst an eccentric youngster shuck like a volcano and a silent puppy girl wordlessly watched in the background. If not hilarious, it was certainly odd, weird in fact, and perhaps one of those scenes people would nervously walk past, pretending not to see or hear anything for the direction of the quatro.
Yet, as delightful and as indecent this play was, it had to be noted how innocent the lunatic was. Truth it was that her mental state was unbalanced and it could not be denied that she had ofttimes had murderous intentions, but in this case scenario Hakuren could not detect the slightest hint or indication of her having dirty thoughts. It was questionable if she was at all aware of what she was wearing, let alone what she was doing. Then again, an unstable mind was a peculiar puzzle, one not easily deciphered as it was a complicated code of mixed up digits and contradictions, which only made sense to whoever was thinking it. This being said, it would not be ludicrous to call insanity a form of genius. Only the most elaborate of minds could think up the world's greatest inventions and the method they used to assemble the pieces needed for their creation in their thought was one only they themselves could comprehend entirely, not to mention many thinkers and inventors had one or two lose screws, just like Mado herself. If one were to view the world in this sense, it could very well be that she was the sanest of them all.

"Thank you very much for your concern~" the green-blue-eyed lad appreciated the gift. Fortunately, its other end was not tied to another's wrist and, having dealt with this sort of restrain, he would have no problem taking it off a bit later, once they got moving and his companion no longer payed attention to him.

Leon said
“Well, I don’t know how much protection a vibrating carrot would give you but the whips could surely be counted as a weapon.”

'...Were they at...Lucky dog...'

The greenhorn nudged the lass' bag with his foot as a method of pointing towards what he was referring to and, for good or for worse, the power of that motion was fat too great and an item leaped out from the contents. Making impact with the ground, not a split second later did it begin buzzing and slowly creeping forwards in a similar fashion to a ringing phone with the sound turned off. For a short moment, all remained quiet as every gaze in that short circle of four was directed towards what appeared to be a vibrating carrot. A vibrating carrot. This was the final straw, pardon, vegetable. Hakuren burst out laughing, not as a drain, yet still enough to make a few winged pancakes fly off a nearby rooftop. He attempted to place a hand over his mouth, but his own shaking was far too intense to subdue, thus he opened the doors of his heart and let the bells of joviality ring with his voice.
"Where'd you get that?" the university student finally asked, a smile still gracing his face "A cathouse? Who would have thought our newest member had it in him."
Of course, he was looking at Leon. It was more unlikely that he forced the girl to take those items and dress in that fashion, than her doing it by herself, yet this was quite the favorable situation. It could serve as ammunition in case the newbie ever decided to turn on him or if an appropriate time were to come to create a pun out of it. There were so many possibilities, too many to count. After all, a good taste of vegetable stew was never bad for the heart. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. It was round, red and juicy, albeit a fruit, but weren't all feminine things sweet like that? A carrot now, that was another matter. It was lean and steady, a fine sword to win the battle for health. The two, despite belonging to quite the different systems, were close in more than one occasion, however, this...Was pure loveliness.

[More might be added, depending on Oblivion]

After this amusing episode, the group proceeded with exchanging information. Feather, a befitting nickname for their amber-eyed member, took the microphone first and explained what they had found during the course of their search. Overall, nothing new was mentioned, with the exception of the witch having followers, yet even that had been jotted down in Mr. Mathema's diary. Once the explanation was completed, it was time for Hakuren to steal the spotlight.
"On our side, we have an old lady crock's tale and a square root man's diary." he introduced the two sides of the coin they had earned in their search. "From the first, we learned a few tasty bits of information. It seems the town's residents couldn't give the downed woman the benefit of the doubt. They were dead sure she was a witch." both metaphorically and literally speaking "Apparently, she caused plenty of mayhem in these parts and had the power to shape-shift and call out spirits. However, none of the numerous examples the gator gave us of the witch's misdeeds can be counted as evidence, since there wasn't any solid proof to back them up. Still, it doesn't matter in the first place, now, does it? If a lie were to be repeated three times, it becomes truth, thus whether she was a witch or not isn't the point. The villagers believed she was and drowned her. Just your everyday example of words changing somebody's destiny." the youngster remarked and continued "We should make sure to stay on their good side. Just like "the witch", they aren't fond of our kind. Who knows, maybe we'll be the next "witches"." a smirk escaped "There wasn't a single piece regarding the whereabouts of the witch's home, but we did receive some info about the caves. In the past, festivals used to be held nearby it and in it, yet the knowledge about its background and purpose has been lost. It was most likely to either honor a deity or to prevent evil beings from coming to destroy the village, so we shouldn't be surprised if the place appears haunted." Not that Yonder itself didn't appear possessed. "The good thing is we were told of a shortcut, so we'll be able to spare some time." Mrs Anaisiuol had been helpful in many ways. "As for the square root's diary, it didn't provide us with much, other than a portrayal of some of Yonder's brighter days, town tales and a brief depiction of the hunt. What can be told from it is that the siren's singing began immediately after the witch was drowned in the lake, making it all that more plausible for the two to be the same person." He had not ignored the possibility of the witch and the siren being two different people, the first being an innocent victim of the latter's doings, who later devised this tactic of sending Nowhereians to their watery death, once her land-dwelling puppet had been broken. Now that he was given the chance to sum up and revise the acquired intell, the young man understood that they had made little progress. Of course, little could be expected from raiding houses and asking locals. Not a single flicker of light was shown upon the Siren's song, the mysterious elusive entity they were meant to find. The only thing they had received in exchange for their investigation was a more detailed view of the witch hunt, which was more or less of no importance as an even, seeing as the most important person, the one who most likely held the information they needed, had been murdered. "Well, enough fooling around." he sighed, the pinch of disappointment detectable in his voice "Lets head to our second destination." Hopefully, it would hold a greater treasure inside than the moldy timeless village. "Oh, and Mado-chan~ Do keep onto that bag of items. They might come in handy." he told her with a cheerful smile as he put the diary of Mr. Mathema in his wooden cupcake mailbox. The boy already had a notebook of his own.

The child looked as if she were about to cry, and Harper stared at his feet, counting the pebbles around them. He felt bad for asking, but still, it had to be done. Jasper placed a kind hand on the girl's back and she sniffled for a moment before taking a deep breath. The boy didn't know what to do, so he looked away, felt guilty and left the comforting to Jasper.

"I miss her," the girl mumbled before she clasped Jasper's hands between her ice cold ones. The older girl had been so nice, so the child tightened her fingers around Jasper's hands as if seeking warmth and comfort. She missed Serena and her friends emptiness lingered inside her. It was lonelier without Serena, she had been a lively nobody and ran the best bakery for miles and miles around. In fact, the queen used to order rainbow and sunbeam tarts from her friend's little shop. But ever since Serena died the moonbeam cakes tasted bitter and the sweet-happy feeling it would give her would be replaced by loneliness. The bakery shut down a few weeks after Serena's death, citizens of Yonder moved away, the town's reputation went down hill and it slowly began turning into the rundown place it was now.

The child wiped away at her teary eyes then mustered up a cheery smile. "Thank you, miss." She beamed, looking happier than she felt.

Jasper, feeling it was alright to continue asked the question they had all been thinking. "What did she see... and... who's them?"[b]

[b]Them. The girl didn't know how to feel, but before she could think too much the other girl asked for her name and leaned in with a grin.

"O-Oh, I'm Marina, but you can call me Mary." She smiled almost sheepishly before tilting her head at the three teens. "What are your names?"

Harper was glad that Marina was feeling better. He adjusted his glasses and gave her a kind smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you Marina. That's Jasper and Ace and I'm Harper." The little girl repeated their names as if it were a mantra then grinned when she got all three right. Harper smiled and gave her a light pat on the head.

Then Ace leaned in and whispered something in Marina's ear. The first statement made a faint blush appear on her pale cheeks. The compliment flattered her and soon she was bouncing on the heels of her feet and giggling. "Oh, thank you very much!" Then Ace lowered her voice a bit more and told Marina why they were looking for answers. They wanted the truth, and that made the child stare at them with sparkling eyes filled with respect and cheer, the lights in her hair flickered bright and she gave them a childish salute.

Her gaze fell on Jasper. "They didn't kill her...but I remember them. There was a boy and a girl...I-I think they were just like you. But I don't remember, that was so long ago, I'm sorry." She wriggled her toes and stared at them through the water. [b]"They were visiting the town, trying to find things, for some reason the queen's guards were after them. Mayor Spicy Tuna said they were criminals and that they had done something terrible. There were around five of them, but the a tall boy and a girl with grey eyes led the others along." She paused.

Harper glanced at both his friends worriedly. What he was hearing frightened him. It was the first time they were hearing negative things about the past humans.

"The queen's guards caught up to them, tried to arrest them, they resisted. Serena ran into one of them, saw something she wasn't supposed to. I don't know what she saw, but she was declared a witch after that...there were witnesses who said she performed magic on one of the humans." The girl was quiet for a few moments, after her friend's death, she searched right and left for information and she got opinions here and there, but nothing was ever concrete. "I-I don't know anything else, but..." she looked up at them wide innocent and wide eyes. "Will this help?" She held Ace's hand in one and Jasper's in the other. "That's all I know."

Harper nodded, eyes kind and sympathetic. "Very much, thank you, Marina."

The path to the caves was just what one would expect from a shortcut. Muddy, rocky and completely desolate, it involved going up and down steep slippery hills. Puddles of murky water could be seen littering the ground like fallen leaves in an autumn forest. Unknown creatures called out, their voices harsh or high, making it hard to tell if they were meant to be bird-like or not. The forest surrounding the road was composed of dark purple trees, bare of any kind of coverage, twisting and curving in peculiar ways, as if they were alive. Wooden branches spread out, sometimes in the walkers' way, as if they were trying to reach them with their dead hallow hands. It was not rare for mushrooms to be spotted growing on the same sides of the trees. Shining in different colours, such as pink, blue and green, they offered the much needed guidance, seeing as the silent giants blocked most of the dim light offered by the welkin. Mist crept sneakily around. Low to the forest floor, it was like a mouse searching for prey in the tall grass. A buzzing sound could be heard once or twice and there were a couple of moments when shadows ran in the distance between the trees and above, in the canopy. The bizarre chirping was every present, only halting for several intervals before continuing anew. An eery place it was.

"The beauty of the great outdoors wouldn't you say?" Hakuren commented sarcastically as he jumped from rock to rock.

The further they went, the weirder it got. The quantity of rocks increased as they traveled, until they completely dominated the path. It would have been dangerous for anyone unsteady on their feet, since the surface was slippery. It was as if rain had poured down on them only moments ago. Along with this change, another could be noticed. On the branches of the trees along the road pieces of cloth were tied. They were simple rags, torn from somewhere or someone, yet it was apparent that they were intentionally placed there. At first, they were a few, yet their concentration doubled and tripled the more the humans walked. The hikers soon found themselves surrounded by a parade of colour. Ribbons and laces could be seen among the common scraps. Old paper lanterns hung at a long equal distance from each other. It looked more and more like a sacred path. Combined with the current damp and dreadful atmosphere, a spooky essence was created, along with a pinch of astonishment and unease.

"Need I remind you all we're on an investigation? This is work, so don't get side-tracked by personal needs." the young man in the midnight green coat told his companions, whilst standing on his toes on a high rock, looking at the distance. The caves were visible and not too far away. It certainly explained the decorations and stones littered all over. "Watch your step and I do mean it. It's slippery."

"I miss her."

The young female enveloped her hands around Jasper's, yet she did not pull away like though felt the slight urge to. Her top priority at the moment was to comfort this child and if holding hands helped in any particular way, then she would be one-hundred percent willing to tough out her impulsive disorders to do it. Jasper's mouth curved in to a sympathetic smile as the Nobody's expression was taken over with a distant look, like she was thinking deeply about the past; her face riddled with light sadness and mourning. It didn't take long til she rubbed the tears from her cheeks and was looking directly into Jasper's face with a bright grin plastered across her youthful complex.

Ace decided to offer some condolences to Marina as well and Jasper knew that making the youngling feel as comfortable as she could possibly be would only reap them more benefits. The name question, in turn, was thrown back their way and Harper complied by introducing the three of them.

"That's Jasper and Ace and I'm Harper."

Mary chanted the names once more, as if storing the knowledge in her own mind, grinning gleefully when she had said them all correctly in correspondence with the right human. Then Ace mumbled something in to Mary's ears which sent the girl jumping, a hand raised to her forehead as if they were army Generals. Lumination raced through the strands of her head as a sort of determination suddenly dawned itself upon the child. Eyes trailing to Jasper's, she began to spout what she knew,

"They didn't kill her...but I remember them. There was a boy and a girl...I-I think they were just like you. But I don't remember, that was so long ago, I'm sorry. They were visiting the town, trying to find things, for some reason the queen's guards were after them. Mayor Spicy Tuna said they were criminals and that they had done something terrible. There were around five of them, but the a tall boy and a girl with grey eyes led the others along. The queen's guards caught up to them, tried to arrest them, they resisted. Serena ran into one of them, saw something she wasn't supposed to. I don't know what she saw, but she was declared a witch after that...there were witnesses who said she performed magic on one of the humans. I-I don't know anything else, but... Will this help? That's all I know."

'Other humans? From a past batch I guess. Criminals? I wonder what she saw.' The story was definitely helpful in piecing together 'why' she was dubbed a witch, but as to what she saw, Jasper wasn't too keen on finding out what it was. But the information that perked her attention the most was about the humans. She wondered what they were all about. Why they were considered criminals here. How come the the Queen was after them? Questions crackled through her head like fireworks on New Years. "Of course it helps Mary. Thank you", she followed Harper's gratitude with her own.

Bidding her a pleasant farewell, Jasper turned towards the bank and waded through the water's force in a paced walk. Pausing as she remembered about the item they were looking for, she almost tripped while scrambling back towards the departing huddle. "Oh, and Mary. Do you know what a Siren's Song is?"

Seeing the lights flicker on in her hair once more, Ace smiled. She then reached over, lifting strands of Mary's hair into her hand. "This is so cool." She admired the lights before letting her hair fall back to place. It was good that she was feeling better, and knew the purpose of their questioning. When Harper introduced her, Ace grinned and gave a small salute in return. "Nice to meet you Mary."

Ace stayed quiet as Mary spoke about the incident. She didn't know what to make of the new information. So two new people were added to the mystery. They didn't kill Serena, but whatever she saw caused them to be...upset. And then all of a sudden Serena was a witch? Marina said they were like them, so the two must have been human. She remembered a few stories she heard about past humans being there, but none were like the one Marina talked about.

Hopefully Harper and Jasper could piece things together because Ace drew blanks. She never really had to find and solve mysteries before. She was tactical for escapes, and maybe entering into unauthorized places. And Ace was probably still missing pieces from the time she missed, only making it harder to find interesting things.

"Will this help?"

"Well of course! All the information we can get is helpful. And we haven't gotten too, too far. So you've been a big help." Ace grinned and squeezed her hand gently. As Jasper left, she assumed it was time to go. Ace started walking away, still holding onto Mary's hand, but then paused as Jasper came charging back. The red head returned to Mary's side and while she listened to Jasper, Ace swung their arms back and forth. "It's not a music box is it?" Ace started to rock on her toes but stopped, realizing that she would probably slip if she did.

"Oh, and Mary. Do you know what a Siren's Song is?"

The girl beamed at the three humans. "It's no problemo!" She gave them a childish salute. "As long as I can help Serena, thank you, thank you very much." Before she could hear Jasper's next question, she tackled the three of them into a hug, It was clear she was the affectionate type. "And oh! A siren's song," she stepped back, a frown stuck to her face. "I don't know, but their music isn't good for you. Please promise to be careful." She stared at them seriously with ice-blue eyes.

Harper laughed slightly, though thoughts of the previous evening came flooding back. "We'll be careful we promise. Thank you very much, Mary." The hug felt cold, but it made him feel warm and happy inside. He couldn't bring himself to dislike the nobodies, some were freaky, but some were just wonderful. They were like people too, they were very much alike, more than he had thought at first.

"It's not a music box is it?"

"I don't think so," Mary shook her head before giving them a wave. "I wish I could help you out some more."

They didn't know what a Siren's song was, but they had learned a lot and Mary had been a big help. His mind wandered back to the words she had said. Humans that were just like them, but criminals? Why was the queen after them and just what had Serena seen? He shuddered at the thought, it couldn't have been good. But what piqued his curiosity the most was the thought of humans from the batches before them. Were they still alive? How far into their own lists were they, if they still had their lists?

"Marina!" The lake seemed to call her name and the humans heard the voice come from deep below. Ripples appeared in the water, coupled with a woman's tired voice.

"Oh, oh, it was nice to meet you, but mom is calling." She smiled brightly and waved. "We should play sometime." She declared before she waded deeper into the lake. Harper watched as she dove beneath the surface. The surface lit up for a few moments before Marina disappeared.

"I wonder if there's a city down there?" Harper gave Ace and Jasper a smile. "Hmm, we still have time. Maybe we should take a quick break then catch up with the others at the cave?" He kept his eyes focused on the lake and wondered what else Nowhere had in store for them. "And, she mentioned humans like us. I wonder...what happened to them?" He waded out of the water then sat on the shore. A lot of things didn't make sense and it frightened him. "Why do you think the queen wants them?"

She didn't like this at all.

THe slippery moss was annoying to step on, and she was sure there were mosquitoes as big as bumblebees flying about. Those damned mosquitoes.

Oh for the love of all that was holy, a whole swarm of them was buggering her.

"Kyaaaaargh!!"

Snapping under the stress of those damned things whining about her ears, she pulled out the whip and started swinging wildly with both the whip and the knife, occasional meaty smacks punctuating her swings as they connect with a mosquito.Still feeling a touch murderous, she continued her genocide of the mosquito race a bit ahead of the group, before tripping on a mushroom and faceplanting on another, bigger, mushroom. Upon regaining her posture, and turning around, she found out she had stepped into some deep icky swamp muck. Of course, misfortune always come in threes, and Mado's shoes were nowhere to be found once she had extracted herself from the muck.

Shoeless, and with legs covered with muck, she arrived at the cave looking very dejected, with only the absence of mosquitoes to comfort her. At least her bag was still dry and clean. Looking around, she tore some of those cloth tied to the trees and started wiping off the mud from her legs.

"Oh my, you look quite a sight." The gentleman was standing near her, twirling about a scalpel. There were some mosquitoes attracted to him as well, but each one that gets near was sliced neatly in half by the scalpel.

"How are you still clean and spotless?"

"Why, I flew here."

"Wh..." she gave a thoughtful look. "Why didn't I think of that before?"

Leon hummed to himself, navigating the slippery rocks with all the grace of a ballet dancer. He kept his eyes on the offending slime that coated the rocks, whose very mission was to send the four humans careening into the muck. Trailing behind Hakuren, almost like a second shadow, Leon was careful not to get his shoes and jeans dirty, He’d have to look horrendous for days on end and that didn’t really sit well with the young lad. No, not at all, Leon decided, prancing from one rock to another and getting ahead of Hakuren and Leila.

He was just balancing himself on a protruding piece of bright blue stone when Mado ran off, wielding the whip she’d brought along with her. He ducked at the last moment, the whip missing him by mere centimeters. What on earth was this girl doing? Leon stumbled backwards, careful not to land in the disgusting muck. He wasn’t sure he could handle parading around in muck-covered jeans, that was for sure. His foot landed half a meter behind him on another rock, where it proceeded to slip from under him again. He frantically searched for another one before stepping onto another one, heaving a sigh on relief when he found stable footing. He liked this cave less and less. What being with at least one brain cell would come to these caves to leave clues? Or perhaps they were sadistic, annoying Nobodies that liked watching others struggle. He would’ve bet that somewhere up towards the roof, hiding amongst the stalactites was a Nobody or even the witch herself, somehow coming back from life.

His ridiculous thoughts went on in that vein for a while, until he saw Mado loose her footing and land in the very same muck he was trying to avoid. At least she had stopped brandishing the whip. Watching her made Leon nearly slip himself and he flailed lightly, regaining his balance before righting himself. He watched her land in the dirt and felt a little bit of pity for her. But it was interesting. Of course, until he saw that she was still wearing his jacket. His heart wrenched a little bit for his precious piece of clothing as Leon almost reached out to it, beckoning the jacket back to him, back to safety. Luckily, it wasn’t splattered with mud (or whatever it was).

“Mado-san, please try not to get my jacket dirty. It’s precious.” And pretty, Leon added to himself.

Inwardly crying, he turned towards Mado, intent on watching her so that she wouldn’t fall again, dirtying his jacket in the process. Of course, that threatened his face with the possibility of several whip-lashes but it was worth it. He did feel a bit bad about her shoeless state but he sure as hell wasn’t giving his shoes up this time. Instead, he slowed down, waiting for Mado to catch up.

“Hakuren-san, how much farther?” Leon was beginning to get bored. Playing hopscotch in a leaky, damp cave was fun for only so long. What were they even looking for?

The cave was larger on the inside than it was outside. The ceiling was too far up to reach and moss clung to the slick walls.

It was wide, with dark tunnels that lead to who knows where. For all the lost souls knew, the tunnels lead deep, deep, down, below the earth to a place where screams could not be heard. There were five tunnels, all dark and rocky. The place smelled like the sea and broken statues were littered across the ground. There was a moldy statue of Mayor Spicy Tuna, but it was hard to recognize him because the statue was in terrible condition. Parts of his face had been chipped off and only one obsidian eye remained.

In the center of the cave was a crystal clear lake? Well, it didn't look big enough to be one. It was a patch of water and if one looked close enough they'd notice how the water below turned much darker. No one could see the bottom, no could tell if there even was a bottom. Below, hidden from the eyes of the lost souls were underwater tunnels that led to the lake in the north side of town.

There were plenty of rocks in the cave. Big ones, small ones, rough ones, and smooth ones.

From behind one of the bigger rocks, near the entrance of the second tunnel there was the soft pitter-patter of feet, and the squelching of feet against mossy concrete. No matter how hard they looked, they could see no one.

The lost souls strained their ears, and listened. There was a faint whisper.

"Again with the wet hugs." Ace laughed, but gladly accepted it. Mary was a nice kid. Maybe they'd visit her again if they ever passed the lake.

It wasn't long before a voice called out from the water. "Mom?" Ace looked over Mary, only seeing the water. No matte how hard she looked, she could only see the surface. "Oh, bye Mary! Nice meeting you." She waved and watched her disappear into the lake. "Cool. Even cooler if there is a city there."

Ace turned, following Harper out of the water. She was more than eager to hurry to the cave, but she waited and took the opportunity to rest with the other two. Ace took a seat in a sunny patch off the shore to dry up, even if it was just a little. Mary had dampened her clothes, but it wasn't too bad. Ace was sure it would probably dry off in the matter of time.

She pondered over Harper's question, gazing out into the lake. "Well, I wouldn't want bad eggs tainting my kingdom... They must've done something wrong. Maybe they thought they had some divine right to take over? Or maybe they went insane and tried -maybe even succeeded- to kill a Nobody? There's also the possibility that those humans could've been framed and the siren really is the bad guy. Or we could all be trapped in some twisted game, one that's being controlled every step of the way... By the Queen herself! Or- or-" Ace paused, realizing she started to ramble.

With a small laugh, she looked over at them and shrugged. "I don't know. The clues aren't fitting together properly. Maybe the other group has helpful pieces to the puzzle."

 

The little girl responded, clarifying the fact that whatever the Siren's song is, that it's probably not a good idea to go around searching it. Suddenly a motherly voice called for Mary and with a short farewell, she dove headfirst into the depths of the lake to comply with the calling.

Harper spoke up shortly wondering if there may actually be a civilization down there and the thought enchanted her greatly. Ace agreed enthusiastically and continued on to answer his question about the past batches of humans and why the Queen was after them. Bizarre "maybes" and "what ifs" spewed out of her mouth in an excited flurry of ideas. But the two ended up settling on finding the other group to put their clues together in order to solve the mystery... hopefully.

Heading back like she had been earlier, before the question struck her, an annoying urge to shower slapped her upside the head as she stared at her mossy feet. Shuddering in her soaked flip-flops and moist pant legs, Jasper felt like crawling out of her dirty skin and into a container of sanitizer. As soon as her other two groupmates caught up, she headed towards the caves since she remembered Serenade telling them to snoop around there. Jasper hoped they were headed the right direction as the terrain seemed to get swampier and swampier.

It took the group awhile to reach the caves. In the process of doing so, they were forced into a playful game of slippery hopscotch, where failing to land properly could send you to a muddy demise.
Such was Mado's fate. The lass had desperately attempted tackling an enemy only her eyes could see. Whether or not she emerged victorious was a fact only the Loco Coco herself knew, yet Lady Luck's thumb certainly went down when the human was sent tumbling down over herself into what was a pit of uncategorized slimy filth. By tripping over several times and eventually greeting the questionable substance with her body, the jacket, which had hidden the girl's indecent attire, had flapped in various directions, revealing everything that couldn't be seen otherwise. It wasn't a pleasant sight for Hakuren's eyes, seeing as she wasn't his size, let alone his type, but it wasn't harrowing or entirely unpleasant either. No doubt, it was hilarious.
The young grasshopper in the merry band for four, on the other hand, had handled their journey rather well. Graceful were his steps, as he skipped from stone to stone with the elegance of a gazelle. Albeit there were one or two occasions when he escaped misfortune by a hair, Leon carried himself with poise and did not allow himself to be fooled by nature's trickery. At first, he had stood at the back of the pack, humming a suitable tune, unlike any true mountaineer, who would have suggested singing together in a timbre similar to that of a ferocious bear. Once they neared their destination, the lad went ahead of their leader, catching up to the murderer-wanna-be, possibly due to the fact that the covering cloth over her shoulders was his. This left the young man in the midnight green coat third in the row, yet he did not mind and patiently waited for the forth member to catch up.
Leila, unlike the others, had not the slightest amount of eagerness to conquer the rocky path and had preferred taking it slowly, one step at a time. As a true lady, she gently placed her delicate feet on the unsteady surface, making sure she would take the right position, in order to minimize the chances of descending against her will. Measuring the surface of each platform and calculating whether or not it was a suitable base for her mass made the girl rather sluggish. Slow and steady wins the race, as they say. Thus, her position as last in the assembly was as concrete as Nowhere's illogical logic.
The one who made himself halt a couple of times for the sake of the aforementioned sheltered snail was Hakuren. He was the head of this little operation, after all. If anything happened, it was on his head. Not that there wasn't an excuse for everything in this guy's head, yet that was another song for another time. When not standing in one place, he was as swift as a mountain goat. The youngster did not see a problem in getting himself dirty, but avoided it if unnecessary. Leaping left and right, making swift turns, some of which were even a full clockwise, he was not as refined as the other male, yet kept himself out of harm's way just as proficiently. With a small grin on his face, in his eyes this was a challenge, a warm-up test for what was to come in the unknown caverns that were their new target. Thus he did his best to exercise by climbing up higher stones and stepping only with the front part of his feet. Everything was just that - a game.

Before the entrance of the cave there were four beings. One was a young man with black-blue hair, the second was a boy with feather earrings, the third - a silent composed Miss and the fourth - a barefoot knife-wielding girl with a killing intent. An odd team they were, even for the likes of the crazy world they had somehow found themselves in. Proceeding into the mysterious maze, not one of them quivered or hesitated. In each was a confidence of a different kind, yet the source of their willpower was irrelevant in their situation. What was important was the result and not fearing the unknown was one of the many requirements for reaching their objective quickly without a hassle.
Allowing Leon and Mado to take the front lead, Hakuren walked closely behind them, yet not as much as to cause discomfort. Nature's artwork was a delight for his playful green-blue eyes. Tall stone walls stood like giant soldiers giving a salute, whilst different kinds of flora honored them with their presence, like laurel wreaths on the heads of champions. The ceiling gradually rose higher and higher, until one could not tell where it went, yet it was there, for there was no light to come from above. Drops of water could be heard from time to time as they made impact with the solid surface of the ground. The air had a salty essence to it, resembling that of the sea. The darkness grew larger and larger, to a point where they could only make out silhouettes.

Leon said “Hakuren-san, how much farther?”

"A bit more." he responded. The dark never bothered him. Nightlife was where his youthful years were spent up until the very eve he boarded the train.
Everything slowly began turning brighter after some sort of line was crossed. Little by little, they passed through what was most likely an entrance tunnel and entered what was their first open space within the cave.
A large opening, with a rocky floor where grass could be seen growing here and there, it was a desolate place, one which had most likely not seen a living being's foot for quite awhile. Or perhaps it was correct to say "a human foot". There was a wide hole above them, a part of the top which had collapsed at some point of Nowhere's existence, allowing those with ear night vision to witness the disastrous appearance of the surroundings. Statues lay scattered and dismembered across the cave. Limbs and heads of animal-like stone creatures, which had once been whole, now rested atop the very same ground they had once symbolically protected, covered by pink and purple moss, red fungi and orange spotted mushrooms. This was a saddening sight to behold. No wonder that there had been so many pieces of cloth tied to the trees outside. There had even been a festival in the past. This was most likely a place of worship and honor, bearing such a great importance that stone statues were created as guardians. It was indeed a bit depressing to see how time, even though it was nonexistent in this dimension, affected culture. The old must be forgotten, in order to for new to take its place.
What caught the young man's attention was the moldy statue of a being he barely recognized, yet, upon looking closer, it did not seem he could be mistaken. It was the figure of the mayor, sir Spicy Tuna. This was definitely unexpected and, under close examination, it confirmed the individual's identity and the fact that it had been in this state for more than a day. It puzzled the youngster. If a statue were to be created of the mayor, this had either been part of the village or the mayor was not what he appeared to be. This reminded the human of an anime he had once watched, where the guardian chief of the village was actually the scale of a god and had supernatural powers. Not to mention that the said character was scaly and fish-like. It was a theory he would have not considered possible if he had not seen the statue. This enlightened him a bit and he made a mental note to broaden his horizon. This was a world where everything was possible, after all, so everything, even the most ridiculous of ideas and assumptions, had to be taken into consideration.
Taking his gaze off the statue, Hakuren spotted five tunnels ahead, each with numerous rocks either standing tall or lying down. Ah, the classics never ended. They had to make a decision on the route they had to follow. Chose wrong and you could meet your demise. Now he remembered it would have been a good idea to take a stick from the forest. It would have been a great tool to test the ground for traps and holes, if it got too dark to see. The paths were located beyond the small lake, which was located in the center of the clearing. Clear, blue and apparently deep, it was a marvelous sight, a sapphire among beads.
Yet something did not entirely make sense. Some of the rocks were smooth. Some were rough. Some were big and some were small. If they were all located in layers around the lake, it would have been logical, yet they were scattered, just like the statues. If the water had once filled up the clearing inside the gave, all of them would have been smooth. It was an oddity, yet Nowhere was full of them, thus the lad made remarked it, but didn't pay it much mind.
Just as he was about to make a suggestion that they head into the third tunnel from left to right, the found of feet against the moist ground became audible and none of them were moving. The humans ceased whatever they were doing immediately and listened closely to the sound. It came from the second tunnel, yet nothing cloud be seen. This made Hakuren's relaxed expression become serious. Pulling all his concentration towards the direction from whence the sound came from, he could still not make out neither shape, nor weight of the subject. It was bothersome. For a heartbeat he summed up all the possibilities of escape. They were midway, at an equal distance between the five tunnels and the one they came from. His current position was steady and offered a good jumping base for a quick sprint. Mado was close in front of him, yet the other two were now behind him, as he had changed places with Leo unconsciously while they were still exploring the cave. Depending on the incoming being, it could either be an advantage or disadvantage. He would have to weight it once the creature became visible. The group had nothing to protect themselves with other than the items at the lunatic's disposal. It was quite fortunate she was in the very front. Seeing as she was near enough, Hakuren grabbed her arm as quickly as possible, in order to divert her attention from what was approaching, which he did not doubt she wished to chop into pieces, and signaled to everyone in the group to keep quiet by placing a finger in front of his lips. Their first quest had proven to the humans that this world held dangers as great as its wonders. It was wise to lie and wait for whatever was to come, instead of jumping head first. Once he had made sure they had seen his signal, he let go of Mado's arm. Truth be told, if she were to lash out at the incoming existence, it would provide a nifty distraction, yet he made sure to have warned her just in case. The girl was useful and he would hate to lose such an asset now, but if the circumstances required it, he wouldn't mind either. It didn't truly concern him whether or not she would listen to his advise. In fact, it was more likely that she now wished to attack even more. Regardless, they all would face whatever was there sooner or later.

The lost souls strained their ears, and listened. There was a faint whisper.

"Wrong answer. If incubation began after the last one arrived, all the eggs received the same amount of heat, meaning that they should all hatch at the same time. If one hatches earliest than the rest, at a time it is not supposed to, it means it's a parasite, like the cuckoo bird. The chick will then push the rest out. So, there will be no more eggs in the nest."

Leila listened as the boy corrected her and explained the reasoning behind the correct answer. Alas, she knew terribly little regarding the topic of birds. She did, however, find this concept rather intriguing - and now being reminded, she remembered reading about something similar somewhere, sometime in the past. A species developing tactics that allows it to access the resources gathered by someone else - free lunch. A clever, although not necessarily agreeable, strategy.

"Ah...it does seem so." She said in response, smiling. She never did particularly mind being wrong.

* * * *

Leila did not know for sure when exactly she realized she was tired. But once she did, it was very hard to ignore that fact.

The road to their destination was far from without obstacles. The rocks of which their path was composed were greatly uneven, with many sudden increases and decreases in height, and several places where jumps were required for the gaps to be cleared. The moss - a simple life form that happily flourished on the humid surfaces of the various formations of rock - covered the originally rough surface of the rocks with a dangerous slime-ish texture.

Leila’s shoes didn’t happen to provide decent traction. That didn’t bother her much - the exact positions of footholds on rocks, even completely neglecting friction, could be quickly calculated. The major obstacle in her ascension along the path was, instead, the random variable that produces the unsightly probabilistic error margin to each and every part of the results; adding the dread of uncertainty every time before a footstep was secured or after a leap was taken - even with the operations being carried out being supposedly completely deterministic.

That random variable we speak of was, of course, no other than Leila herself.

The jaggedness of the terrain increased as the group proceeded, making the success of each step more thanks to luck and chance instead of caution, or skill - not like she had any, that. Every time she didn’t slip and topple over into the mud seemed more like a miracle. And just as the configuration of the stones became more and more peculiarly unpredictable, so did the level of illumination drop. It was truly discomforting for the girl - less light, more chunks of black in her sight, less information provided, fewer clues to base her actions upon. The group still carried on, and so did Leila’s predictions of possible courses to be taken, with data gathered from a combination of what was left of the visible cues and the trial-and-error of extending her palms in random directions in hope of getting a grasp on something. And the longer she stayed under such a state, the harder it was to fight the dread and anxiousness continuously brewing inside.

Leila did not like that feeling at all. Already screaming internally, she resisted considering the option of making it known to the others, as well as the urge to just cling onto someone or something and refuse to move until the environment changed - though, she would find it utterly unpleasant to have to do either. Instead, to distract herself, she focused on listening to the chirping of the creatures that resided in the area around them, although it did not account for much effect for she was far less adept in gathering clues through hearing as compared to eyesight, which she practically lacked at the moment; and she couldn’t really tell much from the sounds except the fact that they did contribute to a rather spooky background noise (the kind she would usually find comforting, and would have now if it were not for all the nervousness building up from not being able to see properly). She did, however, also overhear a slightly reassuring conversation that took place elsewhere in the group, slightly in front of her - signalling both that she had somehow not fallen too far behind, and that the journey was to come to a temporary end briefly.

”...Hakuren-san, how much farther?”
”...A bit more.”

* * * *

The caves were a wondrous sight. Great arches of stone, almost miraculously supported by their own structure. Flora - grass, fungi, and other shorter leaved plants on the ground, moss and vines where the walls extended upwards - provided a tint of life for the cave that would otherwise be devoid of it. Above them was the ceiling of the cave, constructed at a great height unreachable by all except the most simple, stubborn plants, whose trails winded some distance before halting, sometimes into unwilling dangling threads pointing, again, downwards. Sunlight - sunlight from outside of the mountain -showered in from an area where the composition of the cave had seemingly failed, where stones and rocks had crumbled and fallen to the ground of the cave, leaving a gaping hole that allows lighting to be provided; the mist in the moisture-saturated air revealed the course of beams of sunlight as they poured through the gaps between dangling vines.

Leila walked along the group behaving like a child entering an electronic arcade - turning around frantically, desperately trying to take in everything at once, gasping between her stammers to marvel at the surroundings.

In front of the group, at the centre of the cave approximately beneath the source of light, was the mirror surface of a lake. It was not large in size - some might argue it was not worthy yet of being called a lake. The water was clear - almost unreally clear, a blue-green crystal lens through which the underlying structure of the bed was revealed. And if this was a pond and not a lake, then it sure was a very, very deep pond; the solid surface beneath the waters extending downwards and downwards towards the centre until all light from below was absorbed by the dampening layers of water before they could reach the surface, or any nearby human eye. It almost reminded her of something else that light did not escape, but she abandoned that thought in defiance of bringing back any memories from the Fisher. Instead she stared at the centre of the lake as the group wandered on along the gravel ground - the abyss that invoked that unique feeling that was a mix of fear, mystery, uncertainty,excitement, admiration, and something that was almost plain happiness.

‘Extraordinarily beautiful.”

It was one of the few times Leila spoke out loud what was going through her mind. That she remarked in a whisper, as if anything her voice would add to the scene would disrupt its perfectness. A whisper, almost as faint as the one coming from one of the caves, the one Leila did not hear.

She was never particularly good at picking up cues with her ears.

Group One

The suggestions Ace were tossing around weren't half bad and some of them scared him badly.

In this world of soda waterfalls and sky pirates, anything was possible, wasn't it? Anything could happen to anyone. His thoughts went back to the ship, at one moment Emily had been happy with her stuffed bear but in the blink of an eye the ship was rammed and she fell. The child was gone in the snap of a finger and because of the chaos they had no time to mourn, no time to pay their final respects. She simply disappeared, leaving an Emily shaped hole in the universe. It was almost as if she never existed in the first place and the thought saddened him. In Nowhere they were nothing but fleeting shadows dancing by candlelight, and all it would take to extinguish them was a breeze. After that, they'd be no more.

Like drawings on a chalk board, their existence would be erased and there probably wouldn't even be a body to bury.

"It's possible," he muttered as they walked on towards the caves. The atmosphere around them changed from dull to duller and in the distance rocks of all shapes and sizes and murky swamp came into view. He shook his head and soldiered on despite wanting nothing to do with the eerie place.

"I don't know. The clues aren't fitting together properly. Maybe the other group has helpful pieces to the puzzle."

He turned to Ace, thankful for her optimism. Jasper and him needed as much of it as they could get. "Hopefully, then we can go home." He chuckled nervously as he pushed up his glasses. "We'll have a lot of crazy stories to tell our family and friends won't we? I wonder what my sister will think." The thought of seeing them again made him light up but then reality came crashing down. Out of the ten items on the living list, they only had one.

"Hmm, if it isn't too much to ask." He turned to look at both his companions. "What wish brought you here?" He gave them a weary grin. If they had rushed into the crazy train just like he had then their wishes were probably things they were willing to toss logic away for, right?

Group Two

There was the sound of something whizzing through the air, and before anyone could react a metal pipe connected with Hakuren's jaw.

It was strange. So very strange.

A soundless swing cut the air. The metal pipe, which had created it, collided with Hakuren's jaw. It was an unpredictable action, one which could not be avoided, and signaled the beginning of the enemy's attack. Fortunately, the item's surface was smooth, without any sharp edges, which could cut the flesh, however, the power carried in its movement broke the young man's balance upon impact. The hit was hard and cold, like a kiss from the depths of the sea. Losing his footing, a sudden misstep sent the youngster directly to the ground, where rocks both big and small awaited to give him a warm embrace. His head slammed against the boulders and he lay there, motionless, whilst unknown figures approached his comrades.

It was not black, the view in front of his eyes, yet it was hazy, as if unrealistic. There was noise coming into the ears. Something strange, quite strange indeed. A couple of spots flickered here and there, much like the city lights back in the human world. Sounds of a familiar kind rushed in. First the rain came pouring in, a wonderful orchestra of nature. It hushed and swept away reality for that short moment. Then the horns and engines of cars roared past and the third violin was played by the loud murmuring of the masses, along with the buzzing of their devices. The same noisy place, as always. And then it played, that little tune he'd heard some time ago. Or was it a long time ago? There was no way one could tell for sure. After all, time did not exist in Nowhere. Not to mention that it wasn't all that clear when the last occasion of hearing it was.

‘‘Left alone with no music at all,
I wonder when the teacher down the stairs will fall.
Not having a single tune in my ears to cheer,
I wonder what made my phone's life disappear.”

The lad's eyes did not comprehend much of what he saw in front of himself whilst resting atop the floor of the cave, only his breathing indicating that he was alive. The hit he had taken had not been hard enough to knock him out unconscious, yet his collision with what existed below their feet was another matter. He heard his attacker's question, yet did not reply. The need to respond to the outside world had suddenly been lost. He couldn't explain why, but there was no need to, now, was there? Something was picking at his memory, something of an unknown origin, foreign, unseen. The noise in his ears was growing louder, the sound of clattering mouths in particular. Gossip. It was an enjoyable activity, as long as the topic was not you yourself. The pounding of his heart resonated within his cranium, increasing the volume even more. Beat after beat, it was unending, which was comforting, seeing as it indicated that life within the body was continuing its existence. Two eyelids slowly descended downwards. No sooner had they come to a standstill than all was engulfed by darkness.
The unclear chitter-chatter of folk soon became faint and more of an echo than anything else, yet the song followed in the same manner it had started. There were ups and there were downs as the voice changed its pitch several times. It was a recognizable musical piece, yet its name and creator eluded the student's mind. The arrangement was splendid, providing both a playful and a spooky essence to it. Words kept piling up it continued line by line. Still, it did not feel complete, as if some of the lyrics were cut off at some point. He did not try to remember. He did not even attempt to recall who was it that gave it to him or where he had heard it. Instead, the boy simply listened for the end, the only part of the song he knew at that point.

‘‘Even at this time, I'm sitting in my place.
Waiting patiently, teacher's late in this case.
What nobody knows is that there was a tragedy.
For the illness there, it seems there's no remedy.”

Instead of the last verse came gunshots. Like the waves created by a leaf, as it touches the still waters of a lake, screams were spread. Regardless of how tearful, saddened or shocked those individuals were, they were not enough to deafen the thundering caused by the bullets. It was bizarre. There was nothing plain in sight. Only a canvas of the pure black abyss that is one's inner self. No light. No hope. Only a memory, which grew distant each and every time he blinked. But instead of feeling despair or terror, Hakuren just grinned, both outward and inward.

"What a foolish thing." he snickered.

Pushing himself upwards to a sitting position, the young man was a peculiar sight. Blood slowly dripped from his mouth and from the side of his head, its crimson colour contrasting well with the blue in both his eyes and messy hair. His gaze staring sharply at the woman before him, there was something playful in those two bright flames, as well as in the small grin he wore as an expression. Now wide awake and completely conscious, his entire being devoted itself to 'the game' once more.

"Asking for information like that, it's unmannerly of a young lady. A hungry bear does not dance. How about we have a proper introduction, hmm?"
They were captives. A blind man could see that. Trapped under nets, which possessed some sort of magical ability, there was no evident escape route. This being said, it was not wise to struggle and get on their interrogator's bad side. Yet Hakuren continued as per usual. The identity of the person in front of him did not matter. She wished for information and he could grant it, at a reasonable price of course.
"My name's Hakuren Zabluda. I'm sure we can create a decent deal if we base it on informational exchange."

The cave... the cave was huge.

More importantly, it has water that was not mixed with disgusting muck. She hopped into one of the smaller puddles, enjoying the feel of water cleaning away the mud. Mado would have scampered down to the body of water just before them, dipped her feet in, and relax, if not for the whispers. Someone else was here.

Almost immediately her left hand dove into her(she supposed the jacket would be hers now) pocket, grasping that old wooden handle, her legs tensing as she prepared to jump across and over on the statues towards the second cave opening.A hand grasped her arm however, stopping her right before she could jump. Giving no resistance, her body went slack and she sat down on the cave's floor, looking forwards towards the source of the sound.

The slight whir of the pipe travelling through the air towards Haku's face would have spurred her to action, but Haku's act of stopping her short in her tracks had Mado thinking she was to stay and not move anywhere.

Listen to us....Follow us..MOVE

A mere moment later, a net went over her, not that she gave much reaction, simply giving it a surprised look before turning to face the new arrivals. Mado had simply decided this was alright and curled in the big jacket.

"Oh, so that's what happened to them." The gentleman straightened out his cap.

"...the list...." Mado spoke suddenly. "..the list is important....wish the entrance, but the exit...."

Ace followed along behind the two, just in case one would lag behind. She was fully prepared to pull them along if they needed it. She watched the scenery change and grew curious again. "I wonder if alligators live in the swamps- or do crocodiles live in swamps? ...I'm pretty sure it's alligators." The girl then blinked and then laughed softly. "Of course... There's no need to get worked up over it. We could be alone." She continuously forgot that the two weren't avid on her wild fantasies- especially if it potentially harmed them. "Let's just catch up to the others."

"Hopefully then we can get home. We'll have a lot of crazy stories to tell our family and friends won't we?"

The comment made Ace grow cold for a brief second. She had paused behind them, but quickly returned to her regular pace. In the matter of time, she had forgotten about going back. She wasn't wondering about who she could tell her stories of adventure to or wondering if anyone was wondering where she had run off to. And Ace knew the reason why. None of that existed for her. Ace would've much rather stayed in Nowhere rather than go back to an empty life. The red head never replied to the comment, in fact, she grew quiet with it and let Jasper give her own two cents.

To Harper's other question, Ace remained in thought. What was she thinking when she jumped on the train with Leon? Sure she was curious and wanted adventure, but it Ace didn't know. The most prominent thing she remembered was having the conversation with Leon, and almost immediately getting escorted around by Froggy. "I don't... Hm, I don't exactly know." She gave a sort of shrug. "There's a lot of things I want, but I don't know what I wished for."

 

The scenery change as they continued their walk towards the caves transitioned from sand, rocks, and lake; to moss, musty, and swampy. Unidentified "bugs" crawled and buzzed at every turn, while bacteria littered the surroundings in mucky pools of dirt and mud water. Nothing about the sight was pleasant, especially to Jasper; a paranoid germaphobe since birth. The only peculiar object in the entire picture were little pieces of cloth that seemed to hang in purposely placed areas on the branches of trees. Puke was just about ready to hurl out of her mouth, yet her stomach was as blank and empty as a packet of gum upon arrival to a classroom. The dingy rock path, clearly laid out for wanderers, called to her. Being the type of person that she was, the urge was easily turned down as she faced her group mates with a look of fear. Moving aside as Ace had no sweat entering the insect infested area, Jasper's eyes were ready to bulge out of their sockets as even Harper paid no mind to the surroundings as he marched on in. Gulping down her eerie thoughts, it was time to, for the millionth time, reject the impulses of her body and go against its natural will.

It took seeing the other two at a distant before she could finally place a toe on the first green stone. Placing her hand carefully on a "cleaner" looking part of a tree trunk for much needed support, she began to get the hang of maneuvering herself from one rock to the next in a matter of minutes. Being so deadly focused on getting from her current solid standing and plotting her oncoming move, she hadn't realized that she had moved at a pretty quick pace, enough to obliterate the distance between her and the others. Almost bumping Harper off his footing, it took the physical contact to snap her out of her trance-like focus to take hold of his shirt and yank him back into a stable position. "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry", she apologized endless repetitions, nodding her head up and down in emphasis of how bad she felt for almost sending him sliding down to his doom. As the trio travelled on in mutual silence, Harper spoke up, always one to cut the quiet with a prodding question.

"Hmm, if it isn't too much to ask. What wish brought you here?"

The way he presented the inquiry was both cautious and free-minded. Spoken in a way that would not pressure the receiving into answering if they did not wish to do so. A flash spiked in her memory. Rosen's face. Oh, but the features were so very blurred. There was no way, not a single way in the universe that she was starting to forget? Rosen's eyes, nose, and mouth were hazed and vague as Jasper struggled to define uncertain facial structures, frustration building up in her as the image remained watered down in a cloak of forgetfulness. "She was my mother," a pause for painful resistance in her throat, "she's dead." The remembrance flushed back into full resolution as she muttered the word 'dead', Rosen's face coming back into vivid life. A soundless sigh of relief expelled itself from the angered cages of panic. She couldn't forget. No matter how long she spent in Nowhere. Never.

Reaching her lanky leg out to the following mossy stone, the unsuspecting Jasper had no idea that this one was the slipperiest out of all. With a high pitched cry of shock and horror, her bottom landed and slid down to an awaiting cesspool of grime and glowing red flies. Up to her bellybutton in an unnamed substance, items and organisms alike swivelled and nudge around her immersed half as she gagged and fought passing out in the godforsaken mush.

“C’mon, c’mon!” The high-pitched voice was much too cheerful to make up a battle cry, and its source was the smallest figure in the offending group. If eyes had been trained on this certain accomplice from the very beginning, it could have been quite obvious that they weren’t dealing with any sort of mercenaries (at least with this one, you can’t really call those movements anywhere close to thug-ish). It was almost like watching a kid pop out from behind a rock (literally). However, the trio had a clear purpose and the clipped energy this figure had before they slung the net over the humans was quickly shoved away until the deed was done and their prey was, in almost all aspects, immobile.

”Where is the list?” ??? asked, and the three of them were in a tight triangular formation with the humans in the center.

Then, she pulled back her hood. The moment of cool surprise ambush-

”Redundant, miss Renaudo! It seems as if you’ve caught your cousin’s faulty grammar!” A ringing voice flickered within her head before fading away, an intangible element that was lost again in the hazy black abyss which was her mind these days.

-or something. Whatever. Gosh, who cared about grammar during this time? Anyway!

Gary pursed her lips and then twirled her staff around. She was a petite person, somewhere close to 5’5 but never really quite touching the mark, with a round face that could be described as pretty, or at the most extreme sort of flattery, striking. After all, her bright pink hair clashed with the lively emerald orbs that were her eyes, though one’s attention could probably be taken away from these eccentric features by the bright, even-toothed grin playing on her face.

Or, if one was more attuned to violence, the thick metal staff she was expertly twirling around was probably her most noticeable feature at this given time. After all, the weapon was even a foot taller than the girl herself was, and merely possessing it granted her considerable range.

She didn’t seem particularly inclined with watching the humans, and flitted to and fro her spot to the one of the boy beside her. “Shhhhhhhtttt, Sacchhhiiin! Look at that hommun’s earrings! They’re like, you know, bird arms. Or something. What’s the word? Feet-ers?” Gary whispered energetically before scooting back to her position soon as one of the humans answered ???’s query.

"Asking for information like that, it's unmannerly of a young lady. A hungry bear does not dance. How about we have a proper introduction, hmm?"
Hungry bears…? Not dance….? Uh…?
God!

Before she could help herself, Gary swung her staff forth and brought it down in an arc above the interrogator’s head (they were supposed to be the ones asking questions!). The sound it produced, of weaponry melding with human bone and flesh, was loud enough to scare some toffee bats from their slimy perch within the recesses of the tunnel. Still, she had excellent control of her arm and instead of fully focusing the attack on the man’s head (and giving him a right concussion, what with sprouting stuff like that), she had angled the staff so that it nicked some before sliding down to the stones on the floor. Nevertheless, he would feel quite a sting for hours to come.
Gary pulled her beloved pole to an upright position and surveyed the humans. The girl had answered their question, but not quite. Meh, Luke could try to decipher her talk; she was going to rant. “Gee, Mr. Philosophy Pants, was that thing about the bear really necessary?” She snapped with an irritated edge to her voice.

In but a second, the tension was dropped as she turned to her companion, the one she had addressed as Sacchin, and pushed her pole away from him. “Nope, you’re not confiscating le pole, Sacchin!” Gary sang out a bit silently; only the human near her would’ve heard this declaration.