Path to the Mad Man

David struck a random mobster with the shot, throwing him back a few feet and crashing into the ring of men. Harekles casually walked out of the ring of mafia men now, his right eye still closed while his other hand separated the bandages over his left, making a wider opening in the middle.

When Harekles removed his hand, the opening was big enough that the group could see Harekles's eye looking at them.

"Nice one," Harekles said sarcastically. "Let me show you mine now."

Harekles pointed the long end of his can at the group and let out a volley of rockets flying towards them.

The Don jumped out of the way but spinning hat cut a deep gash into his right leg and he fell over screeching with a raven's caw.

Davy laughed at the rockets coming at him. "Oh pretty lights!" He said as he ducked and dodged. He moved as is a ballet dancer. "And pirouette." He said as he spun. He then loaded up his flare gun as he spun. He then fired it just in front of Harekles. Davy knew he would switch with someone so he kept his mask on just to be safe.

Harekles simply shot another rocket and it intercepted the flare. The rocket and the flare clashed and caused a sudden explosion, kicking up dust, dirt, and thick smoke. As the smoked cleared, David would find himself looking at Axel on the other side.

"Shhhh~" Harekles sounded, placing a finger to his lips as he lower himself to whisper into David's ear. "Be vewy vewy qwuiet. I'm hunting for ducks. Ah ha ha ha ha ha."

Harekles quickly stood up straight and swung his cane to hit over David's head.

Davy just grunted as the can hit his helmet. He simply laughed. "Now you see me." He said as he dropped a small grenade. It released a inkish black smoke. Not to be confused with his tar bomb. This was a simple black smoke grenade. "Now you don't." The grenade split open and released the black smoke into the air as fast as possible. The smoke quickly covered the bottom area of the room, leaving Father time and Byron un effected. Davy could see with his mask out lining targets for him in wire frame forms, all targets not green were enemy, green were alies. "Works better in snowy air, but whatever works."

"Works better if you keep your mouth shut too kid," the hare faunus said as he quickly swung his cane to whack David in the calves, a spot that would hurt to high heaven and make someone fall over.

Byron yanked back the chain, pulling back the spinning hat. Making the round trip, the hat cleaved through the don's hand and sent the pistol flying. The hatter jumped and landed on the godfather, pinning him down with his foot pressed against his chest, the godfather lying on the ground on his back.

With another flick of his wrist, Byron's hat's blade popped out and pulled together by a steel string connecting them and formed into a long, thin sword. Byron pointed the tip of the blade against Father Time's throat.

"What are you wait for?" Chronos panted heavily. "You killing me or not?"

Davy fell to his back and looked up at the wire frame. David ground as he landed on the ground. "Gee thanks for the advise." He said before rolling away he left a small microphone on the ground as he slid away into the smoke. "Tell me something Harekels, you a man of business. Why stay with Dormir all that time? I mean she was noting more then insurance to you guys. Oh wait let me guess. You needed to be there to kill her when it was time right. Like a attack dog waiting for the command to kill?" He said in a mocking tone.

"Audio noises are such an annoyance," Harekles sighed as he stomped his foot over the microphone. "That buzz that rings with the sound is just terrible. Let me give you a little Faunus Planet trivia kid. Hares have extremely sensitive hearing. No matter how quiet your steps are, it could always tell that you're there. And also..."

Harekles sprinted and was on top of David like a pouncing lion.

"Hares are notoriously faster than their cousin the rabbits."

Harekles pointed the short point of his cane at David. He still couldn't see him but he could tell that he was in that general area.

"I knew Dormir since she was but a baby mouse," Harekles murmured, his finger not even touching the trigger. "Her father had not gone into debt with Father Time until earlier this year. And FYI kid, she was killed with a stab wound from a knife. Have you seen me use one of those at all?"

Hearing eh? "Yet you didn't try to help at all. Why? Scared daddy might take your allowance away? Or was for a different reason?" Davy saw the Hare from a bit away from his screen. To distract him he throw down some ball bearings to bounce and echo in the room covering his tracks. Davy pulled an air horn out of his bag, and put it up to Harekles from the back. Davy then let loose a blast from the air horn right at Harekels.

As the airhorn sounded, blairing right next to Harekles, the faunus screeched, dropping his cane and covering both of his ears with his hands. He tried to step away but his foot slipped on a bunch of ball bearings and he clumsily slipped, falling to the ground like a drunk man. When David would look at him, the hatted faunus would be sprawled over the ground, his head hitting the concrete floor badly. His hat rolled off his head and lied next to him.

Meanwhile, Byron was still standing over Father Time, the point of his hat sword poking against the don's throat.

"Get it over with," Chronos said. "You know I can't escape in this state. What are you waiting for? I know of all bastards, you would kill without a thought."

Byron looked down at the raven faunus for a while, the sword still hovering over his throat. Then the hatter pulled the sword away and with a flick of his wrist it turned back to a regular top hat that he placed back on his head.

"I don't want to kill you," Byron said, still covering his left eye. "No... I want you... to remember."

Without warning, the hatter knelt down, outstretching his hand to the don's face. Chronos yelled and squirmed as Byron abruptly stood up, his hand holding two bloodied pieces of flesh.

"AAAAGH!" Chronos screamed, "YOU SON OF A- MY EYELIDS!!!"

"Remember," Byron murmured, "And regret."

Then from nowhere, reels of film erupted from Byron's head, snaking around the two in twists and spins. Hovering high above them was what looked like the head of a giant white caterpillar the size of a whale poking out of a smoke cloud. Moving cinema pictures floated out of the spinning film reels and moved around the air.

The Don tried to squirm away but Byron kept him pinned down with his foot.

Then before the raven faunus's very eyes who could no longer close, the images zipped pass his vision over and over, completely covering his line of sigh, forced to see the images before him.

He saw a little baby, born new with big mouse ears wiggling from her little head. He saw her sleeping soundly in a crib then holding up a milk bottle with her own little hands when she had grown a bit more, sucking on it with big sparkling eyes full of wonder. Then the baby was walking, making clumsy, wobbly steps as she tried from her father to Byron's outstretched arms lifting up into the screen. The little baby was shown through more and more moments, steadily growing as the scenes went by,

The little baby soon became a girl blowing out the candles to her birthday cake, the candle shaped like a number three. The little girl was comically running around while a little puppy was chasing her around. She was seen playing in the snow, running around with Harekles as they teamed up to throw snow balls at the viewer who fought back valiantly. More scenes went by showing the little girl through moments of happiness, sadness, and anger, gradually growing and aging.

"Stop. Make it stop," Chronos pleaded as tears started forming from his eyes. "I don't want to see this."

The little girl was next shown modeling her kindergarten uniform, smiling happily as she spun around in her skirt, laughing and skipping around before the viewer and Harekles came closer to her and were pushing her to hurry before she was late to her first day.

"STOP! STOP!" Father Time wailed and cried. "PLEASE! STOP!!"

The scenes went by through his vision. The floating cinema scenes floated about, visible to everyone.

The girl is coughing now, sitting up in her bed while her mother, father, and Harekles were practically swarming her, spoiling her ridiculously.

The girl is shown steadily growing, moments of her life going by in flashes.

"PLEEEEEEAAAASE!" Father Time begged, "MAKE IT STOP! NO MORE!"

"Remember..." Byron murmured, "And... Regret...."

Davy looked down at the hare. "This...is for throwing me off the building...you sack of SHIT!" He said as he sent his foot right into the Hares side. "This one is for the girl who you could have tried aiding, but let her die instead." He said as he sent another into his ribs. "And this is just cause it's funny." He pulled Harekles so he was sitting up. "Now ladies and gentle man I shall now pull a rabbit out of his own hat." He said grabbing the hat. He flipped it top down, and slammed it through Harekles head so it was around his neck. Davy then stood up and bowed.

Robin, who had been dealing with the mafia goons, approached Byron and put a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, that's enough." She said, "We won, just knock him out or something."

Suddenly, Robin is pushed back by an invisible force, knocked away ten solid meters as Byron was suddenly covered in a strange substance. It looked like black mist, like a pitch dark smoke made from shadows, with crackling red sparks erupting from the phantom like mass.

Byron was hunched over, his hands holding the sides of his head like he was hurting. The strange caterpillar floating above was writhing and shrieking. It disappeared into the mass of smoke but the scenery around Byron changed drastically. All of a sudden the scenes of Dormir was breaking up, turning to static before shattering like glass.

"No... no..." Byron growled, writhing as if in pain. Then Thanatos rang, resounding in a deafening ring, signifying the start of a new hour.

Dong... Dong... Dong... Dong... Dong... Dong...

"RUN FOR IT!" the mafia men suddenly screamed. All reason lost, the mobsters started running, sprinting, stepping over one another as if Byron was about to explode.

Suddenly, Byron was surrounded by massive floating images that moved and floated around for all to see as the Hatter writhed in place. It was the inside a house. It was a simple home made of wood and decorated with common furniture.

The grimm filled the house completely. A mother was carrying her little daughter, running away in panic trying to escape the demons. Then the wall exploded as a death stalker rammed its way inside and beowolves flooded the house. The mother, who held onto her daughter so protectively stared in shock and fear at the uncountable beasts whose mouths were dripping with ripped flesh and blood. Then the monsters pounced and without a thought, the woman threw her daughter into the mass and started running.

The little girl screamed and cried and the beasts clawed at her, tearing her apart.

"MOMMY! DADDY!" she cried out for help, begging for someone, anyone to save her, "BIG BROTHER!!"

The little girl continued screaming and crying with everything she had until a beowolf bit down on her throat. The little girl was torn apart, her organ pulled out and her limbs ripped up and divided. Her mother did not even turn to look. She tried to run, she tried to escape, only to find the giant stinger emerge from her chest.

The death stalker removed the stinger impaled through her body. She swayed and stumbled for a moment, a look of shock and fear in her eyes before the death stalker swung its stinger back down over and over again, stabbing at the woman repeatedly. The raw flesh was torn, blood spilling out every time a stinger was removed. The death stalker’s claws reached out grabbing both of her arms. She tried to scream and squirm away even as the claws clamped down and the death stalker pulled the limbs apart. She screamed she her arms were ripped from her shoulders, feeling her flesh rip, every string of muscle tearing apart, and the snap of her bones breaking off. She tried to crawl but the death stalker clamped a claw down on her foot. She tried to squirm away, bleeding a screaming even though she was long on the verge of dying from the stabs through her body, her organs failing bit-by-bit tormenting her insides. The death stalker reeled its tail and swung its stinger down one last time. The stinger was brought down with terrible force down through the small of her back. The stinger completely broke through and cut her in half, her legs thrown off her body. She screamed louder then ever as blood poured from where her limbs were ripped. Her screams lasted mere seconds as the death stalker gripped a claw over her head and the other on her torso. Her screams were heard until the end as the death stalker tore her in half, a fountain of blood spraying from her pieces, her screaming silent.

Then new cries replaced the silenced ones. As the woman was torn in half, something had fallen from her. The woman was pregnant, and as her insides were ripped open, a baby fell from her torn womb and fell to the floor crying and wailing. The beasts slowly surrounded the infant, born from a dead mother, and then they pounced on it, ripping the tiny baby's body apart, feasting upon the rare taste of newborn flesh, their jaws snapping and and gnashing.

A man was now running, a rifle in his hands. There was no mistaking it. Those clothes, that hat, that face, it was Byron Hatter himself. Yet something was different about him. He seemed even older than Byron, his eyes aged... his eyes... he had both his eyes and his hat was a dark green rather then the deep red tone of Byron's usual hat.

The man who strangely resembles Byron was running, not even turning back to the slaughter behind him. Out of nowhere the scene started shifting randomly. First the man was smiling kindly and laughing. Next he looked like he was playing with the little girl from before and the viewer in the yard. Then he was shown, standing frozen in fear. A small hand was tugging at his legs, trying to find comfort in the man who was much taller than him.

Then everything went red.

"LET GO OF ME!" the man roared and suddenly the screen was hit by the butt of his rifle and everything went red.

Then scene went back to the man running, running away from the demons, running away from the mother, daughter, and child who was never born properly. Running away from the viewer as he stared at his slowly disappearing back.

Then the scene changed again.

The man was being mauled and torn to shreds by countless beowolves. He roared and screamed trying to fight back but it was to no avail. His throat was bitten down on to silence his screams and the demon continued biting down until it bit through the neck and the head fell off. To see this happen to a man who looks so much like Byron was eerie. As the head collided with the ground, the hat it wore fell off and sort of tumbled towards the viewer.

The viewer of the scene was reaching out now with little hands. The viewer picked up the hat, covered in blood from the spray of the red plasma that erupted from its previous owner as he was slaughtered. He took it between his little hands and started pulling it closer and closer. It looked as if the viewer had put on the bloodied hat, little drops of red running down the screen.

Then once again the screens went in static. Byron was stumbling around now, wobbling, shaking uncontrollably. A strange whisper was heard everywhere. It sounded like the murmur of a child, but his voice was blank and devoid of happiness or emotion. The voice resounded constantly, echoing, repeating, on and on saying the same thing.

"Oh... it's tea time..."

Dong... Dong... Dong... Dong... Dong... Dong...

Then Byron was suddenly screaming. Throwing his arms out to the side, spinning around for everyone to see his face, he started screaming and wailing. And just as quickly as he had begun screaming he started laughing. He was laughing hysterically, maniacally. Then once again he was screaming. Then he was laughing. He continued screaming and laugh, laughing and screaming, in rapid succession over and over.

His left eye was hollow, the eyeball missing leaving only an empty socket with scars of raw flesh a surrounding it. Blood was pouring from his hollow eye like bloody tears of joy as he started laughing. All the while, tears of pain and agony were pouting from Byron's right eye as he began to wail and scream in torment.

The strange black substance that surrounded him crackled and morphed into a strange shape. It appeared as though a pair of point hare ears were protruding from Byron's head, the strange shadow taking on the form of a massive black hare surrounding the hatter.

"It's too late," a mafia on the floor was quivering, too frozen in fear to run with he others who were crowding the doors so much, nobody could leave at all. "When the clock strike six, the mad tea party will begin again. The madness will take over and all will meet their end. Byron is stronger than humanely possible now. We're doomed. We're all going to die. The hatter has become absolutely mad. He's lost all reason. He'll kill anything whether it be friend or foe. Even Harekles lost his eye trying to stop Byron. He's at his strongest now and we're all going to die..."

Spoiler:

"He's going to kill everything," the mobster whimpered, "But... but why hasn't he killed at all this entire time?"

"Because unlike you idiots, Byron still has his morals." Robin answered the mafia member in a surprisingly calm tone of voice, "David! Get Axel out of here!" She called over to her teammate, "I'll handle Byron. Just go!"

David just walked over and grabbed Axel. "For a thin guy he's heavy...or am I just weak....one or the other." As he walked out he turned to a Mafia member and smiled at him while he raised his gun to him. He just smiled as he pulled the trigger and fired a vortex round into his face blowing him back into a wall. "Robin help him damn it!" He said as he left listening to the laughing/screams echo.

Axel came to.  "Put me down David.  I just need to clear my head."  He took a little time and looked around, seeing Byron.  "What's happening?"

"There's no time to explain!" Robin yelled at Axel, "Just get out of here!" Without waiting for a reply, Robin turned back to Byron and walked towards him, sheathing her one weapon in the process.

"AH HA! AH HA HA HA HA HAHAA! AH HAHAHAHAHA HA HA HA~"
"AAAAH! AAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Byron's screams and laughter were sounding like they were happening at the same time, his face contorted to a look of absolute madness. His hands were raised, holding the sides of his head as if his head was in absolute pain. He threw his head back, laughing and screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Get away from him you idiot!" a mobster was yelling at Robin. "He's going to kill you! It doesn't matter who you are! He'll rip you apart with his hands and teeth!"

Robin ignored the man, and wrapped her arms around Byron's waist in steward defiance of the mad laughter.

"Byron, calm down!" She ordered, tightening her grip around him.

The images continued playing around the hatter. Scenes of bloody slaughter and destruction. Tears of blood poured from his hollow left eye. He held his head in his hands, hunching over screaming and laughing.

"Byron, I said..." Tightening her grip on the mad hatter, Robin, despite their difference in size, lifted Byron off his feet, "Calm down!" And pulled him into a German suplex that sent the man crashing down onto the floor.

The hatter made a loud crash into the concrete floor, his head making a crack into the pavement. Yet the hatter didn't seem phased in the slightest. His screaming had stopped. His mad laughter had taken full stage, echoing off the walls as Byron continued his hysterical outburst. Faint image broken up like static appeared and disappeared around him, showing the images of bleeding eye balls and disembodied mouths full of jagged fangs smiling and whispering to them.

"Kill, kill, kill."
"Destroy."
"Murder! Murder!"

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha!" Byron was laughing madly, yet his eyes were crying both streams of blood and tears. Then for a moment, a different image appeared on one of the floating screens. Robin's bright and smiling face appeared on one screen, perfectly clear, but soon disappeared almost immediately.

"Kill her! Kill her!
Destroy her!
Murder her!"

"AH HAHA HAHA HA HA HA HAAA!" Byron laughed madly as the voices whispered. His fingers were digging into the cements, carving deep scratches into it by sheer force.

Letting go of Byron's waist, Robin went around to his front and grabbed him by the shirt, "Damnit...why is nothing getting through?! And I swear to god if it's one of those "Kiss him to snap it out of it," I'm gonna be a little mad..." She muttered.

"KILL HER! KILL HER!"

"MURDER HER! MURDER HER!"

"Ah ha ha Ah ha ha," Byron was still laughing, his body shaking uncontrollably as if he was cold, tears of blood and water pouring down his face. Yet he still has not move or acted, his body shaking as if it took every ounce of muscle he had just to not move, but he looked ready to explode at any moment.

Of course it is... Robin mentally sighed, then grabbed the back of Byron's head, and planted the biggest kiss he would ever get on his lips.

Time seemed to have stopped at that moment. As Robin's lips pressed against Byron's, the maniacal laughter stopped. Byron's fingers that were clawing at the ground were suddenly frozen.

"Kill... kill"
"Destroy... des..."
"Mur... Murder..."

The whispers seemed to die down, slowly quieting. The dark, cold energy that surrounded him was slowly fading away. The pictures around him were slowly fading away. For a brief moment before they completely disappeared, they all seemed to reflect Byron and Robin.

"Impossible..." one of the mobsters whispered.

"It's nowhere near 6:06 yet..."

Their lips pressed against each other for an seemingly endless time, Byron separated himself from Robin. Staring downward, he lifted his left hand to cover his hollow eye. The hatter had a peaceful smile on his face that looked almost regretful.

"Sorry..." Byron chuckled. "I guess I... lost myself for a moment there..."

Robin headbutted him.

The impact knocked Byron's head back but he was chuckling all the same. "Okay, I deserved that," Byron chuckled as he wipes the tears and blood from his face with his free hand. Byron slowly stood up, holding Robin back up to her feet as he did so.

"Twinkle, twinkle,
Little Bat..."

The sound of monotone singing was suddenly heard from nowhere.

"How I wonder where you're at...
Up above the world you fly...
Like a teatray in the sky...

Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Bat...
How I wonder where you're at..."

"S-Son?" Father Time stammered as he looked up at Harekles who pointed the short point of his cane at Father Time.

"That was Dormir's favorite song," Harekles murmured blankly as he pulled the trigger. Three gun shots rang in succession. The first pierced the head and two were shot at the chest,the executioner's cross used to make sure the target dies.

"You... You killed the don!" a mobster exclaimed.

"No I didn't," Harekles said bluntly, lowering his walking stick. "I killed my father... The Don... is me... cabeesh?" Harekles glared at the mobster as if daring him to speak up. His response was absolute silence.

"What?" Harekles asked TEAM AMBR as he knelt down and picked up Father Time's top hat, shaking the filth off it. He placed it on his head, the clock adorning it ticking loudly. "Didn't you know? Hares are master at playing dead."

Harekles shifted his gaze over at David for a moment. "Think you're funny kid? Let me show you a real magic trick. Check your pocket."

When David would check his pockets, he's find a hand grenade stuffed into one with the pin out. It must have been there for a long time but never went off. It must have been a dud and Harekles was making one dangerous point.