Chasing a White Rabbit to a Mad World

Mirai's eyes widened and she immediately rushed to Alice, stooping down on a knee and placing her hands on her shoulders firmly.

"Alice!" she said. "Why are you here? This is terribly dangerous! You need to go home right now."

She sounded like a frantic mother, but she only hoped she held enough authority in her voice to make Alice follow.

Alice shook her head defiantly. "No! Ai got hurt because of me! I can't just sit around while you endanger your lives! Besides, I've been program with all recorded info on the Jabberwocky analyzed by Rider. I can help you predict its movements! Please!"

Mirai looked at the young stubborn girl and clenched her teeth.

"Alice..." she said. She tried to think of what next to say. Something to make her leave, but her hands dropped to Alice's hands instead and she looked at her sharply. "You can come along...but you have to stay right next to us and head for cover when we tell you to, alright?"

Alice nodded firmly, determination in her eyes.

Mirai lets her hands drop and she carefully holds onto Alice's own hand to make sure she didn't lose sight of her.

"I guess we should continue, then," she said plainly.

With that, she nodded at the two boys and they would continue to onward. Her hand gripped Alice firmly, worried that if she failed to protect her she would never be able to forgive herself.

Caster bit his lip, trying to hide the frown that grew on his face. Alice's information would be useful, yes, but she was also a liability. If anything happened to her Rider would probably be broken, and Mirai wouldn't do so well either.

"Mirai," Caster spoke softly, walking next to her, "keeping the three of us hidden was already going to be a problem. Alice is small, but it's still going to be really hard. If worst comes to worst I'll have to uncloak myself and give you all a chance to get away."

It was obvious that Mirai would appose, but using his semblance wasn't easy, and risking someone else to keep himself hidden was not an option. "As we lose light in the cave it's going to get harder for me to use, so we need to get in and get out as fast as possible."

"Caster, you can't just--" Mirai stopped herself and looked to Alice. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to think about what to do.

Things are only getting riskier... she thought to herself, frustrated.

She turned back to Caster, her eyes steady and firm. She knew there was no way out of arguing with him. She sighed.

"If..and only if it must resort to that," Mirai said firmly. "But we'll try to be as quick as possible. We should make it a point to try and avoid that Grimm at all costs. All our methods of evasion thinning out and our...unsure of. Let's keep walking. I want this over."

She turned to Alice and looked at her.

"How farther ahead?"

"Another hour's walk," Alice stated firmly.

Mirai nodded.

"Alright, then," she said. "We'll continue walking...unless you want to rest. You're not exhausted, are you?"

Alice shook her head. "We don't get tired. We don't sleep. We don't need to."

Mirai nodded, but didn't let go of Alice's hand. They continued to walk forward, each step making Mirai more and more anxious. She felt an unbearable weight on her shoulders. She looked at Alice, Caster and Rayden.

Mirai knew that as a leader, she had responsibilities. She was supposed to guide and protect those under her wing. But Mirai couldn't help but feeling she was going to fail them. That the inevitable danger would happen and it would all be her fault. For the first time in her life, ever since she had been here, she had felt nothing but a painful incertitude. All her past confidence was gone. And it was because she was, more than ever, scared for those around her.

The team would carry on forward with Alice, Mirai silently wishing things would be alright. That things would go back to how they were. The pleasant knowing she cherished.

After an hour of walking, Alice gestured to the group to stop abruptly with a wave of her hand. She pointed up ahead, pointing between a pair of withering trees. Through the opening, everyone could see a mine site, the field outside large and spacious. Across the barren field was a massive mine dug into the base of another mountain. The cave was wide enough for forty men to walk shoulder to shoulder in and as high as thirty men standing on each other's head. There was no sign of anything around, the mine completely abandoned.

"This is the Jabberwocky mines discovered by Lewis Jabberwocky," Alice stated, "The Jabberwocky was named after it since this is its home. I don't see it anywhere though."

Mirai nodded.

"I guess that means we should take that advantage," Mirai said regarding the Jabberwocky not being seen just yet. She turned to Caster and Rayden. "Be on guard."

She then looked more directly at Caster.

"Will you be using your semblance now or should we wait until we really need it?"

Caster narrowed his eyes, holding his hand on his chin. "Well, we kind of need to weight our options here." he responded softly. "I told you before, it isn't easy for me to do something this big, hiding four moving people, is going to be exhausting. But if we are two late and the Jabberwacky or whatever sees us then it's really no hood, because then I have to hide us in combat to make sure you and Alice are safe."

Caster raised his hand, taking a deep breath and staring at Alice for a moment. The girl suddenly vanished, and Caster breathed out a "Wallah." with a small smile. "Alice, please hold Mira's hand. For now keeping you hidden will be easy enough, just so we don't take any changes. When Mirai tells me we need it I'll hide the rest of us."

Mirai would feel a little hand clutching hers.

Mirai nodded solemnly to Caster's advice and held Alice's hand firmly.

"Don't let go, okay?" she said as mildly as she could.

With that, Mirai signaled Caster and Rayden to move forward as she walked ahead with Alice as cautiously as she could.

Slowly walking across the field, the group found no real trouble and entered the large mine, walking into the tunnel cautiously. The walls had lanterns with glow dust emanating dim light along the way. That tunnel was straight and clear. They'd find some common dust crystals lying about on the grounds here and there but nothing fitting the description of the glow dust. After walking for a while, the group come across a split in the tunnel. A large wall splitting the middle.

"This is going to be a dilemma," Mirai muttered.

She tried to peer down through each direction as far as she could, but found no real evidence of which was the right way. She turned to Alice and bent down a bit so she was eye level with her.

"You wouldn't happen to know which direction we should go next, would you?"

"I'm sorry," Alice apologized. "These mines haven't been explored in forever and no recorded map of it remains. It's been so long that stalagmites and stalactites formed in the time it's been abandoned."

"I see," Mirai said as she walked closer towards the intersection of the tunnels. "I'd rather we not split up because our strategy requires a large team effort, mainly Caster's light, at that and me being able to sneak around and Rayden guarding...and I honestly don't know how far these tunnels will go before we realize we've made a wrong turn."


She tried to peer in closer at each tunnel, trying to find something distinctive about each, hoping to discover something that might give a hint. A sound, a sight, a smell, perhaps even a sensation.

"See anything that may guide us a bit?" she asked the group. "Or any suggestions on where we can head from here?"

Peering around the wall, Mirai would find that the tunnel does not split. There was merely a big wall in the middle of the tunnel.

"It appears we won't be needing to pick paths after all..." Mirai concluded. "But why would there be a large wall here?"

She went closer to the wall to examine it to see if there was anything more significant about it, taking as well the consideration of how high it went. She then looked at everyone.

"I'm guessing we can move along either side of the wall," Mirai said. "By my instinct of being right-handed in nature, I'd take the right side if it didn't matter, but do any of you think we should take the other?"

She looked at Alice and her two teammates.

"They both lead to the same place so it shouldn't matter," Alice said.

"Very well, then," Mirai said as she walked towards the right side of the wall while holding Alice's hands. They would continue to walk, but as they would, Mirai's mind would drift off and then she'd suddenly speak. "Say, Alice...I'm guessing Rider made you, too, right? You and Ai must be really important to him...he's always struck me as a social person but now that I think of it, he's actually pretty solitary. I'm just wondering...if it's alright for me to ask, that is...if you knew why he made you."

Alice looked sadden and was silent for a moment before speaking. "It's because... he's constantly running... running away... running away from time itself..."

Mirai and the group were walking for some time but something seemed off. The ground was strangely soft. The dirt didn't felt like dirt under their shoes. At first it felt like mud but soon it felt strangely... squishy and wet. Caves like this tend to be damp but this was different. There was a weird smell in the air. It smelled like ashes and dust. The ground seemed to be getting damper and softer the farther they walked.

It would be then that the group would hear something. It was like a low growl mixed with a raspy hiss. The ground itself started to shake. A glop of thick water dropped from above and landed in front of Mirai.

Looking up, the group would see something strange. It looked sort of like a punch bag hanging from up above... except it was dark red and fleshy.

The growling was getting a lot louder now.

"What in Remnant..." Mirai muttered.

It was only then that she realized everything. The wet, squishy ground, the growling and the odor. The strange thing that hung from the ceiling. This was no tunnel...

Mirai's eyes widened as she gripped Alice tightly and yanked her running back into the direction they came from, her hand going to a silver ice bomb ball as she did.

"RUN BACK!" she screamed at everyone.

The group hastily ran, bolting faster then they ever have, running around the so called wall and running down the tunnel just when they felt something slithering towards them. Running at full sprint, they got out of the mine tunnel and ran to the other side of the clearing. When they would turn around they would see large red eyes peering from the cave. The worse part was that though they already looked as large as an ursa major when they turned, they were steadily growing bigger as whatever those eyes belonged to got close. It's head squeezing out of the cave, so big it nearly took up the hole entry, A massive monster slid out like a demonic serpent, then extending out four huge limbs and opening a massive pair of feathered wings.

It floated in the air, it's scorpion like tail swashing behind it as it roared at the group.

"It's... It's..." Alice quivered in fright, shaking in absolute fear as the group looked upon the giant grimm whose massive size alone tells of how ageless and old it is.

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