:Aka:

It was all like a blur to Aka. One moment she was thinking of getting to the portal and the next she wasn't sure what to do. A part of her wanted to help but she held back. It wasn't that she couldn't help but she had to keep her eyes on the mayor. She knew the moment she wasn't looking he might try to find out her past. There was no way she would let him see what happened. She didn't care if anyone else found out but if the mayor found out it would ruin everything. All of her years of hiding it would proven to be worthless. Not even Snow knew about the events that went on. Not that it mattered to Aka. So what if they knew? As long as Lucifer didn't poke at Aka's past then everything would be fine. Even if someone happened to go into Aka's past and tell the mayor she was sure he wouldn't likely believe it. Unless he saw it with his own eyes the man seemed to doubt everything.


:Les:

"See what?" Les asked in confusion. He didn't get what Reta was saying here. They were the only ones here. Then his eyes went wide with horror as he figured it out. "No... Not now. Please come back Re--" Les stopped talking as he was forced down. "Damn it why did I go and drop that stupid horn?" Les punished himself for it. If only he had kept a tight hold on the stupid item. It was so annoying and loud it easily wake up even the deepest of sleepers. Les looked up at his sister sadly. He knew he had been stupid at this point. It was all his fault that the whole journey to the witch had started. "Reta... I'm here. Please look at me and see me." He spoke calmly this time. He had to try and reach her.

Maybe it was useless but it was all Les could come up with. In truth, he was scared out of his mind. Not because Reta might kill him but because it was hard to get out of this sort of thing. Les knew this after the night he had a nightmare about the witch eating Reta. He was lost for days on end, trying to kill anything he thought was the witch. That was the problem in the state of insanity. Everything was the witch in this state. Even a lifeless object could somehow manifest itself into the witch. It was a cycle almost impossible to break free from all alone.

Reta was fighting herself, she knew she heard Les. “Les…where…where are you?” Her eyes looked about the darkness to see nothing. The pressure she held against Les’s neck lessened. The girl closed her eyes and listened more closely. The second time he spoke she knew well that she had heard him. “I hear you Les.” She dropped the dagger and held her head with both hands. Her emotions were torn between killing the witch and finding her dear brother.

Reta whimpered a bit at the pain in her head. Her head felt like it was throbbing. She slid off the person she had pinned to curl up in a ball wishing the pain would go away. The young girl laid there mumbling to herself, most of it didn’t make sense. A few things could be picked out; “Sorry Les”, “Die witch”, “I will get stronger”, “I must beat this.” Really if anyone heard her they would think she was just as mad as Alice or maybe even madder. The girl’s body trembled when she finally had regained herself. Reta rarely remembered the things she did in that state, but she knew they were never good and she often did terrible things. “Please tell me that I didn’t kill Les because of my weakness,” she whispered very quietly to herself.


Jack continued to hack at the boards and Piper removed them. The two males seemed to be working well as a team. They managed to clear out more of the rubble. “Hey I see something! I think it’s a piece of Gretel’s dress. The children should be close.” He shouted to the others. As he continued to swing his axe, cutting the wood he was careful not to use more force than necessary. The area seemed to be a little unstable.


Piper worked quicker when Jack pointed out the piece of torn cloth. Tossing away pieces of wood more quickly. “Looks like they found Alice over there,” he said to Jack. That was a relief, now to just get the other two out and all would be well right? Well other than the portal that loomed over them. The male was glad that Alice had been found since she was one of the few that he liked and found amusing.

Beast continued to throw wood every which way as he tried to find anyone, it wasn't until Cheshire found Alice's arm that he knew where exactly to direct his rage. He followed his instincts and found where her head would be, he reached down and pulled a piece of wood away to reveal her head and beast stopped staring for a minute to see if she was still alive. The animal leaned down and sniffed, literally moving Alice's hair towards him as he smelled her seeing if she moved, something that he did often to figure out if people were faking death. He looked at her and growled slightly as he looked over at others and then back at her, the animal trying to make sense of what was happening despite beast yelling in their mind to help her.

Beast was practically screaming in the animal's mind to pick Alice up and move her away, but something was drawing the Animals attention away, confusing it. Eventually the animal reached down brushing aside the last bit of wood on top of Alice and lifted her limp body up looking at it. He looked over and at others who were trying to find others around who could take her. Eventually the animal looked at Alice once more before letting out a loud roar into her face and taking a step over, before laying her on the ground as it sniffed the air finding a new smell that triggered memories. He thumped on the ground as small pieces of wood shifted on the pile as he walked towards where the portal was smelling the sweet smell of crisp air he missed from a long time ago. He was lost, in his own world, he could smell the crisp air from his home, and it drew him too it. His world was there somewhere, and the animal wanted to go back, it was some place he felt comfortable and he craved it. So the animal sat there trying to figure a way to the portal, even if beast inside wanted to go find the others.

Red's attention was ripped away from her furry directed at the wreckage before her. They had found Alice! Okay, one down, two to go.


Red continued hacking at the wood with her axe, paying no to attention to her gushing arm. She could hardly feel a thing due to the adrenaline rush she was having at the moment. Then, a faint pain shooting up her arm detracted Red for a moment. She looked down to see the cause and found that a huge chunk had been taken out of her arm. She groaned. "Damn it!" It hurt like hell now that she noticed it, but she couldn't let it get in the way of her finding the others.

Gritting her teeth, Red moved deeper into the wreckage. They had to be here somewhere. She strapped her bloodied axe back onto her belt and continued to sort through the wood with her bare hands. "Oh, come on... Where are you?" She mumbled to herself, working faster.

A tiny piece of fabric caught Red's attention. There! It had to be Retta. And where Retta was, Les was. Red cleared away the wood to reveal Retta's face. "I found them! Les and Retta are here!"

Hearing Red, Jack put his axe away and moved to where she was. Seeing the blood running down the woman’s arm he gave her a concerned look. “I’m glad we found them, but are you ok Red?” He couldn’t help, but ask though he wasn’t quite sure how he truly felt about the woman. None the less he cared enough about her to be concerned. He took off the dark blue sash he was wearing and handed it to Red to use as a bandage. “Go rest, I’ll finish getting these two out with the help of Piper.” The male gave her a small smile before turning his attention to moving the boards to get the children out.

The two males got Reta uncovered and the older man took her to safety. He moved more boards and found Les. “There you are. Let’s get you out of here.” Jack said with a smile and held his hand out to the boy. “Can you move on your own? You were brave to protect your sister.”

--------------------------------

Piper joined Jack and the two soon had Reta uncovered. The girl was still curled up in a ball, shivering. “It’s alright dear. You are safe now,” Piper spoke to the young girl in a gentle tone. He looked up at Jack, “I’ll take her and leave you to get Les out.” The older man picked Reta up, who struggled some to get away. “Now, now, it’s ok. I won’t hurt you.” Once she seemed to settle down the blue haired male carried her over to under a nearby tree, sitting her on the ground. “There all safe. Jack will find Les soon."

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Reta shut her eyes tight when Red moved the wood over her head. The light was so bright. The young girl’s mind raced with many thoughts. A voice in the back of her mind telling her to get up and run, run far away from here. If they found Les dead they would kill for murdering him. It wasn’t long before Jack and Piper had uncovered the rest of her body. Even though she wanted to her couldn’t force her body to move the way she wanted. It wasn’t until Piper picked her up that her body obeyed her. She kicked at him, “Let me down.” Her voice was a little weak as she made her demand, but the man had no plans of obeying them. She ended up being carried over to a nearby tree before being released.

Reta sat were Piper had put her down. She watched Jack, hoping that she was wrong about what she believed she had done. If she wasn’t she’d have no choice, but to leave and quickly. Reta stared, fearing the worst.

:Les:

Before Les knew what was happening Reta was unstable. He grit his teeth as he watched her. How could he allow her to suffer? He was the worst and was aware of how useless and unnecessary he was. Maybe he would be better off dead. Speaking of death he felt a sudden pain near his heart. Appearantly the blade had caught his skin a bit after all. It wasn't Reta's fault though, it was all his fault. As Reta seemed to slip from him the darkness consumed him.

Now Les was all alone and Reta had been taken away from him. A part of him wanted to scream out in anger for it. NO ONE took his Reta away. Probably that damn Piper that was gazing at Reta. Man, he would kill that bastard if he ever got a chance! The darkness suddenly faded as a light hit his pupils. He blinked in confusion before reality hit him. He stood up too soon and glanced around in panick.

"Reta!" Les called in horror. Where was she? "Maybe she lost it. Maybe she died. Maybe Piper--" Les head spun in thoughts until he saw the Piper. How dare the man touch his dear Reta! Les knew the man was dangerous. No, he swore he would never allow a soul to hurt Reta. He would even give his life to keep his vow. Les quickly pushed any offer of help to the side and ran towards Reta as soon as he noticed her. He tripped a few times on his way over but continued to get up and stubbornly go forward. "Reta.. You are okay... I'm so gl--" Les panted as he spoke and fell to his knees before he could finish speaking.

The mayor continued searching for his two servants within the rubble. With their whereabouts unknown to him after he released them of service for the afternoon he hadn't been sure if they followed him into the tree or not. Beginning to grow frustrated he stood up and halted his search. He sensed something but he wasn't sure what. Was this the grave of his servant? His eyes scanned the area. They were drawn up towards the portal. It was actually beautiful in a strange way, although destructive. He admired it and wondered if it's power could be used to suit his own purposes.

Silently watching him from the trees the twins were silent. Tweedle DeeDee and Dum looked at each other in unison and smiled. They knew if they left now he would assume they had died in the collapse or were lost inside what ever world was within the portal. They didn't have to say anything to each other to know what would happen next. They both turned and bounded toward freedom.

Lucifer was almost drawn into the portal as he gazed deeply into it. Like a moth to a flame. Had it not been for the rustling of the bushes to distract his attention he would have reached out to touch the portal. "Ahh, so that's where you two went." He thought to himself as he sighed. "Why is it so hard to find good help these days."

Slightly annoyed by Jack,s demand, Red lingered where she was for a few minutes. She hated the idea of her not being able to help because of a 'scratch' on her arm. It really wasn't that bad. She got hurt worse when she hunted. "I can help." Red took the sash Jack had handed her and wrapped it around her wound. It stopped most of the blood but it was pooling up fast. She would have to change it pretty soon.

Red shoved the thought of her wound out of her mind. Maybe if Jack and the others wouldn't let her help in the wreckage, she could go see if Alice was okay. Alice looked as if she had been knocked out from the impact of all the wood that had fallen on top of her when the Town Hall had collapsed. Red walked over to where Beast had laid Alice and knelt down beside her. "Alice? Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Alice had multiple bruises on her forehead and cheeks and her upper lip had been cut open.

"Damn. That old tree really took a tole on you, didn't it?" Red propped Alice upright and looked around. "If some of the girls around here had major face reconstruction like that it'd be a huge improvement." Red snickered, thinking about Aurora and how she would have reacted if it were her instead of Alice. That pretty little face of hers, demolished. Well at least really torn up. That pretty face of hers was all she had. Deep down she was cruel and vile. Red could tell. But then again, isn't that every pretty girl?

"I wonder what she'd do if-" Red's attention was ripped away from mental ranting and was thrown towards a huge mass of spiraling energy. It was a portal. It had to be. And it looked like Beast was heading towards it. "Beast! No! We don't know where that leads!" As soon as Red made sure Alice was safe from toppling over she ran towards Beast. She didn't care what form he was in, Beast was still her friend. She couldn't let him do anything too stupid. Red finally caught up to Beast. He was easily three times her size. Probably more. Despite the obvious size difference, Red threw herself before him. "Beast! I know you're in there. Just listen to me. You can't go in there. Not yet."

:Aka:

Aka couldn't believe what she was seeing. There was a giant portal where the City Hall once stood. It was like a giant black hole, but it didn't pull you in with a strong force of wind. Instead it seemed to enchant you, like it was calling. Somehow she found herself going towards the call. The sight of Lucifer snapped her out of her sudden daze. She couldn't believe she had almost forgotten about the man. She still had to keep an eye on him, but to do that she would have to follow him...

Ugh... Talk about awful. Aka wouldn't mind if the portal enchanting magic was still working at this point. Following the ugly mayor around... isn't that called stalking? Gross! There was no way Aka was going to do that! But she knew she had only two choices. One, follow the mayor and make sure her serect remains hidden. Or two, don't follow and risk the possibility of the truth being discovered by Lucifer. No... she promised herself that he would never know. But then he began to walk away. Where was he going? Rage built up within Aka. "He's mocking me! As if I'd let him do that!" Aka growled as she glared intensely into the back of the mayor. What in the world was he doing?

Peter had been helping this whole time with trying to find everyone and everything that might be under the rubble. Well, this is rubbish. Peter thought with a sneer as he sat back and let Beast do his job. What an animal. Peter rolled his eyes and floated closely above everyone, watching as they slowly found people. The ginger let out a soft hum as he began to hum a tune he had made up, narrowing his eyes at the commotion happening beneath him. His eyes finally shifted into seeing a portal like thing. What is that? He questioned, watching as Beast ran towards it and Red stopped him. The man let out a small, evil snicker, flying towards it, "I wonder, I wonder," Peter sang in a sweet coo towards Aurora, mocking her own fairytale song to catch her attention. The man, floating cautiously, put a finger through the portal. It felt strange, nothing he could describe. The ginger put his hand through and grinned at everyone else, pointing to his, 'missing' hand, "Hey guys, look," He started, taking his hand out.

To his surprise, his hand that he had stuck through the portal was gone. Missing! Without a trace or sign that it had been severed! "Aaauuuughhh!" Peter yelped, beginning to fly around insanely, not knowing what to do, "My hand! My hand! I'm no better than Hook himself!" The man shrieked in anger, diving face first into the portal. And with that, he was gone. Peter had gone after his hand and was now surrounded by darkness, falling flat on his back. He let out a grunt of pain and then slowly began to open his eyes. Where was he? No where he had ever seen before. Peter sat up quickly and looked at both of his hands that were finally there, not even a sign that one was missing before, "Where... am I?" Peter questioned out loud, seeming to be outside in the dark. It was eerie.

The male looked around and saw forest, but then spotted a large mansion like castle. This was all too weird. He then knew he was no where near Never After, "Guys?" He called out, not hearing or seeing anyone in sight. Peter floated, gulping and then grunting as a weight crushed him to the ground, "Augh!" Peter yelled again, hitting his face against a large bolder. Who had sat on him? To his surprise, Aurora crawled off of him and let out a small shriek, touching the wound on Peter's face, "I'm so sorry!" She cried out. Peter shook his head, "No worries, doll, do you remember where we are?" He questioned her then grew silent and decided to move a few feet from where they had both fallen. It seemed to be in the same spot as well. Peter rubbed the blood off his red cheek and sat near a tree, deciding to wait for the others with Aurora.

-------------------------------------------------

Aurora had helped everyone as much as she could then finally her voice became tired and the animals fled away from Beast's animal like nature. The woman furrowed her brow in anger. How dare that huge beast scare off her animals?! The woman let out a small sigh and started to pick off splinters from her fingers, letting out small whimpers as blood trickled from them. The blonde stuck her fingers in her mouth and began to suck on them, having changed into her normal attire. The woman adjusted her head band and continued to step back as Red and Beast went to town on the tree. What was that in the distance? A portal? The woman scrunched up her nose then looked away. Nothing that interested her. She wasn't going to help in the first place. The woman yawned before hearing a familiar male voice sing her song. Oh, Peter. She scoffed in her mind before eyeing him play with the portal. He was always so silly.

Aurora wasn't surprised if he got himself into trouble! The woman began to laugh before Peter started screaming and she noticed his missing hand. The woman went wide eyed and lifted her dress with her hands, running over to the place Peter was, "Oh, Peter! Do be careful! Peter!" She screamed up at him seeing a strange look in his eye. Not human, not at all human. The woman screamed once again as the male flew through the portal and was gone, "Peter!" She screamed, pulling her hair. Who on earth would do that? He could have lived with out his hand?! Barefoot and confusion, the woman looked hysterically at everyone. What kind of sorcery was this? "You!" The yelled at Lucifer, walking up to him, "What is this?!" She hissed, then turned her head and began to run towards the portal.

As if in seconds she had gone in too, disappeared and as if she never existed in Never After. She had doubted anyone else going in since they were searching the rubble, but since Aurora's hands were bleeding, she decided her priority would be Peter. He had helped her so long ago, but it was all kept discreet. As she fell through the portal she felt strange as if her whole body had been pixelated and finally thrown down to the ground. With a thud, she landed on something soft. Thank goodness, she thought with a sigh. She then realized it was Peter! The woman went wide eyed, apologized, and touched the male's wounded cheek. How terrible. Aurora saw his hand intact, but confused of where they were as well, "Peter... I'm s-scared..." She spoke softly, holding back her tears. They were alone. At least Aurora wasn't completely alone. The woman rubbed her eyes and followed Peter near a tree where he played a tune on his pan flute. How lovely. Aurora sang with him and waited, spotting Peter's bashed guitar from the falls. For once, the two wished that everyone was there with them.

Tears streamed down Reta’s cheeks when she seen Les. He was alive, he was fine. She hadn’t done the unthinkable in her unstable state. She had been so scared for her brother and scared of herself. When Les fell to his knees she lunged forward, hugging him tightly. “Yes, I’m okay now that you’re here and knowing that your alive.” After a few moments Reta let go of him so he could catch his breath.

She moved back, wiping the tears from her eyes. This is when Reta noticed the blood on Les’ chest. What have I done? That thought kept going through her mind, but she couldn’t find the answer. She had no idea what happened after her visions and she lost herself. Her body trembled slightly as she stared at the blood. Slowly she moved her hand to touch the wound. “I hurt you again….please tell me what happened.” Reta had a troubled look in her eyes as her gazed shifted from the wound to her brother’s face.

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Jack chuckled at the boy as he pushed away his hand and took off running. The young man started to head off to see how Red’s arm was. He felt a little bad for making her stop helping, but he wasn’t sure why. Hearing Red yelling at Beast he ran to help her. Really it seemed like one thing was going wrong right after another as the sounds of screams for Peter and Aurora filled the air. The way it looked those two had went into the portal that Beast was trying to get to. “Beast please hold on for minute. We should all go together.”

Meanwhile Henrietta had made her way over to Alice. She sat down beside the girl and clucked at her softly. The hen then extended her wing and looked like she was trying to pat the girl’s arm. Henrietta tilted her head as she looked up at the girl. If one didn’t know better they would have said that the hen had a very concerned look in her beady little black eyes. Really who was to say though, after all she was Jack’s chicken and half the time she didn’t act like a normal chicken.

----------------------------


Piper slipped away from the twins, watching everyone else. Things seemed to be getting even more chaotic with Beast trying to get the portal and Peter and Aurora going into it. Lucifer was acting a little suspicious, but that was no concern of his. The male let out a sigh and pulled out his flute. He lifted the silver instrument to his lips and began to play. The tone was seemed to be semi chaotic in the beginning, but the melody became lighter as he continued.

The man closed his eyes as he played so he could focus. He attempted to clam the beast so he could reach the human within Beast. Piper had no idea if he would be able to control the beast for long using his music. Normal animals weren’t a problem to control, but the animal part of Beast was just that a beast. The music whispered calming words to Beast while also trying to pass on the urgent message to his human side that he needed to take back control. Everyone was safe now. The music only whispered to Beast since he was the only one that Piper was attempting to control and communicate with. The male only hoped that this would help.

Rapunzel:

It isn't right. Rochelle thought, slamming her fists against the keys. That's when she heard all the commotion. They'd found the trapped people. Might as well go see. She thought, lifting her dress to strap her daggers to her thigh. The feeling of taking a field trip hung strong around her and she just wanted to make sure. Then the ends of her hair were wrapped securely around the hook outside of the window as Rochelle carefully lowered herself down carefully before letting her hair braid itself into its usual braid. She was silent as she reached the remains of the town hall. Her rosy pink eyes scanned the scene for just a moment before locking on the portal. Her head tilted this way and that as she examined it, then watched Peter and Aurora go through. Without thinking, she moved towards it. Curiosity picking at her brain as she got closer and closer. Even her hair was curious, undo-ing itself from the braid and stretching closer and closer. Before Rochelle knew what was happening, she was being sucked into the portal by her hair.

She was falling. It was as if nothing existed for a moment. Everything was dark and nothing made sense. That's what it felt like as she fell. But all to soon the nothingness came to an end as Rochelle's rather shrill and girlish shriek pierced the air before she landed in a tuck-roll position, which slammed her straight into a wall. She was sure Peter and Aurora had to be close, but she didn't really know where. So she did the logical thing and let her hair lead the way, at least until she heard the unmistakable sound of Peter's pan flute and Aurora's singing. She stayed silent, but finally made her way to a spot she could at least see them.

---

Rumpelstiltskin:

There was so much wood from that old tree that Russ swore most of it wound up in his hands, but he didn't care. His hands were so calloused up from years of manual labor that he barely felt the splinters, but they were still quite the annoyance. It was a rather large relief when everyone was out of the debris, mainly because it meant less splinters. Russ didn't bother to really look at anyone as he sat picking splinters from his hands. However, he did manage to keep note on everyone around him. Even those who had left during the relief efforts. His eyes shot up when first Peter then Aurora went through the portal, and a smirk crossed his lips when Rochelle got pulled in because of her own stupidity. The portal had amazing energy emanating from it, so much so that Russ could feel it. It made him curious, but at the same time made him want to steer clear from it. His enthusiasm from earlier was waning rather quickly. To adventure or not to adventure, that is the question. He thought with a slight stretch that caused a popping in his back.

:Les:

Les felt so happy to see his sister safe that he barely noticed what was going on. His mind was going in and out and he hardly realized what happened to Peter and a few others. So he wasn't the only curious one after all. It was Peter's missing hand that helped snap Les back. His eyes widened in horror as he witnessed people being sucked into the portal, like they even were never here. "This is... This is the greatest prank of all time if it is a prank." As soon as Les spoke of pranks he began to fade out.

Why did it hurt so much? His chest ached so bad and his world was spinning. Then he remembered that Reta had cut him. Now she was crying about something but he didn't know what. Les shook his head to show that he hadn't heard her, but it only caused his head to spin. "That's odd... when was my shirt so wet and warm?" He thought as he looked down. The moment he saw the his own blood he reeled back. Now all he could see was black all over again. But this time he knew he wasn't dead. There was blood all over his body so he had to be alive, right? "The blood of a witch sure smells bad." Les complained half to himself. "Too bad it stains and never, ever goes away." A darker, more distorted voice replied.

Beast cried out at the edge of the portal, looking back at everyone around him, as they got people out of the wreckage. He closed his eyes and caught the craving smell again, of his home land and of his life he left behind when he came back to this land. He looked at all those behind him missing the fact that people were sucked into the portal as he heard music hit his ears making them twitch. The man inside screamed out for the Animal to calm and let him back, but he struggled, the homeland call was too big and it was over riding everything that tried to calm him down. In reality the animal was finally calm, the prospect that his home was just on the other side of this portal was too much. He looked down at Red and Jack, squinted for a second before he reached down lifting them up in his hands and turning. His huge hands engulfing them before he placed them down behind him opening up his path to the portal. The animal was swayed and it acted on its own, Beast had lost control for now, it was pushing using all its power to keep him at bay so he could get into the portal. With one last roar he took a step forward and through the portal shifting in the darkness as he came out the other side.

As the animal stepped out of the portal his foot hitting the familiar ground making him burst with energy as his huge body exited the Portal. He didn't even see anyone else there on the other side, but the crisp fresh air hit his lungs and made the animal smile. His gruesome teeth came through and he chuckled lightly as he took a few more steps into the land then looked at the surrounding country side. He bent down and grasped some grass pulling it up as he felt a breeze blow it from his hand, and he watched it fly off in the wind. The animal suddenly cried out roaring at the top of it lungs, the fearsome cry echoing off the hills, mountain, and valleys that were near by. As the roar echoed through where they were, some distance away lights seemed to fly on from a small village, that lit up he hill side. The animal took a deep breath and went to cry out again, but beast pushed forward putting all his effort to break through. The animal cried out in anger as its body shivered and collapsed in on itself, the sound of crunching bone filling the air near by as the animal became Beast once again. Beast took a gasping breath as he fell to the ground shuddering, it had taken more effort then normal to push himself back into his normal form. He laid there on the ground shuddering as he breathed staggering and rolled in the grass. Although he was in immense pain he felt happy and home, just as the animal had, he closed his eyes feeling the breeze and crisp mountain air, not moving his body as it shuddered from pain.

Alice's head felt like ir was about to explode. All she could hear the pulsing of her blood in her ears. Everything around her was still dark, but then she felt Beast pick her up and move her over to a tree. Red had come over shortly after Beast had set her down. Alice couldn't see but she knew Red was trying to tend to whatever wounds she had. Red started babbling about how Alice was bruised but not too badly. Honestly, Alice didn't exactly care about her well being. She'd been hurt worse when she had first fallen down the rabbit hole. She'd landed on her ankle, severely shattering the bone. It had hurt but it was hard for Alice to focus on pain when there was so much other things to be concerned about.

For once, Alice didn't fell like her happy-go-lucky self. She just felt.. mellow. She wasn't in too much pain, except for when Red touched the bruises on her cheek and lip in order to clean them.

Alice's attention shifted to Beast. He was heading towards a portal. And it looked like Peter was just playing with it. If Alice's lip wasn't busted open she would have smiled. Peter was so much like herself and they always had so much fun together. Wait! His Arm! It's gone!!! Alice wanted to scream out to him but shr was too weak. Shortly after Peter had entered the portal Aurora, Rapunzel, and Beast followed.

Feeling Henrietta's soft wing against her, Alice's attention was ripped away ffrom the scene before her. "H-henr.." Alice couldn't speak. It hurt too much. She must have cracked a rib or two when that stupid tree collapsed.

I need to get up and into that portal..

In his mind the mayor cut threw the trees quickly like a hot knife threw butter. As the trees passed him His sight got closer and closer, until he could see the twins running. Tweedle deedee stopped dead in her tracks for a moments rest when the glint of silver blue eyes watching her shot sparks up her neck. "He's seen us." She thought as her eyes widened. Her mind was invaded with images that flashed before her eyes and she knew she had to return back to him. This demon like control he had over her, it wasn't the first time he had happened to use it. Was this man even human?

Tweedledum stopped when he realized his sister was no longer running beside him. He ran back towards her but when he found her there was nothing he could do. She was frozen in place. He wouldn't leave her though. As children he made a promise to always protect her. "LET HER GO DEMON!" He yelled out into the woods as he lifted her up. He tried carrying her but it was to late.

"Demon?" Lucifer questioned. "Really? Couldn't you come up with a more creative insult?" Tweedledum heard in his mind, "I mean how is saying what I am suppose to insult me in any way? What kind of cowards are you that you would run away from saving our lands anyway? I think Traders are worse than demons. Lets stop fooling around. Come to me, we have a job to do."

Defeated Tweedledum begrudgingly agreed and carried his sister towards the portal where the Mayor was waiting. "Finally." He said with an annoyed look. "Shall we?" With a grin as he motioned to the portal. With a push from the Mayor the twins went threw moments later followed by Lucifer.

:Aka:

"At last, he's here." Aka couldn't help but think as she noticed the mayor's return. Somehow it made her calmer to keep him in sight. He couldn't be trusted, even back then. Aka's hands curled up tightly against her crimson lace that kept her rose red dress together. What would happen if it came lose? Then he would see something she didn't ever want him to see. The things hidden under her corset was something she would much rather have to herself. That's one of the reasons she wanted to keep him out of her past.

Aka pulled her eyes from the mayor. She felt sick every time he made her remember what happened. She didn't want to think about it anymore. Then her eyes found Cheshire. She smiled as she looked over at him. She wasn't only glad to see him safe, but seeing him always made her feel so much better. What would she do without him? Probably go alone as usual. It wasn't like she couldn't do that, but if anything she found the thought of being with Cheshire as a nice thought. She made her way over to him with hesitation. "Hey, would you like to go with me Chesh? I want to see what's beyond the portal."

Reta’s eyes grew wide as Les collapsed before her. “Les! No, no Les, stay with me. Come on, you need to hang in there.” She clutched the skirt of her dress tightly as she stared at her dear brother unsure of what to do. In her mind she was screaming. No, no, no, no! It wasn’t suppose to be this way. Someone help! Why won’t someone help us? There seemed to be so much blood now. After a few moments she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself. If no one else would help her brother she’d do it herself. Her focus was only on her brother now, so even if someone came over she hadn’t noticed.

Using a dagger Reta cut strips from the bottom of her dress, leaving it in tatters. She pressed a few balled up strips against Les’ wound. “I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered. The girl didn’t know what else to do other that to apply pressure to the wound and try to keep her brother conscious. “Please don’t lose yourself Les. I won’t hurt you anymore. I’ve hurt you too much already.” Reta gently moved so she could place her brother’s head on her lap.

:Les:

Before long the darkness began to shift. The part that was still with Reta was clinging to the pain, trying to somehow keep him stable. But another part of him was fighting it. Some part loved to go insane and it was pulling Les back and forth. His body ached worse for a moment and then he snapped back. The darkness screamed and disappeared as the light shined through. That light was Reta.

When he was finally back he couldn't help but smile. His body hurt and he wasn't sure how long he had been away, but he was back now. He reached out towards Reta and hugged her gently after bringing her down. She was so warm but he could feel that his hands were like ice. How much blood had been lost? Les didn't even dare to look. If he saw the blood Les knew he would lose it. "Reta... What's going on? What is that giant... thing? Is that the portals the mayor was talking about?" As he spoke he slowly began to forget the pain just as he had wanted.

Red was slightly surprised when Beast lifted her and Jack out of his way, rather than just crushing them in his path. It confirmed Red's hunch that the human Beast could somehow reach the animal Beast. It was amazing. It gave her hope that Beast might someday be able to change freely. Much like Shin did.

Wait! Shin! Red looked around frantically. In all the chaos she seemed to have forgotten about her dear friend. She would never be able to continue on through the portal without him by her side. He knew everything about her and they needed each other. "Shin? Where are you?" He had to be around here somewhere.

Red's thoughts suddenly snapped back to the portal. She stared blankly at it. Red would have to follow the others. But first she needed to find Shin. And possibly help Alice somehow. Alice looked like she was half conscious now. Henrietta had joined her by the tree Red had propped Alice up against. It almost looked as if the hen were cooing to Alice, trying to calm her and look after her. It was slightly strange how fond Henrietta was of Alice. Red had always liked Henrietta, but she had always thought that Jack was the only person Henrietta would ever show feelings for. Maybe Red was wrong.

"Okay, Alice. Time to start moving." Red bent down and helped Alice to her feet. She was thin and mostly bones. Thanks to that she was extremely light. Red had no problem carrying most of Alice's weight on herself. Having Alice's arm secured around Red's neck, and Red's arm around Alice's waist, Red began to waddle towards the portal. "Come on, Henrietta. Jack! You too!"

Shin had just about made it over to where he had last seen Red when all of a sudden she wasn't there anymore. He had seen her arm bleeding and now was frantic to find her. Where could she have gone? There was no telling in the midst of all this chaos. That was when he felt the pull of something. Turning he stared with shock at the enormous portal that seemed to be right in the middle of where the podium for what was left of town hall. He took a few steps towards it before coming to his senses. He couldn't go through it or even near it until he found Red.

Abruptly he shifted back into his human form. His red-black hair blowing into his face as he started to walk around looking for Red. He brushed it absentmindedly out of his face, his eyes looking everywhere for her. The portal's call seemed to lessen when he was in his human form. Suddenly Shin heard Red call out for him. It was coming from the woods to the right of him. Then he saw her, his shoulders sagging in relief. "Over here my love!," he called out. When he had realized what he had said he turned pale as a ghost. Hopefully she hadn't heard the last part of that sentence. He knew she only saw him as a friend and he was reluctant to let her know about his feelings and there he had gone and said something stupid. He didn't want to let her know like this when everything was so out of control.

Shin hurried over to her and grabbed Alice's other arm. "Here, let me help you." He looked over at Red and gave her one of his rare smiles.

Cheshire just stood there for a moment as the others helped Alice. What , was he invisible or something? Obviously he could disappear but he knew for a fact that he was very visible at the moment. At least Alice was ok, that was the main thing. Feeling a bit annoyed he looked over at the portal. It seemed to pulse with a odd rhythmic light. Oddly enough he felt no pull from it at all. It could be because he was used to using the portals. Usually no one else could see them. He could tell the others felt it pulling them. Maybe this would liven things up a bit. He had felt restless the past couple of days and just when he thought he was going to die of boredom, something like this happened.

Chesh turned his head as Aka came up to him. It seemed as if the girl was able to make time with him after all. He gave her one of his trademark grins and made a bow to her and held out his hand. "Why of course, beautiful lady. I would be honored to accompany you into another world. At least hopefully that's where this portal leads and not into the depths of hell." He chuckled after that last statement so that she knew he was joking. Then again, who knew where the thing led?

:Aka:

Aka smiled as Cheshire agreed to go with her. She knew it would be much funner to go along with him. Feeling suddenly giddy and slightly nervous, she took his hand. She had never noticed how small her hand seemed before but her fingers slipped in between his own perfectly. A part of her felt sudden guilt. "It's because he keeps you relaxed that you stick around. Admit it, he's just a play thing." The thought from her darker side made her shudder. No, she wasn't using him. There was no way she would do that. Her hand clutched his own and walked towards the portal. "You are just using him to escape father." Her dark thoughts insisted even she tried to fight. The thought of her father made her want to cry. It was all his fault after all... It was all his fault. Aka pushed her thoughts back again as she got closer to the portal. She knew she probably looked shaken up but hopefully Cheshire would only think it was because of the portal. Without any farther hesitation she stepped through, letting the portal take her away from everything she hated.

Lucifer stepped onto old floors that had not seen use in many years. He was interested in his surroundings decor. In it's prime it could have rivaled his own posh tastes. Interesting he said to himself. I wouldn't have pined the beast for being a man of taste. The other interesting thing about this place was that beast wasn't anywhere to be seen. Nor were his servants...again. Was it possible that the portal had brought them to different parts of the castle? He did see him go in before hand. The connection he had with them wasn't working here. Not that he'd let anyone know that before hand.

He decided to double back a bit to check for the twins on the other side of the portal. Sticking his head out of the portal for a brief moment before pulling it back in. He wasn't sure if Cheshire or Aka had seen this but it wouldn't play much on his mind to much. As he stood back up he was in a different hallway than before. He caught the slightest bit of movement from across the hall. It pleased him to see them both exploring and looking for him.

He cleared his throat. AHEM. Tweedledee jumped and turned around. "I don't think we should stay in here long. I don't know how stable the portal is. The air is really stale in here." They nodded as they watched Lucifer examine a wall tapestry.

Red couldn't help but feel a flush coming over her cheeks as she heard Shin's reply. With a quick movement, she cloaked her face with her crimson hood. Maybe he was just caught up in all the chaos? Yeah, that had to be it. He only thought of her as a friend, didn't he? Well come to think of it, their story did have a lot more to it then most knew about. It was all so confusing an complicated. Not only was there Shin, but Red couldn't tell if she really did like one of the other males living there in Never After. Wait! Why did it matter? She shouldn't be thinking about relationships at all!

Pushing the petty thoughts out of her mind, Red hoisted Alice higher up on her shoulder, careful not to worsen the condition of her arm. Secretly glancing at the bound wound, Red knew it would have to be changed soon. It was bleeding through the sash Jack had given her and was causing the blood to slowly drip down her arm. The pain seared as one of Alice's lip hands grazed it. Red bit down hard of her lower lip to keep from reacting. She was glad her hood was pulled up. As far as the others knew, she didn't feel pain. Red would never admit it to herself anyway. She was hardened to all things of the nature. All she felt was the urge to hunt. That's that you want them to think.. But you know better. You're only human.. Aren't you? The voice in her head was mocking her. They'll find out eventually. Especially once they reach your story.

---------- Post added 03-12-2013 at 05:24 PM ----------

Avril moaned as Red helped her up. She'd be walking on her own if she had the choice, but her feet just didn't want to work. She felt really tired but was still aware of everything that was going on. Shin had come up to help Red carry her. Did Shin just call Red 'My Love'? Alice giggled but instead of it sounding like her usual, cheery laugh, it sounded garbled and twisted. She moaned again, this time because she wanted so much to just be back to her non-hurt self. It was no fun when people had to help you walk and such.

"Wherge ish everyone..? Arg we going int.. portal?" It was all Alice could muster up. Her vocal cords, much like her feet, just didn't want to work. Damn it, come on! This sucks! Alice was slightly surprised by the fact that she was so focused. She was never that focused. Even in instances like this. She always switched in and out of insanity. Maybe it's because I'm hurt? In that case, all she would have to do would be to hurt herself in tiny ways to get her thoughts on track. This just might work! But first he had to get healed so she could tell everyone of her findings.

Reta spoke gently to her brother, telling him a little lie about how he got hurt. If he couldn’t remember on his own then he didn’t need to remember the terrible deed that she apparently had done while she was lost within her own nightmares. “We were rescued from the collapsed town hall, but you got hurt protecting me.” She glanced at the portal, “I think so. Les I know you wanted to go explore more than anything, but I think it’s best if we stay here this time…” her voice drifted off as she looked away from both Les and the portal.

Reta wondered how she would get her brother the helped he needed if everyone left. They all seemed to be heading into the portal. If they all left the pair would be all alone, just like back then. What if no one returned from the portal and she couldn’t think of that anymore. This wasn’t their story, the witch was gone is what she told herself to keep focused. Soon her thoughts shifted. Maybe the two of them would be better off without the others. Most of them were adults and adults couldn’t be trusted. They were older now and could take care of themselves anyway. Reta wouldn’t miss some of the adults if they disappeared into the portal and never returned to Never After.

When Reta realized she was thinking unnecessary thoughts she shook her head. She looked down at Les with a small smile. “How are you feeling? You’ve lost a lot of blood.” The worry she felt clearly shown in her pale blue eyes. She mumbled, “I’m sorry you got hurt because of me again.” The girl was sure that her brother hadn’t understood her mumble.

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Jack was surprised by Beast just moving Red and him out of the way. He had never really believed that Beast was the way most people made him out to be, but he also never had any proof otherwise as well. This was proof enough for him, though it did leave him with a confused look on his face. The male watched as Red left his side in search of Shin. It seemed that his hunches about those two might have been correct as well. He sighed a bit to himself. Telling himself that he was being foolish, love really wasn’t something that matter. All that really mattered in this world was money and power. Of course he was just probably fooling himself.

Henrietta cooed at Alice before leaving the girls side to rejoin Jack. The hen was a curious creature really since she normally didn’t take to other people. Jack himself was surprised that Henrietta seemed to like Alice so much, but it did seem like Alice understood the hen just like he did, so maybe that way why the hen had such interests in the girl. Jack smiled down at Henrietta as she clucked at him telling him that Alice would be ok and asking if he was ok. “That’s good and I am.”

The young man’s attention turned to the portal as it radiated. A slightly twisted grin formed on his lips. He drew out his axe once more. It seemed that thing had been calling Beast and Jack was somewhat familiar with Beasts story. It was his sense of adventure and greed that fueled the male now. He walked towards the portal and stepped through it.

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Piper had rejoined Odessa’s side. The doll looked proudly at the man.“You did well.” He ignored her compliment. “Let’s go home. I’m sick of this place.” He started to walk off in the direction of home. Odessa did not follow him. Instead the doll headed over towards the twins and the portal. She felt sorry for the boy and girl.