Welcome to Gaia! ::

There were festivals here, he had told her. Festivals they’d gone to, surely she remembered those?

Maybe if the city within the castle walls looked a whole lot more inviting than this imposing scene, which Mat wasn’t exactly expecting. Armed guards at every entrance, subdued citizens marching through to be processed, chopper blades drumming incessantly from above. Not very conducive to heart-warming flashbacks.

Here was peaceful enough, though. Nightfall would probably be a different story, but while the sun still shone and the gentle breeze blew through the cherry blossoms (and what Gaian, however amnesic, wasn’t familiar with the all-too-iconic sight?), it was easy to forget the grim task ahead. From what she understood of it, anyway.

“Looking a little lost in thought, there,” a kind voice said, which made her jump despite the monk’s well-meaning manner.

“It…happens a lot, I’ve been told,” she replied with an apologetic smile. “Um, I’m here about the ad I saw in the paper,” after a quick rummaging through the bag slung from her shoulder, she produced said clipping. “I believe I’ve to see the head priesss…” she flicked her wrist back to glance down quickly at the referral name. “…tess?”

Part 3

Madison sighed slightly as she sat on the edge of her bed that morning in her light blue night shirt that had a large bunny and small carrots on the bottom. Her flesh dripped ever so lightly with sweat as her dark black hair fell over her eyes. She was nervous, and really who could blame her? Her stomach filled with butterflies as she only thought what laid before her.

And the only thing that was before her was the truth.

However, she knew this was the only thing she could really do; and no one was going to stop her. Not even the zombies that lurked behind every the walls that engulfed the city limits.

With a deep breath, Madison slowly put her dark framed glasses on the edge of her small button nose that made her face look more fixed. Slowly than she stood up from her bed and made her way over to her small bag that she had lugged over from Latent town. There really wasn't all that much inside of it. Madison wasn't really known to dress up or wear overly fancy clothes. But she did have a few different things. Some of them were rather nice in appearance, with delicate frills and soft fabric. Nothing that would suit this sort of environment.

Something quickly managed to grasp her attention though. It resembled a rather large jacket that was a dark red color with a matching red leg warmers that had small black buckles on it. It was the perfect outfit for her to wear. Without any hesitation she quickly changed out of her sleep gear and made herself comfortable in her new attire.

Once dressed she wandered over to the mirror where her GUARDIAN collar and her top hat rested ever so calmly. For a moment she stopped and froze as she began to think about something that constantly echoed in her mind.



Ever since she had that dream...

She kept feeling a sense of guilt run through her veins as it seeped through every thought she had. How could she forget about someone that was that important to her? Sighing, she looked down and touched the small flower that appeared on the base of the collar. It was the symbol for GUARDIAN. One that meant protection and hope to all others. But to her it only reminded her about the falseness that she had lived under for quite sometime.

Madison than turned to see the top hat that was given to her by Maximos. She intended to cherish it for quite sometime. To her rather than being something fancy to wear on her head, it showed her something more. It was a symbol for the monstrosity that was hidden inside her mind and on her physical appearance.

She needed to make a choice, for she knew the two of them could not go together.

Without another thought about the situation, she placed the top hat on her head and made her way out the door, leaving the necklace behind.



Madison had wandered down the road for quite a bit of time from the hotel that she had managed to find on the main street of the Barton Fortress. There wasn't much in this small town, so she was rather lucky for finding what she did find. Even though all of the buildings didn't exactly appear to be in the right shape as they slowly all were decaying into the sands of time. It was a rather gloomy day, and each scream from outside of the walls caused Madison to begin to shudder.

This was not a very happy place to be.

Some of the locals quickly took notice to the rabbit and gave her some funny looks. However, they were only passing as they returned to their own business. Many of them seemed rather sickly looking as though they had not witnessed any sort of sun in quite sometime. Due to Madison's pale complexion that she had, she would have fit right in if it wasn't for her large snow white rabbit ears.

A small chill ran down her spine as the sensation of familiarity filled her as she ventured down the main street; part of her wanted to bolt to the nearest exit and find the way out, while the other part wanted to venture forwards. Going past each and every individual in order to unlock some of the hidden secrets of her past. However, each of set of eyes that looked at her seemed to only cause her to feel spears to dig into her soul.

Could they all see the monster that lurked inside?

Did they all knew what really hide behind her delicate features?

Her mind raced vividly over the thoughts in her mind. She knew that everything was ever so true. She could feel beads of sweat form on her forehead as she continued to fret like a small child. It wasn't till her ears picked up an unusual sound that she managed to perk up.

It was voices.

Male voices.

But more importantly it was a song.



The rabbit's mind stopped as she heard the music ring through her ears. She had never heard anything so beautiful before. Slowly, her boots pressed against the dirt as she began to find the sound of the song. With every step, she could feel herself becoming much more calm than before. This must have been a right way for her to go.



She came to a halt as she examined now a strange building in front of her. There, she witnessed what appeared to be a large old building with stained glass windows. Upon the top of the steeple there lied what appeared to be a cross for all to see. Each of the windows were broken and old vines were beginning to slowly engulf the building. It would have been beautiful at one point, except for the fact that it resembled something that had been wasting away for many years from the sands of time.

Smiling, she stopped and closed her eyes as she listened to the voices inside as she parked herself on the steps in the front in order for her to listen. Each of the male voices caused her worries to tremble away softly as each of the words were sung ever so softly.


“That was beautiful... Thank you, gentlemen and we'll be sure to practice tomorrow for the service than.”

Normally, this statement would catch someone off guard when it interupted something as perfect as Madison's ears had just witnessed. However, it wasn't. This voice belonged to a woman of sorts, and it was one that she had not heard for over twenty years now.

That voice belonged to Sister Amani...

And she was now just inside the church that Madison was facing being completely unaware about the confrontation that was about to occur.

Matanago would find the path free of surprises. It was rather uneventful actually, if one didn't count the number of guards looking up to observe the stranger passing through. Not acting suspiciously, she was given no more notice than a guard would give another stranger... another tourist.

At the end was a large shrine, flanked by and connected to a number of smaller buildings by small, arching bridges of red. While the main road was stone, the land directly before, and all about the shrines proper were grass and dirt. This allowed for many a small, but well kept garden.

Other than the landscaping, Matanago would be able to clearly see a group of about seven talking amongst each other, wooden sword, staff, and a few atypical weapons in hand. Others moved around them, obviously busy with one thing or another. Most of the group were men; two were female. Of those two, the really, really young girl went running off with her arms open, "flying" between people's legs. The other adorned and stoic teenager of a shrine maiden watched the little one fly off. It was in this observation that she looked at the road leading up.

After a few more words spoken between her and a couple of monks, she turned and cast inquisitive eyes on the stranger.

There was talk in the town.

All revolving about what had happened within the church down the main street. And it flowed through the small town like plague; consuming each and every individual within the town. At first, they were mere whispers, and then they slowly grew and grew where it soon became commonplace conversation. And for once, Madison ignored all of it. Although their words may have been practically deafening to her due to her large snow white ears, she pretended they were faint whispers. She didn’t care what they thought; the only thing she seemed to care about at this moment in time was the next stop on her journey.

The Innercity.

It was rumoured that no one had dared to set foot outside the large walls ever since the infestation. However, that was not going to stop Madison. She was on a mission despite what the odds were.

Quietly, she continued to pack up the remains that she had left in her room. There wasn’t much considering that she was only there for a few days. Picking up clothes, she quietly shoved them into her bag. From clothing down to small little accessories she quickly managed to gather everything up. However, she froze slightly as she stopped upon a small green stone on the counter top. It shined ever so slightly as the rays of light that was hidden beneath the clouds from the window reflected down onto it filling the dark room slightly. Slowly, she picked it up between her fingers and made her way to the edge of the bed. Once sitting the strangest thing began to happen...

A small smile began to form.

It wasn’t much, but this was something that she hadn’t done in quite some time. It had almost been a month since she last saw him; the one that the small pebble allowed her to connect too.

Every moment she held the small stone she felt slightly warmer than she had before hand. It was almost like he was there with her holding her hand telling her that everything was going to be okay. Everything always felt okay whenever he was around, even when some situations were rather tight between them. He tried his best to make everything be okay, just for that moment.

“Oh Shin...” Her voice was ever soft and gentle as she spoke to the small stone. It wasn’t sounding as harsh as it had been quite some time ago. In fact, it was sounding like it was falling apart. Clenching the small stone in her hand, she quietly removed her glasses and placed them down on the bed beside her. It was rare for her to even consider removing them, but she needed too. For Madison was requiring removing a small bead from her face.

Madison could feel her body beginning to shake as the beads began to fall even harder from each of her tear ducts. Her ears drooped slowly to the sides of her head as she continued to sob quietly to herself. The rabbit continued to grip the rock between her grasp as she felt like she never wanted to let go.



A small internal struggled quickly began inside of her. She knew that she could use the stone to communicate to Shin and have him bring her somewhere safe. But she knew that deep down she couldn’t. Madison did not want to have him tied into such a burden that she was forced to carry; a burden that only she herself was able to uphold. She knew that she herself was at her worse; she was weak both mentally and physically....

She couldn’t have the Elf go through that.

Thus she kissed the back of her hand and fell backwards onto the bed. She was beginning to wonder if she herself could even continue as she began to curl up. Her eyes drew slowly closed as her body rested against the soft mattress. Her exhaustion was beginning to catch up with her. For this moment, it was probably best she allowed herself to rest for she had quite an adventure a head of her still, one that required her to be at her physical peak.

Alas, she was going to have a moment’s rest with her small stone still tightly gripped within her hand.

-Part 7-

Aimlessly, Madison began to wonder through the wreckage of what used to be Barton Town. Her heart sank as she wandered through the broken streets as she looked at each of the worn down buildings that surrounded the place. Each plank of wood’s paint was flaking off, broken bits of glass reflected what little sunlight was passing through the clouded skies, and broken brick buildings seemed to created figures with its shadows on the pavement. Each of the buildings seemed to show that life once filled these streets. And the only thing that was left was the remains of death.

What was even more frightening was the lack of sound that filled the air. The only thing that echoed inside the rabbit’s large snow white ears were the sounds of small rocks crushing beneath her shoes. It was eerie, and it caused small shivers to go down her spine as she wandered. She knew that there were creatures out there; however she could not hear them. Either than where no longer within the walls or they were watching her....waiting to pounce on their prey.

Madison slowly moved throughout the wreckage looking her head from left to right. She seemed to stay on the main pathway, which were stained with the remains of buildings, blood, and what appeared to be actual body parts. The rabbit’s stomach turned as she slowly passed what appeared to be an individual’s arm, which had a large bite mark taken out of the middle. The longer she remained where she was, the longer she wished to sprint back into the safety of familiarity. But that wasn’t the case; instead she continued to walk forewords, tightly gripping the strap on her bag. It was then that her wandering came to a halt. In front of her was a rather large fork in the road leading to four different pathways. The rabbit stood in the middle in of all of her options, only to see that each one of them looked the same...

All of them were filled with disappointment.

Left?

Right?

Forewards?

Or Backwards?

Madison slowly began to spin in a circle as she looked for somewhere to go. Slowly a sigh left her lips as she witnessed each of the pathways opened to her. She had no idea which way she was supposed to go, especially considering she didn’t exactly ask for directions to get to where she was supposed to go, that being the Dead Zone’s old Police Station. It seemed that her path of hope towards the end was coming to an end to her long lost journey. And what was worse, she had no clue where she was supposed to go to get out of this dreadful place.

It seemed that the rabbit was lost.

And nobody knew where to find her. She hadn’t told anyone that she was going to the Barton Fortress. She could die there and no one would know, not GUARDIAN, not Shin. Nobody. The only person who would know, would be herself. And that was a definitely sad tale to tell. It felt as though her world was now beginning to crumble down. Would her life really mean so little to everyone if she had made such a disappearance? Her chest was beginning to hurt even more so as she was beginning to feel so small...

Was she really that insignificant?

Was she really that unimpor-

Heavy Breathing.

She could hear it.

And it was close.

Almost too close.

Madison slowly began to walk. However, she could hear the heavy steps beginning to pick up speed as her own speed increased. She didn’t even look at which pathway she decided, she simply ran towards one of them. And it appeared that straight was her best option. Slightly turning her head behind her she quickly witnessed something that caused a loud scream to leave her lips. At the moment, there were about five undead individuals beginning to run after her, and now that her voice filled the empty streets, it was only bound to have more to follow. Even though they were a few feet away from her, it felt as though their hot heavy breaths were heaving down her neck. They weren’t the traditional zombies that were often featured in movies, they had speed.

And luckily for Madison...

So did she.

Slowly with each steps, her pace quickened. As she moved even faster than the first step, she began to grin. She wasn’t going to give up so easily. Madison knew what was important, and if she was going to die in this dreadful place... at least she needed to finish what she was doing. Than she could at least die happy without haven’t that sensation of unsastisfaction looming over her rotting corpse. Unfortunately, despite how fast she was going, it seemed that they were managing to keep up.

And than it happened...

The top hat that she had been wearing upon her head flew off and went backwards. Madison’s hair freely fluttered around for a moment before she stopped. However, she didn’t keep running as many members of prey do. But instead, she darted towards the herd of monstrosities, taking the opportunity to face death itself.

“GIVE ME BACK MY HAT!” It wasn’t as though the decaying creatures even had her chapeaux. But she was risking everything to get it back, for this was the only thing that the rabbit had left of her friend. And she wasn’t going to let go of it. However, she was diving forwards and her dive was going towards the ground. With her eyes tightly closed and her arms outstretched she soared through the air and prepared her body for impact. She felt something go in between her hands but she couldn’t really be sure.

Once she could feel her body slide against the pavement and her red jacket tearing against the glass and broken stones allowing the jagged pieces to enter her flesh. She winced tightly as she could feel the tearing of her own flesh. A large dark red puddle began to form on the ground below her. However, she had the prize she was looking for. Opening her eyes she quickly looked at what she grabbed.


Madison screamed as she noticed that she wasn’t holding a hat at all, but rather one of the heads from the zombies that were chasing her. As though in a twitching manner she bounced the head between her hands as she heard a gargling sound coming from its mouth followed by chomping. With a quick scream she tossed it over to the feet of the zombies, who had moved closer towards her. Rather than being only a small number like before there were about ten of them now. And she could hear more now that she was dripping blood from her arm.

Scrambling to her feet she quickly stumbled forwards towards her top hat which was resting on the ground. Now with her article of clothing in hand, she continued to run. This time she decided to take another tactic. Madison darted between the group of merciless creatures and continued to run. As she passed through the mass, she could feel their nails and fingers attempting to reach and grab into her soul. But she shoved through, and continued to move.

Passing through them, her run became a stumble as she continued. She could no longer hear the shrilled sounds from behind her. All she could hear was the sounds of her heartbeat, thumping loudly as the adrenaline filled her. As though to throw them off, she quickly turned a left turn down an alleyway as though to hide. Out of breath, she leaned up against the wall as though to attempt to blend in. Her hands were tightly grasped around the top hat as she took a deep breath in and out. It was obvious that she had lost her bag at some point.

The creatures quietly stopped in the position that they were in and quietly looked around. Some of them began to growl and sneer as they looked around for the trail that they were on. They were hungry and wanted a meal of some sort. And she was obviously the tastiest thing that was around. But despite from being hungry, they were not stupid. After taking a few sniffs in the air they quickly turned to the alleyway and ran towards it. In a frightened fashion, the young woman pushed herself off the wall and continued to run in only one direction into the alleyway.

Only to find herself locked within a dead end and having no way out now since they were blocking the exit.

Madison hit her body against the wall and turned to face them.

This was definitely not what she had in mind.

No at all.

Madison dove herself in the corner of the dead end and clenched the hat closely to her chest. Without any hesitation her eyes tightly closed and she waited. She was ready for the death that was going to happen to her as she was going to be swallowed up by hungry savage beasts. Her body was trembling as she remained her ground. She didn’t want to give up, but it seemed that Madison had reached her end.

Finally, the wolves had come for the meal.

It turned out that her life was going to remain as empty as it did before hand.

She couldn’t hear the damages that were being done beyond her own little world. In fact the only thing that she seemed to hear was the voice that was coming from someone infront of her... she didn’t know zombies could talk.



At that moment, Madison opened her brightly colored eyes and looked up towards the voice. She didn’t seem to stop shaking, and her grip didn’t ever let go to the top hat that she was holding onto dear life for. Slowly, her head moved upwards as it was facing the ground before hand. Her eyes examined his dark colored pants and onto the lovely purple pinstripes near the top. She didn’t seem to process who it was till their eyes met.

It was him.

Not just anyone.

But it was Maximos.

It was hard to believe that the man could even recognize her considering the state that she was in. Her face was not as clean and as proper as normal. And her eyes reflected nothing more than pain, exhaustion, and the beginnings of insanity. She was a different woman than he had seen at the hotel room during the tournament. It seemed that her innocence was even more faded than it was before hand.

Shaking, she continued to stare at him in disbelief. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There before her, was the man that she could have sworn that she herself had killed. Her mind filled with even more confusion as questions began to flaunt within her skull. However, there was only one thing that she knew what could happen.

She needed to run.

For she only was positive of one thing. She had killed this man, quite some time ago. And this man was CLEARLY a very properly dressed zombie. Even though he was properly dressed, she knew that was the only answer. However, despite her urges to run, she seemed to be trapped for this being was much taller than she was, and he was blocking the way.


“Please...” Her voice was dry and hoarse, as it sounded as though it was going to fall deeper into her own demise. However, her eyes didn’t go off of him. They stared at his. Although she was frightened for her life, Madison only felt that she should do her best to try and communicate with him. Afterall, unlike the other undead members of the horde, this one seemed know how to speak English.

“Please don’t eat me! I’m sorry! I AM! But...but...I can’t...not yet!” Her grasp was even tighter on the top hat and she could feel a knot growing in her throat. She had forgotten about the pain in her arm, she was on too much of an adrenaline high to even care. All she cared about was to try and get out of the situation alive. Her body almost began to shake even more violently than it was before hand. However, their eye contact never broke.

“I didn’t have a choice...Do you want your hat back? Here! Take it!” At that moment, the rabbit girl tossed the top hat him, and it landed in between them. This was the first time that she had let go of it since she had been chased. It was tattered slightly and covered in both dirt and her blood. However, besides that it was in rather good condition, as though she had watched over it with her life. And now, she was handing it over to him.

“Please...don’t eat me. I am sorry I hurt you.” At that moment, the only thing she seemed to feel was the sensation of being small. She was nothing but a failure at this point, a complete and utter failure. And it was than that she did the unexpected.

Finally, Madison had fallen.

She collapsed almost onto her knees. Her body was now on the large collection of dirt and blood that was on the ground. Her head fell down to the ground and sobbed. All the while she was constantly repeating the same thing over and over again. It was an apology, and it was almost incoherent as she was mumbling to herself. But it was all the same, Madison was constantly apologizing to him.

She was sorry.

That’s all she ever was...

Was sorry.

And she didn’t move from that point.

She only trembled on the ground, with tears running down her face and incoherent mumblings of an apology.

"I'msorry....I'msorryI'msorry...I'msorry"

Madison was nothing more than broken, and she wasn’t even sure if she knew if she could be fixed.

Madison did not move.

She only clenched her eyes shut as she waited for her end to come. She knew that this was going to be her end. She couldn’t even hear the words that were leaving his mouth. She was too caught up in her own moment. She was constantly apologizing... but in the back of her mind she only knew that her brains were the first to go. Slowly, she felt a set of large arms wrap around her. Her body continued to shake as she waited for the end. She didn’t fight what was coming, for the rabbit knew that this overwhelming shadow was something that she had coming for her. For he wanted revenge.

However, that isn’t what she felt.

Her brains weren’t gone.

And he wasn’t mauling her like a ravage wolf would.

But instead she felt the warmth of the other body flow through her as well as the smell of soap. It was a sensation that the rabbit had not felt in quite some time. For Madison, this was the first time in a year that she actually felt safe. It was the first time that she ever felt like someone cared, or that someone even gave a damn about her existence. Despite all of the carnage around them, Madison felt that everything was going to be all right.

It was at that moment that Madison knew that he wasn’t one of the horde; she knew that he was indeed very real, and indeed very alive. A small smile formed on her face, it almost hurt her face to even be able to make that facial expression, but she managed. However, despite the touching moment their time was cut short....

The horde was clawing towards them.

Madison could hear each of their footsteps and their screams. They were hungry. And the trail of blood that the two of them were producing was a quick way for them to be lead straight for the alleyway. But it wasn’t long till the most extraordinary thing had happened. The two of them shot upwards towards the sky above them. They were going quickly, and it was much higher than Madison could ever jump in her life. It was higher than the buildings, and higher than the clouds...

For a brief minute the two of them had touched the sky together. The rays of the sun quietly danced around them slowly as they were dancing amongst the heavens. It was almost as though the two of them were able to be at peace and away from everything for that one moment. However, despite how peaceful the feeling may have been. Eventually one was forced to come down.

The two of them tumbled ever so smoothly to the ground all the while, with Max holding Madison very delicately. Their sunlight waltz came to an end as they soon found one another on the top of one of the tallest buildings. For that moment they were safe, and Madison stepped off his toes in order to look at him.

They didn’t say anything to one another.

They seemed to have an understanding going on. However, it seemed that he had gave her enough room to run. He was waiting for her to move, away from him as though this was sort of a default setting for him. But she only stood there, staring. The two of them looking at one another as though to wait for something to happen.

And then it happened, Madison took a few steps as though to bolt the opposite way. It seemed even the most polite of monsters still had people afraid of them. However, rather than running away, the rabbit took two steps back and practically launched herself in his arms again. But this time she was returning the embrace. And she almost sounded as though she was beginning to sob again...

But they weren’t as fearful as they were beforehand. They were filled with happiness. They were filled with warmth. The only thing that was on her face was utter joy, a facial expression that she had not been able to wear for ages. He was alive. And what was more important was the fact that he helped her. Again.

“You are alive! YOU ARE ALIVE!” She sobbed between each of her words as she continued to have him in her embrace. Max would have probably have thought that she was crazy at this point, which wasn’t entirely a lie. All this year, she had an overwhelming sense of guilt filled inside of her. At last, she was allowed to empty it. Finally she pulled herself away slightly and was wearing a smile that seemed out of place on her body. Everything about her seemed to be worn and destroyed from what greatness that she had once had. Her eyes only had large bags beneath them symbolizing the amount of sleep she had and she looked even unhealthier than she did normally. It would have been obvious that Madison had not been eating properly, nor was she sleeping right. However now with the tears flowing from her eyes, she had rather large stains that filled her face.

“What...what are you doing here? This isn’t a place for you!” Madison seemed to be on track again. However, it wasn’t long till her arms were tightly again his neck and providing him with yet another large embrace. And since she was shorter than him, her legs flailed down underneath her as they dangled in the air.

“It doesn’t matter! The only thing that matters is the fact that you are alive!” She started to laugh as a few more tears fell down onto his clothes.

She was pleased to see her dear friend Maximos, for she knew that at this moment in time. There was no one else she would have rather have seen. With his appearance, she felt that the tunnel that she had been travelling down was a bit more hopeful than before.

Madison did not realize how much she missed having contact with someone. It had been months since she had spoken to someone with a comforting tone. But there she was, in this misshapen place filled with both decay and the shadows of where something great once fell. Madison didn’t seem she wanted to let go as she constantly would grab a hold of the much taller man and hold him as though he was a rag doll.

This was almost too good to be true...

Almost...

Finally, he lightly grasped onto her face with her hands, not forcefully, but rather delicately as though comforting a small child. He lightly petted her face with her thumbs and replied all of her questions. Well not all of her questions, mainly only to respond to her constantly babbling. It seemed as though for Madison, that despite how shrouded in darkness that she may have felt, simply seeing him in front of her was enough.

It almost seemed as though even though he was speaking, his words were not filling the insides of her long snow white ears till the two of them fell into embrace once again. They were laughing; they were smiling, as soft tears and the smell of soap echoed in the air.



Finally...

It seemed her joy almost faded.

It almost seemed as though the warmth that she had blown away and was only replaced with the ice cold sensation that a broken heart could have. Slowly the young girl, no, woman pulled away. She wasn’t staring up him right away, but rather at his chest which was the only thing that was eye level for her. She could only see one thing, his dark purple shirt. She wasn’t moving. And it almost looked like she wasn’t breathing.

Madison was thinking.

Her mind began to wonder away from the world around her into her own thoughts. For that one moment, she was standing all by herself as she attempted to recall the answer that he was seeking. The smell of decay had finally disappeared as well as the sounds of shrilled cries that often came along with starving hordes of undead creatures. Her lips slowly began to move as she began to think about the issue further followed by a low murmur. She was trying to sort the facts straight, or at least the facts that she did have. And what she knew, were only faint memories that she had tried to lock out of her head.

And then it came...

Slowly, Madison witnessed only bits and pieces of what had happened before hand. It was a verbal argument. The two of them were constantly having a word for word chat. And then something inside her snapped, and the worst was yet to come. The brawl. And then the death. Yes, that is what had happened. She remembered it now almost vividly as it began to constantly replay in her mind like a broken record; playing it once through and then skipping back to the beginning once the scene had finished.

But...

That wasn’t right.

It couldn’t be right.

Madison was at a loss. For now everything that she had thought was real wasn’t. She was positive that had actually had happened. It hurt too much to even consider that it wasn’t. Madison knew what she felt. She knew it with every inch of her, or at least she thought she did. Her mind began to wonder and try to search for the truth. But it seemed that no matter how hard she was even thinking about it, the truth wasn’t coming. And to her, it never would.

Chuckling slightly, she looked up at him and smiled. However, her smile wasn’t as gentle or sincere as he normally would have witnessed. It was dark and almost twisted, as though it belonged to someone who had lost their way. Her eyes almost began to water again as she stood before him. Madison was having an emotional overload it seemed. First there was fear, than there was joy, and now she was filled with fear again. But no, she was laughing.

“I-I.-I...Don’t know. Hahaha. I don’t know anymore...” She continued to laugh as she slowly than began to mutter to herself again almost aimlessly. Slowly, it appeared that whatever she had left of her innocence was being ripped away from her with every moment that she was existing. Slowly, she turned away at that moment and began to mutter even more so, looking down to the ground as though she had lost a contact or even maybe her last remain piece of sanity.

“I came at you...yes, I did. I had to have. I had to. And I had a knife..no...it wasn’t that...it was something else...and...I killed you. Yes. I witnessed it all. I know it happened. I had your hat...I held onto it...Cause I was sure...” Her voice was louder as she continued to talk to the ground. She couldn’t make eye contact with him at this moment, for her face felt heavy with the amount of tears and guilt that was looming inside her.

“...I killed you...but I couldn’t have. Cause...you are here. Now...Alive.” At that moment she looked up at him as she removed her own black rimmed glasses. Madison never took them off, she was always seen with them on as though they were a trade mark that she had to go along with her ears. And without a miss of a beat she began to laugh again.


“But...it was real. I had everything when I woke...everything...Everything that that...boy gave me. It had to be true. But it’s not...How could it. You are here. In front of me. You...here....Now...You wouldn’t call me that...no you wouldn’t. You call me...Madison... Right?” At that moment, the rabbit slowly advanced towards Maximos. They were very slow, and cautious. But she slowly advanced, almost as though she were in a daze of some sort. About half way, the woman stopped again. She frozen in her own thought. And than finally, she fell again. Her black boots were becoming dirty from all the dirt and dried blood that she kept falling in. But for some reason, in the state that she was in it almost suit her too well.

“But...is that who I am? Alice. Madison. Alice. Madison. I...Don’t understand. Why don’t I know? Why doesn’t anybody know? Why...” Her voice was quiet as she could feel the sobs coming on again; however it seemed this time she was trying her best to hold it in. She was tired of crying, but no matter how hard she wanted to fight it...the pain kept coming back. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around her stomach and held it for a moment. It hurt. And there was nothing she could do about it. As she held herself, she felt a small flat surface within her dirt ruby red jacket.

Without a word she took it out and held it in her right hand as her left returned her glasses back to her face. With the lack of sunlight that the world around them had, the small green stone that she had found glittered ever so lightly. It was the gift that she was given from Shin, a gift she thought she had lost when she had been running away from the horde. Her thumb lightly grazed the top of it as she continued to look at it. Till finally she slowly began to shake her head. The sight of it did not make her happy, nor did it make her even more upset. The only thing that she felt was a small fire growing inside of her.

Madison had no real reason to hate it. But the thoughts of the pain that it had brought her only caused the sickening feeling to grow in her stomach. She was tired of being alone, she was tired of never being able to be with him. Always having to wait for him. She was always alone, even when she needed him most. Bitterly, she tossed the stone out of her hand towards the edge. As she witnessed it make it’s journey over the edge she felt the restriction on her neck grow. It was almost as though she couldn’t breathe. Almost clawing at it, Madison went for her neck where a small choker sat that she had once worn ever so proudly as a small cherry blossom emblem dangled from it.

GUARDIAN.

It was the entire reason why she could not see Shin. But more importantly it practically controlled her life. They did not want her to even go on her journey, but yet they never wanted her to do anything. She was kept out of the loop on most details from missions to even just the latest news. She never did anything, except practically be locked up under their eye. Always making sure that she was doing the right thing. Madison was always left in the dark. Because of these two, Madison was always alone...and Madison was always in pain.

She was practically clawing at her neck in order to get the symbol off, causing large red marks to form on the sides of her neck. She couldn’t feel it. She was finished with everything that had to do with them. And with that, the necklace had finally popped off. Like with the stone she tossed it over the edge as best as she could... Madison was finished...Madison was finally free. However, despite this overwhelming sensation...she felt herself beginning to fall again. And she nearly toppled over and fell face first into the ground.

“Why me? Why does everything bad happen to me? I...am in the dark...always in the dark...alone...My mind is always...filled with shadows...I...don’t know who I am...cause I don’t remember... ..I don’t remember before....why can’t I? I just...want to know...was I loved? Did I...have a family? Did...they not want me? What happened to me? Why did I become this...” She was whispering to herself with her arms around her stomach again. As she locked her arms around each other, she could feel her nails slowly piercing through the fabric and into her flesh. She had forgotten that Maximos was there, and she only knew that she wanted this to all finishing. For it seemed that despite her efforts of getting as far as she did, finally the amount of sanity she had left was catching up with her...

Leaving her alone in her own insanity yet again.