■■■'s Nightmare (6)
"Come, knight of tainted power!"
Why.
To Ranne, Alice was practically a stranger.
They had spent a few days together at Viktor's request, but even that had been less than two weeks.
To step forward so unhesitatingly for someone like that, she had to be out of her mind.
"The warriors of the North do not grovel before the strong, nor do they withhold from the weak...!"
But.
"My name is Ranne Kihano! Epithet: Don Quixote de la Mancha!"
Faint, but unmistakable. The trembling in her shoulders.
"Called forth by the stars, I stand here to drive back what is wicked!"
She was shaking.
Eyes wide with fear.
But she didn't let it show.
Every word still came out clear and steady.
All for the sake of whoever stood behind her.
-Alice.
That back.
That small, worn-down back, overlapping with someone else's image.
-Alice.
-Go... run as far as you can. Your unni is fine.
-You have to run so far that those people can never find you.
An unni lying soaked in blood.
Hands that, even at death's door, didn't reach for herself.
Hands that instead wiped Alice's tears away, as if saying sorry.
-It's okay. Everything will be okay.
-Your unni just needs a little sleep, then she'll catch up for sure...
Ranne's back looked just like someone Alice missed terribly.
So her legs locked in place.
She couldn't bring herself to run.
Leaving someone behind, running while they stayed, was one of her deepest scars.
<!world the to tidings wondrous the herald shall I>
"Hnn...!"
By then, Ranne had already clashed with the red knight.
The shriek of steel on steel rang out again and again.
Crash, bang! CRASH-!
A completely one-sided fight.
Ranne's wounds just kept piling up, one by one.
<!sacred the to ears their lend lambs the Let>
CRASH-!
She was already gasping after only a handful of exchanges.
The dense dark mana made even breathing a sharp ache deep in her lungs.
Ranne screamed and threw herself forward.
-Kihano-Style Spear Arts, Second Form-
'Awl'
But she was just outmatched.
She held on for only a little longer before she was sent flying.
Right to Alice's feet. Crumpled in a heap.
"Miss Ranne..."
Why.
Why did it always come to this.
Alice couldn't make sense of it.
-R-run...
Ranne's eyes met hers, mouthing the words.
Even at the very end, putting someone else first.
Alice quietly pulled her into her arms.
<.child>
By then.
The red armor had drawn right up to them.
So tall she had to crane her neck just to take it all in.
'Why, always...'
She had thought she was suffering enough already. But the strokes kept adding up, one by one.
This world seemed unable to stop itself from pushing her past every limit.
Every sound around her felt like laughter aimed at her.
She was sick of it. Sick down to the bone.
'What's the reason for any of it.'
The warmth she held against her chest.
Ranne, already unconscious.
And the red knight above them, sword raised high.
She was done.
'Why... why does it keep going like this...'
A life sinking endlessly, with no reason given.
Something inside Alice was starting to come apart.
Hot tears fell.
The crying broke open all at once.
Even then, a whisper crept into her ear.
<WelcometowonderlandWelcometowonderlandWelcometowonderlandWelcometowonderlandWelcometowonderlandWelcometowonderlandWelcometowonderlandWelcometoWonderland>
The nightmare she had spent her whole life running from.
The promise she had made to her unni.
That no matter what happened, she would never let go of herself.
All of it, meaningless now.
<Welcometowonderland.>
Alice went limp.
Eyes dead and black.
Her pale blue irises, drained of everything.
Her lips moved on their own.
<Welcometowonderland.>
"...Fine."
<Welcometowonderland.>
The end.
Words spoken to the nightmare she had spent her whole life desperately shutting out.
"Do whatever you want."
<Welcometowonderl......>
<......>
<......>
<......>
Silence.
For just a moment, her mind went quiet.
Seconds later, a red voice flooded in and stained everything.
The world blurred, as though fog had rolled across it.
Her vision smeared at the edges.
Even the red knight froze.
Maybe it was the dread hanging inside the barrier.
He stood rigid, looking around in every direction.
Crack-!
The next instant, his head caved in.
A monstrous bird had appeared from nowhere and was tearing into him.
The knight staggered and thrashed, but the enormous maw just kept working.
'A dream.'
Alice's dormant power.
The ability to pull her dreams into the real world.
She looked up at the grotesque bird and quietly murmured its name.
'Jabberwock...'
The monster that visited her so often in sleep.
Alice's deepest nightmare had come crawling out into the waking world.
And it wasn't just the one bird.
Something drifted down from the sky, soft and unhurried.
Gleaming crowns.
Faceless, their silhouettes sharp and clear in every other detail.
Each wore a crown.
The nightmare queens from inside Alice's dreams.
They settled down gently and looked up at the struggling knight.
<[◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆]>
Nothing like human language. Just noise.
They murmured something, and creatures came pouring out of the fog.
Playing cards and chess pieces fused with human shapes, all thrown together at random, that was the feeling.
The grotesque things moved in a mass.
But in rows and columns. Organized. One army.
<[
<[◆◆◆◆◆◆]>
<[□□□□□□□□□]>
The queens murmured in turn, and the countless soldiers rushed the red knight.
The armor toppled with a crash.
He couldn't even resist.
Arms and legs torn away, flesh stripped clean, innards pulled out.
The Apostle of the Evil God seized and convulsed a few times, then went still.
Crunch, crack! Splat, splat...
Madness.
A landscape drowned in nightmare.
"......"
At the center of it all sat a dark-haired girl.
A crown floated above Alic■'s head.
All black, murky and clinging, looking almost like a shadow hovering there.
It was bleeding into her.
Darker and darker, her silhouette staining through.
Down her cheeks, dark crimson tears ran in streaks.
'Nightmarification.'
Al■■ had been swallowed whole by the nightmare.
She had lost control of her body. Nothing moved the way she wanted.
She had become the nightmare's puppet.
■■■ let go. No more fight left.
Right after, Ranne's body slipped from her arms and fell to the ground.
'...It's over.'
There was no coming back from this.
She had surrendered herself to the nightmare after all.
Her consciousness was dimming, her vision going dark.
If she closed her eyes now, what terrible things would she end up doing?
The nightmares, with nothing to hold them back.
How much despair would they leave in their wake?
'Unni...'
The broken promise turned over and over in her mind.
There was no way for ■■■ to stop it now. The rampage had already begun.
All she could do was pray that each breath would run out sooner rather than later.
A quiet world.
■■■ reached for the edge of consciousness.
Like that, becoming the final queen..."Oh my."
A voice, out of nowhere.
Someone was standing in front of ■■■.
That familiar ring to it. The girl had no choice but to stare, bewildered.
"......?"
When she forced her eyelids open, the mask of that familiar smile filled her vision.
A dead person.
Someone ■■■ had watched die with her own eyes.
Crushed under the red knight's boot until there was nothing left but pulp. She had seen it.
Part of her wondered if this was just another piece of the nightmare, but it was too vivid for that.
"Miss ■■■."
The boy was smiling.
Or rather, the mask was. The effect was the same.
"There you are. I've been looking all over."
That same unhurried, easy drawl.
The jester stood one step in front of ■■■.
He rummaged around inside his robe and pulled out a gleaming potion.
"Oh, Miss Ranne is here too."
Then, as casually as anything, he popped the cap and tipped the contents into Ranne's mouth.
The moment the liquid touched her, her wounds began closing at once.
The color flooded back into Ranne's face.
He was even humming something under his breath.
"How are... you..."
■■■ couldn't do anything but stare.
Not shrinking from the nightmare around him, not even slightly. Like he was in his own living room.
The nightmare creatures that had been enthusiastically tearing at the knight's corpse seemed to notice him now, belatedly.
Their gazes all snapped toward him.
"You looked like you could use some help."
"......"
He didn't so much as glance at them. Just tilted his head.
Through the mask, something like a playful smile.
<[□□□□□□]>
Perhaps it had run out of patience.
The white queen, still until now, came charging at him.
Her silhouette coalescing into solid white.
The same hands that had torn through the red knight's armor came flying at him.
■■■ almost cried out without thinking, just to warn him.
But.
"Eyes on me."
He didn't spare the white queen a glance.
Without turning his head, he swung the scythe once, light as anything.
Thwip.
A throwaway flick.
The white queen came apart.
Not just torn, gone. Evaporated entirely.
Whoosh-!
"Look at me, please."
"......"
The [Queen], highest in rank even among the nightmares.
One of them, erased with a single gesture.
And then, completely unaffected, his gaze dropped back down to ■■■ alone.
The jester's hand came to rest against her cheek.
Warm.
She flinched without meaning to.
Gentle. Gentle fingers brushing across her eyes.
Wiping away the dark tears, then slowly tilting her face until their eyes met.
"Miss ■■■."
Why, she couldn't say.
-■■■.
Her unni's words came back to her.
Words she had thought so foolish, so far from anything real.
-You just keep living.
-Maybe someday you'll meet someone who saves you.
The mask was smiling.
The jester crouched down to meet her at eye level, right in front of her.
"I can help you."
"......"
Help with what.
She didn't even need to ask.
His fingers were pointing at the crown floating above her, the mark of nightmarification.
"That power... don't you want to control it?"
Control over the nightmare.
The offer left ■■■ dumbstruck.
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