Descendants of Madness

As they followed Minka she stopped in front of a rotted tree stump and said "Czy kiedykolwiek zastanawialiście się, dlaczego kruk jest podobny do biurka?" There was a soft ticking sound. Suddenly, a hole opened up under the trio and they started to fall. They fell through what could only be described as an enlarged dust chute. Kosuke held on to Alexei's arm like a frightened child.

They landed on an old cot surrounded by human sized dolls. Oh wait, they were human, nevermind. The people around the cot all wore variations of a nurses uniform, save for one that wore a black vest an brown pants. They didn't move until a voice called out "they are fine. Disburse" All the nurses left and the one in the black vest went to the voice. When the man came out Minka smiled and said "Ace. You really know how to freak people out with those pseudo-nurses" Ace was stroking the black vest wearing boy's hair out of his face and said "They are the newest additions. I still have a few adjustments to make"

Ace of Hearts noticed the two behind Minka, offered his hand and said "welcome"

((Note: Minka is speaking polish. She's roughly saying 'Have you ever wondered why a raven is like a desk?' She does this because Ace has set that phrase as the password. Everyone says this phrase, but they can choose to use a different language like Minka did))

Alexei glared at the catgirl. "Can we finally get an explanation now? We still don't even know where we are or how we got here!"

Minka stuck out her tongue and said "No" she turned to Ace of Hearts and continued "tell 'em what they want to know. The guy's sexy, but a pest" Ace just watched as Minka skipped away. Ace crossed his arms and said "I'm sorry. She grows on you eventually" Kosuke got up and asked "are you going to tell us what's going on?" Ace nodded.

"Many years ago, a little girl had a dream. The strength of this dream escaped from the girl's heart and formed our world: Wonderland. As more hearts entered Wonderland our world changed and evolved. One day, a dark heart entered Wonderland and began corrupting all of the land. We call this dark heart 'The Twisted Heart'.

The Twisted took over Wonderland and began corrupting the hearts of the people. A handful of people, your ancestors, left Wonderland. I'm a little fuzzy on the details there, but some say they left so that our people would live on rather than die out because of the corruption.

Where we stand now is the Headquarters of The Revolt, a rebellion against The Twisted Heart. It was started by your ancestors as a last resort to get Wonderland back. You were called here because your hearts were called here by your dream blood, the blood of your ancestors.

As of now, our leaders are Chronos and Janus with Ziven as second in command. If that is all you need then please come with me. All new comers must report to the infirmary"

Alexei sighed in disbelief and stared at all the bizarre things around him, feeling overwhelmed. He shut his eyes, covered his ears, and just breathed for a moment; and when he opened his eyes he was ready to deal with everything. "Fine, lead the way."

Ace led them through a few halls to the infirmary. He saw Farzana and smiled warmly. Ace asked "Is the doctor in Moth?" He had given Farzana that nickname out of friendship. Really. H-he has this thing, he likes moths and... I'm done now...

Farzana dipped her head slightly. "I believe so. I haven't seen many people, to be honest. I am simply becoming acquainted with this place."

Ace patted Farzana lightly on the shoulder and said "alright" He looked at the newcomers and said "while we're here we may as well do introductions: This is Farzana, newest member of The Revolt" Kosuke gave a polite bow and said "it's nice to meet you. I'm Kosuke"

Farzana bowed slightly. "I am Farzana Soroush. I am pleased to meet you." She held out her hand to Kosuke. Alexei introduced himself and offered his hand but she ignored it and turned to Ace. "Please, is it sunset yet? I do not wish to miss my prayers."

Ace replied "Soon. By the time you get outside the time should be just right"

"Thank you." Farzana looked around for a moment, and once she remembered the right way she left them. Alexei looked after her. "Ok, she's kind of weird. And she has wings. Nothing around here is normal. Oh well. Let's get on with it."

After getting checked by the doctor Ace led Alexei and Kosuke to the guest room and said "here is where you will sleep for now, just until you make your choice" Kosuke tilted her head and asked "choice?"
"Yes, whether or not you will help us"
"And if we say no?"
"Then... we take you back... and we die..."
Kosuke scoffed at Ace and said "how could you possibly know that?" Ace gave the two a feather and said "write my name, or anyone from The Revolt's name, on the wall and you will see"

When Ace left Kosuke turned to Alexei and asked "what should we do?"

Alexei groaned. "I'm no soldier. I don't know what they're expecting of us! Just because he claims someone in our family came from here. We don't even know he's telling the truth. I want out."

Kosuke looked at the feather for a moment. She took a deep breath before writing 'Ace of Hearts' on a wall.

The letters shone brightly before forming a circle which acted as a window to, what Kosuke guessed as, the future should they go with their current plans to leave. It showed Ace in a prison cell, walls covered in red butterflies, and barely having any skin left on him other than his head. A piece of skin pulled away from his cheek, leaving a butterfly shape where it tore away from, and Ace writhed in pain and tried to scream through the coughing fits that spewed blood. His bangs casted a harsh shadow over his eyes. The black vested boy from before came to the cell and simply watched. After he caught his breath Ace cried "Hidden Ace, PLEASE! HELP ME!" Hidden Ace shook his head and replied coldly "teacher told me to observe. No interference allowed. You should have hid me while you had the chance--"
"Stop it"
"You had to make me--"
"Stop it!"
"So you could have the only person that cared about you back--"
"STOP IT!"
Hidden Ace left as Ace let his head drop and wept miserably. Ace sobbed under his breath "I'm sorry... god... I'm so sorry... we had nothing else" He looked up at a window, where a butterfly was helplessly trying to fly away. His eyes, now bathed in soft light, had gone completely black. He drew his last breath and said "if only we had no glass... if we could only... fly away" Another fit of coughing up blood and his last bit of flesh left. A guard went to clean up, but another guard stopped him and said "No, that place is cursed now. You touch anything in there and you'll suffer the same fate".

Kosuke froze as the 'window' closed. She dropped the feather and said "how do we fight that?"

Alexei had been watching as well. He stared at his hands, feeling slightly guilty but still not ready to fight. "We don't. What difference are they expecting us to make? They need an army, not a couple of displaced teens from Earth. Do you honestly think you could do anything to save them?"

Kosuke grabbed the feather again and wrote a new name: 'Kosuke Takahashi'

It showed her going through her normal life, but each day another person, friend and stranger alike, fell into a coma. Every night she suffered nightmares about Wonderland, and no matter what she did she could not find a way back to Wonderland.

Kosuke rubbed her eyes as the window closed and said "alright, we have to figure something out or this will affect our world to" She quickly added "Probably. Not many other explanations for mass comas"

"Ok, fine, maybe we should do something. So where'd that Ace guy go, anyway? What, he can't stick around to tell us what he actually wants from us? They expect us to make a decision but they aren't giving us all the information."

Ace's voice suddenly sounded in the room. Which was awesome until Kosuke spotted the speaker. He said "relax, I had some business with the doctor. Now, ask me anything you wish to know" Kosuke asked "why were you losing skin in the future window?" There was a small pause before Ace said "Ask me anything but that"

"Whatever." Alexei couldn't care less about the skin thing; it was no weirder than everything else going on, in his opinion. "So just what is it you expect us to do for you? Why are we so important?"

"You are one of The Sleep Walkers," Ace replied "you can venture between our world and The Waking World without damage and are capable of feats greater than those from either world. We need your strengths to defeat The Twisted Heart"

"Ok... Still not clear on what you want us to actually do."

Ace groaned and said "Do I have to spell it out? We need you to help us fight this war!"

"Oh, that's real clear" Alexei snapped. "I'm looking for specifics here. I'm no soldier, so how do you expect me to help with this war?"

"This is all we know for now. you must find out for yourself what your power is, for lack of a better word" Ace said. He sighed and continued "As for being no soldier, you will train with Chronos"

Alexei sighed in frustration, but gave up. "Fine, you need us to do some mysterious thing to help. So, where do we start?"

"..."
Kosuke cupped her hands around her mouth and called "Hello~! You still there?" Ace finally answered "Hmm? I'm sorry. Report to... the Training Hall" There was a quiet click, which Kosuke guessed meant Ace was done talking, and a plain man opened the door and said "I am here to escort you"