{Wonderland.. What's that?}

[Amber Lyn Annihilation]

Karou was accustomed to the darkness and creeping shadows that seemed to follow you in the woods. Some of the shadows did. Then again they weren't really shadows. They were Heartless. The most common form of the Heartless that inhabited Wonderland were, in deed, Shadows, but you'd find the occasional Wizard. Then there was the new Trickmaster dancing around somewhere. That thing was a bitch. It had been an almost fatality to his friend, whom called herself Xena. {pronounced Zay-nah} Karou came back to the present however. He noticed that the muscles in Angel's hand had tensed. She was scared of the things lurking in the woods.

The came out from under the thick canopy of the woods. There in front of them sat a long-ago-deserted lake. No one other than him, that he knew of, came here anymore. Why you may ask? Becoz it was nearing the edge of the Red Queen's kingdom. Nothing in all of Wonderland liked her. He means, even the Heartless detested her severely. They were made to obey her, most of the time, however. The Heartless were a big part in some evil woman's plan to take over all the known worlds. He didn;t know what he could possibly do to help the constant fight against her and another strange evil organization, but he never really thought about it. Whatever, back to the scared girl he was taking on a tour. "So, this is it. Its really peaceful here." He paused looking down at her. She looked positively terrified. "Are you alright? You look like you're about to piss yourself". Shit that didn't sound very nice. "I mean, you look uber-scared." There that sounded better.

[Deleted]

Angel was still tense in fear and still felt like she was being watched. She just couldn't shake that horrible feeling deep inside her stomach. She started to shake in fear, and she felt horrible for looking like a scaredy cat in front of Karou. 'Angel, get ahold of yourself, its just a new place and your letting your mind get the best of you. Just calm down and focus on Karou and being at the lake. You have him here plus it's the lake. Your favorite place.'

She snapped out of her thinking mind and noticed they were at the lake. She heard Karou ask her something, if she was okay cause she looked scared. She calmed herself and and giggled at his comment. "Yes I'm fine, just my mind gets the best of me and being in an unfamiliar place.. Well I feel like I'm being watched actually. Is that strange for this place?" she asked him.

[Amber Lyn Annihilation]

Krou laughed inwardly. Felt like you were being watched, an odd feeling? What? Never. He always felt like his was being watched. By what? Who knows? Hell, it was probably those damned Heartless looking for somone to attack. What else is new, though? Nothing much. They were always attacking people around here. Especially in the woods. Well, except for back at the house, at the house he didn't feel like he was being watched. By most chances, they were being watched. The entire way through the woods and right now too. He should probably tell her that. They say honesty is the best policy.

"It definitely isn't a strange feeling, here, to feel like you're being watched. Coz, by most chances, you are. I think that its the Heartless that've been runnin' around lately." What did he know though. Shit, she was going to be even more scared now. "Good job, dumbass." He sarcastically told himself in his head. God, wasn't he brilliant. Not right now, no he was not. What was it about Angel that made him socially awkward. Was it becoz she was the only human, pretty human, to hit Wonderland since his friend Nea left a few years ago? She was pretty and she seemed so thoughtful. "Um, don't worry about the majority of the Heartless though, they're called Shadows, the little ones usually don't attack people unless told to. The Trickmaster though. That's a different story entirely. He's the new Trickmaster that Malificent conjured up. My friend Nea beat the other one up." He just now realized that he really missed Nea. He smiled at the thought of her coming to visit. Although he'd heard through the grapevine that she'd been turned into a Nobody. "Stop smiling, dumbass." He yelled at himself mentally, but couldn't seem to listen.

[Deleted]

Just when Angel thought it was just her being her, always the scaredy cat, never able to stick up for herself, Karou confirmed that they were indeed being watched. He said something bout the Heartless? What in the world was a Heartless? It sounded like a term she knew about, something her friends had talked about in her old land. She couldn't remember what they were for she never really listened in on their conversation much, she was always thinking. 'Nice going, now your thinking has gone and left you dumb again.' she yelled at herself. She remembered another term, a Nobody I think is what they used to also say. Guess she better ask about them and get more information.

She looked at Karou who seemed to be smiling. She figured it was just him thinking something, or he got joy out of seeing her as pale as a ghost. Whichever it was, it didn't concern her and she was still bent on finding out who or what these creatures were. "Karou, what's a Heartless and a Nobody? I remember in my old home my friends used to speak of them but I never really paid much attention. I thought it was just them and their imagination so I ignored it." She felt cold all the sudden and saw that she had goosebumps on her arms. She had hoped that wasn't from her saying those names and just ignored her chilled feeling.

[Amber Lyn Annihilation]

Karou watched as the color drained from Angel's face. "Great, douche bag, you scared her." He yelled at himself. Beautiful, she probably wouldn't want to finish the rest of the tour now that he confirmed the fact that they were probably being watched wherever they went. Instead of asking to go back to the house like he figured she would have, she asked aout the Heartless and the Nobodies. She said that she never really paid attention to the conversations about them. She didn't think that they existed.

"Well, a Heartless is basically an embodiment of the darkness in someone, or something's, heart. A Nobody is the shell that's left behind, without a heart, and not truly in existence. Yeah, they're around, but they don't really exist. That's why I cried when I'd hear that my friend Nea go turned into a Nobody. I knew that someone had to have gotten the darkness in her heart to take over her and split her in two. I don't even know what kind of Nobody she turned into. One of the high-functioning ones, that are like you and I, or a mere Dusk." That was the thought that was killing him. He means hell, if she was a Dusk she porbably would've already gotten killed by a damn Keyblade bearer. He wantd to go searching for her in the World That Never Was, but he didn't have a gummi ship to fet there. So, he'd been stuck here, clueless about how she was doing. It was killing.

Back down to Wonderland though. Angel still looked terrified and was now decorated with goosebumps all up and down her arms. "Are you cold?" He asked her walking over and bringing her in for a hug. He hoped that this wouldn't make it all awkward.

[Deleted]

Angel thought for a moment abouyt what Karou had just told her. A person whose soul was split in half in a way. She knew his pain when he talked of his friend. Though she had thought people were crazy at the time her friend, Riko, had become fate to that. But he had turned to what he called a Dusk, or so she was told, and was killed. She wanted to cry thinking about it but she didn't want to cry infront of Karou but she couldn't help it much long. Tears started to roll down her face and she wiped them away, hopefully before Karou had noticed her tears. 'Quit crying you big baby. This was over a year ago, you didn't understand it then, you couldn't have done anything about it even if you had. Forget about it and move in already jeez' she tried to convince herself. She knew it was working but she just closed her eyes hoping that would make her tears stop.

She felt Karou hug her after he mentioned her being cold. She had almost forgotten the strange feeling that had crossed her. She shivered again but smiled as she felt Karou's arms around her. She had a strange, yet happy, feeling as she felt Karou's warmth. She wanted to say something, but she didn't want to make him feel anymore awkward then he was probably feeling so all she said was "thanx Karou. I was really cold for some reason"

[Amber Lyn Annihilation]

Karou just kept her in a tighter embrace when he felt her shiver again. He noticed that before he'd hugged her that tears had rolled down her face. Crying used alot of energy. Losing that much can make you cold even in eighty degree weather. He knew becoz when he'd gotten to Wonderland, it was the middle of summer, and he'd just lost his brother Hikaru. He cried silently until the Hatter took him in. He'd felt so cold that day. He still cried sometimes when he thought about his brother. He missed him so much, and the pain inside him grew over the five years that they'd been apart. That's part of the reason why he disliked the world so much. Becoz the universe took his brother from him.

"So, Angel, why were you crying just now?" He asked her, feeling the familiar feeling of burning in his eyes that always happened before he cried. "Don't cry, you pussy, you'll see your brother one day." He tried to snap himself out of it by yelling at himself. He felt a hot tear run down his face. Dammit. There goes that plan. If only he could find his brother. Then maybe, just maybe, he could stop crying so much.

[Deleted]

Angel felt Karou around her still. It was slightly easing her pain, but the thought of her friend being gone was still hurting her. Then she noticed a tear rolled down Karou's cheek. She looked at him and wiped it away. 'Nice going now you made Karou cry!' she yelled at herself. She was so mad now. The boy she had grown to care for and have feelings for was now crying infront of her. She wiped away her tears trying to make him feel better but she knew she would only cry after she told Karou about Riko.

"I'm sorry for crying, I'm sure I look like a big baby but you told me of all this Heartless and Nobody stuff and about your friend. Well about a year ago the same thing happened to my friend Riko. I didn't understand or believe anything bout this stuff, but I was told he was turned into what you called a Dusk. A few weeks later.. we were told he was dead. I was sadened by his death, but didn't believe anything of what they told me. Now I know that its true and I feel bad that I couldn't do anything to help him.." She cried harder and sat on the ground as tears rolled down her face. Tears of sorrow and shame.

[Amber Lyn Annihilation]

Karou understood how she felt about thewhole thing. Losing a best friend sucked cow nipples. He knew just how terrible it really was he'd learned firsthand. God, he missed Nea so much. He hadn't seen her in so long. He means, how does he even know if she's survived this long? Knowing Nea, and her amazing luck with these sort of things, she'd probably ended up as a higher functioning Nobody. She was always really lucky while she was alive. He just hoped that that had stuck with her. He didn't know what else he could do. "I mean, I could go and look for her, but how? He didn't even have a Gummi Ship to leave in? How was he supposed to look for her when he couldn't even get away from Wonderland?" He continued to ponder silently to himself while still holding Angel in his arms.

Anyways, back down to Wonderland. He had a cryig girl in his arms "Its alright I still don't know what happened to my friend Nea. I also still cry about five years ago, I lost my brother when our home world ended I haven't see him since that terrible day and I have to wonder if he even remembers me?" Karou told Angel letting her out of the hug he'd had her in. She had wiped away his tear, like the guy should do for the girl in any given relationship. Even if it was just friendship. He should be the one comforting her not the other way around. *Sigh* What was he going to do in these awkward moments? Would he just let them happen or would he apologize for his social awkwardness? He wasn't quite sure what would happen yet. Who know? Hopefully, these awkward moments wouldn't happen very often. "So, out of the places I, previously, told about, where would you like to go now?" He felt that it was time for a subject change.

[Deleted]

Angel knew what it was like to loose family, her mother had passed away around the same time Karou's brother had been seperated from him. Her father stopped caring after her mother passed away. Thats how she ended up walking around a woods following the crazy White Rabbit. She was happy she had followed him though, she landed here in Wonderland and got to meet Karou. Though she wasn't too sure Karou was as happy that she came around as she was. She could also tell how this cituation made him feel awkward. It didn't bother her for she was a very social person, and was used to being bubbly around other people, especially new people. She thought of how bad it hurt to loose someone, and she very desperately wanted to help Karou but she didn't know how. She figured she'd talk about it more at a later time, right now she had a different problem on her hand. She needed some cigarettes and didn't have any on her.

She looked at Karou and thought of how she was going to tell him that she needed some cigs. 'He's gonna think terribly of you, but atleast you stopped smoking weed.' she tried to reassure herself. "Uhm well actually.. do you have like a store around? I kind of need some.. oh heck I need some cigs. You guys got any here?" Her face went red for fear that she was gonna be thought badly of. It wasn't anything new though, after her mother passed she went from being an angel to the total opposite. She used to do worse drugs, but after Riko had died she changed and cleaned up a bit. Its what he would have wanted.

[Amber Lyn Annihilation]

Karou was slightly caught by surprised when she asked her question about cigarettes. Hell, yeah they had cigarettes here. He means, you had to roll them yourself, but that just means you can make them as strong as you want to. They were going to have to go find and pick some Angel Wing, but whatever. He knew one of the places that it grew all year round. To the White Queen's Kingdom. Well, the outskirts of it anyways. There was an entrance to the woods where he'd went with Nea and they'd planted their own Angel Wing seeds. Karou wouldn't mind sharing the stash with Angel. She seemed like she was in dire need of a cigarette anyways.

"Hell yeah, we got cigarettes here. I mean, you gotta roll 'em yourself, but it don't take long when you've always got some rise paper with you." Karou told her pulling a roll of rice paper out of his hat. It was the most convenient and comfortable place to keep it. He went into the woods often to smoke some Angel Wing there was one time that he and Nea had smoked something called Demon Horn. That there was a fun day. It definitely made things much more interesting. Karou couldn't tell, more than he couldn't when he'd first gotten there, which way was up and down. What was moving and what wasn't supposed to. It was definitely something he didn't regret. "So, to the woods?" He asked her. She was the one that wanted the cigarettes anyways.

[Deleted]

Angel was stunned at first that Karou hadn't just stamped her with like "bad" or something like that. I mean she couldn't really tell too many of her friends back at home, considering the fact most of them were all goodie-too-shoes. But she was actually happy she could get some, it'd been forever since the last time she got to smoke, actually it had been almost two weeks. She was kinda starting to go crazy. Plus with crying and getting upset, thats usually when she needed one the most. She wasn't addicted to them, they were more of a nerves thing fof her. The only thing she was ever addicted to was the stronger stuff. Ya know the stuff you got high off of. Sh esmiled to herself, remembering the good times she had and loved that she remembered them. But anyway she just loved the smell of that stuff, and was starting to want some of it right now, but didn't say anything.

She looked at Karou smiling, and was glad he knew where to get some ingrediants. Sure she had to roll her own, but she didn't mind doing that. Her and Riko used to do that all the time. Then she went blank again as she thought of him again. She wanted to cry again but stopped. 'Enough of this Angel, you're stronger then this. He wouldn't want you to cry like this, not infront of a guy either.' she yelled at herself and it seemed to help. "Yes to the woods, lead the way Karou." she smiled and giggled like a little kid in a candyshop. Wow she couldn't believe how excited she just sounded, thing was she wasn't excited bout getting a cig finally, it was just being in Karou's prescence and the fact he didn't think badly of her.

[Amber Lyn Annihilation]

Karou grabbed Angel by the hand and started to lead her away from the lake. They had a long ways to walk. However, he'd make sure that they were there within an hour. Becoz, now that he thought about it, he wanted a ciggarette. Maybe even some Demon Horn. Hell, it'd make things less awkward and more interesting. He didn't want to seem like a druggie, but seriously...Demon Horn was definitely one of those herbs that were meant to be used improperly. And slightly illegally. No one cared about drugs here. He means, its Wonderland for Goddess sake, everything and everyone here was "off" at least a little bit. Meaning that everyone was slightly insane.

They were nearing the edge of the White Queen's kingdom when he finally escaped his own thoughts. He led them into the woods and back to his and Nea's secret hangout. Yeah, there were some other drugs growing back there that weren't Demon Horn, but he and Nea had only tried those once. They sold most of it. Well, they'd arrived to their destination. "Well, we're here." He told her letting go of her hand. "The Angel Wing is to your left, there." He pointed to it. He wondered if she'd care, or possibly be interested in, if he smoked some Demon Horn. Who was to know if he didn't ask? Here it goes. "Hey, have you ever smoked anything other than cigarettes? 'Coz I sorta wanted to smoke some Demon Horn while we were here." Wow, talk about sounding like a druggie.

[Deleted]

Angel was shocked when they came to a woods and he pointed to an area of plants. He actually grew his own plants. And back home angel thought she was bad. Her and Riko used to grow them in Riko's house cause his parents didn't care what he did. He's the one that was there for her when her mom died. Sure he was also the one that got her into drugs in the first place, and got her to drink, but he was a good friend and didn't take advantage of her or let her have too much. Just enough to enjoy yourself and get rid of some of the pain.

Karou then offered her some Demon Horn. She assumed that was the good stuff, stronger then cigs. She had just been thinking to herself about wanting to smoke some, and she was shocked that Karou offered her some. She figured she wouldn't turn down a good offer and was going to take some. She picked some of the Angel Wing and sat it down then looked at Karou. "Hopefully you won't think badly of me, but hell yeah I'd love some Demon Horn." she told him.

[Amber Lyn Annihilation]

Karou could see the look of surprize on Angel's face when he offered the Demon Wing to her. He was astounded when she answered with a 'hell yeah' to it. Holy shit, he may have found a new blunt buddy. Yay!! Wow, talk about being a druggie. 'Blunt buddy'? Who was he? Cheech and Chong's long lost stoner friend? God, Hikaru would probably be so disappointed in him. Hikaru would never do this kinda thing. Would he? Who knows? He could've changed, and probably did, alot in the past five years. He knew he, himself, had changed so much since the day their world ended.

Karou had grown very good with his magic skills. After he'd rolled his blunt he snapped his fingers and lit a flame on his index finger. He held it up to his blunt and inhaled to speed up the lighting process. He took a nice long, satisfying, dizzying drag on it and held it in his lungs as long as he could before he let it out. He already was starting to feel dizzy. He held out his hand so that Angel could light her own blunt. He was wondering how she was going to react to the Demon Wing. She just might freak out. "Be careful, coz from what I hear, the only thing that's stronger than this...that's basically the same drug...is Deadly Nightshade from Halloween Town. So, do me a favor and take it slow. Please?" Karou warned her.