The tea party has already started!

Alice eventually caught her breath in a bout of exhaustion after sluggishly eating the bread and soup. All that constant walking had taken its toll on her strength. She glanced at Jack and a few other guys, who were watching her with quiet smiles, as she passed the tray to a smiling, kind-looking older woman.

"Thank you… but why…?"

She uttered, "Why?" but swallowed the words, not knowing exactly what to ask first. Upon observing the girl's condition, Jack settled down on an adjacent chair. He then looked around. The men nodded and left the glass-walled room. They seemed to be entrusting it to Jack.

"We have no animosity towards you. You can tell that, right?"

He asked silently, and Alice nodded.

"Um… thank you for the meal and for tending to my wound…"

Alice bowed her head, and Jack replied with a wave of his hand.

"There's no need to be so formal. We're nothing more than a bunch of misfits who can only live within the dome. We're unlike you, angels."

"Angel, what do you mean…?"

Jack regarded the questioning girl dubiously and pondered for a moment. Then, without addressing the question, he spoke up.

"… Where did you come from? You look like you've been walking a long time. Something must have attacked you."

The noise of raucous laughter and the visage of a rabbit wielding a deadly weapon flashed across Alice's mind. She shivered and clutched her shoulders, responding in a hushed tone.

"It's a building a short distance from here at… in the forest."

"… From the 'ruin'? What brings an Angel such as yourself to a place like…?"

Jack replied in a confused voice, and Alice shook her head several times before adding.

"I don't know… I don't know anything. I found myself in a room in a building. When I woke up…"

"Alice, it's best not to mention any further details."

Suddenly, she heard Raffi's voice at her feet, and Alice panicked and kept her mouth shut. When she cast her gaze downward, she noticed that Raffi was peering up at her, his red eyes glowing radiantly.

"Humans can't grasp the sensations of a Nightmare. It would be futile to attempt to understand it."

"But," Alice started to say, but Jack followed her gaze to the floor and posed a question.

"What happened to you when you woke up?"

He still didn't seem to recognize Raffi. Alice was lost for a couple of seconds.

"I was being pursued…" She uttered in a low voice and turned over. Jack pondered, then reached out and gently stroked Alice's head.

"It's fine now. Where were you before you went to the ruin?"

"That's… I can't remember…"

At the touch of Jack's warm hands, tears welled up in her eyes. Alice covered her face with her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks, perhaps out of relief.

"Where am I…? What happened to me…? I, I have no idea what's going on."

"…"

Jack drew in a breath, rose to his feet, and sat down next to Alice. He then cradled her small head and pulled her to his chest. Jack spoke to the girl who seemed startled.

"Let's stay like this for a bit. Until you feel safe."

She nodded several times. After a while, Alice finally stopped crying, and Jack began to speak.

"This is the territory of Hatter. Here is the Fifteenth Shelter in the Hatter's territory."

"Hatter…?"

"That's the devil we call 'Nightmare'."

Alice gasped when she heard the word.

"This wonderland has changed… Somewhere along the line, they became Nightmares and started roaming around killing us. This shelter is made of a special stone that protects us from the Nightmare. You'll be safe inside."

"What is Nightmare…?"

Alice asked, and Jack seemed somewhat conflicted but answered.

"If we understood that, we could do something about it…"

"…"

"Nightmare can neither be seen, nor heard, nor even smelled. But 'they' are definitely there. 'They' are there, ready to kill us." Tracing the scar on his eye with his finger, Jack muttered. "My wife and daughter were killed by the Nightmares. Right in front of my eyes… They were ripped apart and ended up dead."

Alice was reminded of the rabbit that had shredded and splattered blood all over the place. Nausea surged through her chest, and she gripped Jack's clothes firmly. Patting her head, Jack told her.

"I suppose you have amnesia… I feel ashamed asking you to do this, but I wish you would join us for a while."

"To where…?"

To Alice's apprehensive expression, he continued.

"I want you to meet the elder. And use your power of Angel to help us."

◇

The sun had set and darkness enveloped the area. In the absence of any signs of life, the forest was silent aside from the sound of black water flowing and the rustling of trees in the wind.

In the sky hovered a pure white full moon. Countless stars glittered in the sky, but the color of the sky was distorted like a sludge. The atmosphere and the scene were uncanny.

In the midst of it all, not even making a sound of footsteps, walked a large number of rabbit dolls with their heads downcast, and an ugly man with an exceptionally large head. The man was humming a tune and waving a walking stick in his hand as he made his way. The prosthetic eye in his right eye rotated clockwise with a clicking sound, pointing in the wrong direction. Then, from his pocket,

"Piriri…"

He halted his steps when he realized that there was the sound of a bell. Like an army, the rabbits with their button eyes glowing red also ceased walking.

The man retrieved a golden pocket watch from his pocket and flipped open the lid. A woman's voice sounded oddly coarse from there.

"Hatter. There you are at last! You little rascal."

The ugly man known as the Hatter started walking, humming again. The rabbits followed suit.

"What is it, isn't this the Red Queen!"

When Hatter replied, the woman known as the Red Queen let out a screech behind the pocket watch.

"What are you doing! The tea party has already started!"

"I know. I know. But I've got something important to do."

Hatter stared down at the white-walled building at the bottom of the cliff, wetting his lips with his tongue.

"I'll be a little late for the tea party, but I'll attend. And I will bring a very outstanding gift!"