Stolen

"Because..., When you are in a dark room all you have to do is turn on the lights and the darkness goes away. I am a mere shadow, and, if exposed to too much life, I shall also fade away." She whispered.

Antony shook his head sadly. "That's so sad..." he whispered.

Alice chuckled. "Sadness has become nothing but a far off thought to me, Antony. In one mere moment not too long ago it was as if the emotion had suddenly been cast away. For some reason, I am no longer capable of feeling sad. Maybe regret, but not sadness." She reached out a hand and the light touched her snow white skin. Her hand slowly faded into something of a shadow. She hissed in pain, but removed her hand slowly, clutching it to her chest as it came back into existence.

The man watched in shock amazment. An sepent of ice coiled around his insides yet he couldn't look away. Finally, he was allowed to ask; "Regret over what?"

"Over ever being born...," Alice whispered, her voice breaking. Tears spilled over, though she felt nothing.

"But you couldn't help that," Antony protested. "And you shouldn't be sad about life."

"I'm not. I only regret." She reminded him.

Antony sighed. "Everyone regrets things," he told her. Hie eyes semed to leave the room, as if he were remembering something. "The stories I could tell you... Maybe when you're older."

Alice waited for a moment. "I'm older now." She told him bluntly.

Antony laughed. "A lot older," he informed her.

She sighed. "As you wish." She told him.

Antony shook his head. "It's inappropriate," he told her, feeling bad but also knowing he was doing right. "I'd get in trouble. But, tell me about Hatter?" he asked.

"The Hatter?" Alice said dreamily. She suddenly snapped out of her speculation. She sat up straighter and glared out at the sky. "The Hatter is by far the most childish, irresponsible idiot I have the displeasure of knowing!" She promptly told him.

This surprised Antony. "You don not like him?" he asked the girl.

"Like him? A rather questionable thing to say. Yes, I admit that I am fond of him but nothing more than that!" Alice said, closing the subject.

"O-okay," the man muttered. He would have said more, if an angel hadn't appeared in the room. An angel named Miracle. "I was wondering if you had made your descision yet," she said cooly.

"Mother said that I should just follow now and see how this all unfolds." Alice said simply, turning back towards the window.

Miracle made a little noise of some sort - it was hard to distinguish it's purpose. "Well, we should go then. Come," the dark angel said, holding out her hand.

Alice started at it, her eyes shining. "Hatter," She said suddenly, glaring at the doorway.
"You caught me, dear." The Hatter said, coming out from his hiding spot beyond the doorway. "Do as you wish." He said, glancing unhappily at Antony.

Antony sent a helpless shrug in Hatter's direction. Miracle made an annoyed noise, but very quietly.

"Very well," Alice shrugged, taking Miracle's hand in her own, but grabbing Antony's hand too. Her eyes locked with the Hatter's, who suddenly realized what was going on.
"Don't take the mortal with yo-" The Hatter started but in a wonderful flash they were already gone.

(So, wait, are they in DownWorld now?)

((I suppose))

(Hookai.)

Miracle grimaced at how bad things had gotten since she had last been at Downworld. Time worked differently there; you could spend an hour on Earth and then come back and almost no time would have passed. But then again you coulod be on Earth for only a few minutes and days could have progressed. Now it seemed like she'd missed at least a week and a half, probably closer to a month.
Everything was in decay. Houses were in ruins , and temples had been toppled. Flames licked up buildings. Bodies lay in the streets. She stepped forward and peered down one of the many crevasses that lead to 'hell'. The dark angels called it something else, though it wasn't a word that humans could pronounce without hurting themselves. She could barely tell the difference between her home and the horror below.

"How lovely," Alice said, beaming.

"It was once far greater," Miracle sighed, remembering what the place had been like before the demons had fought them. Just outside her house (her mansion) had been a graceful fountain of blood, and just along the road there was a demon house, and then there was the sayn house.
"Let's go. We're just on the outskirts here, where all the lower class citezens live and where the fight has barely touched. Go further and it gets worse."
Antony was lying on the ground, choking and spasming. He shuddered and stopped moving. His body began to decay rapidly, turning to dust in under a minute. Miracle sniggered slightly to herself, very quietly, a noise not even heard over the flames by herself, let alone anyone else.

"Oh, that's not good," Alice said, looking down. She sat down on her knees next to the ashes and blew into them. In a second or so Antony had reappeared, though his ears were no longer human but that of a cats, and his eyes had turned a striking yellow. "Hello again!" Alice sang quietly. "I never thought you of all people would end up in my demon collection."

"I'm a demon?" Antony yelped. He hadn't liked dying. But afterwards had been rather nice. But now... A demon?
Miracle snorted. "You could be worse things," she said coldly. "Like an angel at my mercy." He could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn't hve much mercy.

"Don't worry, Antony. I will take good care of you." Alice said, smiling kindly.
((wow, that worked out ok.))

(It did. It did. I bet Antony's happy. I've (tried to) kill (ed) two of my charries today. I'm on a roll!)

Antony's eyes flashed in the dim light. A demon, a huge centipede, at least the size of a truck, came crawling out of the darkness. Miracle tenssed up, getting ready to either fight it or flee if Alice couldn't do anything. Which was likely; this was a moderately poweful demon.

Alice stared at it for a moment. "Why is it angry?" She asked.

"It's like all the other demons. The order of things is out of control, and it's just as confused as we are. But demons don't know how to deal with it as well." It came closer. "It's also hungry. Do you think you can take care of it?"

"Hm..," Alice said, walking towards it. The same crimson redness bled into her eyes, and she leaned forward inspecting the creature. "I know your kind." she spoke to it. "You prefer the finer things than mere human meat." She circled the creature and ran a hand over it's scaly back. It twitched angrily.
"Oh," She said, lifting her hand up. "I apologize, Miss." Alice bowed. "I did not mean to invade your space." She continued her conversation for a while before finally growing tired.
In a flash of movements Alice had slashed the creature to pieces. It began to fade into a blackness that swirled around her being. It creeped up her spine and within a few seconds it had disappeared within her birthmark. Alice smiled fondly, rubbing her arm.

Miracle smiled her approval. She hadn't thought the girl would be able to handle it. But it was no where near as powerful as some of the demons they would face.

Alice laughed a little. "What next?!" She asked excitedly.

"Next we find some of my family," Miracle said through clenched teeth. Apparently, she didn't look forward to this.

"Oh," Alice said, noticing Miracle's change of spirit. How moody this angel was turning out to be!

Miracle picked her way across rubble and bodies, not minding too much if she stepped in something squishy. She didn't want to fly and leave the demon-tamer alone in case she ran into something nasty.

Alice simply follow, looking around with idle interest. "Antony...," She started quietly, "what is it like to die?"

"It's really frightening at first," Antony started. "You did die in a particularly horrible way, human," Miracles interrupted. "Frightening at first but ther's something really pleasant about it afterwards. Like all the problems just melt away and you realise that they're not important. No matter what kiind of person you are, there's always a art of your mind that worries about your mortality, but when you die it begins to wonder about other things, realising that it's job is done. You start to figure out so many things... When you stop being dead, all that dissappears like ice in the hot sun." There was sadness in his voice.

"Well, as much as you'd rather be dead, I'd rather be selfish and take what I like when I please." Alice retorted, but took Antony's hand. "That means you." She said happily. "You look good with cat ears." She remarked, smiling a little. "Never thought you would end up a cat demon..., or a demon at all. Sorry about that."

"I must admit, I am rather fond of the ears," Antony said, fingering them ."They're very expressive. It's quite amusing."
"Just wait for the novelty to wear off," Miracle smirked. "Then we'll see what you think of them."

"All of your senses have greatly increased." Alice said thoughtfully. "You can hear a farther distance, as well as sense the weather..., but you are probably going to have a fear of water." She glance back at him. "But you're still going to shower." She ordered, her eyes narrowing.

Antony let out a dimayed meow. Miracle laughed.
They arrived at a town centre of some sort. Miracle looked worried. "This isn't right..." she whispered. "There should be someone here!"

Alice looked around, a finger to her lips. "How queer." She whispered, a demon suddenly slithering out of her mark and running up her wrist. It was a rather small, red spider. "Shall I send him off?" She asked Miracle.

"Right after you sent her off," Miracle said, pointing at an identical spider hanging from a large town clock. But this spider was much, much bigger. It was asleep; it wouldn't be much trouble.

Alice placed the spider on the ground, and watched it scutter off. "He will do his job. This is the circle of life, friends, and must be accepted." They watched as the male spider did its mating dance, just barely surviving and getting away.
"She's mine now, as well as those precious little things inside." Alice picked the spider back up, gently rubbing its fur. It started to give a gentle clicking noise, meaning it was happy.

Miracle smiled approvingly, which was not a pretty sight; her teeth were jagged and uneven, like a shark's. "Well done. You'll need all the help you can get," she commented.
Antony meowed happily, then looked embarrassed. "I'll try to sto doing that," he muttered.

"Awww," Alice whined, grabbing Atnony's arm affectionately. "I think that's cute, though!"

Antony's ears filcked back and forth as he picked up all sorts of sounds. "I don't think I like meowing much, though," he said forlornly.