———————————————-

———————————————

Update:  They were lost. Entirely fucking lost

In someone else's consciousness.

Who? Nobody knew, thats the annoying backlash of Silvers signature magic, its random.
Since it was pitch fucking black, and nobody could see anything, they couldn't tell the layout or even see the person.

At some point, they lost Silver, and there went all means of leaving.

Hand now on the wall, Ophelia turned her head to where she hoped Ace was.

"How are you enjoying the Subconscious Express?"

"I'd like to refund my ticket and get the hell off."

"Understandable."
——-

Her hand on wall trick didn't help in the end, as the second they found Silver, Ophelia had literally been absorbed by the wall somehow.

Hearing noise once she was finally freed, she turned in the direction and followed it, almost crying with relief as she saw blue light from down the corridor.

However, what she saw was far from pretty.

It was herself, encased in ice.

Moving to see it from a different angle, the figure of herself changed into a smaller one that was not her own, a boy pale as snow.

Something akin to a factory machine arm lifted the ice box up like a tetris block, and began moving it towards the lighted area.

Following it, she noticed the same figure, pierced by a giant claw and dripping ink from were they impaled him, hanging off one of two stone coffins above a large open pit, swirling green fog inside of it, and the source of the light, being held back by ink hands and obsidian chains.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆.

𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆.....

"Idia! Can you see me?"

No response came for a moment, but as she stepped forward, his head turned in her direction, calling out frantically.

"D-Don't get any closer..you'll fall in! Ortho already did,  and I can't do this again!  Just stay over there ! Its better for you if you don't stay around me! Just stay alive!"

Something from within the pit laughed, playing with forming a large bolt like shape, aimed for her.  The voice was distorted and deep.

"A⃒n⃒o⃒t⃒h⃒e⃒r⃒ s⃒o⃒u⃒l⃒ i⃒s⃒ c⃒u⃒r⃒s⃒e⃒d⃒ b⃒y⃒ y⃒o⃒u⃒, a⃒ w⃒o⃒r⃒t⃒h⃒l⃒e⃒s⃒s⃒ g⃒o⃒d⃒s⃒ w⃒o⃒r⃒t⃒h⃒l⃒e⃒s⃒s⃒ d⃒e⃒s⃒c⃒e⃒n⃒d⃒a⃒n⃒t⃒.  W⃒h⃒y⃒ w⃒p⃒u⃒l⃒d⃒ a⃒n⃒y⃒o⃒n⃒e⃒ w⃒a⃒n⃒t⃒ t⃒o⃒ r⃒e⃒s⃒c⃒u⃒e⃒ s⃒o⃒m⃒e⃒o⃒n⃒e⃒ b⃒e⃒t⃒t⃒e⃒r⃒ o⃒f⃒f⃒ i⃒n⃒ T⃒a⃒r⃒t⃒a⃒r⃒u⃒s⃒ w⃒i⃒t⃒h⃒ t⃒h⃒e⃒ d⃒a⃒m⃒n⃒e⃒d⃒?  S⃒h⃒e⃒'l⃒l⃒ j⃒u⃒s⃒t⃒ e⃒n⃒d⃒ u⃒p⃒ j⃒o⃒i⃒n⃒i⃒n⃒g⃒ t⃒h⃒e⃒m⃒ a⃒n⃒y⃒w⃒a⃒y⃒ , w⃒h⃒i⃒l⃒e⃒ y⃒o⃒u⃒'r⃒e⃒ l⃒e⃒f⃒t⃒ h⃒e⃒r⃒e⃒ a⃒l⃒o⃒n⃒e⃒, u⃒n⃒l⃒e⃒s⃒s⃒ y⃒o⃒u⃒ j⃒o⃒i⃒n⃒ t⃒h⃒e⃒m⃒ i⃒n⃒ t⃒h⃒e⃒ p⃒i⃒t⃒, t⃒h⃒e⃒n⃒ m⃒a⃒y⃒b⃒e⃒-"

Ambrosia eyes flickered to the large bolt, then to her, then to Orthos hanging figure above the swirling green mist.

"No....Not again..."

"A⃒s⃒ l⃒o⃒n⃒g⃒ a⃒s⃒ h⃒i⃒s⃒ b⃒l⃒o⃒o⃒d⃒ r⃒u⃒n⃒s⃒ t⃒h⃒r⃒o⃒u⃒g⃒h⃒ y⃒o⃒u⃒, y⃒o⃒u⃒'l⃒l⃒ p⃒a⃒y⃒ f⃒o⃒r⃒ h⃒i⃒s⃒ s⃒i⃒n⃒s⃒."

Gripping her pocket watch (??) , a realization hit.

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍  𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕-𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒓𝒅-𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄-𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎.

𝑰𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒎𝒆.

Moving closer, she tossed a small rock into the pit to get its attention off Idia, then spoke up.

"Hey!  Deities usually like gambles,right?
How about this: You turn this pit into lava, and don't try any extra Hijinks. If I can cross over to Idia, you have to let him go, and let Silver, Ace and I leave. If I lose, you kinda already get my soul free of charge, so..."

The deadly liquid, a fiery blue, filled the hole as she stepped forward.

"W⃒e⃒l⃒l⃒, w⃒h⃒a⃒t⃒ a⃒r⃒e⃒ y⃒o⃒u⃒ w⃒a⃒i⃒t⃒i⃒n⃒g⃒ f⃒o⃒r⃒? L⃒e⃒t⃒s⃒ s⃒e⃒e⃒ y⃒o⃒u⃒ t⃒r⃒y⃒."

With a deep breath, she dipped a foot in, only to realize it was solid. Almost instantly, she sprinted across, then turned to face the pit again as it screeched in fury, beginning to disappear into sparks of gold.

The sulfur haired of the two just stared off as the hands and chains around him disintegrated , bewildered as he stood up. 

"How-How did you..?!"

"Because it was a nightmare, and this is your subconscious, right?
I betted on the fact I wouldn't actually get hurt. A bit of a cheat code, but if it works it works.  I'll see you when I wake up, you probably won't remember this though! Gotta run, bye!"

She waved to him before disappearing into a flash of light, unaware it had been much more then a nightmare.

You'll find out in a while, okay?

——————————

It felt like forever until they reached where ever it was they were supposed to be.

The sky was lavender, the grass was a dark teal blue, and a large treehouse stood on an upside down tree.

The flowers they walked past sung, even bothering them about who was the best.  Apparently, there was also some drama with a local Sunflower, and his wife having an affair with a Purple Iris, and they would not shut up about it.

Safe to say Ace went back and forth with them for awhile discussing the local drama in detail.

The non-sentient flowers were ranged from sky scraper tall to barely pinky sized.  Signs reading "This way" , "That way" and "The other way"pointed in every which direction.

Silver, after talking (???) with some of the animals there, told them they said this is
"A sanctuary for all thats Mad, All thats Odd, and All that was almost Gone." .
She had spent enough time around Che'nya to guess this meant these animals and plants were (or should be) extinct.

𝑽𝒚𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆.

Ophelia slightly ducked behind the redhead of the group as they slowly approached the house, she cleared her throat and peeked over at Silver.

"So, what exactly is the important thing you pulled us out for?"

Not even turning around, he answered briefly as they began to climb the backwards ladder.

"I was told to bring you here, nothing else.
I'm unsure why, but with him, its best not to question it."

A snort came from the bottom of the latter.

"Sounds like someone else I know."

"I am in a prime spot to kick you in the head, Ace, watch it."

"We both know you're too much of a softie to do that."

"Fuck off!"

———-

Upon reaching the top, Ophelia was near instantaneously tackled into a hug, Ace barely moving out of the way before her and her attacker both hit the floor.

"You're ok! I was so worried about mew and Riddles! And Mew really did it!!  No more time line resets furr a long long time, if I have anything to say about it!"

"I promised you I would, didn't I?"

Still captured in hug, glaring back at Ace for the look he gave her, both herself and the latter flinched as laughter came from above.

Upside down on the ceiling, a large table was filled with snacks, tea, and other goods.  In two of the twelve chairs sat a giant cat, almost a perfect twin to the Cheshire Cat of the looking glass, and the second seated was one Lilia Vanrouge, chuckling to himself as he poured tea from a teacup into the pot he was drinking from.

"Khee hee hee, that was certainly one way to ambush someone. Usually it is I who is doing the Hug Attacking, its quite fun to see it from afar"

Ace craned his neck, eyes widened as Lilia waltzed across the ceiling to stand above them.

"My, I wasn't expecting a plus one now that Riddles up and about.  You were the archer fellow from before, yes? You have quite the aim,

"How do I—what?!"

The massive cat waved its paw, sending the humans of the group up to the ceiling, Ophelia and Ace nearly collapsing in confusion when they found they could stand, where as Silver walked it off like it was an average Tuesday for him.
Considering who raised him, it probably was.

"Come, Come, sit with us.  I've been waiting for far not long to un- meet my Grandkittens Yuu, and a leave from a new old friend on the different day too,  haven't not not seen Ol' Vanrouge since Esmeralda. Che'nya was a wee egg right then.
I must be very very unlucky at the moment !"

Absolutely befuddled, she gave no resistance as Che'nya grinned and dragged her to sit at the table, a stumbling Ace following behind.

"Did someone switch our IVs in the real world with freaking Alcohol?!  I have to be on something right now. This is nuts."

"You think its bad for you?  Try never being around magic until three days ago, and then experiencing stuff like this. My reality has been flipped, dunked in bleach, sautéed, and thrown in a black hole."

"Its purrfectly understandapawle to be confused at first. Its home sweet home fur me though! Grandpaw can be a little hard to understand.  Just reverse it or unriddle it if it confuses you!"

As she tried to grab for a macaron, the plumette jokingly pushed the plate towards Ace, who grinned and pushed it back, this repeated several times, causing a monkey in the middle situation until Lilia stole the plate for himself, which Silver promptly passed his own plate to her as some form of condolence while his father began to speak between bites of stolen macaron. 

"I hate to be the Sour Sally, but there is an important matter to be discussed, Dearies. 
Is the Red Fox allowed in on it? Your call."

Biting her lip, she glanced over at Ace, who stared back with pure determination. Even if she said no, he wasn't leaving without a fight.

𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔

"Yea, he can stay. I'm not sure if we could get rid of him otherwise. He's my certified parasite at this point."

"You did NOT need to add that last bit."

The only response she gave him was stealing a cakecup off his plate as Grandpaw Pinka tilted his head.

"The Knave of Hearts, isn't he?"

Che'nya, who was in the process of pulling on Ophelias cheeks while she attempted to swat him away, popped one of his hands off to give a upturned pinky.

"Yuppers, nya-ot in the flesh."

Ace raised an eyebrow as he messed with the cards scattered across the table.

"Is that supposed to be me?"

"Who else wouldn't not it be? Anywhom, you may stop, Briar Guardian."

Lilia juggled sets of teacups as he started to speak.

"Perhaps I should give Red Fox a general idea of what we will be discussing. Say, have you heard tales of Yuu's?"

"Uh......I remember something about saviors and what-not from my brother, i'm not big into conspiracy theories and mythology stuff."

Catching the teacups on his head, perfectly aligned, the fae grinned.

"How strange, since you're sitting left and in front of two Cheshires, right next to a Yuu, and you yourself are Ace Trappola , a  Knave of Hearts. Or so I've been told."

She could practically see the gears in the gingers head struggling to process this information. Turning to her, eyes practically bulging out of his head, Ace finally found words.

"You cannot be fucking serious."

The brunette shrugged, now also unable to put words together.

"....Ehe?"

"What the hell do you mean "Ehe"?! You didn't think that you should maybe tell me that?!  The fact the cat you've been carrying around since the day I met you was a student would have been nice to know too!"

The feline in question just rolled in the air over him, transforming into his cat form midway, then back into his usual form, smirking as the redhead scoffed.

"Show off."

It was Ophelias turn to be surprised, as of all the reactions she expected, this was not one of them.

"Wait...you actually believe this? I thought you'd think we're crazy and this is weird nonsense."

Placing his chin on his hand, Ace looked off as he huffed.

"Usually, yea, I would.  I don't believe the whole Knave bit, but everything else adds up more then I'd like to admit.  Mostly everything."

𝑰'𝒎 𝒅𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒆. 

The bat of the two elder fae clapped his hands together to regain the attention, now balancing an entire tower of teacups on his head while poor Silver was practically bracing for porcelain to floor impact, likely on instinct.

"Well, now thats all sorted up, on to the next!
You see, three days for you ago, but a week and a half for us ago, Little Che'nya and I got into a bit of a tiffy from what you saw, yes?"

The brunette simply nodded, looking over to see Che'nya practically preparing to facepalm at Lilias next part of the explanation.

"I was being a tad bit of a hugger-mugger. The selcouth feline fellow beside me and I have known eachother for quite a deal of time. 

With such few Cheshires left, I saw fit to be palter to see if it was him, but alas, it wasn't.  After much investigation, by which I mean asking a good friend to find him on Magicam, I discovered it was my second guess."

Ace tapped his no pronged fork on the table.

"Which was...?"

"That it was my God Son"

The silence of the room could actually kill someone, at least it felt like it. However, Lilia broke the silence very quickly.

"Perhaps God Kitten fits better? No, No, God Cat sounds much more interesting!  Or God Bat? Anywho, even after waiting a century and a several decades to meet you, I still remember when Malleus found it on our visit to Fleur City back in....1842, I believe?
It was quite a wild goose chase to transport it all the ways to where we are now.  How things change so quickly......
Say Silver, do you think Esmeralda's old troupe will let me join again?"

"Father, did you not say you caused several mass destructions, including a court building being set on fire, in your troupe days?"

"I'm quite agile for my old age, I should still be able to run away from the scene of the crime just as fast as I used to!"

From beside her, she heard a plate clatter as Ace momentarily put his head in his hands.

"I take it back, everyone in this room is batshit crazy."

"Meowth, thats right."

The redhead turned to her with a face of pure exasperation.

"Ophelia, the hell does that even mean?"

Finishing off her skit, the brunette exaggeratedly put one hand on her hip, and the other doing a little mock salute.

"Wobbeffett!"

The only response from Ace was a stupefied expression, causing her to begin chuckling, hitting the table once or twice as she did.

"What the—Stop laughing at me!"

——————————-

After a long while, Che'nya popped his head off to whisper something to Lilia, who took two spoons and drummed on the surviving teacups he still balanced to get everyone's attention (again).

"I nearly forgot to mention what it was we brought Snow Fox here for, Dear me.

I believe both our little foxes here were present when I delivered the Bobcat and the books to your homestead.  As I told,  Che'nya will be undergoing training from yours truly.

Moreover, it seems the extended duration of your coma, and the Red Fox being brought into all the hullabaloo, was from your body not being able to fully process the magic you used from your charm, and expelling it by tenfold.

Therefore we'll need to bring you along to train you aswell. It'll be no easy task learning magic for you, but I'm sure you're far more then up to the challenge.
Doing so will help your body may adapt better, and we won't have to worry about anymore whoopsie daisy comas--"

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕

For a moment, her mind was practically just a blinking error screen.

𝑰𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 "𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕"?!

𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏..𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑?!

From the look Ace gave her, she could tell he was practically reading her mind. The glare she shot him did nothing to stop his insinuating, however.

"As her certified parasite, I'm almost always around, so I can make sure to remind her if she's got a schedule for it every chance I get. I can even tell you if she tries to hide off.
Oh, and just a heads up though, Ophelias practically allergic to letting herself loose and having fun.  Do whatever you want with that information."

"ACE!"

"Ow—! Kick me under the table all you want, you know its true!"

Glancing over at the bat fae whilst she and Ace continued to attack eachother under the table , she could see many different kinds of mischief were brewing in his ancient mind.

"Khee hee, I certainly will keep that in mind.  Now that all is said and done, its high time the two of you wake up, yes?  You've got quite a crowd waiting. Samoht has just a little more to discuss with our youngest grinning bobcat here, and he'll join you all then. Farewell, old friend!"

A brush of fur came by her side, and as she turnsd, she came eye to eye with a loosely familiar beast.

"Grim? Is that you?"

Its immediate food snatching, followed by a proud nod, gave her the answer to who thousands on the internet had theorized the Chimera from the prologue was as all at the table but the two Cheshires disappeared into light.

—————————————

As the three disappeared, the gleeful air of the room faded with them, now a slight more serious one.

Sending the cups back to their improper places, Samoht, aka Grandpaw Pinka, retained his grin as Che'nya floated over to sit next to him.

"You must not have answers or questions about this, I know.
Vamps the Gramps spoke of a trip to what another world calls France. If you want to find your past and your parents last, go to Fleur, and bring the Yuu with you. Your God Bat can help once you're there with more then I, for he saw it all with his own eye. I couldn't, I think you remember why."

"I do, I do, or Do I? I'll do just that then Gramps, or atleast I'll try. "

Rubbing Che'nyas head with his large paw, he looked fondly down at him.

"Good, now away you must fly to un-reality, bye o' bye. I'll always be here if you cry, for as you know, I cannot die."

"Well, I hope thats not a lie. See mew soon, Goodbye!"

With that, the younger feline gave him a hug, then vanished.

——————————————-

Rolling over, Ophelia noticed a distinct tug on her arm, and swatted it. The plastic tube ripped itself out, making her to shriek at the pain as she sat up, Grim falling off from where he had been curled around her neck.

"G-morning, hench-human...Didja see how cool I was?"

Petting his head and scratching behind his ears, she smiled softly at the sleep addled cat.

"You were very cool, Grim."

"Mhmm, I even ate some mean ugly lady. She didn't taste good either, and you know I ain't picky. I need another nap, being big is tiring.. Keep watch for me and tell me if food appears."

He sleepily waddled to her lap, curling up there and beginning to snore after drowsy spinning in a circle. Noticing she was awake, Dr Keola rushed over, holding gauze and an antibacterial wipes.

"Kid, I know you just woke up and you don't know what's happening , but you can't rip out your IV, if you mess it up, it can be dangerous."

"Sorry...Is Ace already gone?"

The oh so familiar snort from beside her answered that question.

"I'm two feet away from you, dumbass."

"Well good morning to you too, Mr Knave of Hearts."

Huffing, the redhead laid back down on his bed with his arms behind his head. At some point, their medical cots must have been moved together; and she had a sneaking suspicion he had something to do with it.

"Great, so that wasn't just a wacky dream. You still remember everything too I'm guessing?"

"I remember you kidnapping me, so yea."

"Ok, for the record, I did not."

"You staked out next to my favorite flower, yanked me