Twisted Wonderland ~ Exorcist!AU

I ~ Off with your head! (part 3)

He still had the paintbrush and bucket in hand when he opened his eyes. No one was around painting the roses, silver clouds began to gather in the sky.

A distant murmur pulled the boy back into the maze, searching for the source of those pleads.

Peeking from behind a corner, he saw three cards kneeled and begging for forgiveness, their fingers constantly pointing at each other.

"It was One!"

"No, it was Two!"

"It was Three! It was Three!"

"QUIET!" a raspy female voice thundered. "If you can't find the culprit then it's off with all your heads!"

Guards surrounded the unfortunate servants in an instant, then dragged them away to their fates.

A wave of whispers rose from the crowd that gathered:

"How can someone mistake red with white?"

"We all knew how it would end from the very beginning..."

"Back to work before it's off with our heads too!"

"How can someone be beheaded just for mixing up the colours?" it was her who had spoken, the girl with the blue dress, who glared at the figures fading in the distance.

***

"Phew, finally outside once again!" Ace stepped out of the house, stretching his arms in the air.

"So, where do we go first?" Deuce turned at Yuu, whose dark eyes were switching between the printed streets of the map the handwritings on Trein's list and a note.

"I'd say to go to the bakery first: from there the other shops are rather easy to reach."

It could be our chance to find Grim. It's been two days, I hope he's okay, wherever he is...

Unlike the previous two days, the streets were particularly crowded, red roses could be spotted anywhere with very few exceptions. The amount of passers and flowers weren't the only that increased, though...

Way more than thrice the boys saw those men in their clean white uniforms, the Rose Kingdom's emblem embroidered in red on both the right of their chests and their hats. Red were also their gloves, belts and shoes, along with the fabric around the hilt of their small swords, golden buttons shaped like diamonds lined across their uniform.

"Hey guys! Still looking for your cat?"

The voice took them by surprise, but once they turned around Yuu and Deuce recognised it:

"Cater!"

Yuu sighed "Unfortunately, that too... We were going to Clover's Bakery"

"I'm headed there, too! Mind if I join you?"

After introducing him and Ace, Cater took the lead and guided the boys into the district.

The signs hanging from the buildings were colourful, simple or more extravagant, while the rich shop windows displayed anything one could think of: clothes, toys, ceramics, books, furniture, jewels, paintings, clocks, there was even a shop dedicated to the weirdest inventions, candy, exotic goods - from the talismans from the Afterglow Savannah to the spices from the Land of the Hot Sands.

"Why are there so many people wearing uniforms today? Is this also part of a tradition?" Yuu wondered, after another patrol of men in uniform walked past them.