Happy new year, guys!

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I tried to shake the uneasiness that I was having, but it wouldn't go away. Was this Malice trying to warn me or did I really think Hunter was some sort of threat? I like Hunter... in a friend way, anyways. I feel excited and happy whenever I'm with him and I feel guilty still not being able to trust him completely. I did just meet him a while ago, so it's normal to feel nervous, but there are so many questions that I have unanswered.

We finished our lattes and Hunter paid for them. Eclipse climbed back on my shoulder and we made our way into the crowd.

"Where are we heading?" I asked.

"Do you want to join me?" Hunter asked. I paused. Right, I haven't decided on that yet. Where we travel depends on my decision.

"I would like to..." I said,"But I don't really have the motivation to." Hunter nodded understandingly.

"I won't force you." he said. I smiled.

"Thanks." I said.

"No problem." The crowd was getting thicker as we walked through and I had trouble sticking close to Hunter. Hunter started getting farther and farther away and I tried to push by the people to catch up, but a man shoved me to the ground.

"Watch it, klutz." he rudely said and walked by.

"Sorry." I said weakly. More people began to walk by me as I tried to get back up, but I ended up being stomped on and kicked. I grimaced as feet stepped on my fingers,"Ow." I was pushed again and I ended up staring at someone's feet. I looked up to see who it was, but their face was covered by a cloak. They held out their hand for me to take and I took it. They helped me up and they turned out to be about the same height as me. They were pale and judging by the small figure, it was a girl.

"Thank you for helping me." I said to them and they nodded.

"Those people are rude." Eclipse said,"None of them stopped and helped you except for this person." I nodded in agreement. I looked around and Hunter was missing. My heart dropped. If you have ever lost your mom at a store (or anyone really), it's kind of similar with what I'm experiencing right now... except for the fact that Hunter isn't my mom.

"Where's Hunter?" I asked panicked. Eclipse patted my cheek.

"We'll be fine. Just calm down Alice." Eclipse said,"Just use your map." I nodded.

"Right, right, this isn't real life." I said to myself. I noticed that the cloaked figure was still here. They shook their head telling me that it wasn't necessary to get out my map and pointed straight ahead. I looked at them in a bit of surprise, and tilted my head to the side,"He's over there?" They nodded again. I smiled.

"Thank you." I said and they nodded multiple times, making quick and nervous movements. I waved good bye to them and they waved back happily. I went straight ahead and I saw Hunter's tall frame a couple feet ahead. I looked back to thank the cloaked figure again, but they had already vanished. I caught up to Hunter and pulled his coat sleeve. He turned to me and sighed in relief.

"I was looking for you." he said. I nodded.

"I found you though." I said with a smile,"Do I get a prize?" He grinned.

"Isn't spending time with me enough for you?" he said back. I raised an eyebrow.

"Getting cocky now are you?" I said. He laughed.

"Only when I'm with you is when I feel like I'm myself." he said. I felt embarrassed with his words, but he didn't seem to notice. Hunter pulled up a map and studied it,"We'll go straight and get out of this place and then continue on. We'll take it slow since you're still deciding whether or not you're in, but we'll make our way to the castle eventually." I nodded looking at his map.

"I'll do my best to not get lost again." I said. He shook his head and held out his hand.

"I'm not taking any chances." he said. I stared blankly at his hand and he waved it,"Are you coming or not?" I nodded and grabbed his hand. His hands were big and warm. He gave me a little squeeze and we continued walking ahead. Eclipse meowed.

"You won't forget about me now that he's with you, right?" she whispered in my ear,"Sometimes I feel like you'd abandon me." I shook my head.

"I would never forget you Eclipse." I whispered back,"You were my first friend when I came here and you will always be special to me."

"Good." she said,"Don't be blinded by unnecessary things and do anything you will regret." I nodded.

"I understand." I said,"Thank you, Eclipse." She purred and cuddled with my cheek.

"Did you know that if you did abandon me, my whole existence would cease to exist?" Eclipse said with a saddened expression.

"What?!" I exclaimed in surprise. Hunter glanced at me and I smiled awkwardly to reassure him. He grinned back and continued leading us. I turned my attention back to Eclipse,"What do you mean?"

"If an owner of a pet abandons them, then they are no longer worthy." Eclipse said,"We start fading and then we disappear. Mirror doesn't want any imperfections in her world, if you get what I'm saying."

"That's cruel." I whispered back. Eclipse nodded in agreement.

"That's just how she runs this world." she said,"Many don't approve of her ways, but if she hears that, we'd be gone before we can say anything else. She might even be listening to us now." I shivered at the thought.

"What does she do when she isn't raising hell?" I asked. Eclipse licked her paw and scratched at her ear.

"I suppose she's just watching for imperfections." Eclipse said,"She has a giant globe of the world and her bots report to her if something goes on. Mirror can project her voice out, but she can't see everything that's happening all at once. She's the girl in the mirror, so she needs a mirror to see things. She may be powerful, but she still has her flaws." I thought for a bit while more questions jumped into my mind.

"It's strange though..." I said,"How was she created in the first place? Why is she doing this?" Eclipse shrugged.

"That is even something I don't know." she said,"Everyone has a reason for why they do things." I nodded in agreement.

We continued walking and safely reached to the end of the town. In front of us stood another forest type place, but it seemed a lot lighter than the one that held the whatever it was in it. Hunter had let go of my hand and I felt a little disappointed, but I quickly let go of that feeling. Hunter turned to me with a small smile.

"Ready to go?" he asked me and I nodded back with a smile.

"Always have been, always will be." I answered as we strode into the forest. We walked in silence, but it wasn't one of those awkward silences. It was a peaceful and relaxing kind of silence... I breathed in the fresh woodsy air and felt calmed despite being in a world that I could be killed at any second. Eclipse was resting quietly on my shoulder, her soft purring was heard as we walked.

"I have something I kind of need to talk to you about..." Hunter said suddenly. I frowned and looked at him about to ask what it was, but there was a sudden loud BANG! Like an explosion. We immediately turned to where the direction the sound was coming from and in the distance we could see a ramshackle hut.... which was on fire.

My eyes widened in surprise and I quickly grabbed hold of Hunter's arm.

"What if someone's in there?" I asked him. His eyes widened in realization and he nodded. We both began running towards the hut, risking our lives for a person that may or may not even exist.

"Do you see anything?" Hunter asked frantically, looking for any signs of movement in the hut.

"No-" I began, but immediately stopped. Hunter and I froze as a man began walking calmly out of the hut. He was covered in a bit of ash, but he looked to be fine. He wore a long coat which was a little burnt at the end and a top hat. He had shaggy, long black hair and appeared to be in his 40's. He chin showed a bit of stubble and his eyes were dark. The man coughed from the exposure of the smoke and he walked into the more fresher air, taking no notice of us. He didn't show any signs of being a Bot, but I can't really tell anymore after the Rita incident.

Eclipse had awoken due to our running to the hut and her eyes were keen and observing.

"Um, are you alright, sir?" I spoke up as Hunter stuck close to my side. The man looked up in surprise and swatted at the smoke surrounding him.

"Oh, were you standing there the whole time?" he asked getting away from the hut. We nodded and he sighed,"You didn't see anything at all." I looked at him questioningly.

"What were you doing?" I asked and he cracked a smile.

"Do not smoke when you have dangerous chemicals in the house." he said as he laughed. He rubbed the stubble on his chin and looked at us,"You kids look familiar..."

"What do you mean by that?" Hunter asked. The man closed his eyes and thought for a bit. His eyes opened again and he opened his display screen. I glanced at it and noticed that his name was Erik Hatter and underneath it in quotation marks were the words "Mad Hatter".

"Eclipse..." I whispered,"How come that man has 'Mad Hatter' under his name, the last time I checked, we couldn't edit our profiles." Eclipse frowned.

"I'm getting information from the Council now..." she said. I frowned a bit confused. I'll ask her about that later,"There's a new thing that Mirror added to the game. To those she finds interesting, she will give them a special nickname. The special players are going to have more bounties after them since they are worth more." I nodded.

"So this means.... that this man peaks Mirror's interest?" I asked. Eclipse nodded.

"He must be strong. Mirror tends to like strong and unique players." she said. I nodded again taking note. I watched as Erik swiped though the bounties and stopped. He tapped on one and he grinned.

"Ah yes, I remember now." he said,"Miss. Alice, AKA 'Alice in Wonderland'." I frowned as I saw my bounty in front of him.

"I don't know about the Wonderland part, but yeah, that's me." I answered still having a frown on my face. He laughed again, but this time it felt somewhat cold.

"You were the bounty that I was after, no wonder you look familiar." he said,"Isn't it quite a coincidence? To meet all of a sudden. The Mad Hatter and Alice?"

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That's all I can write right now because I need a good stopping point, not really a good ending, but hey, it's still something. Sorry if this chapter has a lot of mistakes, I was too lazy to look it over XD

Anyways, thank you guys for making my 2014 awesome! I met many new friends and writing these stories makes me happy (even though I stress out on what to write at times).

Here is my Wattpad New Year Resolution:

1. Update and Edit more

2. Become a better writer

3. Meet awesome new people

4. Don't stress and procrastinate (lol, that's not going to happen)

5. Have fun!

You guys are fabulous! <3