How was this little old lady going to beat me? I know I'm probably getting a little cocky right now, but come on. Rita looked at me with her haunting eyes. I imagined the thought about how she would run around in her fragile body and then I cracked up. Just imagine seeing a tiny old woman dodging around and zig zagging like a ninja. I looked away and put my hand over my mouth. She looked at me weirdly.

"What?" she asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing." I said and smiled. She put her hands on her hips.

"Oh, I see. You think I'm too old for this, don't you?" she said with a smile even though I could see that she was going to kill me for it. She turned around. I saw her take out a liquid bottle similar to the health potion that I was given,"I was saving this for later, but I guess I'll use it now." She smiled and uncapped the bottle. She drank the liquid leaving not a drop left. She dropped the bottle and it shattered. She looked down, her hair covering her face. The old gray hair soon changing to a dark red. She began getting taller and her wrinkles were vanishing. She flipped her hair over and flashed me an award winning smile.

"My, I feel absolutely young again." she said, her raspy old voice changing to a younger, more smoother tone.

"You're still an ugly witch." I smirked. I motioned her to come at me,"I don't got all day, Alice's little kitty out there is waiting for me and the boss is impatient." Rita smiled and in a blink she was in front of my face. My eyes widened quickly, she had two blades attached to her shoes and held two spears with blades at both ends. Either way, I'll get sliced. 

She jabbed at me and I bent backwards, kicking my legs upwards so that I was doing a handstand. She stopped my foot with one of her spears and raised her other hand to stab me. I bent my legs like a spring and kicked at her so it made her stumble backwards. I pushed against the ground and landed back on my feet. I summoned my scythe and twirled it around in my hands. 

Adrenaline pumped through my veins, a murderous intent coursing through my body. I licked my lips and charged forward, our blades crashing together creating electrifying sparks. We were face to face with each other, both of us smiling, but our eyes belonging to those of a killer; unwavering with every hit, shimmering with every strike. Cuts were bleeding on my body, but they weren't deep. Same with Rita. 

We paused our fight so that we could catch our breaths. Both of us standing a few feet from each other, panting and sweating. I wiped the blood off of my face and sucked in a deep breath. I stood up straight and smiled.

"What? Losing energy already? Maybe you are too old for this." I laughed. She wiped the blood that was getting into her eyes.

"No, I'm just getting started." she said. She closed her eyes leaving herself vulnerable. She began to whisper something, but I took this chance to strike at her. I ran at full speed towards her and swung, my scythe coming down onto her, one part of my hair covering my right eye. My left one glowing blood red. 

She opened her eyes all of a sudden and a forceful wind blew me back, slamming me against the concrete wall hardly. The air escaped out of my lungs and I looked at her, the taste of blood in my mouth. She laughed at my failed attempt and I stared at her annoyed. The aura around her was dangerous and different from before. I shifted my standing position and twisted the scythe in my hands. Rolling it back and forth, feeling the staff part. I steadied my breathing and dug my feet into the ground. The color of Rita's eyes shifted. I blinked and she disappeared. I gasped and turned around. Rita was there with a crooked smile. She swung and I blocked her blade with my scythe.

"You should just give up already." Rita said vanishing again. I turned around and swung my blade hitting Rita's spear again. I pushed my strength and weight at Rita. Rita was blocking me with both of her blades. She shook, trying to push me back. My shackles clanging everywhere.

"Me? Give up?" I strained myself to say,"I knew some triplets that said the exact thing and look where that got them." She laughed.

"Oh, those tiny brats? They were finally killed, huh?" she said. I grinned.

"Enough of the small talk, let's get on with this already." I said. I stepped back making her fall forward, but I saw that she was going to catch herself quickly. In a blink of an eye, I spun around and kicked at her feet, making her trip. Her eyes widened in surprised with the sudden change, she fell with a thud on the floor. Rita quickly tried to get back up with a come back, but I had already put my scythe to her neck. She stopped where she was, barely even breathing. She eyed me with pure hatred.

"One false move and," I said making a hand movement across my neck,"Goes your neck." She clenched her teeth, shifting her jawline. Then she did something unexpected. She smiled, her hair covering her eyes. I sensed something was off, so I was on edge.

"You think that you can beat me this easily?" she said. Rita vanished from my sight,"Well, think again." A blade was at my throat and Rita stood behind me. I rolled my eyes.

"What did I tell you?" I asked. I twisted my scythe and swung it so the blade would come up from behind Rita. I felt the spear slip away from my neck and I turned around. A thin red line formed on Rita's neck, blood began to drip from the line and she fell to the floor, her head rolling away from the body,"If you make one false move, you're dead." I shook the blood off of the scythe and it scattered everywhere. I threw it in the air and it vanished. The beeping noise and flash of the banner appeared.

Congratulations! You defeated Rita! You earned two spears and two shoes blades along with a 1,100 coin bounty!

The same old message was starting to bore me so I swiped it away and started heading outside. I sat on the porch and waited for Alice to come back to herself. In seconds, my head dropped down.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

My head felt like it was splitting when I returned. I held my head and looked around. I was at the entrance of the fake shop, where Rita was going to kill me at. I looked at myself, my body covered with cuts, and the milky dress a little torn and covered with a little blood. Judging from how things look, I'd say that the other Alice defeated her already. I stood up and began walking around. Eclipse! Where did Rita hide her? I looked around searching for any sign of the missing kitten.

"Eclipse, you there?" I called out. I heard some soft meowing and started heading for the sound. I eventually found Eclipse in a cage behind some bushes. She was happy to see me and came charging for me. It was like those sappy slow mo reunion scenes you see in movies. Eclipse climbed onto my shoulder and started purring like crazy. I patted her tiny little head and started going off. 

I felt a chill and turned back to look at the shop. I saw a faded image of a girl standing on the porch. She gave off the same presence as the girl in the mirror, but this time she was shining with a brilliant warm light. She waved and smiled warmly. She mouthed the words 'thank you' before disappearing. 

I smiled, then began walking again. After a while, a burning sensation was on my chest and I looked down. The shiny red pendant I found before was glowing and it was hot. I lifted it up to eye level. I observed the flame colored jewel and the colors started to swirl inside it. The jewel then had an image inside of it. It was my room, back at home. There was a knock at the door and someone was going to enter soon.

"Oh, what to do, what to do?" a familiar and annoying voice said. I looked up. The wind rustling around, swaying the trees from side to side.

"What is it, Mirror?" I asked.

"Someone's going to find out your secret unless you head home." it said

"I don't care what they think if they don't find me there. They don't worry about me anyways." I looked at the pendant and the door opened, an image of my mom walked through the door. She looked around the room with her eyes wide. I frowned at what I was seeing. 

My mom collapsed onto the floor on her knees. Tears brimming her eyes. She got up and started running. She ran to my dad and was holding onto him pointing to my room. His eyes widened. Even though I couldn't hear anything, I knew something bad was happening. They rushed to my room and my dad's eyes widened in horror and he looked away.

"What's going on?" I asked. I froze at what I saw. From the ceiling a rope was hanging down, forming a noose. At the end of the noose.... was me.