Chapter 4

It was fortunate that right outside the gate to the March Hare and Mad Hatter's houses was a sign post clearly marked 'Duchess, that way!' with an arrow. Marik did raise an eyebrow at it but shrugged and munched on his stolen sandwiches while he walked along the blue pathway.

It seemed like it would be quite a long walk, considering he was going from one 'state' to another by foot, and so the lion's mind wandered like it always did. It wandered around and found a lovely little topic to fill his head with, his ever-so strange friends Bakura and Malik. His friends, not the ones he'd just met.

Seeing what he would call their Wonderland counterparts, or mirror-selves, Marik actually appreciated his so-called friends a little more. He was extremly glad his Malik wasn't as annoying, and never asked that many questions, or repeated things over and over. Or wore that shade of purple for that matter. It nearly burned his retinas, even if it did oddly suit the man.

The blonde was also glad Bakura wasn't that... nice, if that was the right word. The March Hare had seemed calm and manipulative, taking advantage of situations around him but quite helpful when needed. His Bakura was nothing of the sort. Rude, obnoxious, devilish, twisted, maniacal; those would be the words to describe his white-haired partner in crime. He was no where near as subtle with his deviousness as the March Hare.

Then he remembered something the Hatter had said. There was an Akefia in this world too? And he was a king? That raised some questions. He wondered what this world's King was like. Marik supposed he'd be everything what he expected his master not to be, like caring, perhaps, miserable, maybe, soft was a possibility.

Marik shook his head. It was too strange and bizarre to think about. He pulled another sandwich out of his shorts and tore a piece off to throw in his mouth. This one was raw steak, his favourite (he also noted that those crazy boys had some strange sandwiches).

Whilst he wasn't paying attention, the road below him suddenly turned bright pink, and everything got a tiny bit colder. The tanned lion stopped in his tracks, wondering what the hell had just happened, and he turned around to look. His eyes widened, cursing under his breath. He could've sworn that he'd just left a darkened forest with a blue path, but instead what he could see was a slightly lighter forest with a pink and narrow path. He took a curious step forwards, and once agian everything changed. The once pink path was blue again, and the trees grew thicker.

Cocking his head to the side with interest, Marik took a step back, facing the same way. As if he'd passed over some invisible line, once again the blue turned pink and the thick turned thin. He had to laugh at that, and could've stayed there all day changing the woods but he had somewhere to be, so he continued on down the path, shivvering slightly at the lower temperature. For once in his circus life he wished he wore a bit more than a pair of tan shorts.

His forest environment grew thinner and less dense pretty quickly, leading onto a giant and wide open field. A cool, almost cold, breeze blew over it, moving the bright green blades of grass around like water. In the distance he saw a large house, and guessed that was where the Duchess was if her grand title matched her mansion.

Bounding across the field on all fours, the crumbs from his sandwiches blowing off in the field, Marik figured he'd get there pretty quickly if he kept a steady pace, even if it looked miles away.

Unbeknownst to him, a pair of eyes watched him from high up in a tree, grinning a pretty crazy grin.