A young girl covered in baggy/loose clothes, lay dormant on their bed, empty-eyed for a moment before flopping onto their back, glancing over the popcorn ceiling above them. Her thin black hair falling over her pale face, dark circles surrounding her eyes, heart iconography scattered across the walls.
They peeled themselves off their bed, scrambling for the bathroom. They met their gaze in the mirror, met with an unexplainable sketchy feeling in their gut, their sight only processing their expression as a sketchy figment of their imagination.
They couldn't look at themselves; they didn't even know what their faces looked like. They were humiliated by it, blocking it out from the very recesses of their minds.
They don't remember why they were cursed with such an affliction, though, furthermore, cursed with the ability to wield Desires to their whims. They were minding their own business, simply wanting to live the remainder of their life in New Limbus, away from family, away from anyone who could recognise them, but now here they were, once again stuck in the clutches of someone else, another organization.
Much too dangerous to be left out in normal society due to the unstable nature of Desire. The problem was that Alice had no clue what their abilities even were, just that, during the test, she held a lot of energy within herself, holding a heavy Desire within her heart. Tests like that happened frequently by her age, just before they could graduate from high school.
Now she's here, trapped within this newly found fate of hers. Destined to be part of the Witches of Mercury, a part of Grimm, she sets out to go on an expedition within the old continent—an expedition into Wonderland.
Today was the day of orientation for those of her ilk, dressing in more appropriate attire, as she and whatever group she would be put into would have to undergo extensive training, along with her brandishing a long silver blade, a hole in the middle allowing them to spin it around their finger as a sort of flourish. Alice had practiced this in her free time, it was fun, it was a good way to keep her mind off things, expertly twirling the knife between her fingers.
Honestly, this was the only talent that she knew she was good at. A talent with blades, a talent that she would've never had the opportunity to use up until now, of course, this was before she became aware of her more talented aspects through the ability to use Desire to her advantage.
She slowly gathered her things, throwing any item of interest into various bags to bring with her.
Alice had no personal transportation, taking the bus over to the necessary facilities. Cities were normal before the Apostilization ran rampant-- now they're layered into districts, New Limbus now structured in a way to allow convenience for authority figures to spring into action whenever an oddity, or an entity that poses a threat to those around them.
Can't fault the New Limbus Government for enacting such strict architectural boundaries, rendering the country of New Limbus a military state.
Some may say that it was a perfect excuse for a full governmental takeover, others would say that it was a necessary step in keeping the average citizen safe against the magical and the supernatural.
Sometimes, though, one couldn't help but look out at the bizarre Kowloon Phenomenon sitting before them and believe there is some better alternative that could be found within the deep recesses of those much more capable than themselves.
District 1: Higher elevation, covered in sparse greenery, more typical of what one would live in within a normal society. A normal day, a normal house, a normal room, a normal life. Death is not as rampant an issue-- housing has the privilege of not being familiar with death, not being as intimate with the concept in comparison to those who resided in the lower districts. District 1 platforms were set above the lower districts, sparsely connected by a variety of bridges.
District 2: The Average man's city-- shops, apartments, and various buildings holding daily commodities. Apostle outbreaks happen infrequently, but frequently enough that it has become the norm, and life is generally livable. Alice lived in this environment for all of her life, heading to school, going home, maybe heading to a local diner, passing by construction for a new chunk of buildings to expand the already massive and layered city that had been laid out before them. This district is strictly situated directly underneath the First District.
District 3: Sat as a wall directly outside the borders of the First and Second Districts of New Limbus, buildings more closely knitted together, more compact, followed by a slope down a hill, reminiscent of a Shantytown within a primarily Latin Country. Trains run directly from District 2 to District 3, the buildings are built over these transports like bridges.
And then finally, the Fourth District-- home base for Mercury as an organization-- a district filled to the brim with military and governmental influences. This is where Alice was transported to, going from bus to bus, train to train, all the way to the Headquarters of Mercury itself, a massive facility the size of a college campus, sporting parks and the like.
To Alice, this was the nicest place she's ever been in, a place that held all the commodities a person would ever need, breathing in fresh air rather than the pollution one would find further into the various districts, even the First District itself didn't have air this clean.
The home base of Mercury was a ways off from the main city, anyhow, which could explain it, hugging the wall separating New Limbus from the Old.
Alice exited the bus that had brought her here, and met with a sizable black gate. She leaned over to get a better look between the bars in an attempt to find anything out of the ordinary, or maybe where the other students had begun gathering.
Bzzt~!
The gate opened with a buzz and a click, creaking as they slowly slid inward before coming to a halt as metal connected with the brick wall that surrounded the campus. Alice made her way inside, further down the path, and toward the big building that sat in the middle of all these parks and fields, sparsely spotting what looked to be members of Grief in Mercury. Grief was different from Grimm, handling interpersonal jobs from within the walls, handling cases of Apostles, and such.
Members of Grief typically wore black and white, almost as if arriving at a funeral of their own making. Alice was confronted by those within Grief back when she had discovered her potential to become a Witch.
As she persisted down the path, she was soon interrupted by one of the members of Grief, who grabbed her shoulder to stop Alice in her tracks.
"Excuse me."
Alice jumped, alarmed by the sudden appearance of a suited man that towered over her-- long black hair draped over their shoulders, a scar running up from their lip to the brow on the left side of their face, an eye with a slit pupil right where the scar meets the bag under his sunken eyes.
"Are you participating in the Orientation?"
Alice nodded slowly.
"Keep going down that way--" He pointed down the path, "Into the large building, go from there to the back and then take a right once you get outside, meet with an island with a large tree, okay? Once you turn right, you'll find the auditorium in which the orientation is being held."
"T-Thank you." Alice shifted nervously before running off on her lonesome, following the man's directions closely.
Once she had arrived, she was met by a variety of women scattered about an exceptionally large empty space made up of exclusively vinyl flooring. Some are scattered in groups, some sitting by themselves within different corners of the room.
At a minimum, there were at least Seventy-Eight of what Mercury would refer to as Acolytes. Men rarely had the capability or potential to become a Witch, but there were some, sparse, but they existed, separated by the onslaught of women that overtook the occupation.
Alice observed the room for a few seconds before opting to be on her lonesome as well, secluding herself in a section of the room, baggage in hand.
Alice pressed her back against the wall, sliding down before throwing the bag on her back into her arms, opening it up to slip out the long knife slipped into a holster within the bag itself. She looked into the silver blade that gleamed brightly against the fluorescent lights above, her face reflected against the blade's polished surface.
What she saw was someone sharing her face, hair a shining blond, their sapphire eyes staring back at her own before she looked away, alarmed slightly by the sight but not perturbed, only minor concern. This wasn't the first time she had seen such a face, it wasn't the first time she had seen that person in general.
She quietly slipped the knife back into the holster situated within the inner workings of her backpack before looking back up at the crowd.
An older woman walked across the stage, walking up to a podium set up within this nearly empty auditorium. Everyone noticed, turning their heads to the only person in the room wearing any sort of proper attire. She was a brunette, hair draped over one of her shoulders-- sharp eyes glowering at the crowd set out before them before speaking into a mic.
"All of those who are under the light of the Great Mother, I greet you. I apologize that we have forced you into these circumstances, but desperate times call for desperate measures. You are all considered much too dangerous to live out amongst your peers out in the real world, living lives amongst the many in New Limbus-- no, but you are also not unstable enough to be considered an immediate threat. If you were, Grief would've executed the lot of you before you could even arrive. All of you hold the ability to wield pure desire-- the ability to manifest emotions into reality. All of you will be trained... and your goal... all of your goals are to Eliminate the Targets,"
A projector screen falls out from behind the woman, and an image is painted onto a white screen through the flickering lights of a nearly forgotten technology. An image of the Witches of Wonderland in their Prime.
"It is an arduous task to eliminate what one could only say are the strongest, most terrifying existences known to man." The woman sighed. "But that is not the main task. That is a hopeful goal, and you are allowed to, if you are capable, of slaying these beings. I encourage you to do so, but the main goal of Grimm, the main goal of the Witches of Mercury project, is to find one girl."
The projector screen flashes an image of a young woman with black hair covering their face.
"The follower of Light, a remnant of the old teaching made by the Great Mother of Light herself. They are said to have been a part of her royal guard. They hold the ability of undeath. They are incapable of being permanently put into the ground, and it might just be the thing we need to save the world. They are a disciple of the Mother after all. Find them, free them from whatever restraint they may have. That is the main goal of this expedition-- to find the one Acolyte in existence that may be able to save the world."
The woman sighed, taking a beat.
"That is what you all will be training for."
Those in the auditorium looked to each other with speculative expressions, a confident blond girl in the front of the group, closest to the stage, raised her hand. "So... we're all going out there for... one girl?"
"It's suspected that they can be found within the Witch of Sloth's domain."
"Why don't we just take down the Witches ourselves?"
"You can certainly try, but your priority should be bringing back-- who we will be referring to as the Codename of Moth-- back to civilization."
"So... they're a precaution?"
"Indeed. If you can't do the job, they inevitably will. I don't mean to diminish the efforts all of you would put into this expedition, mind you, but it is more important to prioritize the future of our people rather than one's pride... I hope we are all in agreement on that at the very least."
Silence filled the room for a beat.
"Alright... I suggest you section off into groups. You're going to need allies. We will begin an explanation and lecture tomorrow for those not in the know, with the more intricate bits of information revolving around abilities, how to wield them, et cetera."
The woman left the podium, leaving the Acolytes of Mercury on their lonesome, all looking curiously at one another.
Alice stuffed her face into her bags, breaking out into a cold sweat. Her eyes peeked out from behind the polyester lining as Acolytes had slowly begun to gather. How... how should I do this? Should I just go out, try to... no, I... they'd think I'm creepy, scary... I-I don't know where to start.
They all had plenty of time before the expedition, so for now, Alice held her tongue, not being a sociable sort to begin with, and would most likely only dig herself a hole the instant she attempted conversation.
The next day, she'd find a party the next day... hopefully.