Notes:Pfff- I told myself I would u

Notes:

Pfff- I told myself I would update daily.
Here I am like a week late.

Well anyway here's chapter three. It's probably bad lmao
Chapter Text

“No.” Tatsuya stopped and glared down at the guy standing silently in the middle of the path in front of him. “No, I’m not interested.” The man didn’t move. “Seriously, go away. I’ve had enough of weird people today.”

Instead of listening, whoever it was got closer instead. The first thing Tatsuya noticed was how red he was. His hair was red, his eyes were red; hell, even his clothes were red! Was he the Red King Makoto had told him about? His color scheme and clothing choices certainly seemed the part. But what would the Red King be doing all the way out here?

As he thought, the young man continued to get closer until he was close enough to speak to Tatsuya without the need to yell. “Hello, sir.” His voice was soft, yet somewhat… metallic sounding, if he could call it that. “You must be the Outsider I felt.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Did this guy just say he felt Tatsuya enter Wonderland? “I thought I told you to go away. I don’t want to talk to anyone else today.” He felt himself glare down at the redhead.

“But you are already speaking with me.” The man stated, blinking slowly. Tatsuya had the feeling he didn’t really talk to many people. “Wouldn’t that make you a hypocrite?” He also took note of how blunt this guy was. That could get annoying.

“I’m not a hypocrite because I am talking to you.” Tatsuya rolled his eyes. “I’d be a hypocrite if I wanted to talk to you.” This was such a bad idea. He didn’t want to talk to anyone, it would've just been better if he had ignored this guy.

The man frowned and crossed his arms. “Fine then.” He huffed. “Well, anyway, I’m glad I found you.” His frown was quickly replaced by a somewhat somber but mostly content smile. “By the way; what is your name, Outsider?”

Tatsuya didn’t want to answer the question, but his politeness got the better of him and he answered anyway. “Himuro Tatsuya.” He sighed; might as well ask this strange guy what his name was, too. “And you are…?”

“Ah… Akashi Seijuurou.” The young man nodded. “A pleasure to meet you, Himuro-san.” At least, compared to Teppei and Makoto, Seijuurou seemed normal. Well, as normal as one could get with bright red clothing that matched his hair and eyes.

Tatsuya let out another sigh. He would have said the same, except he still really didn’t want to be there. “Yeah, you too. Uh, can you tell me how to get out of here?” Maybe this guy would give him helpful advice.

“That’s simple; kill the Jabberwocky.” Seijuurou responded quickly. There went any chance of helpful advice. “Oh, but first… you must find the Vorpal Sword.”

“Yeah, I’ve been told that twice already.” Tatsuya sighed. “Look, I really don’t want to kill any Jabberwocky or find any sword. I just want to go home.” He let himself frown, hoping he had gotten his message across. “Can’t you find someone else? What about that Teppei guy? He’s…nice.”

“Unfortunately, Himuro-san, I can’t.” Seijuurou shook his head. “As much as I’m sure Teppei would love to kill the Jabberwocky himself, only Outsiders can wield the Vorpal Sword. And before you ask, yes, you are the only Outsider in all of Wonderland.”

“There’s no way I’m the only Outsider.” Tatsuya retorted. He didn’t want to believe it. How would Seijuurou know, anyway? He’s been talking to him this whole time. “You can’t know that, you’re just one guy! Go find someone else.”

Seijuurou frowned. “I thought I told you, there is no one else to find.” Maybe it was just the red in his eyes, but for some reason the shorter man seemed almost dangerous. “You’re the only Outsider in Wonderland, Himuro-san, it has to be you. Only you can wield the sword.”

“You sure know an awful lot about this “Vorpal Sword”, why don’t you go find it and kill the Jabberwocky?” Tatsuya asked. This conversation was going in circles and he knew it, but he just wanted to be rid of Seijuurou right now.

“Have you even been listening to me?” Seijuurou barked. “I certainly can’t kill the Jabberwocky on my own.” He punctuated his sentence with a hand to his chest.

“Well, why not?” Tatsuya frowned. It seemed perfectly plausible to him that someone with that amount of knowledge about how the sword worked would be able to wield it. “Surely someone with your knowledge can–”

“I can’t do it,” Seijuurou started, cutting Tatsuya off. “because I am the Vorpal Sword.” He paused, gauging Tatsuya’s reaction for anything other than pure shock–which was his current expression.

“…You… You’re a talking sword.” Tatsuya stammered in disbelief. Had he gone mad? No, He thought, No this has to be a dream. A talking sword? There’s no way! But no matter how much he willed himself to “wake up”, he found he was still standing right in the middle of the forest, standing in front of a talking sword.

“To be fair, Himuro-san,” Seijuurou pointed out. “I am human right now, and I didn’t make it clear from the beginning of our conversation… Though I did think you would pick it up when I mentioned the sword in the first place.”

Tatsuya couldn’t think straight enough to form a coherent reply. Instead, he just slowly backed away a few steps and just stared Seijuurou down from that short distance. “…Nope. No. I’m not dealing with this.” He stated firmly once he finally got his thoughts together. “Go away.”

“I’m sorry?” Seijuurou blinked. “Himuro-san, did you just ask me to leave?”

“Yes. Go away.” Tatsuya nodded and made shooing motions with his hand, as though he was warding off some stray dog. “I don’t want to deal with any of this. Just… get out of my sight and I’ll find a different way to get home.”

Seijuurou rolled his eyes. “I can’t. But you can try.” He motioned toward the forest. “Go ahead, try to leave. I won’t follow you in. I’ll be standing right here the whole time.”

Tatsuya narrowed his eyes, then made for the woods as quickly as he could without seeming too desperate to get away from Seijuurou and the path. “Whew…” He sighed as he turned back to look toward the path. “Alright… Time to continue on–”

Before he had taken ten more steps, Tatsuya found a rather large, red tinted sword in his right hand, and he wanted to scream.