The Weapon

On the back side of Zuria’s half-destroyed house, a magnificent grass field extended until it turned into a dense patch of woods in the distance.

The grass blades swayed languidly with the gentle breeze, and for the first time ever I was standing under the sun in this… dress.

Gotta say, the air felt kinda nice going through my long hair, though.

…Actually, why was my hair still long even without the dress? I forgot to ask the caterpillar lady before she knocked me unconscious.

Whatever, I had no time to think about that right now.

A few feet in front of me was Zuria, standing solemnly in her dark clothes; the sun reflected on her glasses made it almost impossible to see her eyes, even with her hat on.

Resting on the outer wall of the house was Pierce, arms crossed as he observed us in silence - yeah, silence. For probably the first time ever.

“...What are we doing here?”

I finally asked, after I realized Zuria had asked me to stand in place yet gave me no further instructions.

“I’m going to teach you how to use your weapon.”

“Hah!? What!? Wait a sec—”

“Wait for what?” Pierce broke his silence. It was too good to be true. “Do you wanna die in this place or something? If you die, it reflects poorly on us Clovers too, you idiot.”

“But I’ve never been in a fight before!”

“Never? With that mouth of yours?”

“S-Shut up!”

Getting punched for talking too much doesn’t count as a fight, does it?

I don’t have to pretend I landed any hits in front of these two because they’ll just assume I have experience, which I don’t!

“It’s all right, Alice,” Zuria spoke quietly. “You don’t need to know how. You’ll learn.”

“What!?”

This time both Pierce and I snapped at her.

“You didn’t train her at all and you expect her to start learning now?”

“Yeah! Are you crazy? I can’t even use magic!”

I blurted that out before I realized what I said.

Pierce looked at me with the widest, most confused eyes I’ve ever seen.

Zuria did the same, except there was something terrifying in hers that made my skin crawl with absolute fear.

…….Ssshit.

Okay, so she never explicitly told me to keep quiet about it, but I remember Zuria mentioning that my sister had the strongest magical powers she’s seen on a Spade before. I dismissed it as her just saying things, like she does. I tune out most of it anyway.

I could only guess that she meant it literally now, and that magic was something innate that some people had and some didn’t, and if strong magic is something an Alice needs then what I just said would completely blow my cover.

All of this rushed through my head as a bead of sweat formed down my brow, and before I knew it, Pierce was glaring at me and opening his mouth.

“Hey, what the hell did you just—”

“Of course you have magic, Alice,” Zuria immediately cut him off.

I felt both relief and anxiety at her stopping him; I couldn’t decide which of the two of them I feared more at that moment.

“It’s been almost a year, so you probably forgot, but I did say I recruited you not just for your name and kindness, but because you have a strong affinity with the magic of Wonderland.”

She lied with a straight face, and I immediately understood she was trying to throw Pierce off the scent. Still, it kinda sucked that it was at my expense. I had no choice but to play along, though.

“Ah, right, right. You did say that, yeah. Silly me, forgetting all about it.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and laughed awkwardly so I could sneak a peek at Pierce’s face.

…Yeah, he looked utterly unconvinced. I guess my acting could use some polishing.

“But it’s all right, Alice,” Zuria continued, “it’s not too late to learn. Your powers might simply need some time to adjust to the land. The best way to learn is by using your weapon.”

Ugh. Apparently there was no escaping the weapon thing.

I admit part of me was curious, and maybe even a little excited; I always wanted to hold a weapon - a real one, heavy and dangerous, and swing it unabashedly against an enemy that leaves me no choice but to slice them in half.

I made my best effort to keep it cool and not sound too eager.

“...Fffffine. I’m all ears, now.”

Zuria nodded at me with a small smile.

“The Alice Spade’s weapon manifests through the Alice Spade Pendant - I believe you still have it with you, yes?”

“The pendant…?”

Oh, right. That thing I took from my sister’s corpse.

I feel around the pocket of my dress, pulling out the gaudy trinket to examine it again.

The gold rim around the red gem with embossed card suits and the ‘A’ in the middle of it… could this be my— rather, Alice’s weapon?

“You can use that to summon Amanita.”

Zuria said as she pointed at the pendant, and I frowned.

“...What’s an Amanita?”

The word sounded oddly familiar - like something I’ve heard before, but I couldn’t really place it.

Was it a blade? A gun? …A scythe?

“It’s a mushroom,” Pierce said, as if reading my mind.

“A mushroom!?” I whipped my head to look at him. “How’s that gonna help me!?”

“Please listen until the end, Alice,” Zuria said in a strict tone.

I growled under my breath, but waited for her explanation.

“Amanita’s the name of the Alice Spade’s weapon - just as Posthaste is the name of my pocket watch, for example.”

Oh, so it’s just a name. Cool. I still don’t know what the hell my weapon is, though.

“My mallet’s called Dowel,” Pierce said with misplaced pride.

I rolled my eyes.

“Nobody asked.”

“You were dying to know!”

“Alice, please,” Zuria sighed my name with exasperation as if I were the one picking a fight.

“What!? He started it!”

“Started what!? I just told you my weapon’s name!”

“Amanita is a special weapon,” Zuria continued, ignoring our bickering. “It’s unlike anything in your world, to my understanding.”

…Okay, now I really was curious.

“Hold the pendant in your palm and face it forward— towards me. All you have to do is call its name, and it should answer to you.”

I swallowed.

“...And you’re sure it’ll work?”

I knew this was my sister’s weapon and I wasn’t exactly sure how things worked over here, but what if it knows I don’t have any magic or something?

Zuria simply looked at me with her usual soulless eyes.

“It should work……… Probably.”

“Probably!?”

“We won’t know unless we try.”

“Ugh…”

She was right, but I didn’t like it!

On the other hand…

Who doesn’t dream about holding a magical artifact, screaming a random ass word, and having it do something cool right after? I wasn’t about to waste that chance, no matter what, so I decided to ignore Pierce’s judgy neon eyes on me.

I cracked my neck and stood with my feet apart, holding the pendant in my palm, making sure it was facing Zuria.

Then, I took a deep breath.

“Amanita!”