Shadows were all that he could see in the dim light of the small room, but it wasn't unnerving for him, they were a comforting companion. Slivers of light streamed through the slightly open curtains in the occupied room. Within the confines of the walls and lazily lounging on the bed was a figure, still half wrapped up in the dark tinted sheets. His eyes were still half closed, narrowing them at the streams of light danced across the sheets, shining onto his face. It did seem late enough that he had gotten some substantial time killed.
It had been awhile since he had a reason to rest, to even take time out of his busy schedule of making deals (and in the opinion of others, ruining lives) to pause a moment to recover. Magic was a wonderful thing to have, never having to worry about eating or sleeping as much as normal mortal man, along with having the power of course. Power was everything.
Raising up the upper half of his body from the plush surface of the bed, a claw-like hand rubbed against his golden tinted face in an attempt to banish away the sleep that threatened to lull him back into its warm grasp. Though sleep was never really necessary for him, it was a nice time to wind down and reflect upon everything, as well as time to rehearse the plan he had plotting within the breeches of his mind, more of a meditative state than actual sleep.
Despite all the deals on the side, he had to keep himself focused and on target. Nothing could distract him from his only goal.
Convincing his body to finally move out of the comfort of the heavenly plush bed, the Dark One forced himself onto his feet, shifted himself from the barely touched room into the hallway, and dragged his still waking up body down the empty corridor. The already unkempt hair was much more messy than normal, some clumps of hair nearly sticking straight up, while bits of golden thread sneaking its way into the strands. Each step the bare feet touched upon as the Dark One descended down to the main floor of the elaborate Dark Castle, his mind continued to recite what had to be done for the day ahead, along with the other desperate and foolishly pitiful cries for help the mortals unknowingly called out for him to answer-at least he would get something out of the foolish cries for his help, from the deals he would make with them. It's never something for nothing with the Dark One.
Approaching the main hall, he lazily waved his hand, the doors opening up before him, sauntering into the large extravagant room he spent most of his time in. Within the back left corner of the rather expansive room was his favorite pastime tool: a spinning wheel, something that had stuck with him from the time he was a young boy, lost and abandoned, to even after he had become the feared Dark One all those years ago.
Spinning was not only a way to create the gold he needed for his spells (though he could just conjure it up with magic), but a way to get lost in the circular motion of the wheels spinning round and round, helping him forget. Forget what, he would never remember at the end of it. At the moment though, spinning was not what he needed.
Positioned in the middle of the room upon a brilliant red patterned rug was a long dark stained wooden table with a singular chair, expertly crafted with intricate carvings in the body, its back facing the large doors the man (if he could be called that anymore) had just entered through. His claw-like fingers ran across the top of this chair as he slowly passed by it, letting the dust fall off onto the ground and lightly gather on his fingers.
"Getting dusty?" A voice called from the other side of the extravagant room, causing the amber eyes to flick up from his slightly dusted fingers. A glare was shot in the direction of the voice's source, a sneer upon his golden glittering face, "What do you want?" The waved gray-brown hair draped over some of his face as he slightly turned his mug towards the newcomer to get a better look at him, framing his face around his cheekbones.
Standing across the room in front of the large glass patched doors of a huge cabinet containing various trinkets and items with special value, was a man in a large black trenchcoat, and a large top hat donning his head, "You were the one who wanted me here."
"Oh," The Dark One paused, letting out a heavy sigh, "Yes, yes. Forgot that I did it seems." His clawed fingers dropped onto the table, focusing on the grooves of the dark table, his voice lowering to a mere whisper, "Must have slipped my mind." A soft chuckle came from the man on the other side of the room, his top-hatted head shaking slightly side to side, "Seems a bit more than just that. Haven't seen you without your boots or your vest in a long time."
Taking a second to take in what the hatter had said, the amber eyes focused down on his own body. Within the confines of his own castle he wore a high collared vest rather than his jacket, ribbed with a crocodile-skinned like lapels that was commonly worn outside of the walls: unlike the norm the Dark One only had a single long sleeved shirt with the frilled at the edges after snugly fitting around his wrists, the dark red tinted shirt with a scaled like pattern, glittering like the body of a goldfish darkened to a crimson red-orange, was the only thing covering his golden tinted chest. His normal dark leather pants wrapped tightly around his legs, the only thing missing was the tall thigh high laced boots: his legs were bare besides the leather pants, his skin exposing itself below his ankle, the smaller shaped feet breathing in the open air. It was slightly odd to the imp, seeing his own feet after so long of not seeing them, especially after the change. He had to wiggle the smaller toes just to remember about them, causing a bit of a chuckle from the hatter.
Glancing back up to the visitor he let out an annoyed sigh, a puff of air escaping his throat, "The last time was an intrusion." His voice danced with a hint of irritation, but he kept it simmered down deciding it was time to go back onto the subject rather than the fact he appeared to be a mess
The man before him was known as Jefferson, also known as "The Mad Hatter" after his trip to Wonderland, 'though a trip there would make anybody mad', The Dark One would remind himself amusingly. This man was one of the few he could actually stand of this world, the other being his apprentice, Regina, only because she was the key to his victory and perhaps that 'scientist' that hailed from the realm known as The Land Without Color. There was another, but her beautiful ivory skin was something he longed to see again though would never been seen.
Magic could transcend much, but not death. One reason why his apprentice was lucky she was the only one to be able to enact the curse, especially after her half-sister Zelina ran off with those slippers from Oz. It was her who delivered the news of the beauty's death, but a small voice in the back of his head, something he hadn't heard since before he became so corrupt by the dark power, told him that she was lying.
Clearing his throat the Dark One focused back into the present, "Did you get what I wanted?" His voice rose with a slight glee, grinning to the Mad Hatter. With a roll of his eyes Jefferson opened up a small bag, "Do I ever disappoint you Dark One?" Reaching his hand into the dark purple velvet bag, the hatter pulled out a small sapphire orb, getting a snort of amusement from the imp-like man, along with a look from him, "Of course, besides that one time." The corner of the hatter's lips crooked down at the look, "But that time doesn't count. I think we both say that was bad judgement on our part." Another glare shot from the Dark One made him correct his words, "On my part," with a hint of disappointment in his tone.
"I thought we agreed never to talk about that again, dearie," The Dark One raised his voice slightly, a flicker of amusement in his voice, getting a shrug in response from the hatter. With a quick stepping stride, he was over by the hatter, taking the sapphire orb in his hands, "Did you find any trace of the others?" A heavy sigh emanated from the hatter as he shook his head, "Couldn't get much out of them-they barely let me get this thing before they tried to cut off my head," Jefferson scowled slightly, "I already had my head taken off once before and I don't want to deal with that again." A small giggle came from the Dark One, holding up the sapphire orb to the light that poured into the room, "It's an undignified death and even more so when you still live after losing your head."
"I have a love-hate relationship with magic," Jefferson huffed, he arms crossed across his chest, "Would be much nicer if people didn't use it to take off heads or other random things." A shiver went through the hatter's body as his mind remembered the events he had experienced in Wonderland.
As the light began to pour onto the orb, brilliant blue colors refracted off of the surface of the orb, lighting parts of the room with a beautiful blue glow, "So," Jefferson dragged on the word, his eyes focused up at the shimmering blue light, "It's just for a light show?"
"Idiot," The Dark One hissed at the Mad Hatter, "Nothing is as it seems, remember?" Grinning to himself like a happy young child with a puppy, he bobbed his head a bit to the sides, "It just looks like what you called 'a light show' for now. Once the other orbs are acquired, then they have a purpose." After a few more seconds of admiring the colors (mostly on Jefferson's part), the clawed fingers wrapped around the orb, banishing away the blue hues, "Now, back to my first question: did you find out where any of the other orbs could be?"
"I got a bit of information about the green colored one and the purple one, but no luck on the red one," Jefferson shrugged, brushing away the disappointment as the lights vanished, "You can come with me there for more information." The first response the hatter got was an unamused look along with slight sneer, "I think I'll pass. I'd rather not have to deal with another realm, especially ones with ancient old women who lock a kid up in a tower and use the child to keep young." Rolling his amber eyes, the Dark One waved away Jefferson, "Take as much gold as you deem fit," turning his back and began to walk towards the table settled in the middle of the room, placing the orb onto the wooden surface.
"So you're giving up on them?" Jefferson raised an eyebrow, taking a step towards the Dark One, as he took a few steps away, "Did you just send me on a wild goose chase for a single orb and you're just going to give up because not all five of them are found?" The hatter gripped the velvet purple bag in his hand pressing the appendage against his chest, anger slightly rising in his body. Swiftly turning on a single foot, the amber eyes once again focused on the hatter, "You underestimate me dearie. I'm not 'giving up' on it. I know exactly where one of these are now, neyah!" He pointed a single clawed finger at the Hatter, "And you are coming as well. It's about time I visited an old friend." Letting out a giggle, his flicked his fingers back, signaling Jefferson to follow, "Bring your hat, we'll need it." Turning away from the Hatter once more, the Dark One raised a hand, dark crimson-red smoke appeared around him, and once it was died down, a large red cloak covered the Dark One's body, an intricate buckle keeping the two sides connected between his clavicles, closed so nobody could see the shirt or pants underneath: the boots below his ankles exposed to the world, and dark red gloves covering his hands.
"How the hell does he do that?" Jefferson shook his head in confusion, then began to go after the Dark One, "Too bad that smoke was too thick, might have ended up like that one time." He grinned slightly, his eyes tracing to the back end of the impish man.
"What did I tell you about talking about that, dearie?!" The Dark One snapped, glaring over his shoulder at the hatter, "Right right," Jefferson's eyes quickly shot back up to the face of the other, taking off his hat and bowed, "My apologies Dark One. Shall we move?" After rolling his eyes the impish man nodded, opening up the front doors of the castle, "Enjoy your color dearie, only your hat will have it." Stepping out into the cool air, the small shrubs brushing in the wind.
"Oh for the love of the gods," Jefferson sighed like a child throwing a tantrum, "Not that place."