Of Roses and Hats
A/N: for those of you who subscribed to my old stories (many of which I deleted) this will be slightly different, not only do I intend to finish this, but it's been 5 or 6 years since I've written a story so hopefully my writing's gotten better.
No I don't own the AiW characters, I'm using Burton-verse, and I just own the OC's.
I had a time scale of Overland vs. Underland, (using physics and shit) but I got myself confused so here's a summary of the time scale: while they are waiting for someone from Overland, the time in Overland speeds up at random until said person is ready to come to Underland.
Prologue:
After reading the events that the Oraculum had foretold, Iracebeth was understandably concerned. She knew that her precious Jabberwocky was very powerful, but she had to face the odds: unless Alice was found and stopped, Iracebeth was sure to lose everything and everyone under her dominion.
"Think Iracebeth, think! You need another plan," she said to herself as she paced around her bedchamber. She walked to the balcony and gazed at her kingdom. Hearing noises and laughter, she looked down at the gardens. Amongst the roses, she saw the children of her nobles playing some odd form of chasing game. Iracebeth remembered playing games of that sort with her bloody sister and various children of her parents' nobles. Everyone always hated playing with her though, whenever she started to lose she would yell 'Off with your head!' and the others would just leave her. Then an idea struck her, "I need an heir!"
Marching through the castle, she barged into the chamber where she was holding the Mad Hatter.
"Tarrant!"
"Yes your grandiose highness?"
"I need you to make a fashionable hat for a noble; it must be able to adjust itself in size according to the wearer."
"But what kind of wearer? Fat, tall, skinny, small—"
"No rhymes! Just make a hat that is a…'fedora' I believe was what you called it. I want it black, silver, and of course red and finished by tonight or it's off with your head."
"Why of course!"
"And have Um help you; don't want you getting any madder just yet." Iracebeth quickly left him to his work while he muttered something about mice and bedposts. "Bloody mad man," she muttered to herself. When she reached the chamber of her head alchemist, he threw open the door and improperly embraced her in a hug.
"Oh Iracebeth! It's been too long!"
"Put me down or I'll have your head!"
"Forgive me," he said as he put her back down, "you see I've just been perfecting a happiness plant. When you pluck the leaves off of it and smoke them through any variety of pipes, you begin to feel so light and high and free…" he lost his train of thought as his gaze started wandering towards the ceiling.
"Honikular," Iracebeth snapped her fingers "focus!"
"Right, so sorry, what do you need from me today?"
"I need to create an heir."
"What?" Honikular looked at Iracebeth feeling quite confused. "But you faked my death and let me practice my powers and alchemy down here because I couldn't give you an heir."
"No not like that, I mean through the Hortibirth spell."
"Hah! Look whose biological clock finally started ticking!" Demitri, Honikular's assistant, sat up laughing (plant joke).
"No it's not that," Iracebeth said, "I just need a way to secure the Crims legacy and bloodline should my Jabberwocky be defeated by that pesky little blonde Alice. Yes Alice has returned, no I don't know where she is, and no I don't wish to talk about it!" Demitri, who had looked like he was about to start asking questions, shut his mouth and plucked more leaves off the happiness plant.
"Ah I see," Honikular said, "then we must get started right away! Demitri, go check the supply closet and go buy anything we are out of. Also please go pick up some wine for our dinner tonight; I'm thinking a nice red one of course." He turned to Iracebeth, "Now, I just need some of your hair and blood as well as some of that from the male you wish to use as the father."
"Oh I was hoping you'd be so kind as to volunteer yours, that way I don't have to give an order that might result in your real death."
"Fair enough, just give us five hours and then return."
Iracebeth spent the five hours holding court and doing her daily ritual of beheadings, croquet, watching her 'fat boys' entertain her, and general horridness. When she returned to Honikular's chamber with the completed hat from Tarrant, she saw Demitri levitating a glittering red rose.
"Ah my queen," Demitri said, "welcome back! As you can see, your heir is ready."
"What?!?! A bloody overgrown rose? I wanted a child not a flower! Off with your—"
"Wait wait wait!" Honikular rushed over to explain, "Your child is in the rose, remember?" Iracebeth just stared at them blankly, obviously not understanding. "The spell locks the child in a flower until the time is right for him or her to be born. Then, when said time is right, the flower opens and the child is born. Remember that's how Demitri came along?"
"Except I was a cute little lily."
"Well, then where do we put the rose?" Iracebeth asked.
"Should Mirana get the crown back, no doubt her supporters will want to destroy everything of yours," Honikular said. "I suggest hiding the flower somewhere in Over world far from the place where Alice fell from."
"But then how will my child find its' way here?" Iracebeth asked, seeming genuinely concerned for once.
"Under land will call to the child when it is time. Is there anything you wish to include with the rose before we send it away?" Iracebeth remained silent and handed A the hat Tarrant had made, as well as an envelope that seemed to have no opening. Honikular floated them over to the rose, and with a flash of their wands, A and Demitri made the items become engulfed in a cloud of red smoke. When the smoke faded, the items were gone.
"Airfare my child," Iracebeth said quietly and left to go deal with Ilosovic; she was hoping what she had heard about him and Um was not true.
1989 – USA
Lily and John were walking home from dinner after celebrating John's promotion at work. As they strolled through the city gardens, Lily grabbed onto her husband's arm.
"John, I'm so proud of you. I know how hard Kramer and Matthews have been working you over at the office."
"Yes Lily, now all that's missing from our lives is a child."
"I agree, a little girl would certainly bring even more joy in our lives."
"Not as much as a little boy would." John replied back teasingly. As they walked by the rose bushes, they heard a strange rustling in the bushes.
Lily grabbed john's arm tighter, "What was that?"
"It sounded like a wounded animal, maybe a cat, I'll go check." Lily let go of John and he went into the rose bushes. He looked down and saw a black basket surrounded by rose petals. "Lily! Come over here and look at this!" When she got to him, he opened the basket, "Oh my God." Inside the basket were a colorful fedora, an envelope, and a baby.
"Who do you think left their child here?" lily asked, reaching in to take out the baby.
"I don't know, but we should go to the police."
"John," lily started to ask, "If no one claims this baby, why don't we adopt her?"
"How do you know it's a girl?"
"I checked."
John paused to think, "If no one claims her, then we'll adopt her. But next time we find a baby in a bush it better be a boy."