Disclaimer: If I owned Alice in Wonderland, there would be much more Malice.
A/N: Malice one-shot. Alternate ending to the movie, the title may be misleading.
Capturing the Queen
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!"*
Alice looked to Mirana, heading to her. Her attentions were diverted as she watched as Tarrant did the futterwacken and she asked Chess of the strange dance. Then, after her friend had finished, she turned her attentions back to her queen. She wished nothing more than to thank Mirana for believing that she could do right, that she could slay the Jabberwock. A frown tugged at her lips.
Nay, t'wasn't true, she wished far more of Mirana than to give the simple thanks.
She wished to take the woman in her arms, to twirl her till they were both giddy, and kiss her thanks. T'was not proper though. Though a champion she may be, a royal she did not make, and blood (especially in Underland) was binding. Knowing such, though she did, she still wished to share such emotions so strongly that her heart ached.
Instead of acting upon those instincts, instead of taking the woman in her arms, Alice watched her. The White Queen stooped and took the Jabberwock's blood into a vial, fighting a morbid obsession with the substance and her disgust with it and herself, Mirana gagged. The queen stood, and headed towards her champion.
"Blood of the Jabberwocky. You have our everlasting gratitude," she said, reaching her champion, "And for your efforts on our behalf."
Swiftly, she handed the purple vial off. Alice had the feeling, vague though it was, that this was goodbye-perhaps forever-and a frown tugged once more at her lips.
"Will this take me home?" she asked, trying to sound enthusiastic, though her eyes did betray much sorrow.
"If that is what you choose," Mirana muttered in response, her own sorrow far more outward, capturing her expression and dimming her aura.
The queen's hand came up to stroke Alice's cheek, and Mirana battled the urge to do more.
"I would stay if she would ask, I would stay if she did not want me to leave," Alice thought to herself, melting into the touch, a smile gracing her lips though her eyes remained filled with sorrow.
Mirana seemed to understand that Alice would leave if nothing were done to stop her, and it tore her apart. She would miss the woman horridly and wished nothing more than for Alice to stay, but knew that she would have to ask, and she'd never done well with asking.
Questions required words and voice and though Mirana had both, she had not the heart to do so-to ask, to demand, that Alice stay. She did not want to waste the woman's time, and she did not want to pressure Alice to stay only for the young woman to regret it. How her heart longed! As if there was a hole in it-nay-a half it had never known to be in want of, till it was found. That half, though within her reach for now, would soon be out of bounds if she did not take action. Such an idea did not appeal to her heart, and for once it won out over the queen's head.
Mirana's other hand came up to cup Alice's face, and soon she pressed her lips against the younger woman's-giving a kiss to her most willing champion. Against her head though it was, it was grand and it was love, and it was most certainly worth it-Alice was worth breaking her silence for, Alice was worth asking for, though even then Mirana knew she could never bring herself to demand of the woman. They broke apart, Mirana's hands slowly releasing Alice, the one still stroking her cheek.
"I want you to stay," she muttered softly, "but I dare not capture you-you are free to do as you will."
"But Mirana," Alice began with a smirk, taking up her queen's hand and pressing the vial into it, "you have already captured me."
*Lines from 'The Jabberwocky' by Lewis Carrol.
