Shizuka skipped happily through tunnel, thinking all the while 'If I meet the Queen, I should be home in no time~'. As soon as she got out of the tunnel she was greeted by a scythe to her neck. She looked up to see a woman in a knight like outfit holding it and typing in a phone with the other hand.
[Who are you and what are you doing here?] the voice from the phone spoke.
"I'm Shizuka Heiwajima and I'm here to see the queen."
[Do you have an appointment?]
"...No..."
[Then I'm afraid you cannot be here...]
"Please, just let me speak to her."
[I'm sorry miss, this is for your own safety.]
"Screw my safety!"
The woman in a knight suit hunched over in defeat and sighed.
[Very well, come with me.]
The woman motioned for Shizuka to follow and she did as she was told. As the knight walked with Shizuka following, she noticed four people painting roses and red. She stopped to ask them what they were doing.
"Excuse me, but why are you painting the roses?" she asked.
"These two idiots planted white roses instead of red." The man with a black toboggan on shot a glare at the two from earlier near the cardboard sign.
"He handed me the wrong seeds!" the girl exclaimed
"But you planted them!" he yelled back.
"Ya, but-!"
"Would you two shut up!? Thanks to you, that rabbit confiscated my van…" a longer haired man silently sobbed to himself.
The man in the toboggan turned to look at Shizuka.
"I'm Kyohei Kadota, by the way. The 'twins' are Erika and Walker and that guy whining about his van is Saburo Togusa."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Shizuka Heiwajima," the blonde reached out and shook Kadota's hand.
"No! Her name is Alice!" Erika and Walker said synchronically ",Izaya-san told us so."
"Plus 'Alice'' is much prettier and more unique than 'Shizuka'' don't you think, Dota-chin?" the girl asked smiling brightly at Kadota.
"Don't call me that." He frowned.
Suddenly a very loud horn went off.
"Presenting her royal majesty, Queen Kanra Orihara!" came the rabbit's voice sounding enthusiastic but when Shizuka looked at him, his face seemed not amused.
Wait 'Queen Kanra Orihara'? Please tell me that I heard that wrong. The blonde looked at the figure standing proudly beside him. Nope, It's her. She's in a big ball gown and holding a staff and an out of place crown, but it is her.
"Why are these dripping with red paint?" she questioned, giving a menacing glare at the four painters.
Erika, Walker and Togusa all sputtered around looking for a good excuse.
"If you don't have an answer, then off-," she was cut off by Kadota's voice.
"You've spilt so much blood after chopping off people's heads that it has started to drip all over the roses."
Kanra frowned and sighed ", I admire you for trying to protect your friends, Dota-chin, but I can tell a lie if I hear one. I'll spare your lives until Friday but no longer than that. You can say your goodbyes to family and friends or in your case anime and van. After that, off with your heads. Of course if I were you I wouldn't bother dreading and waiting for that day and just take my life from the tallest building now."
Kadota nodded and sighed before being escorted out by the knight from earlier, along with the rest of the van gang.
"Ah-! Kanra, that's a little harsh, don't you think!? They were even trying to fix the problem!" Shizuka shouted at the queen.
Suddenly Kanra let out a yelp.
"Rokuju! Why is there a beast in my garden!? And why is she addressing me so familiarly!?"
"It's a girl your majesty and not to mention a really attractive one at that," Chikage winked at Shizuka before looking back at Kanra ",I brought her to Wonderland, because I thought she might provide some entertainment."
Kanra frowned and studied the blonde as she spoke up ", Ya, and I want home and that damn-!"
She was cut off by the raven haired queen's voice that was no circling around her along with its hawkeyed speaker ", Look up and don't twiddle your fingers. Also don't cuss, it's very unbecoming."
Shizuka, despite her hatred toward being told what to do especially by a flea, did so.
"Good. Now where are you from and where are you going?"
"I'm from Ikebukuro and I want to find my way home." The bottle blonde stated.
"'Your way'?" she laughed ", Good luck with that."
"What is-?"
"Do you play chess?"
"Not really."
"Do you know the rules?"
"I suppose, yes."
"Come on then." The red eyed girl quickly and excitedly led Shizuka into the castle and down a hallway.
"By the way what is your name?"
"It's Shi- Alice." Shizuka said, in fear that Kanra might recognize her and never let her home.
"Very nice name, but you need to add 'your majesty' at the end."
"Ah- My name is Alice….your majesty"
"Very good." Kanra smiled.
She sat down at a chess table near a large window and set out a bunch of pieces on the bored.
"What's this?" Shizuka asked.
"Chess." The queen smiled..
"But-…It has shoji pieces and Othello pieces too…"
"Yes. It does. It's more like the game of life, rather than chess, I suppose. Just watch." She smiled and moved a piece then pointed out the window where a gang fight started and blue and yellow started to clash.
"It controls them?"
"Yes, and it's your turn." The queen smiled at the blonde again, moving shizuka's hand by force to the king shoji piece.
Shizuka stared at the piece for a minute, before taking her hand off the piece ", I don't want to play."
Kanra stood up immediately ", Hmph! If you're not going to entertain me, then off with your's and the rabbit's-!"
"I'll play!" Although Shizuka enjoyed the thought of that stupid rabbit loosing it's head she preferred to keep hers. The queen nodded and sat back down. Shizuka went to move a piece but and looked up to see a certain Cheshire appear behind the queen and imitate her, causing her to let out a laugh.
"What-?"
"Nothing, it's just the cat behind you-"The queen looked back right after Izaya disintegrated into thin air.
"What cat?" she turned back around.
Great now she looks like a liar.
"Must've been my imagination." She shrugged and gave a fake smile.
"Then hurry up and make your move." Shizuka went to move again and the cat appeared again, this time stealing Kanra's crown and putting it on top his own before sitting cross legged in mid-air and mouthing 'Off with their heads!' This caused the blonde to let out another laugh.
"Would you stop it!? We're both going to lose our heads! Do you want that!?"
The cat put a finger to his lip, thinking, then smiled and nodded. This caused Shizuka to give him a 'what the hell is wrong with you?' look.
Kanra, with an edge to her voice, stood up and pulled out a knife pointing a knife at Shizuka's neck ", Alice, you're really starting to annoy me, off-."
"Don't even start Kanra! There was a damned cat behind you!"
"She yelled at me!," the queens eyes widened and she whined in an almost childlike tone "Off with her head."
"Ah- Your majesty, don't you think she should have a trial first?" Rokuju said worriedly.
"No! Beasts don't get free trials."
"I'm not-!" Shizuka started.
"Even so, your majesty, don't you think she should have a trial?"
"Fine." The queen pouted.
