Little Girl

She popped the locket open and closed again; Karma was going to go crazy. It'd been longer than she even knew since she'd had a cigarette, and the nicotine addiction was going to be the death of her. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself not to think about it, instead concentrating on what Cheshire was telling her.

"We're nearly teh the ol' Kingdom. When we get there, we can set up camp'n look fer the Hole tomorreh. Soun' good?" He turned to face her, and nearly laughed at her face. "Yeh seem tense."

"You have no fucking idea," she grumbled, opening and closing her locket once more.

"'S pretty," he mused, pulling a silver metal case from inside his jacket. Even before it was open, Karma knew what was inside. "Cigarette?"

"You're my best friend, oh my God!" The words tumbled out in a rush as she reached for the proffered cancer stick, promptly fishing her zippo back out of her jeans and lighting it. This time he did laugh at her. He, too, lit one up, and they traveled in a smoky silence for another half hour or so. Flicking the remaining stub away from her, Karma sighed happily, content once more. "Sorry."

"Fer what?" Cheshire cast a sideways glance at her, tossing his own stub aside. He glanced back at her locket, then met her eyes again.

"Well," she began ringing her hands, nervously almost, "I was probably a bit of a bitch to you before, and I feel bad. I get cranky if I don't get a cigarette, and that's the first one I've had in like, two days. It was starting to wear on me, yunno?" He laughed again, clapping her on the shoulder.

"I understand, trust meh." He sighed a little and patted Gwen, glancing around the dusky forest. "Pret'y locket," he said eventually, breaking the semi-uncomfortable silence that had fallen on them. She looked down at her chest, and the heart shaped clock-locket resting there, and instinctively grabbed it.

"Thanks," she chuckled a little, unconsciously popping it open and closed, "My mom gave it to me for my birthday one year... before she died, actually."

"I'm sorry."

She shook her head, "Me too. But I'm over it now. We never really got on well, anyway."

Another silence settled on them, until Cheshire clicked his tongue a few times, and both horses stopped. He pushed some branches out of their way, and led Karma into the Kingdom of the Knights. "We oughta be safe here, Charlie's got so many alarms set up that nothin'd get through withou' one o' us noticin'." She nodded quietly, looking around at the ruined city. "Jack's been tryin' teh fix it up a bit, make it a monumen' er somethin'. Hasn't quite gotten down teh i', ye'.

"I noticed," she whispered, sliding off Blanche and walking around. A hand went up to grasp her necklace, and she folded her arms. At least there's a bed here, she decided, taking note of the delapidated, but still better than the ground again, bed. She turned back to see Cheshire gathering wood for a fire and started helping him, ignoring his protests that he could do it himself.

After dinner (borogrove again, at Karma's request), they both sighed, when he asked the question that had been bothering him for a bit.

"Yeh say yeh an' yer mum didn' get along; wha' happened?"

It caught her so off guard that she jumped a little, stuttering a bit, before gathering her thoughts. "I dunno... we were just total opposites, yunno? Like, she was miss girly girl-always wore a skirt-had to have her nails done-type. And she wanted me to be like that. And well, to say the least...."

"Yer no'."

"Right," she kind of smiled, "we fought about it a lot, with my dad always caught in the middle. Then, when I turned 13, she gave me this. Said that her mom gave it to her when she was 13, and she wanted to continue it. Just when things started to look good for us, she was in a car crash. Drunk driver T-boned her at 87 miles an hour." Bowing her head, Karma sighed a little, ignoring the urge she suddenly got to cry. "She died almost instantly, which was good. But the thing that bugs me the most is that the guy who hit her seemed to have no remorse. I mean, granted, he was drunk. But when my dad and I saw him at the hearing... he grinned at me. Like he had done us a favor. I don't think I've ever been so angry in my life as I was then--"

Cheshire scoffed a little bit, "Yeh seem pret'y angry all the time. Bu', considerin', I guess I can' really blame yeh."

She sniffled, and wiped under her eyes. "Yeah."

"Aww shit, I didn' mean to make yeh cry...." She heard him smack his forehead, and laughed a little.

"Not crying. Just... sniffly." She looked up and mustered a smile, which wasn't hard to do when she looked at him and the face he was making. "I don't cry." He nodded and pulled his cigarette case out again.

"Wan' one? Don' wan' yeh gettin' cranky on meh again." He smirked, and she reached over to take one.

"It's safer for all those involved." She smirked, as well, dangling the tip into the fire to light it.

-----

"Your majesty," Charlie bowed almost all the way over as he entered Jack's study. The King waved his hand.

"Sir Charles, there's really no need for that." He sighed and returned to his desk, shuffling some paper work nervously.

"You wanted to see me, sire?" The Knight straightened himself up and marched towards the desk, clasping his hands behind his back once he stopped. Jack finally sat and nodded.

Resting his chin in his hand for a moment, he finally spoke. "I need you to get a search party together for Agent Gilmore and the girl. I have an annoying niggly feeling that something has gone wrong. He hasn't kept me informed like I requested, and I can't afford for something to happen to either of them."

Charlie nodded a couple of times, and bowed again. "It shall be done my liege, as you command, it shall be done. On my honour as a Knight, on the blood of my ancestors, in the name of the Red King and all he stood for, I shall assemble--"

"Yes, yes, good good. Now, if you please," Jack made a motion for the rambling Knight to leave, and once he did, the King folded his arms and leaned onto his desk. All he needed now was someone to tell him his mother had escaped, and was planning to overthrow him.

"Sire?"

Bloody hell.

A/N;; Gasp! Ha, ok, told you guys plot was coming. It's just coming very slowly. x] A side note on Charlie's rambling speech; I just watched Men in Tights again recently, and I kinda wanted to make him a bit like Robin. x] Couldn't resist it, really. But anywho, the plot bunnies are slowly manifesting! :] And in case you were wondering what her necklace looks like, I now have a pic of it on my profile. :]

"Little Girl" is owned by Green Day (STFU :])