I raced forward, gathering all of my bitter strength and entered the courtyard after several minutes of preparing myself for the fight ahead. Luckily for me, Iracebeth spotted the armor Alice used to slay the Jabberwocky, and I was a good fit for it. Unfortunately, Alice was a head taller than me and I slightly sunk into the armor. I could still see though, and move correctly. That's all that mattered.
"Here," Iracebeth voiced and opened a long, silver box at the end of the courtroom. It was similar to the ballroom, but it symbolized a courtroom. There was a podium, dozens of seats that stacked up on one another and a crystal chandelier hanging above us. I wondered what sort of judgement Mirana could cast in here; she was the queen after all. I watched as Iracebeth unsheathed a beautiful sword, shining with the white light of the room. She approached me, setting the handle down in my right palm and smiled.
"Ooh! It's very pretty," I gasped and gave it a swing, fortunately missing Iracebeth by a few inches. She leaped back, growling in irritation.
"Be careful! The vorpal sword is not a toy," Iracebeth warned me. "This very blade was used to kill my Jabber-baby-wocky, and you shall use it to slay the Black Knight." My eyes shifted back to the blade, admiring how it fit in my hand so perfectly.
I was so worried. I had no proper training in swordsmanship, and everyone that I asked told me that it would be easy or it would come to me. McTwisp even told me that the sword speaks for itself, and will guide me. How annoying. Its impossible for a sword to guide me with its slices and dices of an enemy- Oh wait. There was no such thing as impossible here. Maybe they were telling the truth. I sheathed the vorpal sword and took in a breath, anxiety bursting in my heart.
"I'm scared Iracebeth," I murmured. "What if I fail at slaying him? What if I let everyone down?" Her hand fell onto my arm, shaking her large head softly.
"It is impossible for you to fail here," she told me.
"But what if I do?" I snapped. "I could die; we all could die."
"That's a risk we are all willing to take," Iracebeth reminded me. It was still so odd that the cruelest person in Wonderland was being so supportive to me. "Come now, we must gather the guards to fight beside us. Who knows what forces we will be met with." She began to move away, but I stopped her.
"Iracebeth? Can I get your opinion on something?" I asked her, softly. "It's something really important and you can't tell anyone." Iracebeth paused and took a step back to face me. I felt like I could trust her about the whole situation with Time; not him being strange, but the other part.
"What is it?" Iracebeth questioned. I pressed my palms together, feeling my face heat up.
"When I first arrived, Time asked me a very forward question," I began. "I'm just going to come right out and say it. He asked me to marry him." I could see a flash of jealousy echo in Iracebeth's cold eyes, which didn't look too good for me.
"Oh?"
"Yes. Um, I don't know what to do about it," I murmured. "He's been acting so bizarre. He's not himself anymore and it bugs me! Should I just... decline?" I didn't want to, but something was pulling me back from saying yes.
"I think you should wait until this whole thing blows over, and then deal with it," Iracebeth bluntly answered. "You'll realize something about Time that you never have." I raised an eyebrow. What did that mean?
"Do you know something I don't know?" I asked. She shrugged her tiny shoulders, spinning on her heels and began to exit the room.
"We shall see," Iracebeth commented and left me to stand alone, with nothing but the vorpal sword in hand. I gripped it tightly in the ironclad gloves, hearing the metal squeak against the handle. It almost sounded like nails on a chalk board. Quickly, I looped it through the belt I was given and raced off after Iracebeth.
I was greeted by my friends, and hundreds of the white guards. They murmured to one another, making me even more nervous than before. I had to give them that encouraging speech that a hero would give in a film, and nothing made me want to cry more than public speaking. I knew I'd screw this up, but I had to try.
I scrambled up onto one of the benches, a few of the guards noticing me and looked in my direction. That alone made me begin to shake from anxiety. Ugh. Why couldn't I be more brave? Tarrant eyed me, giving me a tiny thumbs up while Mun chirped happily. I smiled at them, and then drew in a breath.
"Excuse me!" I called out, letting my voice do it's own thing. Suddenly, everyone turned towards me and the words in my head disappeared. Crap. "Uh, h-hello! How's everyone doing?"
"Fine!" Tarrant answered with a wide smile.
"A-Ah, well that's good!" I replied, fumbling with my thumbs. "Um.. Let's see.. We all know what we are supposed to do? You know, attack the Black Knight and..." I drawled off, watching everyone whisper to one another as they got more and more confused by every waking moment. Instantly, a new feeling came over me; I felt strong. This was just a speech, right? I could easily do this! I took in another breath, and started over
"The Black Knight isn't our enemy. He has been clouded with his hatred and anger towards our queen and Alice, the visitor from long ago," I commenced my speech. "We do not need to harm him, only make him see reason. I want him to know that someone does care about him, and that is me. Yes, I did not meet him personally, but I understand what he has to go through everyday." I pointed towards the direction of the Red Queen's former castle. "I do not know what we are going to face in there, but we will charge with our hearts full of bravery and strength. We will show no fear, and rescue Mirana, the White Queen and the March Hare." I held up the vorpal sword, letting the light hit the blade and cast down below like a beautiful rainbow. "Let's end this and bring peace to Underland once and for all!"
The guards cheered, raising their swords along with me. I could see McTwisp clapping his paws together, and Cheshire smile the widest I had ever seen him do. I was so glad that was over and done with, but now was the hard part. I didn't want to fight the Black Knight, but I knew in my heart it would come to that. He was too broken to reason with.
They marched off towards Salazen Grum, and I quickly hopped onto the Bandersnatch. He roared quietly, wagging his strange looking tail against the marble. I could tell he was excited.
"Iracebeth, you stay here with the rest. I don't want you to get hurt," I referred to McTwisp, Cheshire and Bayard. Iracebeth nodded her head, understanding that someone had to stay behind. "Tarrant and Mally! I want you to find Mirana and the March Hare as soon as we get there."
"Be safe," Iracebeth murmured. I flashed her a grin, and then jumped slightly as I felt something move behind me. It was Time, sitting behind me on the large beast. I looked back at him and raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you would have stayed," I told him. He gave me a smile and placed a kiss against my head, which undoubtedly made me smile back.
"I made a promise to protect you and that's what I will do," Time answered. I grinned, feeling more courageous than normal and reared up the Bandersnatch. He roared again, this time more loud and rushed off towards the castle. I breathed in the fresh air around me, letting it fill my spirit with adventure. I had to admit; I was extremely excited for this.
To spare you the details, we arrived at the castle in no time. Waiting for us was an army of black knights, ones that looked very similar to their ruler. Time and I managed to sneak inside while the fighting was taking place, and I began to wonder if the enemy was actually out on the battlefield. They all looked the same; it was hard to tell them all apart. I squinted, but Time pulled me inside of the castle and let the doors shut behind me.
There were some dimly lit candles running down the dark corridors, but most of the light source came from the cracks in the walls from the place being vacant for so long. It smelled disgusting, like molding bread and rust. I paced myself down the hallway, until I remembered that the double doors at the end of the hallway led to the ballroom.
"Lets check in here," I murmured and slowly opened the door. Sure enough, I had found the room I was looking for. The first thing I noticed was a large, swirling vortex that took the shape of the mirror Alice and I used to get here. I took careful steps to approach it, watching swirls of purple, blue and black fade into the abyss. What on earth was this?
"Ah! You have arrived," a deep voice boomed from above me. I gasped and stared up, seeing that the Black Knight had perched himself on the chandelier above me. His helmet was removed from his head, exposing his long, raven black hair and crazy eyes that never left mine. With one swift movement, he leaped down onto the ground and removed his bangs from his eyes. "I thought you would never come."
"Surprise surprise!" I laughed slightly at my joke. "Now, what on earth is that? Could you explain before we begin our duel?" The Black Knight chortled, pointing towards the object.
"It's a portal," he explained. "Like I told you, stupid girl. I want to purge the Upperland to Underland, so I can rule both and seek my revenge on the young Alice." His voice dropped when he said her name, and I could see sadness ripple through his eyes.
"Why don't I just reach in and grab her?" I questioned. "I'm sure she'll listen to you. Please, Donte, right? That's your name?" The Black Knight lifted his head, his eyes sparkling with happiness.
"You know my name?" he whispered. I nodded and smiled towards him.
"Yes! Of course. I'd never forget it," I answered. All at once, I saw the happiness fade away and replace with his broken behavior. The Black Knight shook his head, growling deep in his throat and stepped away from me.
"You are fooling me. No one remembers me," he hissed and then turned back to face me. "No one will remember you either once I take off your limbs, one by one!" I shuddered. That didn't sound too pleasant.
"Thanks, but no thanks," I answered. "I'm here to do the taking off limbs!" I held up my sword, but I felt it pull back too far. Suddenly, it was yanked from my hand. I could hear the metal crash on the ground below me. The Black Knight chuckled, dragging a finger across his thin cheeks.
"I knew I made the right decision by making an alliance with you," he said. My eyes widened. I knew he wasn't talking to me, but the person behind me and the only person there was-
"Time."
My heart shattered and I whirled around to face him. I knew it! This made sense why he was acting so strange; he was lying to us all! Time grinned deviously down at me, patting my amber hair and took a large stride away from me.
"Ah, and you fell for the whole act!" he remarked. "You thought I loved you, didn't you? You were mistaken." I couldn't stop the tears that raced down my freckled cheeks, gripping my palms together tightly.
"How could you?!" I nearly yelled. "I put all of my trust in you, and you- You betrayed me!" Time did nothing but chuckle.
"It's such a tragic tale," the Black Knight cooed. "The strong girl who thought she knew everything, only to die at the hands of her loved one. Ooh!" He clapped his hands together. "So scandalous!" I wiped my tears away, all of a sudden feeling woozy. Woah, what was happening? I gripped my head, feeling my knees give out.
"She's succumbing to the gas," the Black Knight murmured. "Shh, Maisie. It'll all be over soon. I promise."
The last thing I heard was him laughing; a creepy laugh, and I blacked out.
Why Time? I thought you loved me.
[ A/N: heyyy. bet you didn't see that coming, right? maybe? okay
anyway, i'm getting a heavy writers block from this story and i don't know what to do. i'm going to ask for your help. if you have ANY ideas or concerns, please message me. i want to continue this story, but i don't know where to turn. if you do, i'll make it up to you. just let me know.
thanks! ]
