He was doing his job. He was the Executioner.
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Each morning I appear
To lie at your feet,
All day I will follow
No matter how fast you run,
Yet I nearly perish
In the midday sun
What am I?
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Alice woke in a sweat, breathing heavily as she jerked again to snap herself out of the sleep induced haze.
A nightmare, that much was obvious. The familiar tingling feeling, of just having escaped near death slowly began to disperse, leaving her shivering from both the cold and the lack of blood sugar running through her veins. Her mouth was fuzzy, and her head felt full of cotton wool which was never a good state to wake up in, especially in dark room.
Sitting up, she realised that the room she was in was unknown to her, looking more like something from a palace than the forest bed she last remembered. With the entire room looking like it was made from marble and glass, Alice felt small and cold in the large, empty space.
One of the moons of Wonderland shone in through the window, lighting up the room as it bounced off the marble. Scratching her head she blinked in an attempt to rid herself of excess sleep, yet the cloud remained.
Everything felt wrong somehow, numb. As if she'd been given a barrel full of pain killers without being told, or – more ominously- she'd been drugged to keep quiet. Yet, despite the fact the room was unknown to her; it didn't seem as if she was in any immediate danger. No guards stood at her bedside, and she wasn't chained to the bed or in a cell. Where ever she was, the owner was a friend, not a foe. However that didn't explain the anesthetised feeling that washed over her everything she moved her head. Clearing her throat, she spoke softly.
"Hatter?" Her echo was her only reply, bouncing off the walls back to her. Uncomfortable under the clinging sheets, she pushed the white covers away and stepped onto the cold marble floor. She needed to find Hatter. If he was here then she knew she was safe.
"Hatter?" Still getting no reply she looked out into the hallway. It was lighter than her room, windows covered the wall opposite her room, and the candelabras on the walls where lit. Yet it was empty.
"Hello?" crossing her arms over her chest, as she didn't feel at all comfortable in the tunic nightgown she was wearing, she let the door close behind her and continued forward.
She didn't like this, the emptiness. She was used to it of course, living in the shop for two months had gotten her used to creepy places at night, but after two weeks of having someone around, closely around, the fact she was in a strange place alone without Hatter or Dormouse worried her – in reality it scared her but she'd never admit that fact, especially to Hatter.
Get a grip Alice. You can look after yourself. You're no damsel in distress.
Standing up straight, Alice continued ahead. She had to admit, she often gave herself good advice, the only trouble came when she ignored it.
Common Sense, ladies and gentlemen. She thought, shaking her head. The degrading voice inside your head.
Alice stopped. Finally she could hear something, although it was faint. A knocking if she was correct. But it sounded wrong somehow. Muffled. Like a dead man knocking on his coffin door.
"Hello." Alice called out softly, heading towards the knocking. As she got closer it began to sound less and less like knocking, more like someone drumming their fingers against a wooden table. Anxious. Irritated.
"Alice." Alice froze. That voice wasn't Hatter's, nor anyone else she knew. It was rough, a voice she'd heard coming only from chain smokers or damage throats. The fact she was alone quickly returned to her, even with her sense screaming at her to get back into her room.
"A-l-ice." The way it stretched out her name, as if it was a delicate flower sent cold shivers down her spine, sweat trickling down her neck causing her hairs to stand on end. She could no longer feel the cold, and the faint headache had disappeared. Now her entire body was setting itself up to either fight or run. Goosebumps appeared on her arms, and her breathing got even shallower, she could feel herself shivering violently and the cool sweat hitting her back like wet leaves.
But she controlled herself.
Grabbing her hand to stop herself shaking, she called out.
"Whose there?"
"You're very late indeed." Alice screamed. The voice suddenly appeared behind her, although she was sure it had been in front only moments ago. A sharp pain burst from her upper arm as she spun around, turning only to darkness. She hissed as her arm began to burn, grabbing it in reaction.
Alice.
"Wake up Alice!" The voice felt as if it was right beside her. It screamed in her head, rattling her skull and almost allowing another screaming to escape.
The castle walls began to collapse around her.
She could feel the owner's breath down the back of her neck, cold and his voice grating against her ear drums.
"You're bleedin'."
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"Alice! Wake up! You're bleeding!"
Alice jerked awake; Hatter's confused face looming over her. The disorientation hit her before anything else, so much that she didn't remember who the man in front of her was for several seconds.
"Hatter!" Alice gasped enveloping the man in a hug. He fell backwards, quickly regaining his balance to returning the hug.
"What happened Alice!" he exclaimed when they pulled away, looking at her arm. As Hatter pulled at it – although he was gentle – the pain came rushing back to Alice. A long, deep gash ran across her upper arm, the blood running down onto the white covers, soaking her tunic.
"One minute your sleeping soundly, the next your screaming bloody murder and that –" he motioned to her arm. "appears. You nearly scared me half to death." Hatter continued babbling on, standing while saying something about getting the Queen but Alice was still staring at the gash. It wasn't right, she knew that. This was Wonderland, not Springwood. There was no Freddy Krueger running around killing random teenagers. If that was the case, the Queen of Hearts would be the least of their worries. And yet, the gash was real, the dream musthave been real, and Wonderland was certainly real.
"I-" she finally replied. "I don't know."
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She'd been asleep too long. So much time had been wasted with her run in with the Lost Children, time she didn't have.
Time Wonderland didn't have.
The Hierophant sighed as he dispersed the image of the red headed human girl who still stared at the gash on her arm. He was beginning to sound like the White Rabbit of all people, which to most Wonderlanders was an omen. A bad one at that. He twitched his spindly wooden fingers, causing the strings they were attached to, to move above him. He never could explain to people what was holding them up, it tended to be a difficult task if you had no idea how it worked yourself. Stepping away from the Glass, away from the swirling colours and the faces of those the Queen had taken he searched through the books. He needed to find the girl's, needed to know what she feared. He needed her to keep moving.
They didn't have much time, Wonderland didn't have much time, the souls he'd given to the Queen of Hearts whispered in his head constantly, the questions the same with each. Why?
And he couldn't answer any of them.
He regretted what he'd done to the red head, but he knew it was necessary. She would never have woken up if he hadn't cut her, he knew so. He'd seen it.
Morpheus!
The Hierophant flinched inwardly, his puppet grin showing no emotion. His Queen was calling him, and he had to answer. Already, her mark was starting to burn his wooden body and the dark haze she'd created twist his thoughts, everything in him pulling him back to the mirror and under the Queen's gaze.
Turning back to the glass, the Queen appeared, her usual flaw free face contorted onto a hideous grimace. Bowing lowly under the weight of her mark, he kept back the bitter remarks he'd used when first put under her spell. The where useless, and he needed her trust to keep the human safe before she arrived at the Looking Glass.
"Morpheus." She spat, gripping the sides on her throne so tight he saw the metal deform.
"Yes, your Majesty?" he asked, standing as straight as he could. The Queen leant back in her throne, the grimace softening slightly.
"I have a job for you."
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