MY SCHOOL STARTS NEXT WEEK D:! So… A quickie, short chapter for you guys.
Thank you for all your kind reviews, I appreciate them all and free hugs for you! Also this chapter is mightily short, and I enjoyed my Thackeray's character here. The next chapter will be much longer I assure you when our family is reunited with our dearest Alice and Mr Tarrant. We can all imagine the cat fight (pun intended) with the two bickering Hatter and cat already.
Alright! Enjoy this short chapter! I'll post the next one asap!
Chessur guided the Hare, floating up each stairway with bright wide eyes, alert for any signs of danger. He was pretty much pissed at the moment, concerning all things that had to do with Alice and the Hatter. Tarrant was, Chessur's lip curled, unfortunately – as it would seem, was becoming more trustworthy. Of course, Chessur would never admit that out loud, never ever. He still did not trust that disgusting Hatter, and wondered to himself why Alice did.
"Did you hear that?" The Hare gasped, suddenly grabbing onto Chessur's fine thin tail.
"Hear what?" He answered, calmly tilting his head slightly, straining his ears for any sound of movement.
They halted, remaining stiff and still. There was no noise, nor anything that could be counted as that, so Chessur turned to the Hare, an eyebrow raised.
"Maybe it's nothing." Thackeray let go of Chessur's tail and grabbed onto his own long ears, twisting them lightly, "I don't like it here." He announced bluntly.
"I don't either." Chessur agreed, nodding his head, "Let's take a quick look around, perhaps Alice has already gotten Nivens out of this smelly prison hole."
He started moving to the next floor, the ward was unnaturally silent and empty, he told himself inwardly, all the cells unoccupied, and clean. The Hare was stumbling behind, his pink nose twitching in nervousness.
"Can we go yet?" Thackery asked, his eyes darting left and right, looking rather crazed, "I really don't like this!" His voice echoed the stairwell.
"Hush!" Chessur snapped back, the Hare's fear clearly affecting him too, "Two more floors and we can get out of here."
He was feeling rather afraid, of course, who wouldn't? But he was definitely not going to act like the Hare.
"Will you hold me?" came a whisper from behind Chessur.
The cat ignored him, and peeked round an open prison ward door. It was as empty as the last few floors he had checked.
"CHESSUR, HOLD ME."
Chessur's fur bristled as he turned around to glare at the Hare. "SHUSH." He growled, pointing his paw at the Hare accusingly, "Keep quiet, we're almost done here."
"BUT I'M SCARED." The Hare's left eye began twitching uncontrollably.
The Cheshire cat shook his head and tried to block out the noisy gasps coming from the Hare. Really, did he not understand the meaning of 'Shush'?
"Chessur… I really don't like it here…" The Hare hissed, trailing behind the cat.
Chessur bit his tongue from spitting back a nasty comment as he headed up to the last top floor.
"I REALLY REALLY DON'T LIKE IT HERE." The Hare's voice went an octave higher.
The cat was about to turn around to seriously wound that stupid Hare when he heard a very quiet, but definite, 'Thackeray?' Apparently, it seemed like the Hare heard it too.
"OH MY GOODNESS, I'M GOING INSANE, THE PRISON IS TALKING TO ME, IT'S TAUNTING ME, IT'S TAUN-"
"SHUT IT HARE." Chessur pressed his tail against the Hare's mouth, and shudder at the saliva on his bony tail. That was just beyond disgusting.
"Nivens?" He called out curiously, ears pricked up for any detection of reply.
His voice seemed to echo about the entire building.
"Chessur?" went an excited gasp, "I'm here!"
Chessur's mouth curled into a big grin, "Follow me, Thackeray, and for goodness sake keep quiet." He told the Hare before releasing his tail.
The March hare nodded ever so lightly as he tailed Chessur up to the highest floor and burst through the prison ward doors.
They spotted Nivens huddled against a metal cell, looking matted with blood and bruises.
At the sight of Chessur and Thackeray, Nivens could not help but grin widely, "Oh Chessur! How pleased am I to see you here!" He wheezed happily.
"And Thackeray! I see that Alice has saved you!" He clapped his tiny paws together, his eyes wide in elation.
He pressed himself nearer against the metal bars holding him back. Chessur watched, an eyebrow raised, as the March Hare tried to hug the rabbit between the metal cell bars.
"If I may interject this heartwarming moment," he began, raising an unsheathed paw, "We need to get ourselves out of here."
Swiftly, he swiped at the giant lock that was holding the bars closed. It broke and fell onto the floor with a clang, while the cell doors trust open. Nivens bounced out, grinning, "Well done, Chessur!" He praised, wiggling a paw at the Cheshire cat.
The cat rolled his eyes, but a wide grin was imprinted on his face.
The March Hare looked absolutely relieved. "Let's go please." He declared.
Nivens dusted his coat, and nodded his head at the Cheshire cat.
It was only when they reached outside of the towering gates of the castle when Nivens spoke out, his eyes wide with disappointment.
"The white queen is dead." He announced quietly, turning to Chessur, a sad frown upon his lips. "I saw them take her away for the execution."
The March Hare halted in his tracks, a loud gasp escaping him, his nose twitching nervously. "WHAT?" He managed to yelp out.
The cat froze, as he turned to face the white rabbit, eyes wide in shock. The white queen? Dead? What would become of Underland now?
Nivens bit his upper lip as he patted the March Hare's shoulder trying to calm him now. "I heard from the guards that they cut her head off… along with the rest of her army." He told Chessur, shaking his head, "The red queen ordered it to be so."
Chessur's fur bristled at the name. The red queen. How he loathed that disgusting monstrosity.
"But Alice…" He began his voice sudden foreign to his ears, "How is she going to defeat the queen by herself?"
"She isn't." Thackeray piped up suddenly, his eyes narrowed. "She has us."
Chessur let out a purr of annoyance, "We're not enough. Haven't you noticed the red queen has an army? Not forgetting about the jabberwock." He shuddered at the thought of the beast and its red evil eyes.
The white rabbit nodded in agreement.
The March Hare looked angry. "So we're going to give up?" He hissed, pushing Nivens' paw off his shoulder roughly and glared coldly at the Cheshire cat. "We haven't even tried and you're thinking about running away?"
He turned to Nivens, a determined look in his eyes.
"I've been tortured. My skin torn and dipped into hot scalding oil, my legs torn and replaced with these," He wiggled his mechanical legs, "And I have never once thought about giving up hope for Underland. I knew for a fact that I would be saved and Alice came to my rescue."
He eyed Chessur warily. "We've gone through quite a bit already, and now just because the white queen is gone, you want to quit?" He frowned and folded his arms. "I'd known better, I would call you a coward, Chessur."
Chessur's eyes narrowed, and his lip curled. "Have you lost your mind? Pray tell me this then, how are we going to win?" He retorted coolly. Quite a change from the Hare who almost wet himself in the prison, Chessur growled inwardly.
The March Hare sniffed, "We have one thing the red queen doesn't have."
Both Nivens and Chessur exchanged curious glances.
"Tea?" Chessur snorted sarcastically.
"Yes, but that's not it." The Hare replied seriously.
"We have Alice's sanity."
There was a pause.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nivens blinked, looking confused.
"You'll understand soon enough." Thackeray shook his head solemnly before starting to move off, "Don't lose hope yet, Chessur, we'll pull through."
Chessur cocked his head. Alice's sanity? It was true, Underland was polluted with insanity from the red queen, thus resulting all the creatures going mad or becoming like, for example, the Hatter. What? So Alice's sanity would be the one to save them all? From the huge red queen's army? Really.
He frowned, before starting to float forward, deep in thought. What did the Caterpillar say about Alice being the one to save them all? Did he mention anything else?
No. All the stupid creature said was 'Alice is the one. She will save us all from this insanity that pollutes Underland. She will stop the red queen and bring peace back to our land.' How specific.
Chessur thought the only way that Alice was going to save Underland, was that she would be the one to find the white queen and the whites' army. Now, with them all dead…
But she did manage to collect a few useful allies. The Hare and the Hatter. Maybe she could start an army of her own.
But would it be enough?