Chapter 10: Well...That Was Unexpected.
"Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?" Alison screamed as the door shut behind her.
"You can't possibly be thinking of staying" Mullymkun said.
"I shouldn't. I mean. I can't. I mean...ugh!"
"You're supposed to defeat the Red Queen, not be her best friend" the Dormouse frowned.
"I know that! I just played along, I didn't know how else to do it. It just lead from one thing, to another, and BAM, this all happened" she gestured to the window.
"Think, Alison" Tarrant told her "you have to figure a way out of this"
Alison closed her eyes and closed her ears, thinking hard on what to do.
"If I leave, then that's just going to piss her off and make her not trust anyone again, and then if that happens, then we're all screwed if we need that option..." Alison began and thought a bit more "but..." she began "if I faked my death...then she would just be sad...but...that requires them all seeing the Gryphon and White Knight and have her demand their heads on a silver platter"
She sighed and sat in a chair "I screwed up royally this time"
"Perhaps if you call the White Knight, he'll know what to do" Tarrant suggested.
Alison sighed and went to the window. Whistling as loud as she could, the Gryphon soon appeared with the White Knight.
"You've got them, wonderful, let's get out of here" the White Knight rushed.
"Hold on. I made a huge can of worms all over this whole damn rescue mission!" Alison said.
"What?" the knight asked, utterly confused.
"I sucked up to the queen so that I wouldn't be noticed, but it backfired and then I made her think she had magical powers so that I could see what the hell was going on, and now she wants me to be her best friend and stay here!" she up roared in one breath.
"Well that's not good..." said the White Knight.
Alison stood there for a moment panting.
"I know that! What should I do?" she screamed.
"You're asking me? I don't know" the White Knight said honestly.
"Gah!" Alison screamed, wanting to rip out her hair.
"Why not use your magical powers" Tarrant suggested.
"I don't have magical powers..." Alison began but then thought of the many things in her backpack.
Alison turned to the Mad Hatter and hugged him "You are so mad, it's genius" she laughed and ran out of the room.
Everyone looked at him, he smiled nervously and shrugged.
Alison came back in another pair of clothes and placed the dress over a fitting head, placing her hat on it as well. She then gestured Tarrant over. He nodded and followed her. They came into the room opposite the one they were in, the one facing the courtyard.
"Ok. I want you to take this" she gave him her flashlight "point it into the sky and move this around it" she handed him a paper cut out of a dragon.
"How will this work?" he asked.
"Just trust me" she smiled.
Alison ran back to the other room and gave the White Knight a flare.
"I want you to take this, you and the gryphon need to hide in the clouds and await my signal. Then all you have to do, is pop off this top" she gestured "and throw it towards the tower"
"How will this...?"
"Just do it"
With that the two in white were off into the sky. Alison turned to Thackery and Mullymkun. And gave one baking soda and the other vinegar. She then lead them into the room where Tarrant was.
She took out a water bottle and poured out the water, she then placed some shampoo in the bottle and a few redhots from her candy stash. She shook it some so the red dye would mix.
"What in Underland are you doing?" Mullymkun asked.
"It's called science, though you would call it..." she turned around and smiled "magic"
Alison took the vinegar from Thackery and poured it in. Then took the box of baking soda from Mullymkun.
"This is gonna be messy, so you might want to move out of the way" she told the two animals.
They nodded and left.
"Ok Hatter" she nodded to him and leaned over to press the button, that shined the light into the sky, making the cut out dragon look real.
There were gasps and screams from down in the courtyard. They were distracted by the mysterious creature in the sky. Alison whistled loudly towards the clouds. The knight popped the top of the flare and threw it towards the tower. Alison quickly dosed the bottle with baking powder, shook it and let it roll to the middle of the room.
As the flare rolled into the room the place exploded with red foam. Alison made a fake blood curdling scream and threw 'herself' out of the window, watching it fall towards the bloody moat below. Alison smiled and grabbed Tarrant and all her belongings and rushed into the other room. She whistled loudly for the gryphon and it appeared in no time.
"Hurry, they're coming" Alison urged, before it was finally her turn to get on the gryphon.
After the heart pounding ordeal, they finally shot into the sky and out of sight, just before guards saw them as they burst through the door.
The White Gryphon swooped to the ground at the White Kingdom ruins and landed. Alison rolled off with an oof as she laughed heartily on their victory.
"By the White Queen, that was amazing!" the White Knight cheered.
"Oh god, I think I had a heart attack" Alison groaned and held her chest but kept laughing.
The Hare and Dormouse cheered in joy at their success, dancing with each other happily around the ruins. Tarrant wiped his forehead and aired out his hat before walking over and kneeling next to Alison.
"You know..." he began, making Alison look up at him "If I didn't know any better, I would say that you were utterly mad"
She smiled, reached up and hugged him before letting out another absurd laugh.
"Well...even if I was. We did it!" she cheered.
"I'm so glad that you were able to save your friends" came a voice from behind them.
Everyone turned around and dropped their jaws in amazement. There, before them, was the ghost of the great White Queen.
"By the rump of a bandersnatch..." the White Knight breathed.
"Alison...you have proved yourself to be a quick thinker, and a great leader" the ghost smiled.
Alison stood up before the White Lady, bowing in honor.
"I deem you worthy of a power, I think would only fit you, unlike your mother. You seem to enjoy the works of magic...so...by the power of the ancients. I bestow upon you, Underlands magic"
Alison looked at the White Queen with confusion. The White Queen floated over to Alison and touched her forehead with her ghostly white finger. A warm shot was sent spiraling through Alison's body. She saw many things flash before her eyes, words, numbers, even the people of Underland from long ago. It was so beautiful the things she saw, even the worst seemed dazzling.
Finally the White Queen lifted her finger and backed away from Alison.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
Alison's head swirled with new information and insight that it took her a moment to respond.
"Yeah...I...I feel fine...just a little dizzy" she said, trying to focus her eyes.
"That's normal" the queen giggled.
"My queen..." the White Knight began, getting on his knees and crawling towards the ghostly figure.
"Hello sir Charles" the White Lady smiled.
"Forgive me...my lady...that I was not able to protect you from that ferocious beast" he bowed his head low until it touched the ground.
"Charles, rise" she ordered softly.
The knight stood up quickly.
"It was not your fault, it was unseen by even the Oraculum" she hushed and nodded to him "what is done, is done" she then turned back to Alison "and we have our champion...who will bring down the Red Queen and her kingdom...and restore order to Underland" she smiled.
Alison shook her head, focusing harder on the world she was in.
"But, I still don't know how. I mean...we are barely even a platoon" she pointed out.
"Then you must find others who will fight against her" the White Lady said before disappearing within thin air.
"Wait!" Alison called out and reached for her, but found nothing but air.
"It seems we shall need some recruits" the White Knight smiled.
"Yeah...I'll put you in charge of that Charles." Alison sighed.
The White Knight saluted and was off.
"What about us?" Mullymkun asked.
Alison looked at the three Underlanders and hummed in thought.
"Thackery...what can you do?" she asked.
"I make tea..." he twitched.
"...ok...you can be in charge of food and drinks for right now"
The hare nodded and hopped off somewhere.
"Mullymkun?"
"I can be a wicked fighter, I can. And I can make weapons too" she smiled.
"Hopefully you can make big ones. Your expertise is needed. You shall be the trainer and weapon maker" she nodded and dismissed the Dormouse.
As the Dormouse ran off Alison looked up at Tarrant, he looked back at her. They were now alone in the White Ruins, and she couldn't think of much he could do besides make hats.
"Shall I...make hats for the recruits?" he asked, not even sure if that was even helpful.
"No, Hatter..." she thought a little longer and smiled "you shall be my personal assistant"
"Your assistant?" he asked.
"Mhm. You can...help me plan things, give me great suggestions, make sure I'm not bored and keep me in check, etc" she giggled.
"Is that an important role?"
"The most important role there is" she smiled.
He smiled back and nodded.
"Ok. So...what can we do?" Alison asked him.
"Make a fire...seeing as it's really dark"
"Good idea" she smiled "see, you're great at your job"
"Thank you. I'll go get some firewood"
She watched as Tarrant ran into the forest and sighed as she sat down. Fire was a good idea, maybe she could even try and test out her new magical powers. She was going to need a lot of practice.