A/N: Hi, everybody! It's been a long while! Hope you all had a great New Years Day. Finally, a chapter is uploaded as you can see below. Sorry for a long wait, I said it'd be after Christmas but I wasn't expecting it to be this far ahead. I've been bust writing a story for a friend and I couldn't find the right time to continue with the story. I never neglected it, if you were beginning to think that.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this next chapter because the end is neigh. Enjoy! :)

CHAPTER XIII

Attempting Alliance

A crimson sun arose the following dawn, and it coloured the sky like an ocean of red. The Dawn of War had arrived, and the hour was come for the beginning of the Battle of Checkmate Plateau; the battlegrounds signifying who shall hail victorious in a meaningless conflict due to deceit and retribution. The mood of the world was sullen, and upon everybody's face was grief and anxiety. The pieces were set upon the board; the nobles and the warriors, the paladins and the royals - everyone was present. As the skies darken and the wind calms, the Battle of Chaos has begun...

Soaring through the sun kissed skies Alice and the Gryphon flew swiftly and quickly towards the Plateau. With the Crown upon her head and the Prism placed safely within her satchel, her confidence grew great, but yet her fear was always there; dreading the worst of what could happen if all went ill. The Gryphon, panting for breath (for he was not permitted to land until they were at their destination), hoped all would turn well, despite how slim the possibility may be. He was also curious as to Alice's new found confidence, and her commands were stern. Here then he suggested it may just be the traits of becoming a Queen; and a Queen must be stern.

'How much further, Gryphon?' she asked.

'Not much, an estimate of four miles; if your eyesight was as keen as mine, you could see the Plateau within the distance.'

'Are the armies there?' she said.

'From the west, I can faintly see the Heart Army's approach,' he said solemnly, 'they have come.'

'Then we must hasten, Gryphon!'

'I am going as swiftly as my wings can take me,' he said. 'I have not rested since Crown's Way, Alice, I am exhausted. I must rest,' and panting and gasping the Gryphon's wings suddenly ceased to carry them upon the air, and he descended back down onto the earth.

Alice, aggravated and impatient, yelled. 'No, Gryphon, we must keep moving!'

'Then you go on ahead,' he said. 'I have taken you as far as I can. My wings are tired, but your feet are eager. Now go forth!'

'I won't make it!' she cried.

'If you are lucky, you may before the battle starts.'

When Alice observed the Gryphon's wearisome condition, her vexation lessened, and her sympathy came. 'I am sorry for pressuring you, Gryphon,' she said softly. 'You have done the best you could. I'll continue the journey on foot, but I fear I may not make it in time.'

'Optimism is always better than pessimism, Alice,' he said.

She smiled to hear, and remembered the quote the Hatter had said to her two years prior. 'You are right,' she said. 'Optimism did prevail before; I suppose it may work again.'

'Suppose is not a positive word,' he said. 'Know is. You know it will work again. Keep repeating that and your hopes will increase.'

'I know it will work,' she repeated. 'Will it work?'

'As long as no negativity pervades through, then it will.'

She turned northward, and with the phrase playing on a continuous loop in her head, her hopes shot sky high. 'Thank you, Gryphon,' she said. 'Thank you for all that you have done for us. I hope to see you again if all goes well.'

'When it all goes well,' he said sternly. 'And you are welcome. Farewell, Alice, and let luck be with you.'

. . .

It was to be a lengthy walk for Alice, and the satchel upon her bag weighed her down. The eagerness of her feet was the only things keeping her going, and hoping, that she will make it there before the battle begins. Again she felt the vibration quiver upon her back, and pulling off the satchel she opened it and again met the eyes of her adversary.

'The Plateau is four miles away, Alice,' said Leo amusedly; 'it is a long and tedious journey from here. You should have forced the hybrid to take you all the way there.'

'It was not fair to do so,' she replied. 'I can make it there. I will make it there.'

'Keep repeating that to yourself and you will come to see that it is a false hope that you carry with you,' he smiled darkly at her.

She harrumphed. 'At least I have hope, and that is what will keep me going-,'

'Until you realise that it was not enough,' and with that he dispersed, and the Prism once again dimmed.

'You're wrong, Leo,' she whispered to the darkness, 'you will see.'

. . .

An hour had passed. The plateau was shaded grey from the looming clouds above; a storm was coming, and a howling wind accompanied it. The plateau stood beside the great vastness of the ocean – the Mirror's Edge – where the world ends. The sun was hidden high behind the clouds, and the linear horizon was clouded by an ocean mist.

From each side of the barren plateau the three armies were at last come forth to do battle. Red and White adjoined with one another, with their queens carried by their magnificent carriages. The Heart army emerged into view from the opposite side, with the carriages that escorted Seraphina, and imprisoned the Hatter and Humpty Dumpty miserably behind bars. The Knave galloped down the column of the halted soldiers gallantly, and his stallion ceased when he returned to the middle, and there dismounting he opened the door to the carriage and offering his hand he helped the queen outside. The other two armies copied, and when all were present they walked to meet in the centre of the battlefield.

Seraphina, with fire in her eyes, smirked darkly. 'The time is come, "Ladies" of Looking-glass Land, for the time of cleansing of those liable for the Vanishing.'

Mirana laughed. 'So you still place the blame on us? Pitiful.'

Iracabeth nodded. 'Very much so, dear.'

'The only thing pitiful is the quantity of your army,' she chuckled, 'you have a number that barely adds up to my amount; this will not be very hard, then.'

'Quality over quantity, dear,' retorted Iracabeth, and with a scornful smile she mimicked the Queen of Hearts' chuckle.

'Enough teasing,' hissed Seraphina, 'are we to do battle or what?'

'O, of course, my dear,' said Mirana. 'It will be shame, however, for my soldiers' armour to be stained red from a reckless battle,' she sighed, 'O, I suppose that is the way it must be.' And as the final words were spoken the queens turned their backs to one another and united with their armies and their right-hand men.

Seraphina with a face like thunder barked to Ilosovic: 'Let the battle commence, Knave.'

The sounds of horns blew in the wind, and as the Knave made a crooked smile, his immoral love for warfare was to be given.

The spearmen assembled a column at the front and the archers nocked their arrows in the row behind, and the swordsmen unsheathed their blades. Few had lust kindling in their eyes, shadowed by their helmets, and others feared for the worst, for all knew this was to be a grim battle and a merciless war. Preparing for the first wave, the battle was to commence.

'Stop!'

The faintest cry reverberated amidst the clattering of steel and the war cries of the soldiers. The Knave furrowed his brows when he heard it again – louder this time around – and turning with a bewildered look upon his face his eyes widened with revelation as a girl came running out into the middle of the plateau.

'Stop!' she cried again, and heart pounding and throat tight, she collapsed to her knees from exhaustion.

Seraphina scowled. 'What is that peasant doing?' Rising with feeble strength and panting, Alice ran wearisomely towards the host of the Heart Army, and she wheezed before Seraphina as she stopped in front of her very presence. The queen looked down, eyebrow raised, at the gasping girl. 'Who are you? What right do you have to command me?'

Regaining her breath through her coarse throat, she replied. 'As the fourth queen I have the authority,' she pointed to the crown sitting on her head; 'the same ranking as you and your adversaries.'

Seraphina scoffed. 'What is your name?' she asked sternly.

'I am Alice,' she answered, 'I'm sure you remember me?'

'Yes, I remember you,' she said snootily. 'Rumour had it that you were attempting to foil my advancement.'

'I foil none but the one who has corrupted you, my Lady.'

'Corrupted me?' the queen laughed. 'None have done such a thing.'

'I beg to differ,' retorted Alice, and rummaging through her bag she pulled out the Prism. 'I'm sure you recognise this?'

Eyes wide with fury and face flushed bright red, the queen's wrath and desire heightened. 'The Prism!' she gasped and scowled scornfully at Alice. 'Give it to me!'

Attempting to snatch it from her hands the move failed. 'I refuse to,' said Alice simply, 'not until you understand the truth.'

'That belongs to me!' barked the queen like a spoilt child, and she stomped her foot onto the ground. 'It is mine and always has been! Hand it over at once or it is off with your head!'

Alice laughed and raised an eyebrow. 'You don't daunt me, your majesty,' she said pretentiously, 'not after what I've been through lately. I am to reveal to you who lingers inside this Prism. I'm sure you've had conversations with them before, have you not, your majesty?'

'Conversations with an inanimate object?' exclaimed Iracabeth from afar who had heard the entire dialogue.

'How very queer,' stated Mirana, and they both shared a glance at each other.

Seraphina's response was not a shocker in the slightest, and her face darkened in a deeper shade of red. 'Enough!' she screamed, and she clenched her fists in fury. 'I have never spoken to such a thing,' she hissed angrily, 'it is just valuable to me and nothing more.'

'I wonder of why it is such value,' murmured Alice quietly.

The Knave approached on his stallion, engaged in the conversation. 'What is inside of it?' he asked curiously.

'Nothing!' snapped the queen suddenly. 'None of your business.'

Rolling her eyes at the queen's tantrums Alice continued with what she was meant to do in the first place. 'Your majesty, listen: you have been deceived all along into doing this. This Prism has done nothing but persuade you into leading a war between these two realms. You must listen to me; I shall even present to you the source of this conflict. It lies in the heart of this treasure.'

Eyes straying down to the Prism she opened it, and her spirits were raised as it did. Everyone present was engaged; the Heart Army gazed over the other's shoulders to take a glimpse inside. The smile present on Alice's face suddenly dropped, for no scarlet lumination lit the Prism, and no mirror rippled like water. It was empty and dark, and her heart drowned in despair.

Eyeing down at the Prism amusedly, Seraphina harrumphed. 'Well,' she said contemptuously, 'I see nothing but my own reflection.' Alice closed the Prism embarrassedly, and the queen raised her eyebrow. 'Are you trying to embarrass yourself and humiliate me in front of my entire army?'

'Wait,' said Alice desperately, and she panicked. 'Just,' she paused, 'just hold on a moment before you do anything!' And quickly scuttling aside – cheeks red with humiliation – she hissed furiously at the Prism. 'Hiding, are you? Show yourself this instant!'

No scarlet light glowed inside, but the mirror rippled and Leo's face materialised. He smirked. 'Hiding made the plan succeed. I was not going to reveal myself to them.'

'Just do it!' she ordered.

Leo scowled. 'No!' he cried, and his tone was similar to that of Seraphina herself. 'This is my hour! Stop foiling my plans, Alice; you're doing wrong.'

'I'm doing good,' she retorted. She glanced over her shoulder, and every eye was fixated upon her. They believed she was going mad! Seraphina tapped her foot impatiently waiting for Alice to return, and she huffed at every moment she could.

'So being a slave to humanity is good?' said Leo. 'Unfairness and poverty to all the inhabitants of the Realms is too? The Monarchy is blight to this world. Wasn't Wonderland supposed to be a world without rules and order?'

'But Looking-glass had it,' she whispered, softer than her previous tone.

'With them gone also,' he said, 'justice shall prevail-'

'And chaos shall roam,' she retorted.

'There was always chaos,' he said darkly. 'But there will be a world of fairness; everyone will live in harmony. You're casting aside that paradise.'

'There is no paradise if you're around.'

Leo sulked. 'You're always so bitter to me,' he said sadly; no mockery intended.

'I wonder why,' she murmured.

'You hold grudges deeply; but believe me when I say I never wanted to hurt you or your friends.'

At this Alice scowled furiously. 'Then why did you?' she hissed.

All derision perished from his irises, and a sorrow replaced it. 'Because I was afraid,' he whispered, and integrity was heavy within his voice. 'I was frightened that you were to revive injustice. The world was better off without a Monarchy; but I do wish that the realms did not suffer under that depravity,' and he sighed sadly to remember the devastation he brought two years ago. A glint of starlight twinkled in his eyes, and they gazed up as though lingering in memory. 'But the magic of this world is powerful beyond belief,' and then he grimaced. 'I fed it hatred; it savoured it in a vulgar manner, which came to wither away the world. I know of how this world works,' finally he looked at Alice, 'I know who you really are.'

Brows furrowed, she asked. 'Then who am I?' she asked unsurely.

A warm smile formed on his face, and it was the warmest Alice saw since before his true colours once showed. 'You are Alice,' he said with admiration and kindness, 'you are the Creator of the World.'

'How would you know this?' she asked inquisitively.

He chuckled. 'Why wouldn't I? I admired you greatly, I saw you as a Goddess more splendid than the flowers in spring; more beautiful than sunlight on a crystal lake; more magnificent than any precious stone in this world.'

'What are you getting at?' she asked, deflecting his poetic words.

Warmth was perished by the icy chill of grief. He sighed forlornly. 'I'm a metaphor,' he said at length; 'I was the messenger, the Lake of Purity was the receiver. Perhaps you are the Pulse of the World; and the rivers are your veins, and the Lake your heart. That maybe my wrath was the signal of you forsaking this world; were we all not born from your dreams, Alice? We are real now, yes, but, you still help keep everything breathing with your presence. If there was ever to be a Monarchy – if ever - it would be you, Alice. At least I know you could bring wonder to this world; you have a good heart, it's just a shame I corrupted it...'

Alice fell speechless. A strange feeling tugged at her heartstrings. Memories projected in her mind, and her eyes wandered from side to side in thought. Metaphors of life itself seemed to be the work of this world. Did everyone have a certain meaning? Was everything born from her sub-conscious; images birthed from the facts of life into one canvas of dreams? Questions were raised but there held no answers; Leo may have been that part of her mind to find them, or the receiver and judge of reality, and the passage into letting go.

He cocked his head to the side, and when she spoke not for a lengthy period of time he resumed: 'So what do you say?' he asked softly. 'I tried to say it before, but you showed me no mercy. That Globe was the prison of replenishment; then I suppose I'm glad you brought the world back to life, but the selfish Monarchy must go. The realms need no order; so don't do this, Alice. If you don't, I shall return, and I shall give a land of wonder to your friends and you can be the Queen; and I know you won't give injustice, that's why I trust you to be the Monarch, not they. What do you say, Alice? What shall it be?'

If he bore a physical body a hand would be spread out for her. Looking through his words she thought deeply for the allegories of what this world meant. Leo equals Chaos? She thought. Monarchy equals Order. Her mind disputed with several voices in her head. To trust? Or not to trust? Would she want to see her creation bleed? Would she want to see the carrion of her failed reverie wither away into a world without wonder?

Sighing, her decision was made, and she shook her head. 'I don't know,' she whispered distantly, head still far in thought. Again she sighed. 'Just...' she paused, 'I think... I think you should just reveal yourself, Leo.'

Great dismay clouded his eyes, and disenchantment was great within him. However, fighting to remain a spectre and to disgrace the girl he admired deeply was the least of his desires, and yielding he found no more reason to fight, as though ambitions were shattered before his very eyes. He sighed sadly. 'Fine,' he murmured disappointedly. 'I shouldn't stop a God. At your will, Alice,' and with that he disappeared, and the mirror solified, and it closed shut.

Alice smiled delightedly, however a weight of empathy lowered the balanced scales for her, but she knew she made the right decision... she thought so, anyway. Returning to see the impatient monarch, Alice again halted before her.

Seraphina – arms crossed – spoke: 'So you have returned,' she said with very little enthusiasm. 'What do you want now?'

'To show you the truth,' she answered. 'He will tell you everything.'

'Will who now?' she asked unsurely, but a hint of unease crept in.

'The person inside of this Prism,' she declared, and many murmurs were heard from the people surrounded. Holding up the Prism she waited for it to open, and she smiled. All will be revealed, she thought merrily, and her eyes lit up with hope.

'O, really?' said Seraphina, and she uncrossed her arms. Her eyes were fixated upon the relic; lusty and desirable. 'Well then, let us just-,' and suddenly, without any such warning apart from the yearning in her eyes, she snatched the Prism clean from the palms of Alice's hands.

'Wait!' cried Alice, trying to obtain it. She failed. 'What are you doing?'

'The Prism is mine!' she declared as she clutched it tightly within her arms. 'Knave! Send her away now! There is a war to be won,' and turning – Prism in arms – she smirked.

The Knave dismounted his stallion quickly and seized hold of a flailing and mortified Alice. 'Wait!' she cried as she was being dragged away from the battlefield. 'Stop it! Reveal yourself, Leo! Redeem yourself!'

'Leo?' exclaimed the Queen of Hearts obliviously. 'Who is Leo?'

'Leo is the one inside of that Prism,' she answered. 'He's the one who's told you to do this and lied to you.'

'Is that true, Seraphina?' asked Mirana from afar.

'You were told to do this?' asked a surprised Iracabeth.

Furious, Seraphina stomped her foot. 'No!' she screamed, and she placed the Prism of Hearts inside of the carriage and shut the door behind her. Sceptre in hand she advanced to the front of the line. 'It was under my bidding! It was all my doing! Justice shall be served!' and with that she pointed at the thrashing Alice. 'Off with her head!'

'No!' cried Alice.

Eyes infernal by the bloodlust of war, Seraphina raised her sceptre in the air, and cried to all: 'Let the war begin!' and with that, all armies readied, and the battle commenced...

A/N: /endchapter.

The next chapter should hopefully begin sometime soon. Hopefully. I'm glad to be back here, that's what matters most. :)