"Using that bell, you can find her."
He just stared bitterly down at me. "Tch!" Turning away from me, he slowly reached up to his neck, and with a quick movement of his claws, the ribbon around his neck was sliced off. The jangling bell fell into his open paw.
"Alice's memories are in there. If you look closely, they may lead you to her."
Cheshire stared at his hand, a fixed gaze directly on the bell.
"Try closing your eye."
Cheshire's hand quivered as he slowly closed his eye.
This cat sure is difficult...hope this works...
After a few moments, his face was peaceful.
Suddenly, his hand tightened over the bell, and a sudden glow enveloped his hand, reflecting in the glaze of my eyes. Cheshire was bleeding, his fangs sunk deep into his lower lip, causing red liquid to slide down his chin.
He sees her! I quickly grabbed hold of Cheshire's clenched fist. Once I did, I nearly stumbled in the process, as I was almost instantly bombarded by clear memories, flooding through my head and in front of my eyes. From all sides, I saw Alice.
Trying to keep my head and focus, I closed my eyes, and barely managed out. Where…is Alice…? The words repeated in my mind, and I suddenly felt myself spinning. Not my body, but my mind.
My body felt numb, as if I was dropping off a high cliff, about to hit the sea, but I still felt my hand atop Cheshire's, smooth claws under fingers.
The memories were still running through my head, like a movie reel. A young Alice appeared; her face lit up, laughing, soft violet eyes glistened among her dark bangs. She was in the presence of a gentleman, a man with long white hair, tied into a braid then wrapped around a ponytail, who smiled affectionately at Alice with warm eyes. Who's he? Who is he to Alice?
But before I could concentrate on the scene any longer, it was gone.
A blonde man was in the next memory, visiting an older Alice with a black cat in her arms, in what looked like a tower. She wasn't who she seemed there, a darker Alice wearing darker dresses. The man, blonde hair in a long braid, green eyes like emerald, a sinister smile… Jack Vessalius! Three children were behind him. One had black hair and golden eyes, uncanny to Gilbert, the other had golden hair and two different colored eyes—red and gold, and the last one...dark brown hair…blue eyes… The boys glared at Alice, all except the blue-eyed one…who just smiled friendlily at Alice. "Hello Alice."
Me? ...the day I first met Alice...
The reel of memories suddenly twisted and turned until they were gone, and there was nothing but black. The black took over my conscience, the numbness tightening until I slowly drifted into the darkness.
I felt hard ground beneath me, like I was lying on cold ice. The numbness was gone, and my mind was empty. My eyes flicked open, scanning side to side and I slowly lifted myself from my horizontal position. A cringing pain shot through my shoulder and down my arm, as my eyes caught sight of the terrible wound on my shoulder. After quickly rubbing my eyes with my sleeve, I focused my eyes to examine where I was, turning my head, and spotting Cheshire beside me, asleep, with his head tucked between his paws.
Noticing the bell only a few feet away, I reached to grasp it.
"Ah!"
A stinging pain coursed through my right hand, and my head snapped up, and peered into the agitated countenance of Cheshire Cat.
"Taking Cheshire's bell and scurrying off. Troublesome…and foolish." He twisted his foot atop my numbing hand. Staring into his cold annoyed expression, I grit my teeth. His temper was undoubtedly on its edge, considering his desperation. There was no time to get into a glaring match though, not when there was too much at stake.
"What is this place?" Cheshire thought aloud, curiously surveying all that was around him, the inside of a large rich building, with a high glass ceiling. His ears twitched.
"A CHAIN! A CHAIN'S BROKEN IN! FIND IT QUICKLY BUT BE CAUTIOUS!" The panicked voices were close, fast approaching us.
Removing his foot from my hand—that I hastily took back—he delicately picked up the bell with the tips of his fingers. As I struggled to hoist myself up on one hand, Cheshire watched me with contempt. A pool of blood was already forming below me, spreading out along the silver tile floor.
"You better hurry. They are coming." His shady eyes pierced mine.
"Shut up." I whispered under my breath.
"Is that silver tongue all you have? Are you really that weak?" He turned to leave, the faint sound of jangling bells following him. I tried to lift myself up again, barely able to make out the question, "Where are you off to?"
Cheshire just glanced back at me, with sour expression. "Where else? I'm going to save Alice."
Desperately, I tried to get my hand underneath my chest, in order to push myself from the floor, but it was no use, my body was under too much strain from the wound. With every attempt, more blood spilled out of my shoulder. I shot a glare towards Cheshire, as he walked farther and farther away, with a slow satisfactory stride.
Embittered with anger, I pushed against the ground with my hands with one last effort, sliding my knees underneath me, as I kicked off the ground. I staggered forward, clenched my bloody shoulder, and started after him. It didn't take me long to catch up to him; he hadn't gone far at all. This cat…why is he walking?! Is he insulting me or is he not in a hurry to save Alice?! I glared, but Cheshire did give me one curious glance.
As the chaotic noises down the corridor grew louder and louder, we started into a run down the long wide hallway, passing each door by. According to Cheshire's scent, none of them contained Alice, so we continued on.
Despite the pain spreading through my entire body from my wound, I pressed on after him. I have to stay close to him. He's the only way out of here!
As we ran farther and farther, the voices soon were hard to hear, but we did not stop, even when time felt like it was passing for what seemed like forever. It wasn't until Cheshire stopped suddenly, his ears twitching, and he faced a door to his right, that I knew that we had found her, though the door wasn't any different than the rest. As Cheshire reached out to touch the door, he noticed his hand was too large to even attempt to open the door, and shrunk back his hand.
With a sigh, I slid in front of him and rolled the doorknob with ease, opening the entrance into the dark room. Cheshire followed closely behind, his sharp claws displayed, prepared to attack. Although the room was black as pitch, a ray of light ran across the floor from the doorway in front of us. I gasped when I saw what the light touched.
Alice was draped in a mass of silver chains, tightened around her arms and legs, alike an insect caught in a spider's web. Her once fair skin was now blotched purple and blue in many different places but because of the light flush of color in her cheeks and lips, we were relieved to see she was not dead. She was merely asleep in a transient state.
"Her chains, Cheshire."
Without a word, Cheshire swiped his hand across the chains. His long silver claws sliced through the steel chains with ease as he dealt with one after the other, careful to avoid Alice's flesh.
Soon, there was but one chain left. Cheshire cut through the last one with one long nail. As the chain unraveled from her body, I hurriedly scooped her up in my arms, a gentle weight with a tranquil face, despite the dark bruises on her limbs and neck. Her heartbeat still endured, matching mine with a steady but faint pulse.
"The Baskervilles will pay for hurting Alice!" Cheshire grit his teeth, flexing his claws.
"Yes, they will."
Suddenly, there was a loud noise, like thunder.
Cheshire turned to me, with a grave expression. "They're coming."
"THIS WAY!" A booming voice shouted, and more intense but muffled voices followed, clustered together.
My eyes dashed to the door in panic, clutching Alice against me, as I started into a run and fled down the hallway.
"THE CHAIN WAS SPOTTED IN THIS DIRECTION! CAPTURE THE CREATURE!" What sounded more like a dozen footsteps echoed across the walls, closing in on us, despite our efforts to outrun them. Cheshire swooped beside me, almost akin to a bat. He was faster than me, but he kept at a pace with me, his eye glued to Alice the whole while.
"Cheshire, get us… out of here! We have to get...Alice out!" I called out within my gasping breaths.
Cheshire's eye then hooked to mine. I didn't like what his eye foretold. "Not with others…Cheshire can't …only himself!" I knew then he was not lying. "We have… to find another way out!"
"Another way?" I turned away from him and stared down at Alice. "Yes, another way, we have to find another way."
Suddenly, Cheshire stopped in his tracks, stretching his arm out to prevent me from running past him. A quick shiver ran up Cheshire's body, and his messy hair stood up on edge. His red eye, though, fixated on what was in front of him.
Get Alice out of here." Cheshire ordered, aggressively. His eye did not turn back, just stared ahead.
I watched him with curiosity. Is he being noble? ...Quite a departure from his normal self…
"Cheshire said, get Alice out of here!" Cheshire barked, stepping forward.
Without hesitation, I darted away, down the side corridor, without looking back at the fearless cat. Stopping in my tracks, I rotated around to hide aside the wall then peered over.
An immense black circle appeared above, morphing into a large black hat with a tattered cape and chains circling it, towering above Cheshire. I gasped when a red eye appeared below. That chain!
A figure walked out from under the Chain. Silvery hair and one red eye…I gasped. Break? What is…what is Break doing here? Is he here to save Alice too?
"Quite brave, breaching Pandora alone…" Break spoke, his eye on the ground, lightly swinging his cane, smiling. Blood stained the sides of his mouth and his chin.
Pandora? This place is Pandora? I backed away; gazing down at Alice's sleeping face, resting my back against the wall. Alice has been in Pandora all this time?! The Baskervilles…why? Has Pandora… been hiding her…? I stared round the corner, eyeing Break with distrust. Break, you bastard! You lied to me!
"I was sure you had another accompanying you…" Break ran his eye down the shaking Cheshire. Despite his cowardice, he stood his ground. I was surprised. This is Cheshire…that mangy pet afraid of his own shadow? What's strange is… Alice always protected him. Now…he's the one protecting Alice…
He's more of a fool than I thought.
"Are you here to protect Alice while your accomplice gets away…or are you hiding her?" Break stepped closer, and as he did, his dark chain floated above as if physically attached to him. Cheshire took a step back, staring up at the chain in fear.
"No matter what you do, little cat, you can't escape me nor can you defeat me…now where is Alice?" Break reached into his left pocket, and lifted a red lollipop to his lips, ripping the plastic covering off with his teeth.
"Cheshire will protect Alice no matter what… even if it means Cheshire dies."
"You'll never tell me, will you?" Break sighed, tapping his cane against the ground, annoyed. "Oh, well." He bit down on the lollipop; the sickening sound of it cracking between his teeth mixed with the deafening pandemonium of the chain atop him, covering the atmosphere around them with a blanket of darkness, proceeded by a blinding white light.
Glancing back, there was a moment, only one single moment, when I saw Cheshire's dreaded eye, as confusion and panic filled his face, I felt two emotions at once, equal and strong they were, and they overtook me.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A slight grin spread across my lips, as I watched the pitiful cat's silhouette gradually disappear.