Alice stared up at the ceiling, dazed and bruised and sore. She heard wild and frantic footsteps fast approaching. She made to sit but pain stopped her. She must've cried out for Time was soon above her, telling her to shush.
She let out another noise as Hatter accidentally jostled her. "Mmfhine," she mumbled as soon as Princess Mirana came into view.
Nonetheless the woman inspected her as Time studied her worriedly.
"Taking a fall that surely could have killed her," she began a bit worriedly. She prodded Alice's temple and face and limbs, overall pleased to find nothing out of place or broken. "She appears in good health. A minor concussion but that is all I can find at fault."
Time knelt beside her, his gloved hands ghosting over her as if he were afraid to touch her. He looked at her. "Are you truly alright, my dear?" he asked, his voice cracking.
Her eyes met his and it seemed her breath had been stolen from her – he looked conflicted, like he was holding himself back. She lifted her arm to his shoulder and pulled him closer.
He hesitated for a brief moment before shaking his head. It was through a combination of himself almost dying, his fear for her not surviving, and his love for her that drove him to kiss her fiercely.
Alice's lips tingled with electricity and she smiled. "I should fall from great heights more often," she teased.
His chuckle was low and deep but his face was serious, "Please don't." He kissed her again and again and again.
Hatter's gag was heard as well as the Tweedles' confused mutters, "Wha? Wha's goin' on 'ere? They're kissin'? Why are they kissin?" Wilkins was giddy and squeezed Bayard with glee. But Princess Mirana's lips were pursed because she had been wrong – it hadn't been Alice's affair with Time that had caused the damage to time itself.
And of course, Iracebeth groaned loudly and griped and complained that the sight was burning her eyes and that could they leave so she could stop looking at that disgusting thing!
Alice brought Time closer and closer to her, getting lost in their kisses. Time grunted approval and ignored the way his cogs behind his head steamed with pleasure. But it was with her own groan that he pulled back.
Her cheeks were flushed and her blue eyes were filled with lust. Oh, how he wanted to match her emotions but never in this world could he give her what she wanted. He cleared his throat and avoided her eyes as he stood, pulling her up too.
She smiled and leaned into him.
"My darling," he said only for her ears. He rested his cheek on her head. How he wanted to tell her what was truly on his mind but he couldn't… and he believed he could never tell her.
He could never tell her – I do wish I was human. Our relationship has come to this- I have come to this.. yet I cannot give you what I know you desire and what Icrave. We are bound together in spirit though I wish we were in flesh. I fear our love isn't enough to hold us together.
"What are you thinking?" she asked curiously as he was oddly quiet.
He breathed out a smile, "You. Simply you."
Her eyes lit with gentle shyness and he felt his cog heart pull. "Me?"
"Yes. You and your clever heroic ways," he beamed.
They turned to a faint clutter behind them. The dormouse kicked the gold dome that had fallen from the creature. "Say, what's this? 'ts got a key on it." She changed her mind about kicking it down the hall and snatched it up, offering it to the nearest human.
Hatter took it from her and frowned at it. "Hm, never seen this before. Strange to see keys," he hummed in thought. He handed it to Princess Mirana whose face was grave.
Time winced. He had noticed the crest the moment he saw the creature itself. He knew who was behind this whole mess yet he prayed the White Queen wouldn't ask too much of him. If the truth of him were revealed, he could lose his place in Underland as keeper of time.
The woman worried her lip as she turned the crest over and over in her hand. She shook her head, "I should have known this was her."
Alice frowned, "This was who?"
"Victoire Morte."
All cringed at the satisfied cackle that came from a particular large red woman. The former Red Queen had a rare smile on her face. Alice was afraid to ask what had her so happy.
"Oh, I adore that woman!" she exclaimed. "She has this power that nobody can take from her! She has a kingdom, she has loyalties, she has- has- She has what I want!" Her face had turned a shade of red and her eyes were hard and cold, sending daggers at her sister.
Hatter narrowed his eyes. "Lawless and savage, eh Bloody Big Head? That's what you want, innit?"
She cackled at the old nickname. "Haha haha!" Then she gave him a pathetic look. "I should have beheaded your nasty trap when I had the chance."
His eyes flickered angrily but Alice stepped in front of him. "Enough," she butt in when Iracebeth opened her mouth to continue. The blonde turned to Princess Mirana. "Who is this Victoire? Shush!" She glared at Iracebeth who again opened her mouth.
"She's a woman, at the edge of the map, and she does not have a kingdom, Bessy," she replied and scolded in one sentence. She looked to Alice. "She hasn't been seen in any part of Underland in a very long while."
Iracebeth snorted. "And that is where you're wrong, Sissy." Her upper lip curled in vague disgust and she gave Alice and Time a gross look. "She was the one who told me of them at that dreadful tea party."
Hatter looked offended at that! "Dreadful?! Oi!"
Princess Mirana continued nonetheless. "Her family has a history of making clockwork-beings just as Time's owner did. Her guards – as you say, for her kingdom – and this creature were metal creations and nothing more."
Alice looked to Time at that, but the man had already stepped away from the conversation. She frowned again and looked to the princess. "I'm sorry, did you say the edge of the map?"
"It is fact that the map of Underland has no end but no one has ever ventured past the end of the pages," she said. "It is in those edges I fear is where Victoire lies."
Alice bit her lip. "But, she is gone now, right? She shouldn't be of no trouble any longer? Or was that creature just a warning?"
"Yes, she shouldn't…" Princess Mirana sighed. "That is what we all must hope."
The young girl nodded then glanced at the cutlass at her hip. She suddenly gasped, "Mason!"
Time turned on his heel and frowned, "Mason?"
She looked wildly to Princess Mirana. "You've dragged – involuntarily, I must admit – my comrade along. And he isn't one to keep secrets."
The woman gave a nod. "I'll have a forgetful potion made as soon as we return to my kingdom." Then she glanced at Time who had a bit of a sad expression of his face. "I'll just.." She turned to her company and rallied them up and away. "We'll just be over here, ready to head back."
Alice smiled at her and nodded.
"This means you must leave now?" he asked quietly.
"I'm afraid so."
"Be safe, my darling," he whispered.
She softly ran her hand along the side of his face. "I will," she smiled. She stood on her toes and caught his lips.
Time felt his metallic insides warm with a feeling he had long forgotten he could have, and it startled him. He pulled away from her kiss.
Her brow creased in question. "What's wrong?"
He shook his head and tried to brush off the matter. "Nothing." He offered his most convincing tender smile and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "You must get back to your world if I am ever to have you to myself again."
She smiled, blushing lightly.
The White Queen who waited at the end of the corridor for Alice turned away from the two. Now after the harsh conclusion she had jumped to between Alice and Time and the Grand Clock and Underland, she could see what awful appeal her sister saw in Alice and Time's love. For one who wasn't exactly in support of the relationship (anymore), it wasn't a pleasant sight.
Mason held his arm out the cell bars when he spotted Alice down the hall. "Alice! Oh, Alice! Am I glad to see you!" He glanced behind him at the inmates that were with him. He looked to her wildly. "Please, please get me out of here! I don't even know where I am- where they took us! I mean- there's a- a-" His voice dropped down to a loud whisper. "-a frog! In clothes! Walking on two legs-"
"You got something to say to me?" said frog croaked with a frown.
Mason jumped. "Alice?! I mean, it's talking! It's talking! This all isn't.. isn't natural!"
She unlocked the door and let Mason slip – well, stumble until he fell – out. "Here," she said pushing the vial filled with the forgetful potion.
He looked at it. "What is it?"
"A tonic. You might have been exposed to germs-"
He downed it without further question.
And she watched the light in his eyes slowly fade. Oh dear, Princess Mirana didn't say it would knock him out. But then again, it was a forgetful potion. It's gotta work somehow.
She bit her lip – she should have gotten him to the ship before he-
She frowned as he crumpled to the floor. "Uhm, Hatter?" she called out to the lingering shadow at the end of the hall.
He scurried over and lugged the man over his shoulder. "Oi, he's heavy," he grunted. "Princess Mirana told me he'd pass out."
"She could have told me that," she muttered. "I would have given it to him when we got on the ship out of here."
His eyes lit up. "Oh! She also said there's a door linked up with the one on the ship- erm, uh, I'm not sure where."
"Here," a white guard revealed, tapping on a wooden door some feet away. "It leads to the captain's cabin aboard the ship."
Alice looked grateful though she believed Hatter looked more grateful as he was slowly buckling underneath the weight of Mason.
"Why *wheeze* do you have to *wheeze* bring him along?" Hatter wheezed.
"Because he's regrettably from my world and I must return him. He's not the type to let loose in a world he doesn't understand." She frowned, "And he's not the type to let loose in my world without a good forgetful potion."
"Ah," he nodded. They stepped through the door. "Where do I put him?"
"On the bed," she pointed.
He took far longer in waking up than she expected. They were docking in India when she heard the manic rustle of the cot sheets. She vaguely glanced over her shoulder. "Mason, you've slept the journey away! Perhaps it was really you who was ill."
He sat up sharply and stood hastily and faltered, nearly falling over. She turned when he stumbled forward, and then he gripped her shoulders tightly. His eyes were wild and manic. "Alice! You're here! You're in one piece! I thought for sure that frog got us!"
She feigned shock. "Frog? Blimey, Mason, you do know frogs are - for the most part - harmless-"
"No! This one- this one talked and- and walked on two legs. Two legs!" He pushed her out of the way and hobbled to the window where he saw the humans of India. He heaved a sigh and slumped a bit. He wiped dramatically (Alice thought it was dramatic) his brow and leaned on the wall.
But she was there, playing the part of the concerned sailor. She pressed her hand to his forehead. "A fever dream, as I suspected-"
He was quiet for a moment - the quietest she could ever remember him being. Then he shook his head, "But there were pirates! They kidnapped us!" He tried to make sense of it all... and then it dawned on him-
They were in India.
"Where're you going?" he asked suddenly.
She didn't wish to answer though she knew he knew where she was headed. "Mason, you stay here and get some rest-"
"No, no, no, it's best if I go too."
"No." She pressed her hand on his shoulder as he tried to stand. "You're not feeling well. Stay here. I'll be fine. Glasdon will go with me."
He scoffed at that and shook his head. "No, no, no. I suppose I will admit he's a good man but he's not me."
"Mason-"
"Come on, Alice!" He pushed her away and stood, hobbling outside. "Captain Turner awaits!"
She frowned.
Wait a sec, she had a good hold on this situation – and there he goes! – how did he…? She had no time to ponder, she chased after him, hoping she could wrangle him before he said anything stupid.
If you're wondering if this last bit seems different from last time you read it, it is xD I reread this bit and realized I forgot to add some dialogue :( So I fixed it! x)