~O~
Shun was escorted to the Queen's throne room, as he had expected. She was sitting on her throne, but Shun thought she looked anything but regal; she looked more like a bird of prey, waiting to swoop down and end the life of some poor, unaware animal. In this case, he felt like the poor animal.
He still wasn't sure if the Queen had really let him off easy on his punishment, so Shun refused to let his guard faltered. He wanted to make sure that whatever Fabia might throw out at him, he was ready to catch it and take it in full-stride.
That was the only way he would prove to her that he was loyal to her once more, seeing as he was now back in her service. And proving his loyalty was going to be the only thing that made the remainder of his pathetic life tolerable, for he knew that the Queen was going to be watching him around every corner now, making sure that he stayed in line and didn't cross her again.
When Fabia caught a glimpse of him entering the throne room, she smiled deviously and beckoned for him to come towards her. Shun sighed and walked up to the marble steps that led up to her throne. He knelt down there on the floor and placed his fisted hand over his heart, the standard sign of respect to the Queen.
Fabia rested her chin on the back of her hand and said with a smile, "Ah, it's good to have you back to your senses, my faithful Champion." Shun felt himself cringe at her words, and he hoped that the Queen didn't take noticed. She mustn't have seen him, for if she had, she more than likely would have had a look of disapproval on her face.
Either that, or she was just ignoring it. "It's good to be back in your good graces," Shun lied. He had to sell this, to make her think that he truly was loyal to her once more. Just because he was being forced to take out her dirty work, didn't mean that he really had to swear fealty to her; he had never sworn anything to her other than his life when they made their Oath.
Fabia held out her hand and motioned towards herself, telling Shun to join her side. He nodded and walked up the marble steps. It was then that he noticed just how many Knights of the Heart were standing around the throne room. They lined the walls and guarded the doors, ready to strike in case Shun tried anything.
The Champion wasn't that foolish; it was apparent back in Looking Glass Lake that, no matter how strong he was, he was no match for the sheer numbers of the Knights. Perhaps now he would have stood a better chance, seeing as his emotions were somewhat in check, but they still would have overpowered him in the end.
Shun took his place beside the Queen's throne and leaned down to ask Fabia a question. When he got within close quarters with the Queen, he saw all of the Knights of the Heart tense up like snakes ready to lash out at their assailant.
The Queen raised up a hand to tell them that their assistance was not needed at the moment. "Go on with your question," she told him. Shun nodded. Oh, how he even hated standing near her now. He had hated her presence before all of the recent events, but now, he absolutely loathed her.
He pushed down this ever-burning hatred and asked his question. "So, what have you done with the girl?" He tried to sound nonchalant and distant as to make it seem like he really had moved on like Fabia had ordered him to. The Red Queen moved a stray strand of her hair out of the way and said, "I have yet to figure out what to do with her. She's locked away in a guest room right now, awaiting her judgment. But the moment I come up with a way to rid myself of her, I will let you know."
Shun felt himself shiver at how callously the Queen spoke about disposing of Alice. If it wasn't apparent that Fabia didn't care about another person's life, it was crystal clear now. Shun nodded and said, "I see." He thought about asking the Queen if there was anyway that he could go and see Alice; he would say that he was going in there to get some payback on her for playing tricks on his mind and turning him against her Majesty.
But Shun had a feeling that he wouldn't even be allowed on the hallway where Alice was being held, so he held his question back. Fabia glanced up at Shun and said, "You are free to go back to your quarters now, if you wish. I only called you in here to show my Knights that you are truly back on our side."
Shun saw right through her plan. The Queen was trying to make it seem like everything really was back to normal in order to ease the mounting tensions in the palace. It was what the Queen was good at; creating illusions and making it look like everything was perfectly fine when they really weren't.
Shun had learned about that conniving quality when she tricked him into their Oath in order for him to keep his life and freedom. It didn't take long after that for him to realize that it made no difference whether he accepted the offer or declined; he had lost either way. Shun bowed beside the Queen's throne and said, "Very well. I will be returning back to my living quarters then."
He turned and began to walk down the marble steps. Within a matter of seconds, he had made his way across the throne room and was now walking down the hallways of the palace, relieved to be out of the hawk-like stares of the Knights. Shun allowed his shoulders to slump some now that he no longer had to hold that serious posture.
His mind was someplace else as he walked, but he wasn't sure where. He didn't really think of anything in particular; the silence in his thoughts felt like a heavy burden off his shoulders. When had been the last time his mind felt quiet and at ease?
He thought it might have been years, but he quickly realized that it had been while he was trapped in Looking Glass Lake with Alice. She had quelled his raging thoughts and put them at ease. Shun found it overwhelming by how much peace she had brought to him, and it pained him to know that she would be gone forever soon.
It was strange how quickly one person had changed so much in his life, in so little time, and had come to mean so much to him. With that thought, Shun began to wonder if he could really keep up his charade after Alice's life was put to an end by the Queen. Would he even be able to take up an audience with Fabia after words, much less even be in the same building as her?
He knew he would hate the Queen even more after that, if that was even possible. Worry began to build in the core of Shun's being. What if he lost it again as he had done when the Knights grabbed a hold of Alice?
He would surely be killed on the spot, and despite how much he currently hated his life in the Queen's service, he didn't want to lose it; if he did, he would have just told the Queen to let him starve down in the dungeons.
He still valued the life he had, even though it was horrible. While Shun had been walking and playing scenarios out in his mind, he didn't realize that he had walked right past his own room. Now, he was near the far-end of one of the halls. He quickly realized that the Queen's room was just up ahead, and for some reason, he decided to go inside.
It was one of the larger rooms in the palace; rivaled only by the throne room and dungeons. It definitely one of the most ornate, with long red tapestries hanging from every conceivable place. Shun's eyes scanned over the room and he recalled how this had been the first room he saw after he made his Oath with the Queen.
She had had her Knights bring him there while they set up his own living quarters. What was it she had told me? That somebody as close to her should deserve to stay in a room as extravagant as this? Shun thought to himself. All that had been another lie, another way to mask the truth about what he had accepted from her.
Shun strode into the room and made his way over to the two, full-length windows on the other side. They would have filled the room up with sunlight if the sun ever graced Wonderland with its light. Instead, it allowed in whatever light it could gather out of the growing darkness that loomed overhead.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shun caught a glimpse of a silver object. He turned around and saw the thing that had started it all; Alice's pocket watch. It was laying on the nightstand beside the Queen's bed, the chain hanging haphazardly off the side.
Shun reached out and picked the watch up, feeling the cool, worn down metal beneath his fingers. Holding on tightly to the watch, he returned back to the windows and opened them up, where he proceeded to step out onto the large balcony that sat on the other side.
Shun leaned against the metal railing and looked down at the watch as a light wind blew around him; the weather was unusually calm that day, seeing as how the sky looked like it was about to collapse and fall right on Wonderland the day before. He ran his thumb over the ornate markings of the contraption, then slowly made his way up to the button that opened the cover.
He clicked it, and the cover flew open, revealing the watch-face. The hands were still frozen on the exact time that it had been when Alice crossed over from the real world to Wonderland; 12:00 on the dot. Shun hated how it had been a careless error of his that all of this was happening.
If only he had hid the pocket watch better, then the Queen wouldn't have found it. She wouldn't have called out a search for Alice, and none of what had happened would have. But an ache formed in the pit of Shun's stomach when he thought about that.
If it hadn't happened, then he wouldn't have fell down into Looking Glass Lake and felt that euphoric sense of freedom. He would have never grown close to Alice and realized that he was still capable of finding happiness, even in the strangest of places. Perhaps it made no difference if the Queen had seen the watch or not.
Maybe all of this would have happened in the end, just at a later time. Shun wrapped the silver chain around his hand and allowed the pocket watch to dangle in the air. The wind blew it side-to-side, slowly causing it to build momentum and swing back and forth. He then looked past the watch and at the room that was on the other side of the courtyard.
From the distance he was at, Shun could barely make out the form of somebody sitting perfectly still on a bed through the room's window. It was only when the person turned their head to the side, did he see that it was Alice. So that's the room that the Queen is keeping her in, Shun thought to himself.
He entertained the idea of sneaking into the room and breaking Alice out. And if anyone asked, he would just say that she ambushed him and ran off. But there was the problem of explaining why he was near her room, or why he had even gone in there in the first place.
His plan was flawed, that, he could not deny. Shun tightly clutched the pocket watch in his hand and said to himself, "I'll find a way to save you before it's too late. I promise." He then shoved the watch into his breast pocket and left out of the Queen's room, unaware of the Knight that standing at the end of the hallway.
~O~
Fabia had just sent Shun back to his living quarters after the little show she put on for her Knights. It was a means to get them to relax around her Champion; the Queen didn't need her Knights being paranoid and accidentally hurt her Champion.
Now that she felt that things were a bit more at ease, she dismissed the Knights away and sat in solitude in her throne room. That is, until another Knight, who had not been present for her and her Champion's conversation, came barging it. He was a new recruit; Fabia could tell just by how badly he trembled in her presence.
The young Knight quickly knelt down and fisted his trembling hand over his heart. "Y-Your Majesty, I h-have something that you may want to hear," he stammered out. Fabia narrowed her eyes at him and said, "Well? Spit it out, already? You're trying my patience."
She could see that his shaking only got worse from there. The young Knight locked eyes with her, and Fabia could see that he wished he hadn't. "U-Uh….Oh! Right….I saw your Champion leaving out of your room a second ago….I fear he might be plotting against you, your Majesty. It is in your best intentions that you caution yourself around him."
Fabia felt her eyes narrowed, but not at the Knight; she had narrowed them in thought. What business did her Champion have in her room? There was nothing of importance to him in there, unless the young Knight was correct about him plotting against her again.
Her Champion could have been staking out the room, looking for the best place to hide and wait for her to go to sleep at night so he could jump out and kill her while she was unable to defend herself. Fabia wasn't going to allow that to happen.
It was clear that her Champion's loyalty was not exactly where it needed to belong; it was still lost and in much desperate need of being brought back home. Fabia tapped her chin with her fingernail as she thought of how to get him back in line. It then occurred to her that he had acquired this strange behavior after spending time with the human girl, and the Queen began to put two-and-two together.
If she got rid of the girl, made an example out of her as she had done the Hatter and his family, then perhaps it would be enough to snap her Champion back into his senses. Plus, with the girl gone, he would have no reason to continue to fight against her Majesty.
Before this, Fabia had been trying to figure out a way to get rid of the human. Now, she saw the girl's demise forming before her very eyes, and it would be an ironic way for the orange-haired maiden to go.
The Queen smiled down at the Knight and said, "Thanks to you, I believe I have found a way to put an end to that human's life. It is late now, so I shall wait until tomorrow morning to put my plan into action. In the meantime, try and locate my Champion and tell him I request his audience here, first thing that morning. Also, take the girl to the main room and have her wait there."
The Knight nodded and cautiously asked, "Um, your Majesty? Might I ask what you are planning on doing?" Fabia's lips curved up into a devilish smile. "That, my young Knight," she replied with a purr, "will all be revealed tomorrow."
warning about an upcoming chapter; you all will hate me for it. but don't worry, i have it all planned out, and i assure you, there will be a happy ending. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~