While those good men do their good work...
The Queen of Hearts was not the sort of person that was good to wake on the best of days. So when Ivan discovered the 'Crimson Crazy' (as the guards had taken to calling her when they were sure no one was around) unconscious and surrounded by dead guards in an otherwise empty cell, he was understandably concerned for his own wellbeing. As her personal guard of over twenty years - since the last one was killed in a fit of fury – he knew that underneath the fiery temper and sadistic tendencies, she was in fact a terrified little girl, desperately afraid of disappointing her mother. Even after the last Queen's swift departure, her influence over Miranda was painfully obvious; it saddened Ivan to see a daughter abused by her own mother's mere memory.
He was one of perhaps three people in Wonderland or any of the related worlds that knew that Miranda was not actually her mother, the veil and similar dress sense fooled those who actually gained an audience with the Queen as none had ever seen Miranda or her mother. When he had first been assigned as her guards all those years ago, he had become aware of the true situation of the royal family, and over the years he had gradually got to know Miranda and the woman she truly was behind the cruel facade. While he would never call her a sweet or kind woman, she wasn't as heartless as she seemed to the rest of the world, the cruelty was ingrained into her by her mother through fear and the inherent need children possessed to please their parents.
Through long duties spent guarding her during almost all of his waking moments, they had grown close and he had grown protective of her past the mere job that his uncle had got him two decades ago. Though no one in Wonderland had aged in the past twenty-eight years, the Queens had both been very cagey on the subject as to why or how that was, however from his status he had discovered that it was due to the Evil Queen of the Enchanted Forest casting a powerful curse. Ivan should have been forty two this summer, but still held the look of the fresh faced sixteen year-old he had been when he started his role as the queen's protector.
He had risen to the rank so quickly after only a year of general guard work after the Queen had discovered his talent for healing magic and had assigned him to the rank as per his uncle's wishes. Magic was a rare enough gift in Wonderland that his uncle had insisted he demonstrate it for his own advantage, and a natural skill for healing like the one Ivan possessed was enough to hold him in a favourable enough light so that the Queen felt he was worth employing.
So, as he leant to down to check on the feebly stirring monarch, he felt real concern flicker through him at the sight of the large bloody mark on her forehead, he gently brushed back the veil in order to examine the wound. A wave of his palm and a spattering of silver sparks and the wound had disappeared, leaving only the blood to mark that it had ever been there. A claw like grip snatched his wrist and pulled his hand away harshly, Miranda's beautifully mismatched eyes glowered up at him with boiling rage. Ivan hastily pulled his hand back, grateful for the black cloth covering his blushing cheeks, using his other hand to help the queen to her feet once more.
"Where are they?!" The Queen snapped at him and he stood straight to attention at the usual commanding tone of her voice.
"The prisoners escaped through the hedge maze several hours ago and were seen heading for the Mountains of Division after having defeated half of the Crimson guard." As he spoke he cringed inwardly, watching the Queen's face turn the infamous crimson and her eyes flashed dangerously.
"HOW?!" She thundered, striding out of the cell, Ivan hurrying in her wake, carefully manoeuvring around the dead and unconscious bodies of the guards.
"Magic, my lady - the Crimson guard reported the blonde woman having powerful magic, as well as the criminal known as the Hatter's natural affinity for violence." The Queen's fury seemed to increase with each step she took, slamming open the door to her chambers with violent force, her dark hair billowing free of her veil behind her. He was struck, as he often was, at how beautiful she would be if her heart were not so foul and tainted by the evil of another woman's hateful nature.
Ivan moved to hurriedly close the doors behind them as Miranda went straight to the mirror at her vanity, pulling various herbs and jars out of drawers on the table – clearly about to start a spell of some kind. Most likely one to find the errant prisoners. As much as he pitied the Queen and her coerced facade of cruel behaviour, he also found himself pitying the unfortunate madman that his uncle had guarded for the entire time the poor sod had been held captive by Miranda's mother.
He doubted that anyone deserved the sort of torture that his uncle had described, and didn't envy the fate that would befall either him or his friends should Miranda find them before they found a way out of Wonderland. And considering the fact that it took the first Red Queen years to find a way out, he doubted the foreigners' chances of doing so before they were caught. Not that he was planning on helping them mind you – he was sympathetic, but he wasn't mad, or suicidal.
"Blood." The dreaded command snapped through the silence like a whip and Ivan reluctantly moved forward to stand by the Queen, rolling up his sleeve as he went, pulling off his leather glove to expose the scarred skin of his wrist. It had occurred so often now that Ivan was mostly used to the requirement of blood for the Queen's castings, but it didn't mean that he had to like it; it was only his healing skills that had allowed him to give blood so frequently without too much issue.
Miranda picked up the usual knife, gold and magic inlaid into the handle to enhance the spell's power and slashed it across Ivan's proffered wrist. He winced slightly as it bit deeper than usual because of the Queen's bad temper, but made no comment – his blood was more valuable than any other guard's would be due to the magic running through his veins.
She collected the blood that spilled from the wound in a bowl filled with various powders and herbs, causing the mixture to smoke and hiss before turning a bright crimson. The potion was then thrown across the surface of the mirror, the crimson liquid flowing in an unnatural way to cover the whole surface in a smooth coating, not a drop spilling from the glass.
With a wave of his hand the skin was sealed shut once more and he replaced his glove and sleeve as the Queen focussed hard on the mirror. Her icy green and brown eyes intent enough to almost crack the glass, the smooth coating of blood began to shimmer and separate, spinning in a dizzying vortex of colours until an image began to form on the glass. The picture was blurred and indistinct until the Queen hissed something angrily, moving a hand across the mirror's surface, they could now make out a group of three people hiking up a mountain path. The leading figure was clearly the blonde witch from before, and the two men accompanying her were most likely the Hatter and their accomplice. The witch was turned slightly towards her left as she walked, and her mouth was moving as if talking to someone, but Ivan could see no one there.
However the image only lasted for a moment or so before Miranda gasped, as if in pain and her eyes widened in shock. There was a flash of bright purple light from the mirror and she retracted her hand as though burned - the image gone. Ivan moved forwards to catch her as she staggered backwards, but she steadied herself against the vanity instead, panting slightly, looking confused and angry.
"My Queen?" Ivan ventured cautiously "Are you alright? What was that?"
"I don't know..." She murmured eyes dark and unfocussed. "It was magic – powerful magic, but not the saviour's... but it wasn't dark either...it was... something else."
Miranda shook herself slightly and straightened, her eyes flashing back to their usual fierce determination as she marched towards the doors of her chambers, Ivan following in her wake. "It doesn't matter, I'm going to find that little witch, her puppet friend, and make sure that the Hatter watches as I skin them alive."
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After engaging in some fairly average conversation about Wonderland with the so-called 'Cheshire Mage', Emma was startled out of her wits when the man began to giggle unaccountably in the middle of her question on the geography of Wonderland. He began waving his hands about in the air around his head and continued to laugh madly, spinning in little circles on the spot. She looked at him askance and Jefferson and August were soon standing by her, hurried forward from their previously lagging position at the back of the group. "What's so funny?"
The Cheshire mage simply continued to walk onward, weaving across the path slightly and chortling softly to himself - the masked head shaking from side to side like a snake. The three Storybrookers exchanging looks of 'what the hell' before August chose to voice their unanimous concerns once more. "I'm worried he's going to do something crazy very soon."
"He dresses as a cat, giggles manically, talks nonsense and occasionally stalks women for being 'shiny'" Jefferson pointed out in a drawling tone, fixing August with a somewhat sceptical and patronising look. "Define crazy."
"That's a good point actually. On a scale of 'worried he's going to run around throwing flowers on us' to 'worried he's going to kill us and steal our teeth in our sleep' what are you ranking?" Emma added, raising a blonde eyebrow at August, a slight smirk on her lips. He shot her a withering scowl.
"Both? I don't know! The guy just shows up out of the blue and claims he wants to help – after you saw him at the Queen's palace – and you are just going to trust him?"
"You just showed up out of the blue in Storybrooke and started trying to make me believe in magic, ride around on your motorcycle and ask me out for drinks!" Emma pointed out, crossing her arms. Jefferson's eyebrows rose to impressive levels at the mention of motorcycles and drinks being offered, though Emma wasn't sure if it was due to mirth, disbelief or jealousy. "I'm not saying I trust him, but he hasn't given me reason not to yet. If I stopped taking chances on strangers now I'd be on my own, and in Wonderland, that doesn't seem like a good place to be. But he has magic and he knows where he's going. As long as we keep an eye on him we should be fine until we get out of here."
"She's right you know." They spun to see that the Cheshire Mage hadn't actually moved more than ten paces away from them and was standing on the next rise, the red dawn light illuminating his mask in a slightly eerie manner. "You should keep an eye on me."
With that, he turned away and resumed pace up the incline, Emma hurried to shadow him, glancing back to August and Jefferson as they followed at a much slower pace. As she was turning back to fix her gaze on the mage's purple robed back she heard him mutter in such a quiet voice that she was almost unsure as to whether she actually heard it or not. "And I'll keep an eye on them."
Muhahaha. That is all.
