I don't know if this chapter is a bit rushed or too short but tell me what you think.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Lewis Carroll, Tim Burton and the Disney Corporation.

Somehow throughout her life Mirana had always managed to lose everyone she loved and had loved her. In several cases before they actually died. It took something from her every time. She knew if she lost Stayne too something irreparable would break. If she left him behind to die for her.

"Put me down!" she screamed. The soldier made no move to do so and in a moment's fury stretched down his back and grabbed one of his knives from his belt and stabbed it into his side. Not hard or deep enough to actually wound him but enough to make him drop her.

She landed with a thump as he went to the ground clutching his side. She snatched up the vorpal sword he dropped which she knew from practise with Stayne was lighter than any sword should be. With that she began sprinting back to Stayne and the dragon. She wasn't going to let him die. She couldn't.

"Help me," she said to the sword in her grasp. With any other weapon it would seem crazy but Chess was right these were not ordinary swords. They were ancient and laced with old magic. And made for the destruction of all Outland dwelling creatures. "What do I do?"

It wasn't as if the sword spoke in her head exactly, it was almost as if she thought the words herself but had no idea why.

Do not approach a dragon alone.

"No choice," she gasped as she saw the dragon before her. It appeared to have its head stuck in a hole in the chasm wall and was twisting it. She knew instinctively Stayne must be in there.

Its scales near the end of its tail are weaker than most of its others, vopral swords can penetrate them.

The end of its tail was furnished with a lot of large spikes but she got as close as she could. Then raised the sword with both hands and stabbed at it. On impact with its large scales the sword made a crunching sound. She could imagine no other sword would be able to pierce dragon hide but these swords had been forged with magic and christened in demon blood. So when she pulled it back it was stained red.

A wounded sound erupted and Mirana dropped down to the floor as its tail began swinging furiously very nearly taking her head off. With a loud crash she saw the dragon rip its head from the cave sending large fragments of rock flying in all directions. It turned in her direction its expression in no way pleased.

She screamed and rolled out of the way just as its tail came down to crush her. She leapt up and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. The dragon snarled and turned its attention from the cave where Mirana was praying Stayne was still alive.

Identifying her as the new threat, it turned in her direction and opened its jaws. The fire that billowed from its jaws stetched about fifty feet. Thankfully Mirana was out of range but she felt the blast of heat crash into her like a tidal wave. Unlike jabberwocky fire this was no concentrated firebolt, it billowed out wildly scorching a wide stretch of the ground. Even if Mirana had had a shield it wouldn't have done much good.

"How do you kill a dragon?" she yelped looking at it incredulously. She was fairly sure the monolithic skeleton she and Stayne had seen a little over a week ago had been that of a dragon. She remembered wondering what could have killed such a creature. She also remembered wishing she could have seen what it had looked like in life. Now she had she was vastly regretting that wish.

Dragons have no armour over their hearts. Tear out both.

Mirana could have laughed at the thought of getting anywhere near that dragon's chest. She saw Stayne appear at the front of the cave and the relief of his survival nearly made her lose her footing. His figure comically small next to that of the dragon.

As the beast turned to face her sweeping its tail back Mirana ran to the left ducking behind a rock as it blew another blast of pure flame. Ironic, part of her thought, she had just abolished beheadings and burnings and here she was about to be roasted alive.

She continued left going in a circle making the dragon stumble on all fours in the enclosed space of the chasm having to flap its wings blocking out the sun to get its balance back. Stayne left the cave and came forward to meet her. She all but crashed into him as they met.

"What are you doing?" he shouted over the dragon's rumbling. "I told you to go with him."

"I couldn't leave you behind," she replied in perfect honesty.

They both turned to the dragon as it summoned another mouth full of flames before them. Too close for them to run, too strong for them to attack. Well within range of fire. Stayne pulled her hard against him.

"Close your eyes and think of home," he whispered in her ear.

She didn't. Instead she thought of all the time she and Stayne had had over the last three weeks. All the love she'd felt. That was really worth remembering.

When she was prepared to feel the fire to burn them to nothing she heard a faint yell. She blinked and opened her eyes to see the small figure of the lieutenant charging at the dragon and actually jumping on its tail climbing up it. If it wasn't trying to eat them Mirana might have felt sorry for the dragon. As soon as it cornered one of them it was attacked by another.

In sheer surprise it seemed to re-swallow the fire it was about to unleash. It didn't turn its body this time, merely looked with its head and shook its tail trying to get the Lieutenant to let go. To his credit the lieutenant held on tight to his chosen few scales refusing to loosen his grip. Clearly getting very aggravated the dragon beat its tail on the ground up and down furiously before hurling it upwards.

With such momentum the lieutenant was thrown into the air like a rag doll flying on midair. Mirana could hear his yell from down below. Before gravity and the ground could claim him, the dragon's head stretched out on that long neck and snatched him out of the air in its jaws.

Mirana screamed and only Stayne's grip kept her from moving. The dragon was clearly not used to its victims being armed and did not have armour inside its mouth because when Jonathan stabbed it (well she assumed he did it was impossible to tell from this far) it leant down, made a choking sound and spat him out with a mouthful of blood.

It fell on its side in its confusion, the weight of its wings which had been unfolded making it difficult for it to get up.

Two hearts. No armour.

In this position its chest was actually within reach. "I know what to do," she whispered.

She pulled away and Stayne grabbed her arm. "Don't run towards it. This way, while it's down!"

"I know how to kill it," she cried. "It'll kill him if we run."

"He'll distract it."

"We can't leave him behind. I have to kill it."

He shook his head. "No, I am not going to lose you. That thing cannot be killed by you or any of us."

She looked him straight in the eye. "Stayne please. I can do this."

His grip slackened slightly and she pulled free and ran before he could change his mind. Her chest ached as she forced herself to go faster, her hand stinging as she gripped the vorpal sword. She could see the vulnerable point, it was a pale white amongst the brown of the scales. As the creature began to rise she ran up a slanted sandstone rock and jumping into thin air as far as she could, literally threw herself at the fallen dragon.

She sliced the vorpal sword into its chest, the vulnerable spot, hitting into it till she could feel its chest rising and falling. A deafening roar of surprise and agony from the beast rocked her threatening to make her fall. Haphazardly grabbing one of its neighbouring scales for leverage she launched the sword into the small patch of naked flesh again and again.

Blood soon soaked her, dying her a dark red, her dress, her skin, all of her until she practically resembled her sister. And yet she kept stabbing. When she'd forged a gaping hole before her and she could all but hear its hearts beating she didn't hesitate and shoved her arm as far it could go into the dragon's body, till her shoulder was pressed against its outer skin. She felt flesh, hanging tissue and eventually slender heartstrings. It was disgusting.

Then Mirana, who had been waited on by servants all her life, Mirana who had watched battles fought but never considered participating, Mirana who had been a vegetarian and a pacifist her whole life gripped the dragon's heart and wrenched it still beating from the it's body with her bare hands.

Considering the size of the dragon's colossal chest she was surprised by just how small its heart was. She'd say it was only a foot or so in each direction. She got the sword and severed the strings hacking wildly and once cut threw the disfigured organ to the dust as far as she could throw.

Two hearts. It has two hearts.

She repeated the action until its second heart was strewn along the ground. The creature hadn't moved since she'd removed its first but now she knew it would never be going anywhere ever again.

She pulled back letting go of the beast falling several meters then stumbled backwards, unconsciously dropping the sword into some of the remaining blaze from the dragon's breath. She felt numb all over, as if she were dreaming. She looked round and saw Stayne gazing at the scene and ran into his arms not thinking beforehand that she would cover him in dragon blood and guts doing so.

She flung her arms round his neck. "It's dead," she choked trying to reassure herself looking back at it, golden eyes staring blindly. "It's dead."

Stayne shook his head in amazement seeming unable to move for shock. "Dear God."

She wiped the blood off her face sniffing as she tried to keep it together. "Well," she laughed, "not bad for a 'spoilt palace brat.'"

"Mirana," he said breathlessly staring at the felled beast. "I've never seen anything so impossible in my entire life."