Chapter Eleven
JACK
It had been months since he had last been to see his Queen of Hearts in the Anti-Realm, and as he stood before the hole ridden castle, he already missed his room at the Anti-Castle. He had not missed this place at all, nor had he missed the rain that was falling over his umbrella either. It was already a terrifying experience to be back, but now it was absolutely chilling. He could hear the faint maniacal laughter within the stone walls and had to swallow down his fear to enter the castle. Much like the castle in Underland, this castle was primarily made up of heart with heavy amounts of red and black everywhere; only every heart here was broken.
The broken hearts made up the roof of the two-story balcony lined luxurious Victorian building, with cracked bricks trying to hold the whole thing together. Shutters were barely hanging on to their hingers and it was only the heart iron bars that still held the windows intact. There was a faint flicker of light, fire light, in the largest room on the second story and Jack's entire body tensed knowing that was where the Queen of Hearts currently was. In his upbringing the only heart of the roof that was broken was the one directly over the Queen's room, but now all three points were broken with deep gashes in them. Just what sort of things happened after he left?
He pushed past the creaky old cast iron gate and avoided puddles that tried to create a mini moat around the castle as he walked up the walkway. The laughter finally stopped, and he heard a terrible ripping sound that caused him to stop in his tracks.
Rip.
No, she couldn't possibly be doing that again. . .
Rip.
She wasn't allowed to have anymore decks of cards after the last incident. . .
Rip.
Laughter followed by sobs echoed throughout the castle and was easily heard from outside. His heart pounded in his chest and he had to take ten deep breaths to calm down. Had she gotten hold of a pack of cards again? The poor souls if she did, he hoped that their bodies wouldn't be in the hallways when he walked in. Taking another deep breath, he reached out with a shaky hand and turned the knob of the grand doors to the castle. It opened with ease proving that it hadn't been locked in ages; then again, most people avoided this place like the plague, even the drunks.
The door gave a creak as he entered, and he held his breath again as he looked at the many suits of armor and halberds and spears that remained in the halls. There were torn cards where bodies should have been and there wasn't a sign of life other than the continuous sobs echoing upstairs in the Queen's Chambers. With a careful hand, he closed the heavy door behind him making sure it did not click as it latched into place.
The building was decaying from the inside out more than what Jack remembered. Carefully walking on the carpeted wood floors so as not to disturb the remains of the old card soldiers he looked around and could smell the musky mold growing from old cakes and teas that were never touched in the guest rooms. The arsenic green wallpaper was peeling and flaking off, the floors were terribly scratched, and some of the doors where heavily splintered. Thunder rolled overhead and showed that not all the windows were intact and were letting cold a draft in as well as the pelting rain.
As Jack climbed the stairs, he noted that all the servants were missing as well. He had assumed so since the front doors had not been locked, but as he continued throughout the small castle, he was obvious that they either left their positions or were fired; for their sake he hoped that they just left.
The sobs grew louder as Jack walked down the hall that led to the Queen's room. Her room lay at the end of the hall with the large black door with red hearts etched into the grain of the wood. The hearts on her door ha malicious scarring over the hearts as if to show that all the hearts in the castle were all broken. He grimaced at the scratched-up door and hated trying to think just how fallen the Queen had fallen since he was last here; perhaps she had finally gone mad.
Bracing himself he gently knocked on the door and the sobs stopped on the other side of the door. He took a half step back as he heard the slapping of bare feet on the cold wood floors and the door swung open. His heart hurt at what he saw. The Queen of Hearts had a small head, hair of black poorly wrapped up in a bun, her white face was splotchy from crying and heavily ridden with wrinkles, her black eyes were so empty and searching for something she no longer could find, a golden heart locket rested on her breast, and she was haphazardly wearing a tea stained nightgown.
"Jack?" Her eyes were so clouded in searching and blurred from crying that she had to blink several times for her eyes to clear past all the murk to see him.
"It's me, Your Majesty." He offered her a smile, but he knew it just didn't reach as high as it needed to. He had never seen her so distraught, so lost, so caught up in her maddening depression.
"Jack." She smiled broadly and cupped his face in her hands. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"I know. . ." He nodded and tried not to writhe against her touch. "That's why I came when you summoned me."
"Good, good." She beamed and snatched his wrist and dragged him into her room. Her room was in disarray, the bed was unmade, and all the sheets were tangle together and strangling each other, books had been tossed from shelves, glass bottles had been thrown from the vanity and shattered pieces of glass were everywhere. A large fireplace sat nestled between two large windows with a large cast iron pot full of water. All around the large fireplace were torn and shredded cards, all save for the many suits of Jacks that were lining the mantle and resting on the tea platter. His hand subconsciously went to his left breast pocket just to remind himself that he had his own cards on him. She was trying to do it again. . .
"I want tea, Jack." She commanded and sat in the only available chair in the room.
"Of course, Your Majesty." He spoke lightly to her as he went to the mantel to grab the tea platter. "I'll go fetch water for this and make you a nice rose tea, how does that sound?"
"Lovely." She smiled and he could see her eyes fading into the murk again. He chewed on his lower lip and quickly grabbed the ladle from the mantel and scooped up the hot water and carefully poured it into the tea pot. There was a small red box with roses engraved on the top of it, her specially made tea box, and he pulled a few rose buds from it and dropped it into the water.
Grabbing his handkerchief, he carefully cleaned the insides of the two teacups before presenting it to the Queen. He set it on the table and carefully watched her as she watched the falling rain. She was sliding into the murk of her memories again. . .
"The tea just needs to steep." He spoke and caught her attention. She looked to him with a smile and held her hand out to him, he drew closer to her and held her wrinkled hand.
"It's good to see you, Jack." She smiled. "Though I seem to keep seeing you lately."
"What do you mean?" He smiled down at her, trying to humor her.
"My dreams and memories, you see." She tapped her temple. "Lately I keep having these terrible dreams, nightmares, and you're in some of them."
"Because I'm getting rid of them, right?" He nodded his head encouragingly and her eyes went blank for a second, as if trying to remember if that was really what he was truly doing or not.
"Yes, yes, I believe that's what you were doing." She nodded her head, but her brow furrowed. "I vaguely remember you trying to help me, even when I was being terribly stubborn and rude to you."
This was a common occurrence whether it was in the Anti-Realm or in Underland, it was just one of those terrible things that he had to get used to during his upbringing or suffer the beatings for it. Jack merely kept his smile on his face while her other hand went to the locket around her neck. Now that Jack was closer to her, he studied it. He had never once seen her wear the little piece of jewelry. She always had a taste for more gaudy things, but this was a nice simple and lovely piece that she wore.
"I like your locket." He pointed to it and her fingers delicately brushed over it.
"It was from my Rubeus." Her head fell back against the tall chair and her eyes rolled back to the windows. "Before he betrayed me. . ."
"The King betrayed you?" Jack's throat fell dry at this. The King seemed to be the only one in the entire Red Castle to be on the Queen's side rather than trying to kiss up to her to stay within her good graces. He still did everything within his power to make her happy; Jack just couldn't see him betraying her.
"He ran off with a woman from my Court. . ." She sniffled and a dark cloud shadowed her face. "Stayne was the one that told me about it, though that shouldn't matter since he too betrayed me in the end. . ."
"Are you certain that the King did that?" Jack's brow furrowed. From everything that the King showed Jack he was just trying to get his wife back. Stayne betraying her was not a surprise to him, but the King? The King would never!
"He ran off with this large girl." Her hand balled into a fist around the locket. "She had a tangled mess of blonde hair, pretty blue eyes, though not as pretty as Rubeus's blue eyes. . ."
There was only one girl who the Queen referred to as having a tangled mess of blonde hair. "Alice?"
"Alice took everything from me!" She suddenly snatched her hand away from Jack's and slammed it in her lap. "She took my husband, she killed my Jabber-baby-wocky, and she took away m-my crown!"
Jack took his chance of momentary freedom to pour the cups of tea and kept a careful eye on her. Though Alice was fated to kill the Jabberwocky, there was no way the King would have been running away with her; not unless he was trying to help her escape. If he were trying to help her escape then that meant that she somehow got to the Red Castle, which meant that Jack would need to do everything within his power to keep Alice out of the Red Castle.
"Would you like your tea?" He hoped it would distract her from her angry thoughts, and much to his relief, it did. He quietly turned to the teapot full of rose tea and carefully slid a small vial from inside his coat sleeve out. It was a small vial of clear liquid, a sweet and nontoxic liquid that would slowly but surely put the Queen to sleep and prevent him from staying too long. He only needed three quick drops and quickly deposited them into her cup before pouring the tea over it. He added the cream and sugar the way she liked it before turning and handing her cup of tea.
"I love it when you make me tea, Jack." Her voice was ever so sweet as she accepted the tea.
"What happened to all of the servants, Your Majesty?" He asked and carefully sipped his tea.
"The fools." She frowned and blew on her hot cup of tea. "They were all useless! None of them could bring me a pack of cards that I could animate and rebuild my army with!"
That explained the whole mess of cards everywhere. Cards were only ever magical in Underland, if the Cards crossed over to the Anti-realm then sure they would still be large and animated and ready to protect their Queen; though that quickly changed whenever she ripped them apart. Most magic, from what Jack could tell, was nullified by certain users, perhaps for their sins in their original Stories, but the Queen of Hearts was not allowed to use magic here; the great and mighty terrifying Yen Sid made sure of that. Once her powers had been stripped away and she was just an average Queen with a horrible temper, her head deflated but she slowly but surely started to lose her grip on reality and eventually reached her lowest and maddening point. Jack hated seeing her like this, but it was what she had to suffer for her actions in her Story.
"I see. . ." He frowned at her words and turned to her bed. "I'll at least make up your bed for you then."
He would at least sweep up the broken glass and clean up a little more once she was asleep, but he couldn't risk the chance of her trying to steal his calling cards. He went over to her queen-sized fourposter bed and untangled the sheets, shooting a glance in her direction as he worked. The sheets were filthy, so he took the tangled mess from the bed and went to the chest of drawers an pulled out clean sheets, pillowcases, and a comforter to keep her warm. He would do something about the dirty clothes later, but he needed to get the bed ready for when she would eventually drink her tea and get tired; she hadn't touched it yet.
He carefully moved about the bed, pulling the fitted sheet over the mattress and making sure it fit over everything correctly, all while keeping an eye on the Queen. She stared listlessly out the windows, graying with each passing second. Once the fitted sheet was set in place then went the solid sheet, a flannel blanket, then the comforter. He added the flannel blanket because although there was a fire going, it was positively freezing in the room. Once the blankets were tucked into place under the mattress at the foot of the bed, he flipped back the head so the blanket to reveal a peak of the clean sheets waiting to be slept in underneath. Snatching up the pillows he replaced their cases, fluffed them, and slapped them on the bed and kept an eye on the Queen.
When she still maintained more sanity, she had readily agreed to sign Jack up for the Recruit program, though neither of them could have anticipated that this is where she would have fallen. Jack almost felt guilty for taking so long to look for things and actually find her in Underland, but he had too much freedom now to truly feel guilty for it. He would remain loyal to her and still achieve her Happy Ending, somehow, but he just couldn't entirely give up on the idea of having color in his life.
"How's the tea, Your Majesty?" He tried to distract her again as he approached her, but she was still too distraught about the cards.
"I've tried so many times to bring them all back." She let the teacup and saucer be centered in her lap. "But they simply won't come back to life. . ."
"Some things just don't come back once you've broken them, Your Majesty." His heart hammered in his chest as he carefully watched her. His own calling cards weighing pretty heavily in his coat breast pocket.
"I've saved all the jacks, though." She smiled wildly at him and Jack could hear the blood pounding in his ears and feel the cold air seeping into the room. "I love my Jack, he's the last Card that I have."
"I-I know, Your Majesty." He sipped his tea and kept his eyes locked on hers, not daring to take them off her in case she should try to steal his cards.
"They don't work though." She pouted slightly and finally brought the teacup to her lips again. "They don't call you to me like yours do. . ."
"How's the tea, Your Majesty?" He tried again as she sipped the tea. Her eyes closed and she smiled so happily as she looked back at him.
"Delicious, Jack." She took another sip. "You always make delicious tea, Jack."
"I'm glad you like it." He quietly breathed in through his nose as he watched her, wary of how quickly her moods were changing.
She settled back into her seat and drank the tea until it was all gone. Jack breathed a small sigh of relief into his own cup as he finished it. It would only be a matter of minutes now before she eventually nodded off to sleep.
"Jack?" She blinked her eyes rather tiredly and held out her teacup for him to take.
"Yes, Your Majesty?" He took it from her and watched her grow more tired.
"Why does no one love me?" Her head rolled to the left to look at him. Those black eyes were exhausted, but in the depths of them he could see that she was awake.
"That's not true." He smiled as her words pricked at his heart. "I love you, mother. . . and the King of Hearts loves you very much."
"Then why did he leave me?" Tears were brimming in her eyes as she looked at him. "Everything I love always leaves me."
"He never left you. . ." He pointed to the locket around her neck. "He's still with you, even though you can't see him now. He always loved you, more than anyone else."
"He had the prettiest blue eyes. . . my Rubeus. . ." Her voice was softer. Jack could see that she was fighting the sleep that wanted to ease its way into her system. "We were childhood sweethearts; did you know that?"
Her smile broadened as the sleep wanted to take her.
"I didn't know that." He admitted and kneeled down beside her.
"We used to play together, all the time at my parents castle. . ." She let out a huge yawn. "He was always so pretty, even as a boy. . ."
"What did you like about him?" His smile was much more genuine and softer as he watched her.
"His hair was gold like the sun, but he had the prettiest, most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen." She stared at the ceiling, getting lost in her memories. "I never knew how much of a suck I was for blonde boys with blue eyes, but his eyes were deep ocean sapphires."
"So, you liked him for how he looked?" He chuckled as he watched her body begin to relax as the muscles were ready to sleep.
"No, much more than that." She shook her head and let out another yawn. "He was so sweet, funny, charming. . ."
"Like any old prince, huh?" He whispered in response.
"Much more." She sleepily looked at him through hooded eyes. "He believed me when no one else would. . . I told the truth. . . and he believed me. . ."
She was struggling to fight against the sleep that was claiming her, her head slumping onto her left shoulder, her brow furrowed in stubbornness in wanting to stay awake, and her hand holding fast to the locket around her neck.
"I will tell you one thing I do know, Your Majesty." He whispered as he stood and leaned over into her ear. "He loved you more than anyone else in all of Underland. The King truly loved you."
Her eyes peeked open and a catlike grin spread over her face. "I know. . ."
Her chest rose high before falling low as her breathing evened out and she eventually fell asleep. Jack stood over her, cautiously watching her to make sure she truly was asleep before picking her up and taking her to her bed. She had put on a little weight in her old age, but with her already being so small Jack was able to place her in her bed carefully and tuck her in. He had considered changing out her nightgowns, but that was a little bit more than he could honestly bare for the evening.
After making sure she was tucked nice and tight in bed, Jack replaced the fire grate over the fireplace opening to prevent any fires from breaking out in her room and set about cleaning the Queen's room. Curtains were drawn to a close, the floors were swept free from the glass, the growing food and molded drinks were disposed of, and the room was at least somewhat cleaner than what it was originally, but there was so much more that needed to be done to it than what Jack could do if he actually wanted to leave.
With the room at least walkable and livable again, Jack double checked the room as he stood at the door. It would do for now until Jack could hire more help; maybe Ms. Scatter could help him out with that, she seemed to know where everything and everyone was. Feeling satisfied with his work, he turned to leave when the Queen's whimpers stopped him.
"Don't go. . ." He could practically hear the tears coming back to her. "Don't leave me alone. . ."
He closed his eyes tight, trying to resolve himself to leave, wanting to resolve himself to leave, but when another lonely plea escaped the Queen's sleeping thoughts, he sighed and walked back over to her. She had barely been asleep for forty-five minutes and was already having a nightmare. Doing what he did best, he removed his hat from his head and tipped his own close enough to the Queen's until the light gently glowed from his hat and head. He waited until the Queen's facial features relaxed before placing his hat back on his head and standing straight. She was lulled back into a peaceful sleep, which ebbed Jack's conscience as he turned to truly leave this time. He could not stay with her or else she would never let him leave again. The least he could do for her was at least ensure that she has one night of pleasant dreams before he would stir up trouble again in Underland.
ABSALOM
While Jack was settling his Queen in for the evening to finally have a dreamless sleep, other happenings were afoot in Underland with some of the most unlikely characters. Up high above the clouds of Underland where birds cannot fly and only vaporating cats and caterpillars can reach, Absalom sat in the waiting room of the Tower of Time while Father Time procrastinated in seeing him. He blew his blue smoke in the air out of spite now that three hours had passed and there were still no signs of Father Time. The man was definitely stubborn, but Absalom had more resolve and persistence. Father Time was aware of his actions and kept sending his little minions in to check on Absalom by offering a drink or a snack, and each one tried to take his hookah from him; though they all failed in that.
"If this is a waiting game that you truly wish to play, Time." He puffed on his pipe. "I have more patience than you, and I am not in a hurry to go back down there."
"You're not welcome here!" An accent snapped on the other side of metal ticking doors. "You and your smoke clog up my gears and make them filthy!"
"If you would simply step out and speak with me, intellectual man to bug, then I wouldn't be blowing so much smoke everywhere." He called in response before taking a sip of the water that had been provided.
"I'm not going to come out there with that stinky smoke everywhere!" He snapped again and Absalom just rolled his eyes. "It burns my nose!"
"If I make the smoke go away, will you then come out and speak with me?" The caterpillar sighed as he already set his pipe down, already breathing in the smoke.
"I will think about it."
"Time, I will blow more of it out until it eventually burns and corrodes the metal of that door so I can get in there myself if you do not come out and speak with me this instant." It was the final warning that Absalom would provide Father Time.
He rubbed his temples and slightly wished that the Cheshire Cat were here and he were in the Anti-Realm; though things got quite messy the last time he was there with some grasshoppers, Hooper and Thumper, so he would rather not return there if he could help it. He hated trying to speak with Dr. Facilier anyways, the man was too terrible at trying to get others to pay off his debts.
"Fine!" The annoyed voice shouted, and the giant gear doors began to turn and move. "But all the smoke better be gone!"
Remaining true to his word, Absalom breathed in all of the smoke and slightly perked up in a better move as the blue clad Father Time stomped out to the foyer to greet his guest.
"Really?" He seethed and held his arms out. "You couldn't have done that hours ago?"
"You wouldn't let me in, therefore, I had to keep myself preoccupied."
"My minions gears are all clogged!" Time snapped and pointed to the creaking minions following in behind him. "I'm going to have to oil them for weeks to keep them from rusting!"
"Not my problem." He heaved a sigh and slumped over in his seat. "You knew what you were doing by keeping me out here for three hours. You can suffer the consequences for it."
"How dare you!" His black mustache stood on end as he stomped his foot like a child, and it took everything within Absalom not to roll his eyes. The keeper of time was very childish at times, which meant he could change his mind about actually listening to his and Chess's request if he truly wanted to; which he couldn't quite afford.
"I apologize for the foolishness that has happened within these last few hours." He offered and attempt at an apology, though he did not quite mean it. "However, I have quite the urgency to speak with you, Time."
"Doesn't everyone?" He snorted and crossed his arms. "Everyone wants to talk to me when it comes to time, you're no exception!"
"I'm not asking for my time for myself, Father Time." He itched his cheek and could already feel himself craving the nicotine he wasn't breathing in. "I have no qualms about becoming a butterfly on Frabjous Day."
"Then why do you need more time?" His bushy black eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the blue caterpillar.
"It is for all of Underland." The Cheshire Cat crooned as he suddenly appeared behind Father Time, trapping him between them so he could not runaway."
"You!" He pointed to the grinning Cheshire Cat. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here on behalf of Absalom the Wise, of course." He chuckled as he paced a circle in the air around Father Time.
"I thought you were speaking with Dr. Facilier?" Absalom's brow was furrowed as he looked to his partner in crime.
"Turns out that Facilier is retired, old chum." He chuckled rather darkly. "His apprentice, Valentino, calls himself Mr. V, is now in charge of things."
"Oh, perhaps some sort of competency shall finally be granted to the Anti-Realm, then." He mused rather happily. The Anti-Realm has desperately needed new management for a while now, it was good to know that things were changing; now they just needed a few things change in Underland.
"Look, I do not care whatever it is you two are talking about." Father Time looked between the two of them. "You are both wasting my precious time and there is so little of it!"
"Preposterous." The Cheshire Cat laughed. "You're Father Time, you possess it all, why are you so worried?"
"Cheshire." Absalom warned as he saw the ever-growing distrustful look on Time's face.
"What?" He floated in a circle around Father Time to keep him from moving. "All I'm saying is that now that I no longer work here and things are a little more . . . organized, there should be a little extra time to spare."
"Never!" He vehemently shook his head no at the Cheshire Cat. "Do you know how much time I had to clean up after you worked here? After you stole nine lives!"
"I did not steal anything." The Cheshire's smile only seemed to grow. "Cats naturally are born with nine lives, I just happened to replenish it with the wasted time that I used to unwisely."
"Which gave you eighteen clocks in total!" Time snapped and Absalom pressed his wrinkly face into his hands. Why did he think having Cheshire Cat here would be a good idea?
"Naturally, that's what's happen when you add nine and nine together." He chuckled as Time only grew more and more frustrated.
"Chess, this is not the time for this." He sighed and his throat felt dry for more of his smoke. "Time, we have a proposition for you."
"I'm doing anything that involves him!" He pointed at the floating cat as he looked to the caterpillar.
"OH, but I think you will." The Cheshire Cat sat on his shoulder and kept him still in place.
"What makes you think that I'll –" Time was prepared to start yelling in the cat's face when the caterpillar growled.
"We're here to offer you an exchange, Time." Absalom raised his voice and the Cheshire Cat frowned a little at losing his fun.
"An exchange?" His head snapped to
"Of time." Absalom nodded, relieved he was finally able to gather some of Father Time's attention.
"An exchange of time?" He repeated, sounding interested.
"My spare nine lives in exchange for nine days." He jumped off his shoulder and floated over to where Absalom sat.
"You want to exchange the nine lives that you stole for nine additional days?"
"Preferably before Frabjous Day." Absalom carefully tact the last bit on.
"What for?" His brow was furrowed as he looked between the two blue and gray figures.
"The Wild Card needs time to adjust to Underland and to see that Alice should live rather than die for the Red Queen's plight." Absalom answered. "If he simply does as the Queen orders then Frabjous Day will never come and we will be in perpetual terror as the Red Queen continues to rule Underland."
"Not to mention that it will ultimately ruin the timeline of Underland." The Cheshire Cat chimed in. "We would hate for the future to be so vastly altered that it is irreparable."
"That's rich coming from you." He scoffed at the cat, but then his eyes turned to the wise old caterpillar. "From Absalom the Wise I believe it, but is it truly worth the small life of a Wild Card?"
"Every life is precious." Absalom frowned. "Even as an insect whose life is merely to be born, to live, to transform, to repopulate, to only die I know that every single life is important."
"Are either of you aware of how little a life he truly has?" He blinked and stared rather sadly at the two of them. "Giving him an extra nine days is nice of you, but is it truly worth it if he wastes it?"
"The Wild Card doesn't really like to waste his time, actually." The Cheshire Cat chuckled. "I would not be here so willingly ready to give up my extra nine lives for an extra nine days if I thought otherwise."
Father Time merely narrowed his eyes at the Cheshire Cat then turned his gaze to Absalom.
"Is his life really worth that much to you both?" He asked earnestly, his eyes searching for the truth.
"It absolutely is." He nodded his head. Father Time looked between the two of them before finally turning to the Cheshire Cat and holding out his palm.
"I need the nine clocks you stole."
"Do I take it we have a deal, then?" He purred curiously as he glanced between Time and Absalom.
"Yes, I will agree to give nine extra days in exchange for the nine that you stole." He frowned and glared at the cat. "The clocks, please."
"Not so fast." He waggled his finger in Time's face. "Although we know you are a man good to his word, we must still have it in writing, for political sakes."
"You can't be serious." He rolled his eyes.
"We are absolutely serious." Absalom spoke and flicked out a scroll with a contract already written out. "All we need is your signature of approval to mark this day in the history of Underland for the Oraculum. We both have already signed it."
"Making this very official, I see." He hissed as he tapped his fingers on his legs.
"How else do I conduct business?" Cheshire chuckled and earned another glare from Time.
Nonetheless, Time pulled out a pen from one of the sprockets of his clock hat and signed the contract that would make it permanent in all of Underland. The ink glowed an electric blue before seeping into the parchment and becoming permanent.
"There, it is done." He looked between the two of them. "I hope it is worth as much as you say it is. . ."
"I assure you, old chum." The Cheshire Cat held out the nine clocks that he possessed. "It will be, I bet my life on it."
Father Time only snorted at the statement as he took the clocks back into his possession. The Cheshire Cat did not seem all that disappointed for the exchange.
"I assume you both know the way out?" He raised an eyebrow at the caterpillar.
"We will see ourselves out." Absalom reassured and Father Time spun on his heel and went back into his Tower of Time. The giant gear doors spun open before closing again and sealing the deal that they all had signed. The Cheshire Cat rolled up the contract and handed it back to Absalom.
"Good show, old chum." He chuckled as Absalom accepted the scroll.
"For what?"
"For going so long without smoking." He chuckled and earned a frown. "I didn't think you had it in you."
"Shut up you devilish feline." He tisked to hide his proud smirk.
"Devilish?" He gasped mockingly. "Whatever do you mean?"
"You didn't give him the extra nine lives, did you?" He snorted as he pushed himself out of his chair and started wiggling away.
"Of course, I did." There was a mischievous glint in his eyes that proved he was being sarcastic.
"Stop lying." He almost laughed as they finally exited the Tower of Time's foyer and into a small hallway that had a bent and twisted grandfather clock. "Unlike Father Time I did read the contract."
"So?" The grin only grew on his face.
"You gave him nine clocks that you had in your possession, not the ones that you stole." He smiled in return. "You carefully worded it to where you would just give Father Time nine clocks, not the ones you stole. 'In exchange for nine additional days before Frabjous Day, the Cheshire Cat will give Father Time nine clocks'."
"It isn't my fault that he didn't read it before he signed." The Cheshire Cat shrugged with a smirk. "How long do you think it will take him to realize it?"
"Far too many, you devilish cat." He snorted and they both entered the grandfather clock portal to escape the Tower of Time before Father Time realized his mistake; if he would at all.
"Who knows." He shrugged carelessly. "If things go well then I might actually return them, but for now we just need to ensure that these nine days are spent wisely."
"I'm sure the Wild Card will spend them wisely." Absalom was actually confident of this for some reason. Jack could do anything that he wanted and the simple fact that he had not harmed Alice yet was a good start. Perhaps they could change the tide of war in just nine small days.
Author's Note:
Thank you for reading, I hope you're enjoying the story so far!
If you remember back at the first chapter, I did say that I was going to try to combine all three Disney Alice in Wonderland adaptations for this little story. I'll admit it has been a little difficult to weave the story through this way, I kept stumbling into knots here and there, but I'm pretty satisfied with where this is for the moment. I hope are as well.
Please remember to leave a comment or review and tell me what you think! And if you simply can't wait until the next chapter but like the stuff that I write, please check out my other stories!
Thanks for coming along the journey with me, stay tuned!
Ko-fi/SarahtheWriter