Mara remembered how when she - when Faith - was little, when she got a cut, she could always run to Mama, crying about her "Owie." Her mother had always cleaned and bandaged the cut and then kissed it to make it feel all better. And then it always had, and she would run off to Jeremy, proudly showing off her "bandie." He would laugh at her, but she'd never cared. Then she remembered how she had once cut herself accidentally at the asylum, soon after Reynald had taken over, bringing Emelia with him.
She had been watching something... the raven, perhaps, and had absently taken a step backwards. Only she had been standing on the edge of the bed where she could see it better, and when she had stepped back, she'd fallen clear off the bed, scraping her elbow on the handle of the little closet where her uniform and dress were kept.
She remembered sitting there for a while, not really sure if she was imagining the red blood that slowly dripped off her elbow onto the floor, or the pain and the rhythmic dripping sound that accompanied it. She just remembered that Lucy had come in to find her sitting there, gazing off into space, a small pool of blood at her side. Lucy had screamed, but Faith had merely continued sitting there, not caring, even when Reynald burst in, bellowing about the 'problem patient.' Alliteration. She laughed at the absurdity of it.
Rabbit kept Faith in his sights, though he couldn't help but wonder if she was turning into one of the mad children. She was laughing at nothing and that was strange for her. And she seemed to have forgotten how to walk in a straight line. But he knew that she wasn't drunk. He stopped near a stream, beating a foot against the ground in nervous irritation. She was going to be the death of him one day. And if not her, that infernal Cheshire Cat.
He stopped thumping - it was very quiet. There was no helicopter-like sound of the ladybugs' wings... no sounds of ant soldiers marching. He would not abandon stealth now, if he could help it. Many many years ago, he had done that and ended up on the bottom of Hatter's shoe.
He saw her coming, hesitantly, not really sure of what was bothering him. She gave him a questioning look, and he nodded edgily. She walked up to him, and but stopped her with a paw. "What's going on?"
"Shut up, Faith. What do you hear?"
"A crusty bunny," she replied crossly. He glared at her.
"Once you're done playing, tell me seriously: can you hear anything; anything at all?"
Faith stopped and listened. "I can hear this thumping. It's coming this way, but very faint."
He nodded, hearing it himself. "We must find a place to hide," he said firmly.
"Hide?" she asked blankly. "Why?"
"Because the last time this happened, the result was very messy." She raised an eyebrow at this.
"I still don't see- WHOA!!"
A giant foot had just landed directly between them. Mara backed up slowly, but Rabbit stood completely still. He was on the inside of the foot, and that if he moved - THUD! Another foot landed, just on Rabbit's other side. Once it had, he bounded out of the way, over the one closest to her, and grabbed her hand, not noticing or caring that it was her bad arm that he had taken.
The feet turned and thundered towards them, trying to step on them, and they separated Faith from Rabbit. "CONFUSE IT!!!" Rabbit yelled. Mara nodded, and started running in erratic directions, jumping over the feet when they landed in front of her, dodging them when they landed to the side. Rabbit did the same, only much faster.
It was a complicated dance, and Mara knew how it would end if it continued much longer, so she grabbed Rabbit by the ear and jumped into the nearby river, cutting loose a lily pad as quickly as she could. Once it was free, she pulled herself onto it, dragging Rabbit with her.
"We're going the wrong way!!" he shrieked.
"Do you wanna get squished?!" she shouted back, diving back in and pushing it to where the current carried them up instead of down.
Rabbit wasn't much help. He kept hopping around as much as the confined space would allow, and almost fell over. Finally, she managed to get to the other current, and they were sailing up as fast as they had come down. She groaned when she saw that the feet were waiting. She still couldn't see who they belonged to.
She bit her lip, wondering how to avoid it. Something moving in the water caught her eye, and she grabbed at it. The snark was not at all happy about being grabbed by the tail from behind, and twisted frantically as it tried to bite and spit at her. She threw it hard as she could at the legs, and saw just how much damage the little bugger could do as it slid up the being's left trouser leg, biting and spitting in panic all the way.
They passed by safely, with the person bracing on a cane and shaking its leg frantically, trying to get it off. She grinned at Rabbit in relief, and he stared back, borderline between exasperated and impressed. "Can you do anything without endangering yourself in the process?" he snapped. She stopped grinning, hurt.
"Or you," she returned heatedly. He glared back.
"Faith, guess which one of us is more important!"
"Yeah, and guess which one of us is more self-important," she returned, sounding spiteful even to herself, although she knew that she was lying.
This time, Rabbit seemed hurt, but it was quickly replaced by anger. "If you spent half as much energy on your fighting as you do alienating friends, you'd be a force to be reckoned with indeed! But right now, if I were an ant, I'd be laughing too hard at you to even think of fighting!"
"So is that the only reason I win?" she snapped.
"Probably!" he retorted. Her mouth dropped open in shock.
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
So they sat there, not looking at or speaking to each other as they were carried still further upstream. When Rabbit finally stood and said, "Get ready to jump," she was stiff from not moving, and she wobbled stood at the edge with him. He took her hand in his paw, and her head whipped over to face him, startled. Then they jumped.
Rabbit landed on his feet, but was quickly pulled down when Mara missed her footing and had to crouch low to keep from falling. He wrestled his hand away from her and impatiently started inland. She rose and followed, absently fiddling with her knife. "Come along, Caterpillar is waiting."
"What does he have to tell me that you or Cat can't?" she asked.
"He... knows what to ask and what to tell. We don't."
"That doesn't make much sense," she said shortly.
"Let me offer you some practical advice..." an all-too familiar voice drawled behind her.
"Practical?" she drawled back. Cat raised an eyebrow.
"Stop looking for good sense and settle for any," he said, mocking eyes staring into hers. She turned away.
"I stopped looking for good sense long ago. What does he mean, that there are some things that you don't know what to ask or to tell?"
Cat started walking alongside her, the two following Rabbit at some distance. The foliage around them grew steadily denser, and mushrooms more and more frequent.
"There are things that are right for us to say - but many that you would benefit most from Caterpillar telling you."
"And there are some things he knows that you don't," she needled.
"Just as there are many things that we know and YOU don't," he replied calmly. She frowned.
"Are we almost there? I don't want anything else to happen until we find him."
"What you want is not always what you get," he reminded her, and she sighed in exasperation. Rabbit stopped, and waited.
"We have two choices now: we can go this way... or we can go underground." He didn't sound terribly thrilled at either idea. He and Cat watched her, waiting for her to decide. She thought ahead to all of the grass and plants and rocks that could easily be shelter for several ants. What could possibly happen underground that was worse?
"I think that I'd rather be underground than above," she admitted. Rabbit nodded and led her to a small hole. It was a very short drop, and he went down first, with her following very shortly (for once landing on her feet). They walked some ways, while the light from the hole grew steadily dimmer. For a moment, it disappeared completely, and there was a slight crashing sound. Moments later, it reappeared, with a strange shadow getting closer to them.
Rabbit turned. Half a second later, he whirled back around and rushed forwards. She turned too for a moment, then started running as well from the marble behind them that rapidly picked up speed. "RABBIT! I'm gonna kill you if we make it through this!!" she shrieked as the ground rumbled beneath her feet.
"This was YOUR choice!!" he shrieked back. She glanced over her shoulder a few times, and thought about the time when she'd looked in the mirror in Daddy's car and had seen the truck following them but when she had twisted around to look, it had been bearing down on them. Then there had been the horn, then the screech of tires, then the breaking glass and twisting metal...
It was like that, only everybody had been fine then. Now, it was doubtful that she would ever meet Caterpillar again, or face the Queen. She stole another glance and it was bearing down on her like that truck, and she ran faster than even she thought she could. The narrow path was curving gently, but headed downhill all the same. The marble picked up speed, and she begged her legs not to give out.
Rabbit stopped, just a little ways ahead where the road ended in a chasm, and only a few mushrooms were growing out of the cliffs. Once Faith ran by he grabbed her by the waist and jumped onto the first mushroom, over to a second, then a tiny plateau way over to the side. Using the momentum, he jumped to another mushroom that grew just out of the far cliff's wall, and they were hurled to the middle of the path, and were both running for their lives.
He pulled ahead quickly. "Why are we still running?" Faith called from behind. He turned and pointed, still running. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw the marble still chasing them. "OH!"
"Don't worry! We'll be going uphill in a moment!" he shouted. That was an understatement, as his idea of 'uphill' was a sheer rock cliff. As the marble neared, he jumped and started climbing. She jumped too, though she didn't get as high. But he was startled when she started climbing very much like a spider, quickly and easily - even with her injured arm. Rabbit was impressed.
They climbed quickly. Then when they had almost reached the top, a shot rang out and Rabbit's hat went flying off his head. He caught it and hugged the cliff wall, ducking under a small outcropping.
She had been watching something... the raven, perhaps, and had absently taken a step backwards. Only she had been standing on the edge of the bed where she could see it better, and when she had stepped back, she'd fallen clear off the bed, scraping her elbow on the handle of the little closet where her uniform and dress were kept.
She remembered sitting there for a while, not really sure if she was imagining the red blood that slowly dripped off her elbow onto the floor, or the pain and the rhythmic dripping sound that accompanied it. She just remembered that Lucy had come in to find her sitting there, gazing off into space, a small pool of blood at her side. Lucy had screamed, but Faith had merely continued sitting there, not caring, even when Reynald burst in, bellowing about the 'problem patient.' Alliteration. She laughed at the absurdity of it.
Rabbit kept Faith in his sights, though he couldn't help but wonder if she was turning into one of the mad children. She was laughing at nothing and that was strange for her. And she seemed to have forgotten how to walk in a straight line. But he knew that she wasn't drunk. He stopped near a stream, beating a foot against the ground in nervous irritation. She was going to be the death of him one day. And if not her, that infernal Cheshire Cat.
He stopped thumping - it was very quiet. There was no helicopter-like sound of the ladybugs' wings... no sounds of ant soldiers marching. He would not abandon stealth now, if he could help it. Many many years ago, he had done that and ended up on the bottom of Hatter's shoe.
He saw her coming, hesitantly, not really sure of what was bothering him. She gave him a questioning look, and he nodded edgily. She walked up to him, and but stopped her with a paw. "What's going on?"
"Shut up, Faith. What do you hear?"
"A crusty bunny," she replied crossly. He glared at her.
"Once you're done playing, tell me seriously: can you hear anything; anything at all?"
Faith stopped and listened. "I can hear this thumping. It's coming this way, but very faint."
He nodded, hearing it himself. "We must find a place to hide," he said firmly.
"Hide?" she asked blankly. "Why?"
"Because the last time this happened, the result was very messy." She raised an eyebrow at this.
"I still don't see- WHOA!!"
A giant foot had just landed directly between them. Mara backed up slowly, but Rabbit stood completely still. He was on the inside of the foot, and that if he moved - THUD! Another foot landed, just on Rabbit's other side. Once it had, he bounded out of the way, over the one closest to her, and grabbed her hand, not noticing or caring that it was her bad arm that he had taken.
The feet turned and thundered towards them, trying to step on them, and they separated Faith from Rabbit. "CONFUSE IT!!!" Rabbit yelled. Mara nodded, and started running in erratic directions, jumping over the feet when they landed in front of her, dodging them when they landed to the side. Rabbit did the same, only much faster.
It was a complicated dance, and Mara knew how it would end if it continued much longer, so she grabbed Rabbit by the ear and jumped into the nearby river, cutting loose a lily pad as quickly as she could. Once it was free, she pulled herself onto it, dragging Rabbit with her.
"We're going the wrong way!!" he shrieked.
"Do you wanna get squished?!" she shouted back, diving back in and pushing it to where the current carried them up instead of down.
Rabbit wasn't much help. He kept hopping around as much as the confined space would allow, and almost fell over. Finally, she managed to get to the other current, and they were sailing up as fast as they had come down. She groaned when she saw that the feet were waiting. She still couldn't see who they belonged to.
She bit her lip, wondering how to avoid it. Something moving in the water caught her eye, and she grabbed at it. The snark was not at all happy about being grabbed by the tail from behind, and twisted frantically as it tried to bite and spit at her. She threw it hard as she could at the legs, and saw just how much damage the little bugger could do as it slid up the being's left trouser leg, biting and spitting in panic all the way.
They passed by safely, with the person bracing on a cane and shaking its leg frantically, trying to get it off. She grinned at Rabbit in relief, and he stared back, borderline between exasperated and impressed. "Can you do anything without endangering yourself in the process?" he snapped. She stopped grinning, hurt.
"Or you," she returned heatedly. He glared back.
"Faith, guess which one of us is more important!"
"Yeah, and guess which one of us is more self-important," she returned, sounding spiteful even to herself, although she knew that she was lying.
This time, Rabbit seemed hurt, but it was quickly replaced by anger. "If you spent half as much energy on your fighting as you do alienating friends, you'd be a force to be reckoned with indeed! But right now, if I were an ant, I'd be laughing too hard at you to even think of fighting!"
"So is that the only reason I win?" she snapped.
"Probably!" he retorted. Her mouth dropped open in shock.
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
So they sat there, not looking at or speaking to each other as they were carried still further upstream. When Rabbit finally stood and said, "Get ready to jump," she was stiff from not moving, and she wobbled stood at the edge with him. He took her hand in his paw, and her head whipped over to face him, startled. Then they jumped.
Rabbit landed on his feet, but was quickly pulled down when Mara missed her footing and had to crouch low to keep from falling. He wrestled his hand away from her and impatiently started inland. She rose and followed, absently fiddling with her knife. "Come along, Caterpillar is waiting."
"What does he have to tell me that you or Cat can't?" she asked.
"He... knows what to ask and what to tell. We don't."
"That doesn't make much sense," she said shortly.
"Let me offer you some practical advice..." an all-too familiar voice drawled behind her.
"Practical?" she drawled back. Cat raised an eyebrow.
"Stop looking for good sense and settle for any," he said, mocking eyes staring into hers. She turned away.
"I stopped looking for good sense long ago. What does he mean, that there are some things that you don't know what to ask or to tell?"
Cat started walking alongside her, the two following Rabbit at some distance. The foliage around them grew steadily denser, and mushrooms more and more frequent.
"There are things that are right for us to say - but many that you would benefit most from Caterpillar telling you."
"And there are some things he knows that you don't," she needled.
"Just as there are many things that we know and YOU don't," he replied calmly. She frowned.
"Are we almost there? I don't want anything else to happen until we find him."
"What you want is not always what you get," he reminded her, and she sighed in exasperation. Rabbit stopped, and waited.
"We have two choices now: we can go this way... or we can go underground." He didn't sound terribly thrilled at either idea. He and Cat watched her, waiting for her to decide. She thought ahead to all of the grass and plants and rocks that could easily be shelter for several ants. What could possibly happen underground that was worse?
"I think that I'd rather be underground than above," she admitted. Rabbit nodded and led her to a small hole. It was a very short drop, and he went down first, with her following very shortly (for once landing on her feet). They walked some ways, while the light from the hole grew steadily dimmer. For a moment, it disappeared completely, and there was a slight crashing sound. Moments later, it reappeared, with a strange shadow getting closer to them.
Rabbit turned. Half a second later, he whirled back around and rushed forwards. She turned too for a moment, then started running as well from the marble behind them that rapidly picked up speed. "RABBIT! I'm gonna kill you if we make it through this!!" she shrieked as the ground rumbled beneath her feet.
"This was YOUR choice!!" he shrieked back. She glanced over her shoulder a few times, and thought about the time when she'd looked in the mirror in Daddy's car and had seen the truck following them but when she had twisted around to look, it had been bearing down on them. Then there had been the horn, then the screech of tires, then the breaking glass and twisting metal...
It was like that, only everybody had been fine then. Now, it was doubtful that she would ever meet Caterpillar again, or face the Queen. She stole another glance and it was bearing down on her like that truck, and she ran faster than even she thought she could. The narrow path was curving gently, but headed downhill all the same. The marble picked up speed, and she begged her legs not to give out.
Rabbit stopped, just a little ways ahead where the road ended in a chasm, and only a few mushrooms were growing out of the cliffs. Once Faith ran by he grabbed her by the waist and jumped onto the first mushroom, over to a second, then a tiny plateau way over to the side. Using the momentum, he jumped to another mushroom that grew just out of the far cliff's wall, and they were hurled to the middle of the path, and were both running for their lives.
He pulled ahead quickly. "Why are we still running?" Faith called from behind. He turned and pointed, still running. She glanced over her shoulder, and saw the marble still chasing them. "OH!"
"Don't worry! We'll be going uphill in a moment!" he shouted. That was an understatement, as his idea of 'uphill' was a sheer rock cliff. As the marble neared, he jumped and started climbing. She jumped too, though she didn't get as high. But he was startled when she started climbing very much like a spider, quickly and easily - even with her injured arm. Rabbit was impressed.
They climbed quickly. Then when they had almost reached the top, a shot rang out and Rabbit's hat went flying off his head. He caught it and hugged the cliff wall, ducking under a small outcropping.