Part 2 of 3
Time would not be wasted.
He sped to his manual travelling contraption and soon enough - but not as soon as he would have liked (damn Hatter and his question of "I have always wondered when soon is" for he himself did not have the answer for that) - he was up in the air. He whizzed out of the Castle's atmosphere and into the ocean of time.
He would not stop his chase. He would hunt down the Iracebeth and the chronosphere, possibly in that order. And he would bring Alice back to the safety of the present Underland.
His wild eyes scanned the looming waves. That woman and her monstrous head could not win in a race against time. This was all too familiar for him. He really should keep that chronosphere under lock-and-key. He was Time for goodness sake and he did not have the literal time for any of this! He set his sights on the glowing travelling blue sphere. He sped up his vehicle.
He felt a new anger for Iracebeth unfurl within him but also a new fear for himself. Time, after all, waits for no man.
Alice had to be the exception.
Or he would plead to Princess Mirana to have a new Time-being commissioned for he didn't think he could survive knowing he had so thoughtlessly caused her death.
A laugh of triumph escaped him as he crashed into the rear of the chronosphere. But Iracebeth did not wear the fearful frown he thought she would have. Instead, she wore a gleaming grin. His cog heart quickened its pace and he matched the travelling sphere's speed.
He shouted, "Iracebeth! Stop!" He willed his voice not to sound scared and desperate but rather hard and threatening.
His eyes darted behind her enormous head to the yellow-haired girl next to her. Her eyes met his for a split second then he spotted her hand. He could feel a little piece of his soul tick away at the sight of a greyish blue scar lining from the tips of her fingers up underneath her sleeve - she had undoubtedly touched the currents of the spinning chronosphere directly. Those scars would be forever visible and permanent on her beautiful and perfect porcelain skin.
This was all his fault.
"Iracebeth!" Fire ignited his voice.
The red-haired woman let out a hideous cackle and violently swerved into the nearest wave. He followed without hesitation, without even thinking twice about it. And he should have thought twice.
I should really fix the steering system was the only thought that rattled through his head as he and said contraption fell from a great height to the earth. The hot air balloon in the chosen wave of the past had been unavoidable as he dove after Iracebeth and the chronosphere. He clipped the basket and the electricity powering the vehicle was cut instantly, sending he and it tumbling to the ground.
The earth greeted him none too lightly.
A sharp crack followed by a particularly loud and reverberating boom sounded as he landed. His mind groggy from the fall - he could not tell if those sounds had been him and his contraption smacking against the dirt or Iracebeth smashing out of the time zone.
He quickly stood and struggled a bit in righting the vehicle. He was relieved that it had not been severely damaged, but he however sustained some injuries - or lost a few screws and gears. But it was something that could be mended later when the chronosphere was safe with the Grand Clock once more and Alice was back on safe ground and in one piece.
Within seconds, Time was up and flying again. He shot through the sky and into the ocean once more. He was not going to take any chances and search that past for the two. He had thoroughly convinced himself that in fact Iracebeth had left the atmosphere.
The ocean of all the time of Underland was stormy and riddled with noises and images of the past - such that Time had trouble determining the direction in which Iracebeth had taken. When Alice had stolen it, the search had been fairly simple. She was not acquainted with Underland's ocean of time and she had never been inside the chronosphere-
A sharp bolt of electricity shot through him suddenly, injuring the Grand Clock. He visibly shook from the sudden pain, slightly swerving. He could see the chronosphere. He could see where it was, exactly what past it had been so determinedly driven into.
Then, in what seemed out of nowhere, all of time in Underland flooded him and he could easily see several horrific outcomes should he pursue Iracebeth alone: the chronosphere could be damaged or destroyed, Alice could be injured or killed, Iracebeth could weasel her way to seeing her past-self again, she could try some awful but petty move and kill hundreds of innocent Underlandians, the chase could be endless then the Grand Clock would break, ending all of Underland in an instant.
He needed reinforcement. He needed that witch's sister: Princess Mirana.
Inside the chronosphere with the petite giant of a woman, Alice kept her eyes on the faint blue light in the distance.
Her savior.
Time was keeping a steady pace after them and soon, he'd be racing close behind. He would be beside them once more, hopefully able to push Iracebeth into a wave and straight for the ground. It was only now that she understood the problems she had caused when she stole the chronosphere months and months ago. Her eyes stayed watching.. then to her shock, the blue light took a dive and disappeared.
Her mouth opened but no sound came out.
Surely he hadn't given up-
The vehicle jerked and Alice stumbled.
Iracebeth had chosen a rather sinister-looking wave. One that as they neared the ground, was littered with burnt and broken trees - an old and long-fought battle that had never healed in Wonderland. Alice gasped then let out an oof as she tumbled out of the sphere and onto the rough earth - it having been amateurishly landed, or crashed into the ground.
The yellow-haired girl barely had time to collect her wits again before a pointy shoe of a very small person with a very large and heavy head stepped on her wrist none too lightly. She looked up, squinting into the sunlight, and shifted.
Iracebeth's face was twisted into a sneer. "Get up."
Alice yanked her hand out from under the Red Queen's foot and stood hastily. She took a few steps back from the volatile creature before her. Her fingers rubbed the sore joint but her wide eyes never left Iracebeth. Her heart had not ceased its wild beating. And she took a chance in speaking. "You won't get away with this! Time is the Grand Clock and knows where the chronosphere is-" She was on her way to assuring herself more than threaten Iracebeth.
"And when I've dumped you off into the oblivion, it will be all his again," she harrumphed in her squeaky know-it-all voice.
Alice's mind raced. She had to bide her moments. She had to prolong Iracebeth's wrath on her for worming her way into Time's cold heart. Anything, she had to say anything to change the Red Queen's mind about leaving her stranded in a place she was sure Time could never find. "What about- what about taking me back to your kingdom? Proper beheading with many, many, many people watching and- and applauding you! Surely you can do that-"
She scoffed. "You think you can fool me. Well, I am not that childish." She turned up her nose at Alice. "I remember what happens when your past self sees your future self."
"And you promised your sister you wouldn't do it again," Alice spat.
Iracebeth sharply turned on her heel, thrusting a thin finger in the yellow-haired brat's face. "Leave my sister out of this!"
Alice narrowed her eyes. "Then leave Time out of this! If you want to kill me, kill me for your own selfish reasons but do not kill me to punish Time." She could easily tell her words were not taken lightly.
Pain radiated from the back of her head as Iracebeth gathered a fistful of blond hair and yanked hard. She cried out and soundly hit the gravelly and charred earth - bits and pieces of broken branches and stone cutting her skin. Red welts and slashes soon littered the backs of her arms and the palms of her hands. She saw her chance: Iracebeth standing above her, clearly out of reach should she run-
"Coward!" she shouted after Alice. "Get back here!"
But Alice ran and ran as fast and as far as she could. Iracebeth had pocketed the chronosphere - she'd have to hide. Her thoughts weren't dormant and her mind was buzzing with where to go.
The sound of angry howls just beside her had her pace quickening.
Time could not be bothered with the proper way to land. He hit the atmosphere and crashed ever not so gracefully into the white trees that surrounded the castle of Princess Mirana's kingdom. He muttered useless and incomprehensible apologies as he rushed through the toppled and broken trees to the stone path that led up into the castle grounds. He ran for some time - practically scaring the subjects who were near - before almost colliding into said princess.
"Ah, Your Majesty-" He was sure his mouth was not in a smile. And his brow felt exceptionally heavy with a frown. His cheeks twitched but he knew it was with a great wince - a painful and worrisome wince - when he spoke.
Her arms were poised and perfected with her usual airiness but the lines of her face held anxiousness, the very same anxiousness his metal insides ticked their agonizing tocks with. "Everything is not right in Underland, is it, Time? Tell me what has happened? What has gone amiss?"
He let out a harsh breath as the events of the day - my god, it had been a day! - flew through his head and flashed behind his eyes. "Iracebeth," he finally grunted. "She's stolen the chronosphere again."
The worrisome lines of her face changed in an instant and she frowned. Then she muttered under her breath - talking to herself, something about thinking she and her subjects and the kingdom for that matter had kept an eye on her sister. That it had seemed to be nearly impossible for the red-haired woman to plan her escape from the castle. That she, herself, had been absent from the corridor for one meeting. That how could her sister have been absent for so long without it raising alarm to those of the kingdom and her council.
She remembered Time before her and she shook her head to clear it. She looked at the clockwork man. "Have you any whereabouts of her?"
Unconsciously, his hand went to the Grand Clock underneath his cloak, and he nodded. "I believe I know where they are. It's a place that I've only seen once before- The Grand Clock hasn't suffered much - it's only been a few hours-"
The metal slice of a shiny cutlass unsheathed sounded, and a great voice spoke devilishly, "Mutters of the land we call Underland have Alice Kingsleigh, once again gone mad! Oh, but to be saved is a different mutter entirely! Will it be from a handsome winning lad or a poor broken clockman? Will she be whole or unwhole? Will there be blood to scrape or her head to take? Will she still be Alice Kingsleigh - slayer of the cursed Jabberwocky - or will she lose her sense and bid farewell to all but since? Oh, the many mutters of the land we call Underland!"
Time's upper lip curled into a sneer at the growl of a feisty and vengeful voice. His eyes carefully watched Princess Mirana and her reaction to the man standing behind him. He did not turn around.
"That awful ol'hag has gotten Alice Kingsleigh stuffed into her bag! To chop off her head - no remorse of course! Fearsome Alice Kingsleigh is lost to the world! Ol'Heartheard's anger has unfurled! And we shall all rue the day - she will punish those of Underland! Wretched Time can be damned!"
His figure appeared in Time's peripheral vision, a thin silver cutlass in hand, ready for the gruesome fight. His oddly colored eyes held a murderous gleam that his wide and mad smile encouraged. Still the clockwork man did not acknowledge him.
Time was turning impatient. His focus was still trained on the princess. "Do I have your help?" he asked tightly.
"Of course," she so softly yet forcefully agreed. She gathered her skirts and followed him to his contraption in the destroyed patch of trees. She climbed onto the sorry excuse for a rescue vehicle - which Time had only just started to feel embarrassed about.
He finally looked at Hatter. "You coming?" he growled. For the sake of Alice, he was including the mad hatter.
The ginger jumped aboard with a hoot- or a laugh- or a cackle. It was hard to tell when he was in vengeful mode. "We're comin' for you, Alice!" he shouted as Time steered for the sky.