Imagination

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I tolerate the moon and stars, I scare children the most, banish me with touch light and see me turn and run? What am I?

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The clock struck thirteen.

The vibrant echo of the clock's chime echoed throughout Wonderland, the Queen of Heart's castle trembling from the sound. Paintings fell from their places on the wall, vases crashed to the ground and the card guard stumbled as the ground moved under their feet.

Ornate and ominous, the towering double doors shuddered open as the guards entered the Queen's throne room.

Like most of the castle, the throne room was adorned with reds and gold's. Dark red drapes edged in gold, fell down from the ceiling behind the Queen's golden throne. Large ornate windows sat just below the ceiling of the two story room, leaving room for mirrors of different shapes and sizes. They covered every inch of the velvet red walls, reflecting the light from the windows above and sending the light from the two suns around the large room.

The guards marched up the red carpet towards the Queen and saluted when they stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"Your majesty." They said in perfect synch. The Queen stood at the top of the platform, dressed in her signature gold and red gown as she focused on the guards in front of her. The Queen's Court stood behind her, all adorned in black and greys, each one trying to avoid the gaze of the guards. They had gone silent when the card guards had returned, the fact they were empty handed not lost to them.

"I'm waiting." She said.

One guard stepped forward, the metal of its armour clanking as he knelt onto the red carpet.

"W-we were u-unable to r...retrieve the 'Alice'." It said.

The second of silence was short, but very, very heavy.

The court behind the Queen looked down, ready for the cry of fury to come...but it didn't.

Instead the Queen smiled kindly. With small steps she floated down to the guard, and petted its wrinkled face.

"You...lost the girl?" the Queen asked with a flutter of her eyelashes. The guard nodded.

"T-t-t-t-the W-w-w-w-white...Qu-" the card paused as he saw the court shake their heads behind her. "Witch," he corrected himself, clearing his throat. "called territory. W-w-we couldn't g-g-g-get in."

"Of course you couldn't," she cooed, kneeling down with him. "After all, a blind Witch is very scary INDEED!" The entire room flinched as the card guard fell to the floor in a heap, his head at a 180 degree angle from before.

"Cut off his head," she sneered as she looked down her nose at the dead guard. "Then stick it on a pike and display it on the castle walls." She looked up, her topaz eyes now returning to their cold glare. "I want everyone to know what happens when you fail your Queen." The other guards nodded, two running over to their fallen comrade and dragging his distorted body away.

The Queen turned back to her throne and grabbed the mirror off the pedestal beside her, caressing it she sat back into her throne.

"Show me the girl." She whispered. The mirror morphed before her, the swirling colours become solid, focusing on the red head now dress in a white tunic.

The Queen grimaced. "Betrayed by my own blood," she muttered. She leant back in her chair, frowning as the background came into view.

She recognised that forest, the mausoleum little Alice was coming out of. That of her poor, kind, dead parents.

Looking up, she smiled at the guards still with her.

"She's currently in the forest between Hartland and the White Sands, near my parents graves. Find her and bring her to me." The guards saluted yet didn't move.

"NOW!"

The Queen smiled as the guards scrambled out of the throne room, each one toppling over the other in a desperate attempt to escape the Queen's wrath.

"Leave me."

The court paused and looked to each other.

"Your majesty?"

"Leave!" without another word the court obliged. The Queen leaned back in her throne, Alice still shown in the glass.

"What game are you playing little Alice?"

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A/N: Sorry for the delay, again. I've been looking through the story often since I've had the chance and I'm not totally happy with what I've posted. It seems a bit wishy washy, without much of a reinforced plot and too whimsical. Also, I feel that Hatter isn't nearly mad enough and either is Wonderland. So, in light of this, I'm wondering if anyone would prefer it if I rewrote the story and repost it over this one, or if I should just continue this version and rewrite the new version later as a separate story.

Thanks

i-am-walrus