So, for those who did not know, the title of the previous chapter was in honor of "Once More, With Feeling", the musical episode from the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Anyone who has not seen that episode, I strongly urge you to do so because it's awesome. And if you have seen it, go see it again haha!
Thanks so much to my readers and reviewers. I would dearly love to hear from my silent crowd (I know you're out there btw!). You don't have to write a lengthy, complex review (unless you want to, by all means). Just a few words to tell me how I'm doing or how you feel about the story would be grand.
Anyway, on with the story, which is starting to wind down to the end, but we've still got some ground to cover first.
Chapter XXVII: The Forging of Heroes
Hatter shook his head in awe at the ruins which marked the remains of the Happy Hearts Casino. It was difficult for his mind to absorb the fact that the tower was gone, completely destroyed. It was not something he had expected to see in his lifetime. Not only had it been a nearly impenetrable fortress, it had been a symbol of the near absolute power the Hearts had wielded. But buildings could fall, and so could queens. He idly wondered if the Queen of Hearts had made it out in time.
Alice, standing beside him, let out a low whistle of wonder. "Well, guess we went with the literal interpretation," she deadpanned.
Hatter grinned, a giddy feeling of exuberance suffusing his battered body. Alice was alive, they had freed the oysters, and they had brought down the whole house of cards. The day had been a curious mixture of emotional highs and lows; he was glad it seemed to be ending on the high note. He turned to the petite girl. "Don't suppose I could get that hug now?" he inquired, raising his eyebrow in such a way to suggest to her that he was asking for more than that.
Before Alice could oblige him, they were rudely interrupted.
"Who is responsible for this?" The voice was unmistakable. Filled with a haughty sense of entitlement and authority, it could belong to none other than the Queen of Hearts.
The crowds around them turned towards the monarch's voice, curious and more than a little fearful of what she would do. The queen may have lost her palace and the oysters from which she extracted the emotions that kept her people under control, but she was far from powerless just yet. The queen's squat figure emerged into view, her wine colored curls in slight disarray, but otherwise looking none the worse for wear after escaping from her crumbling fortress. She was accompanied by a small entourage of Suits, who were physically clearing a path for the woman by roughly shoving bystanders off to the side.
"Answer me!" the queen demanded. "Or I'll have every single person here executed!" Once, such a threat would have struck even Hatter with an icy shudder of fear. But today they had proved the queen was just a woman, a heartless, but fallible, woman. Her maddened eyes speared the crowd.
Alice, who was partially hidden from view both by her misleading Diamond costume and by Hatter and her father standing in front of her, nudged him. "She thinks I'm dead, too, right?"
Hatter shrugged. "I would think so." He glanced down at her, noticing her devious grin. "What are you planning?"
"Oh…nothing," Alice said, the tone of her voice belying the truth of such a claim. He sighed in resignation as she boldly moved into the open, showing herself to the Queen of Hearts.
"Hi," she greeted with a cheerful wave.
The queen's expression darkened. "What do you want, you—" Her words died in her throat when she realized who it was who addressed her. "You're supposed to be dead!" the woman sputtered, as if Alice had committed a grave offense by continuing to live. She cast a furious gaze upon the Minister of Clubs, who was standing amidst the oysters with his own men.
"I came back," Alice replied. Hatter and Robert exchanged confused glances before shrugging at each other. If Alice wanted to stretch the truth to intimidate the Queen of Hearts, they were not going to refute it. "I was sent back by forces greater than you or me to give you a message."
The queen stared at Alice, completely nonplussed, before shaking herself. "What message?" she hissed. Hatter could detect the undercurrent of uncertainty in the woman's voice. The veneer of hubris the queen wore was beginning to crack and crumble just as surely as the casino had.
"You're done here. Your time as queen is over and you failed at it…epically," Alice said stonily. The older woman's face paled as the girl meticulously laid out her crimes, "You betrayed the people of Wonderland by dangling quick fixes and drugs in their faces rather than making sure they had adequate food, water, shelter, and protection. Those who did not want your drugs, you turned into outcasts and refugees who live on the brink of poverty, starvation, and illness." The images of those refugees, scraping out their meager existences within the Great Library and elsewhere came to Hatter. He recalled how Alice had been so distraught over seeing their plight. Now those people would finally get the justice they deserved.
"Furthermore," Alice continued, her voice hard as a diamond stone, "you violated the people from my world, stealing them from their homes and families, stealing their memories, and stealing their own free will just so you could control your own people. You were never fit to call yourself a queen."
A hush had descended upon the crowds, oysters and Wonderlanders alike listening raptly to Alice's calm diatribe. The queen, however, did not appear to want to take in another word. She raised up her hand. "Silence, you little wretch!" she screamed hysterically. "I am the Queen of Hearts. This is my kingdom! I do as I wish, and nothing, not even you can take that away from me."
Alice shook her head, regarding the queen almost with a sense of pity on her features. "I didn't take it away from you. You lost the right to it all on your own. I'm just the messenger, here to give you your wakeup call."
The queen lost control of her temper, turning to the Suits who flanked her. "Take her!" They, at least for the moment, were still gripped in a thrall of obedience and loyalty. The men advanced upon Alice, who sighed wearily and threw herself into a defensive stance.
Hatter immediately moved to plant himself in front of Alice, silently sending the message that if the men wanted her, they would have to get through him first. Robert was quick to join him on his left, giving the younger man a grim smile. Surprisingly, they were not the only ones who felt protective of Alice. That dark-skinned man she had called a cop (whatever that was) also moved to intercept the Suits who came stalking towards them. "Touch the lady and I'll shuffle your deck!" he threatened. As if emboldened by the display from one of their own, other oysters began lining up, forming a protective barrier between Alice and the queen's men.
The Suits glanced at one another in uncertainty. They obviously had not expected the oyster captives to rise up against them. The queen stared at them with enraged incredulity. "Don't just stand there! Arrest her!"
Alice was unperturbed by the queen's threats. "Oh, get over yourself!" she shouted from her vantage point behind Hatter.
The queen's baleful eyes narrowed, her meaty fists clenching as if she were imagining them wrapping around Alice's neck. "Off with her head!" she screamed.
Alice snorted and waved her hands dismissively. "Yes, yes, that's your answer to everything. But, answer me this, Your Majesty," her voice was laced with sarcasm as she said the royal honorific, "what will you do when the emotions start wearing off of your people? When they start to wake up to the fact that they're practically starving and living in squalor? What will you do when they figure out you've basically been drugging them to keep them under control? You're only as powerful as the people who hold you up." As she spoke, she started moving out from behind the protective barrier.
A murmur went through the crowd. They probably never had considered the queen's power in those terms. She had dominion over them, but only because they had allowed it. The true power had been in their hands all along. The queen had never once lowered herself to commit acts of murder herself. No blood had been spilled by her, personally. She had always depended on others, manipulating them to bend to her will. She had used fear to oppress and control her servants.
"I'll just rebuild the casino! It will be even grander than before!" the queen declared. Her arrogance was stunning, especially when her own servants, including the Minister of Clubs, were surreptitiously backing away from her.
"And fill it with what, exactly?" Alice asked. Her gaze flicked over to the oysters. "More of my people? I don't think so." In any case, she would need the Stone of Wonderland to accomplish that, not to mention the expertise of Alice's father. Neither of those was within her grasp any longer.
The girl inclined her head towards the confused Suits, who all appeared to be struggling with themselves. "Take a good hard look at your queen, gentlemen. Make sure she's really worth fighting for. Make sure she's really worth fighting us for." She gestured towards Hatter standing amidst the group of oysters who had flocked to Alice's side. He grinned at her in return.
The Suits, who were well aware of how formidable Alice was in a fight and possibly had a decent idea of Hatter's own particular prowess, relaxed their aggressive posturing somewhat. They turned back to the short, plump, red-haired woman. In fact, everyone's eyes, oyster and Wonderlander alike, seemed to have locked onto the queen.
"How dare you all look at me!" she fumed indignantly. Hatter could see the panic setting into her features, warring with the anger for dominance. The woman was steadily losing control of the situation. "She's the one you should be looking at!" Her pudgy arm lifted up to point towards Alice.
"How many of you have lost loved ones to the chopping block, hmm? Is this the way you want to live your lives? In constant fear?" Her voice had softened with sympathy, but it resonated throughout the entire crowd. "I don't think I'm the problem."
"This is my kingdom!" the queen spat. "And I am still queen!"
"Look around you!" Alice countered. "Your power is gone."
Before the queen could muster a response, a commotion outside the throngs of people drew everyone's attention. Eventually, the crowds parted to allow the passage of Jack, who was accompanied by a tall woman with an abundance of golden curls tumbling over her tight-fitting, pinstriped top. Hatter vaguely recalled seeing her in the throne room, though, at the time he had been too stricken with grief and sorrow to pay much attention to his surroundings. She must be the duchess whom Jack was engaged to. He found himself unexpectedly relieved to see the Prince of Hearts, even if he was a two-timing prick. The queen had sentenced her own son to death when they had been brought before her in the throne room. He did not think he could ever bring himself to actually like the man, but he did recognize the prince's political importance to the future of Wonderland. Let it never be said that he had lost sight of the big picture.
"Jack!" the queen cried upon noticing her son. "Thank heavens you're here. Get everyone to fall in line!"
"Me?" Jack said in bafflement. "Didn't you sentence me to death?"
"Oh," the queen griped, "don't be so sentimental. You're just like your father! I was only doing my job. Now, come on, rally the troops!"
"No, Mother," Jack answered, his voice tired, but implacable. "It's over. Give up."
"Oh, and I suppose you want the crown now, huh?" his mother remarked in a malicious tone. "And what, may I ask, will you do with all the oyster rabble? You can't send them back home! You haven't got the ring!" The woman's voice was stricken with a sense of mad triumph.
Hatter snickered under his breath. He knew Alice had the ring, and he had a good idea of where she had been hiding it. Alice, for her part, glanced down at her bosom and up at him, who just shrugged. She then rolled her eyes and shoved her hand down the top of the dress, rummaging around for a few seconds before she pulled it out. The ring was clenched between her thumb and index finger.
"No, but I do," she announced, holding the ring up above her head.
How Jack had not recognized Alice from the start was a mystery to Hatter. This man had professed to care for her more than anyone else in the world and he had seen Alice fall from the cliff edge just as Hatter had done. He had heard the grief in the prince's voice as he railed against his mother's men. And, yet, here Alice had been standing, in clear view of Jack, and he had not so much as given her a second look. Even when her back had been turned to Hatter during that brawl with Mad March, he had instantly recognized her for who she really was.
In any case, when the man finally noticed Alice and realization dawned upon him, his jaw dropped in shock. "Alice! Oh my god, you're alive!" He rushed towards her, pulling her into a tight embrace, provoking a scowl from both Hatter and the golden-haired duchess who had been at Jack's side. Alice, for her part, just patted him on the back in a slightly awkward manner, giving Hatter an apologetic look.
When Jack pulled back from the embrace, a spate of nearly unintelligible syllables rushed from his mouth. "How is this possible? Are you all right? I saw you fall! What happened? Why are you dressed like a Diamond?" The last question was posed with no small degree of bemusement and a raised eyebrow.
"Uh, it's a long story. Too long to really get into right now," Alice replied. She motioned towards his mother, who was positively seething with fury at seeing the ring in the hands of an oyster.
Hatter told himself he was waltzing over to stand by Alice simply because he wished to protect her from the ire of the queen. It was not because he was jealous of the way Jack was standing so close to her, practically devouring her in that scintillating Diamond outfit. No, definitely not because he was jealous.
"Hello, Jack," Hatter greeted with forced cheer. He snaked an arm around Alice's waist, subtly pulling her closer to him and away from the prince. His possessiveness did not go unnoticed by Alice, who gave him a sidelong glance which was both parts amused and annoyed.
Jack nodded at Hatter, a muscle twitching in his cheek that was strongly reminiscent of his mother. "Hatter. Glad to see you made it out."
"You, too." The eyes of both men narrowed.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, the ring, Jack!" Alice cut in. She held it out to him, offering it up to him as she had not done in the Kingdom of the Knights. Under her breath, Hatter heard her mutter despairingly, "Men!"
"That is my ring!" the queen raged, sounding as if she were a small, spoiled child who was being forced to share a favorite toy.
"No, Mother," Jack retorted, making no move to take the ring from Alice. "The Stone of Wonderland really belonged to those who forged it. You stole it from them. As you can see, the return of the White Knights," he paused to gesture towards the skeletal warriors standing sentry on the hills, looking in on the crowds in grim silence, "is a sign that you've committed grave offenses against the kingdom of Wonderland and its people. It is over for you."
The queen's cheeks, so ruddy with the heat of anger, began to take on a sickly white pallor. Still trying to hold onto what shreds of dignity were left to her, the woman drew herself up straight and regarded her son. "So, you will have me killed, then? Would that satisfy your pathetic ideas of justice?"
Hatter and Alice both exchanged silent looks before turning their quizzical gazes to Jack. Indeed, everyone's attention was on the Prince of Hearts—who Hatter supposed was now to be called the King of Hearts. The former queen certainly had a lot of lives and unspeakable tragedies to answer for. Ancient law would have demanded her life in recompense.
The fair-haired man was silent, a troubled look glazing over his features. His mother may have sentenced him to death without blinking an eye, but could he do the same? "No," Jack decided. His mother did not show any sign of relief at hearing of the mercy. She had become as still as a statue, stoically accepting her fate. It was a startling difference from her rants and raves earlier. "But you will face consequences for the decisions you have made during your reign."
Alice was bobbing her head in approval from beside Hatter. He supposed the prince—no, king—had made a wise decision in opting for mercy over retribution. Putting his mother to death as she would have swiftly done to him would have basically put him at the same level as her. It was a good start to the reign to take the moral high ground. But a frisson of unease ran through him at the thought of leaving the deposed queen alive. There were bound to be people who still supported her, and leaving her alive within the confines of Wonderland would pose a threat to Jack's reign.
The new King of Hearts turned to Alice, holding out his hand. "The ring, Alice," he firmly requested. The girl relinquished the ring with a weary, but warm smile. It was a symbolic passing of the torch, of the power of the throne of Wonderland. Somehow, it seemed fitting that the Alice of Legend (though she would always deny that title, Hatter knew) would be the one to symbolically crown the new ruler of Wonderland. He held it up above his head and the silence evaporated as cheers erupted throughout the crowd. Even the oysters, who had little idea of what exactly was transpiring, joined in the cheers. They understood enough to know the Queen of Hearts had orchestrated their abductions from their homes, enslaved them, and would have drained them dry of all their emotions. It could only be a good thing that she was now rendered powerless.
Alice leaned towards Hatter with a relieved expression on her face. "Thank god, that thing was really starting to chafe my…" she stumbled over the words, her cheeks taking on most becoming rosy color, "um…skin."
"Right," Hatter replied saucily, his eyes dancing with intrigue. He refrained from mentioning ways he could help alleviate the chafing to her skin. This was neither the time nor the place for such banter. Although, according to Alice, anytime was the proper time for banter.
His companion then gasped, clapping her hand against her mouth, her blue eyes growing wide with horror.
"What?" Hatter asked in concern.
"Charlie! Have you seen him?" she asked, scanning the milling throngs of people.
"No," Hatter replied, joining her search. Certainly the old codger would have stuck out in the crowd with his gawky height and battered plate armor. There was no sign of him, though. He thought the knight would have shown himself by now, especially since he had proclaimed himself to be Alice's protector. Hatter ran through all the horrible things he had thought and wished upon the knight when he had been trapped in the depths of grief. He had been out of his mind with emotional anguish, blaming himself and looking for others to blame as well. He had not truly meant for anything to happen to the old knight. Guilt assailed him at the thought of Charlie lying somewhere injured, or worse, dead. The man had proven himself a stalwart and true friend. Even if he had run off with his tail tucked behind his legs during that awful rescue attempt at the Hospital of Dreams, Hatter knew that plan had been cockeyed from the start. It had been unfair to expect Charlie simply to follow his directives.
"We have to find him," Alice said.
Hatter nodded his agreement and took her hand. The two started deftly wending their way through the hordes.
"Alice, Hatter, where are you going?" asked the concerned voice of Alice's father. The pair stopped, sheepishly meeting the suspicious gaze of the man.
It was then that Hatter realized what it must have looked like: the two of them, hands linked together, skirting through the crowd in such a hurry. The whole thing smacked of two lovers escaping for a secret tryst. If only, he lamented. They had kissed in front of her father, after all, so he must have had some idea of the nature of their relationship. Is there one? Hatter wondered to himself. After all they had endured, there was no longer any question of the nature of the feelings and regard they held towards one another. But that did not mean there was an actual relationship. He shoved those thoughts and the dismaying path they led down aside. There would be time enough to worry over such things later. The whereabouts and well-being of Charlie took precedence at the moment.
"We have to find a friend of ours, Dad," Alice explained quickly. "He might be hurt."
"Oh," her father said, the suspicion clearing from his gaze to be replaced by sympathy. "Would that be the friend who…ehm…brought the army?"
"Yeah, that would be Charlie," Hatter affirmed.
At that moment, a few of the laboratory workers came forward to ply Alice's father with dozens of questions. With a beleaguered expression, he waved them off to see to their friend.
Not all of the White Knight corpses were propped upright. Some littered the ground, their bodies scattered into an array of bones and pieces of armor. It would seem the queen had ordered her guard to attack the army. The sight of the carnage, even if it had not actually claimed any lives, made the hearts of both Hatter and Alice sink. Charlie was flesh and blood. Unlike the bones of his long deceased brethren, he could not be reassembled. If he had been hit by one of the bombs, the result would have been bloody and fatal.
"Charlie!" Alice shouted. Hatter echoed her frantic cry.
Stationed a few paces ahead was an archaic ballista crafted of wood. Hatter recognized the weapon as one used by the ancient knights, but it had long since been supplanted by modern weaponry—much of which was imported from the world of the oysters and later expanded upon. It was meant to launch large missiles, usually something resembling a spear crafted of wood or metal, at distant targets. But it was not the ancient siege weapon which the two were interested in. Rather, it was the armored form sprawled on the ground behind it which caught their attention.
"Charlie!" Alice gasped, sprinting ahead of Hatter.
Beside the ballista a bomb had torn a chunk out of the earth, covering the contraption in a layer of soil and grass. Charlie was likewise covered, his exposed face stained with grit and grime and his dented armor smeared with dirt. The man's eyes were closed and he gave no sign of movement, no signs of life. Hatter feared the worst.
Alice dropped to her knees beside the man and leaned down, practically pressing her ear up against his mouth. She then emitted a deep sigh of relief. "He's breathing. And by the sound of it, it isn't labored. So that's a good sign."
Hatter knelt down on Charlie's other side. He could see no outward signs of wounds or injuries, but the knight was covered head to toe in plate armor and chainmail. There could be injuries, but they would be hidden from view. "Should we move him?"
Alice shook her head. "No. We don't know how he was injured, but, for all we know. he could have a brain injury or a spinal injury. The fact that he's unconscious is some cause for concern." She spoke knowledgeably and Hatter figured she would have some experience with battlefield medicine. She crept around to station herself behind Charlie's head and placed a hand on either side of his temple, firmly cradling his head in her hold. "See if you can wake him up," she instructed Hatter.
"Um, okay," he replied uncertainly. He crouched forward. "Oi! Charlie! Can you hear me, mate?"
There was no response.
"Charlie! Come on, mate! You can't sleep through your great victory! Didn't you see the casino fall?" Hatter cajoled.
A small moan came from the man. Alice nodded encouragingly at Hatter who continued shouting and coaxing the man out of his unconscious slumber into the waking world. The knight's eyelids flickered and his entire body jerked. "Attack! Come out, cowards!" Charlie screamed, abruptly sitting up and startling Alice. Apparently, abruptly jerking upwards was the only way the old knight knew how to awaken from sleep.
"Charlie!" Alice cried happily. She and Hatter beamed at each other in relief that their friend appeared to be all right.
"Hm?" The knight's armor creaked as he turned at the sound of his name. When he saw Hatter and Alice, he frowned in confusion. "Wh-where…How did you two get here? Did I rescue you?" If he noticed Alice's outfit was different than before, he gave no sign of it.
"Um," Alice stammered, looking to Hatter for assistance.
"I destroyed the usurping queen's stronghold!" Charlie cut in, staggering to his feet. The knight wobbled a bit, somewhat unsteady after being knocked off his feet and into unconsciousness. "Look yonder! The foul pretender's fortress is gone!"
Alice and Hatter glanced at each other, perplexed over this development. After a beat, the two just shrugged at each other. While Charlie may not have actually been directly responsible for the destruction of the casino, he had been crucial to the victory nonetheless. Far be it from them to disabuse him of the notion that he had taken the building apart himself. He deserved the vindication.
"Yeah, Charlie, you did it. You're a hero," Hatter praised, reaching out to wrap an arm around Alice's shoulder.
The White Knight gave a triumphant "Ha ha!" while throwing his fist into the air.
"Can I get that hug now?" Hatter wheedled in a husky voice. He leaned down to place a small kiss on the top of Alice's ear.
She twisted around in his arms, her dark blue eyes swimming with a cavalcade of emotions. "Oh, I can do better than that." Reaching up to wind her hands around his neck, she yanked him down to crush his lips against her lips in a kiss of victory that was not chaste in the least.
So, it was not a hug, but Hatter was not one to complain. Neither was his body, for that matter. As exhausted and wracked with pain as it was, it responded to Alice's kiss and the feel of her body pressed up against it with fervor. It wiped away any shred of doubt and jealousy he had grappled with earlier upon seeing her embrace with Jack. His hands traveled up over the gentle swell of her hips, tracing the inner curvature of her narrow waist before brushing alongside her breasts. A pleasant tremor ran through his body.
"Ahem," Charlie interrupted.
The two pulled apart, somewhat out of breath. Alice's face, already flushed, deepened its rosy plume when she looked over at Charlie, who was grinning at the pair in a slightly smug manner.
"Sorry, Charlie," Alice stammered, her hand flying up to her slightly swollen lips.
"Ah, no need to apologize, my lady. It gladdens my heart to see young love, blooming like a flower," the old knight replied, that smug smirk still plastered onto his features. He bent over to retrieve his fallen sword. The Suits must have taken the sword Hatter had used in that ill-fated rescue attempt, but Charlie had access to many weapons, as was quite obvious. "You will treat the lady honorably, Harbinger." That remark was emphasized with the tip of the knight's sword, being pointed in Hatter's direction.
The younger man gulped. Alice merely giggled. At least Charlie only used swords. Alice's father knew how to use a gun. The thought made the blood drain from his face. Bloody hell, I'm doomed.
How much longer do you think they'll be able to hold out, hehe? For more information on the story's progress and on sequels—also possibly a prequel with Alice as a Potential Slayer in Sunnydale—check out my profile!
Oh, and in answer to one reviewer's question about some possible Hatter/Alice lemon scenes, I was planning on doing a little side-along M-rated series. Of course, I will have the, uh, "citrusy" more tame versions integrated into the main story.
Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!