You won't slay the Jabberwocky?
Alone in the drawing room with Chess, Mad hatter begun to let his hands fly through the numerous fabric at his disposal.
"She's the right Alice you know."
"Tarrant" Chess warned feeling an impending sense of spiral from the Mad Hatter, whisking tea from thin air he began to sip.
"Look out the window, Chess. Look at her, I've waited…we've waited for her to come save us."
"Tarrant, even if she is the Alice. She isn't going to remember all her past lives nor will she remember being here as a child. A memory of an adult can be just as clouded as a politician's ideals."
The mad hatter looked through the window seeing Alice trying to catch pelted sugar cubes that the March Hare threw at her. His hands tore through the fabric with glided scissors.
"We need to train her, prepare her for the Jabberwocky. We should take her to the Red Duchess castle; it's been abandoned for all these centuries."
"I know what you're doing; you want to stir up memories. All this talk of politics put me off my tea"
Tarrant's eyes flashed, his hands busied with the fabric, shadows of his face grew darker, and gnashing his teeth he violently stalked up to Cheshire's position.
"We can't keep producing cities and towns for Red Queen and Stayne to sedate their thirst of new order and destruction. We can't keep losing these girls to these matches that happen every different lifetime of their lives. If we couldn't even find the right Alice, what became of the wrong ones? How do you sleep, Chess knowing that these games happen? How did you let the rightful Queen Mirana down, when she needed you? With that evaporation skill, how many could you have saved?"
"What happened to you, Tarrant?" Chess had the decency to look down, he knew each spit of word that Tarrant had said was true, but these matches happening over and over had him stigmatized as a way of life. A fearful way of life, he learned not to get attached and to disappear. Wars in history and present happen over and over again.
A patterned knock broke the tension, mail dropped from the ceiling onto the floor. Floating itself up it spoke in a monotone voice "Please state the password"
"Down with the Bloody Big Head" both said in unison.
"Thank you for your cooperation, detecting Sir Hightopp and entity Cheshire.
This letter is to inform you that there is a job in infiltrating the Red Queen's castle.
The main mission is to intercept any information regarding an Alice in Underland.
Queen Mirana would like to remind you to please use discretion and your skills as your strength.
-Sir Mctwisp has been already taken out of the dungeons and made into page due to his organizing and quick wit.
-Tweedledee and tweedledum have been recruited as court jesters, but Bayard's family has been kept in 4B, third level dungeon.
-Mallykins is at large, yet not one of the Red Cards nor Stayne was able to I.D the suspect that attacked them. The other members have been informed, except for Sir Hare and entity Mallykins due to an unidentified individual in their presence.
If you wish to take the job, vials will be sent in approximately 3 minutes within affirmation.
Good day and Speed.
Counselor of Marmoreal. "
Both watch the letter burn, finishing up the dress in his hands the Mad hatter set his tools down.
"I confirm my duty to the White Queen off Marmoreal" glancing at Chess, whom made no sound, he shook his head disappointed "Figures"
Fixing the last trill of the dress, Tarrant picked up a pouch from his table containing 3 vials. One to gain temporarily speed to outrun even a Torpenakakum, one for sneezing, and lastly one for sleep death.
Looking at his finished piece, he deemed it worthy for an Alice and took it with him to present to her. She was eating a scone and listening to Mally.
"And that's why we call her Bloody Big Head, with her love for red fresh blood and her egotistical –"
"Alice, pardon me. Here's your dress, you can change in the mill. There's a bathroom or any room you can take. Just enter in take 3 or 4 lefts then turn right, if you pass a portrait of a Mercurcial Otternakum, you've gone too far."
"Thank you, very much Hatter," Alice beamed, excusing herself from Mally and taking the dress from Tarrant's offering hand. His eyes followed her in and he heard a sigh behind him.
"Oh, Hatter. We have to take her back to the Aboveland."
"But she's the right Alice."
Inside, Alice sighed relieved to find the bathroom after a few mishaps to wash up and change. Putting the small bottle and cake she found in her old dress pockets, she moved it into her new dress.
"Alice, how is it?" A curt knock at the door
"Tarrant? It's a great fit" Opening the door fully to show him.
"Of course, I was the best hatter. I can calculate perfect measurements of a cranium. I just pictured the curves as heads." He laughed. "You look great. Listen, Alice we should take you to the Red Duchess castle to train-"
"To train?"
"Well, how else will you slay the Jabberwocky? Luck alone won't kill it."
"Who said anything about me killing anything?"
"You won't slay the Jabberwocky?" Tarrant muttered silently, he was dumbstruck to why Alice would not want to kill a beast, a monster.
"Tarrant" Alice looked at him sadly, she heard his back story from Mally while they were upstairs. "Im simply just Alice Kingsleigh. I have no powers nor am I this incredible myth you have of me."
"You've lost your muchness, the old Alice would've jumped at the thought of an Adventure." His eyes grew dark.
"Tarrant, no…please"
"You won't slay the Jabberwocky." He muttered again, walking away from her dejectedly.
The sound of sirens made them all flinch and tremble. Chess evaporated in wisps of smoke, Mally dipped herself in whip cream, the March Hare shook uncontrollably drinking his tea, while the Mad Hatter took his place in the head of the table trying to keep his eyes forward and not on the house.
The fog rolled in, heavy footfalls and hoof beats were mangling the ground.
"Well isn't it my favorite band of Lunatics."
A small pop in the hall was frantically looking for her.
"Kingsleigh, where are you?" Chess whispered.
"Chess?" Opening the door slightly, Chess popped instead, motioning her to close the door and to stay quiet.
"We have to go, Kingsleigh"
Clanking of metal boots came rushing through the hall.
"IVE HEARD SOMETHING IN HERE!" Breaking through the door something shot out towards them before they manage to whisp.
The sensation of being on a harnessed and pushed through a fast velocity of a zipline, suddenly stopped. They solidified outside of a gray rustic town.
"This is as far as I will take you. If you continued down this path there is a door that will lead you to an In-between door. The alarm will sound after 10 minutes after you pass a symbol of heart. Ignore it, just run till you reach the door."
"What about Mally, Tarrant and March Hare? It's as if everyone whose ever helped me or shown me kindness has been taken away! Take me to them!"
"Why do you even care!? This is not your dispute. Just please choose the easier path, the smarter choice and save your own hide." Chess said exasperated
Alice was stumped for awhile, Chess took as a sign of victory and ushered her towards the path.
"No, I will choose my own path."
Knowing that look that she won't be easily cowed, Chess caved in.
"You're not going to help, you should go to Marmoreal. The White Queen will help you. It's a lot faster to get there if you go through the town and follow the signs. With this distance, you have a lot of ground to cover." As he was about to fully disappear, Alice asked why he simply couldn't take her there.
"I don't like getting into these things and The White Queen can be just as scary as her sister when angry."
"Basically you're blacklisted?" Alice smirked. Pop noise signified that he evaporated. Alice held her chin, thinking up ways how to get there faster without any money or to know which person had it out for her. Sifting through her pockets her hand came across the bottle and cake.
If the drink made her small, then the cake should make her bigger?