"Hello Chess" I stretched as I stood in the training grounds with my sword at my side and Henry watching from the
side lines,

Chess laid on my shoulder with a small grin on his face

"Tell me Alice...why have you lowered yourself to fighting hay...when you could be out fighting wars?"

The large cat, compared to aboveland's house cats, always wanted to play some sort of game with my mind as if he
got some sort of sick kick from it.

It actually wouldn't be surprising at all if he did, the people here tend to be interested in quite odd things.

I slashed at the wooden stick covered in hay and fitted with cheap and horribly armor to give me something to fight
against.

The slash would have sent the soldier flying backward or surely left to bled to death on the floor as I tore open
it's throat and chest, the chest piece clattered to the ground from my sword piercing it cleanly.

"Someone could harm the Queen while I was gone" I dragged the tip of the sword against the ground before swining
it upward not only launching a rock at the hay enemy but getting a nice decapitation.

"What would be the point of the being the QUEEN'S champion if I'm not here to protect her?!" I slashed downward
to his left shoulder and completely destroyed my enemy even destroying the stick that held him up and now he laid
on the floor in nothing but pieces.

"I am the QUEEN'S champion...not the armys!" I turned around to face the Queen herself standing beside Chess.

The nonexistant butterflies fluttered away in my stomach as my face heated up from embarrassment "forgive me my
Queen."

I sheathed my sword as she simply walked away with a large smile on her face at my words.

I glared at Chess "I hate you...you know that right?" I walked toward Henry who bounced in his seat as I sat down
next to him.

"You're so loyal to the Queen! It would be cool to see you in battle, but you are a true knight, protecting the
Queen like you should! Who is there to fight anyway? Everyone is scared of you!" Henry stood up from his spot and
jumped up and down.

He turned around and stared at me "I want to grow up to be just like you Alice!" his eyes glistened as if they
were full of stars.

"You will Henry, we are related after all! Not only that but it doesn't seem as if we will be returning above ground
any time, so not only will you gain my strenght but my stubbornness, my attitude, hell even the title of champion."

Henry jumped up surely at the highest he could achieve thrusting a fist into the air before landing successfully on
both feet and smiling with his buck teeth and his hair sticking to his head like a mat from the sweat.

"When can I start!? I want to fight my own Jabberwocky!" I got up from the white bench still clothed in armor.

"How about we start with being a nuisance first?" I winked at him "CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!" I ran towards the woods
leaving him to catch up to me.

I stopped at a small lake, removed my gauntlets and took a few drinks of the cool waters.

I heard tree branches snapping and grabbed a large branch laying on the floor as a weapon in case it was simply
Henry I didn't want to slash at him with my sword.

Out from behind a berry bush came the boy breathing heavily and with a few scratches on his face and hands as he
dropped on a side of the lake dangling his legs into it.

"You're fast Alice" he managed taking in deep breathes and gulping down water.

"Thank you, I ran a few marathons while I was away, I trained my body hard and quickly while I was away although it
wasn't long." he nodded as I spoke "you will have to do the same if you want to grow up to be like me you know."

I sat down on a tree stump "weren't you gone for six months?" he waited for his answer patiently "yes I was, and
do you know how long it takes a normal person to get as strong as me?" he shook his head.

"It takes about 2 years for someone to be able to run as fast and as long as I can, to fight as swiftly and fierce
as me, to punch a grown bear like man with your bare fists, to go hand-to-hand combat with a bear and win, to gain
as much muscles as me! You'll be trained hard if you want to be just like me in just six months or less!"

His eyes lit up once again, it was as if anything I said could achieve that because he looked up to me so highly
and not only did that warm my heart knowing I held such an important place in his heart.

But it also tortured me knowing that if we could return to aboveland...that he possibly wouldn't be able to live
without me.

We slowly walked back to the castle and talked the whole way about my training, Henry asked questions left to
right, finally as the sun was setting he let me carry him on my shoulders the rest of the way.

I dropped him off in his room and tucked him in, standing outside his door my heart did an instant drop, it would
be horrible to throw him back with his father although he had a loving mother, but it would be worse to keep him
here where he could easily die and where he didn't belong.

But...do I even belong here?

I'm sorry I haven't been updating this as frequently as I should be, hopefully you are still following it or keeping up with it at your own pace, I have a few other stories I am working on as well that aren't just done yet, and I also have my personal life to be taking care of so if I don't update every Friday or so then please just forgive me for that and just be patient with me please.