Once Alice had accepted the sword the scene changed drastically. Gone was the little cottage, gone was the odd bird, and gone was her father, and gone was Hatter. Gone too was the confusion and haze that comes with pain. Alice was alone, standing in darkness. If it was the same darkness as she had been in on her journey to Underland it was hard to say. How did you tell if one darkness was like another darkness? The criteria for judging that would probably be very hard to determine. Still it seemed similar and prompted Alice's question: Am I dying again?
"You are dying. Just not for this moment. This non-moment rather."
Alice blinked and there was the old man with impossibly young eyes. Or was it the young man with the impossibly old eyes. Either way, there was Time, standing still before her.
The sword in her grasp suddenly felt twice its weight. "I must slay you then?"
"If you want to stay in Underland, yes you must – "
" – slay him." Charles Kinsgely stated.
Death chuckled, candle bobbing up and down as he laughed. "You have no doubt she'll kill him then? Wonderful, I was hoping our deal would close soon." The antlered man removed his candle with two fingers and jabbed it near Kingsley's face. The flame flickered weakly, barely emitting any light. "A-yup, definitely going to happen. Sure you don't want to back out?"
"How could I? My life is nothing compared to my child's."
Never one for noble silences, Death whistled awkwardly before puffing away at his candle once more. "Sooo… since we've got time, or since your daughter has Time," he smirked, "mind telling me how exactly you evaded me n' my partner these thirteen years?" A bit of wax dripped off the candle into darkness, "I know your daughter had those lovely little potions from the White Queen, at least until she bargained them away. What did you have – that dodgy old dreamer?"
Kingsley glanced at Absalom, the only other source of light in their dark surroundings besides Death's choice of cigarette. The butterfly hummed, slightly annoyed. "Explain it to him or he'll just cause trouble trying to figure it out."
"Yes, I had Phillipe. Once I found my way back Underland, whilst drowning you might recall, I was safe from you. As for Time, as long as I stayed in Phillipe's cottage, on his territory, there was no way Time would find me, and thus no way you would find me either."
Death frowned, "isn't that against the – "
" – rules?"
Time did not shake his head, but Alice had the distinct impression he meant to. "You are not bound to any rule except the one. I am bound by my own rule. The only Time we're concerned with is the Time that has to do with you. So only you can move and the rest of Time must be still for your decision."
"So that is why you have not moved."
"Yes." There was a slight hint of exasperation in his voice.
"That's all there is to it? No catch?" Alice asked hesitantly, something felt off.
"This is merely a formality, your choice saw to that, though I still say you cheated."
Alice suddenly had the feeling there was something much larger surrounding the whole situation than there seemed to be at first glance. An elephant in the room that for some reason she could just not see. Swell, Alice thought, I'm hesitating because of invisible elephants. Time to oust the proverbial pachyderm. "Formality?"
"Yes," there was definite strain in Time's voice though his lips did not move. "A formality all Underlanders must go through, most just don't do it as consciously as you are. Now come on make your – "
" – choice." Absalom flexed his wings then continued, "and as it was Phillipe's choice as his friend, not Phillipe's choice as a guardian, there were no rules broken when he agreed to hide Charles."
Death was silent for a few moments, smoke rings swirling in time with his thoughts. "Building this whole thing on loopholes, aren't we butter-butt?"
Absalom ignored him.
Death ignored that he was being ignored, "hey – no complaints here. I get to call in Charles' here debt. Everybody wins." He smirked, "well everybody but you Kingsley, you just end up – "
" – dead." Time now sounded like he wanted to leap from his spot in frustration. "If you don't kill me you'll end up dying as that wound in your chest intended you to."
Alice was perfectly aware of that, at this point she was amusing herself watching how emotion conveyed itself through Time's perfectly still form. It was a bit satisfying to annoy him; she felt he deserved it though she could not quite put her finger on why. Hatter might know, he seemed well acquainted with the crotchety old power. She took comfort in the fact it was Hatter's sword she had with her, as if her Hatter was there helping. For him she supposed she should be quick about this business. This time around Alice knew she was perfectly capable of slaying.
"Well slain or be slain."
Alice raised the sword high, arm muscles straining, then swung it down towards Time's unblinking gaze. As the blade hissed through the air Alice saw figures appear behind him. The antlered man, Death, was there, his hand resting on her father's shoulder. Absalom was there as well, fluttering nearer and nearer to her. Mid-swing Alice realized what the catch was. She tried to change the sword's path, but Momentum and Gravity had not stopped like Time had. As the blade hit the young man's wrinkled neck Alice met her father's resolute, sad eyes. She heard Death laugh, "she actually did it! Sword and all!" She heard Absalom's retort, and then his command for her to follow him, she had done well. Above all else she heard her father's voice as a he surrendered to Death: "I love you, my daughter Alice."
Midterms are finally over which means I finally have time to write. Thought about making this chapter longer but then figured it was better to have a shorter chapter with some things left unexplained than to put off updating any longer.
Updates should be regular again.
Cheers,
-Savi
P.S. I wanted to play with narration a little bit. Does this format work or is it too confusing/jumps too much?
