Two – Past Acquaintances
~One Year Later~
Mirana looked down at her world and smiled.
The last year had been filled with growth and happiness all over Underland.
The final bits of her sisters' madness were being destroyed and soon this whole land would finally be at peace.
"Your Majesty," barked a voice from behind her.
She turned around to spy Bayard, the Bloodhound appear at the door behind her.
"Yes Bayard," Mirana replied, feeling the cool breeze blow through her wispy hair. "Whatever is the matter? You speak with a voice filled with urgency."
"I have just been told that The Rabbit brings you horrid news," the dog replied. "Follow me at once!"
Mirana followed the dog off the balcony and into the throne room where she sat down at her throne elegantly, the dog sitting beside her.
"Well, what is soo horrid Bayard?" Mirana asked, patiently.
Abruptly, the doors flew open and the White Rabbit burst into the room wearing his old outfit the Queen of Hearts forced him to wear.
"Rabbit, why are you wearing that old thing?" Mirana asked, puzzled.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" the Rabbit puffed, racing to her feet. "I dread to have to inform you but I must. The…the…the Red Queen… she's back."
"No, I banished her," Mirana said, her voice quivering.
"No…your majesty… a daughter... its…her daughter!" the rabbit huffed, before collapsing to the floor exhausted.
The White Queen stood, her eyes turning dire.
"No," she said, without being able to manage any other word.
I smirked as I gazed upon myself in the red tainted mirror.
Horracks Emerella- who I had originally thought to be my mother, now Chief of Staff- had fitted me into a long flowing red dress accompanied by five red flours placed into my hair which had been tied into a long plait. My lips were bright red and my eyes were plastered with red eye-makeup.
My bottom lip trembled as I prepared for my first official days of making judgments alone.
So far with the combined help of my subjects; I had managed to sentence fifteen people to be executed and nine people to serve a life time sentence in the dungeons- did I mention it was for talking out of terms during a meeting?
"You look lovely My Lady," Emerella commended, her reflection appearing behind me in the mirror. "Fit for a Queen."
I spun around- trying not to reveal to her that I had almost tripped in the process.
"I am not the Queen yet Horracks," I said, plainly and trying to obtain some from of authority.
I crossed the floor of my bedroom to my bed side table where I picked up my read bracelet and slid it onto my wrist.
"Yes but you soon shall be," Emerella pointed out and I sighed under my breath.
Even though I had been training in secret to be like a Queen for a year, I still couldn't accept that I could even be blatantly related to the Red Queen.
For starters I would never sentence someone to death, no matter how horrid they were! And secondly I looked absolutely nothing like her- well except for my eyes, but that was all.
Plus she had a gigantic head, but (thank god) I had managed to inherit my father's normal sized head- whoever he was.
"Emerella, whom was my father?" I asked, suddenly.
I had managed it again- speaking without fully wanting to.
I turned around and Emerella was shrugging her broad shoulders.
"I am afraid I do not know," she admitted. "Your mother never spoke of him. Now, can we go?"
I nodded feverishly and lead Emerella out of the room, my large red hills clicking as I paced along the lightly polished floors.
I could hear Emerella dashing after me and I couldn't help but smile- there were some benefits to being Queen.
The throne room was decorated with large red banners to mark my first official day as 'Future Queen' and all of the loyal subjects of the castle had arrived to greet me.
"This way My Lady," Emerella requested, gesturing to the bright red throne that sat in the centre of the room.
I nodded gracefully, looking to Cylis who had just entered the room with a gathering of small frogs in suits. He bowed his head to me before I swallowed a copious amount of saliva and walked over to the throne, sitting elegantly as the room applauded.
I couldn't help but smile broadly at how kind my 'subjects' were treating me.
Emerella shook her head at me threateningly, as she came over and stood beside me and I closed my gaping mouth hastily.
"Thankyou, thankyou," I said, in the most 'Queen-Like' voice I could muster. "It is so-"
"–as the Queen says, thankyou," Emerella cut-off. "Now QUIET! WE- I mean, Arietta, has Royal Business to attend to. Now leave us!"
Emerella's face was now bright red and her hands were clenched into tight fists- she reminded me of the old Emerella, the one who used to treat me like I were a mere snail before I found out I was the 'Future Queen'.
The audience slowly departed from the room, Cylis staring up at Emerella with a look of disgust before leaving also with a wisp of his long cape.
I looked over to Emerella who returned to gaze to me and smiled, somewhat unconvincingly.
"Now that we have had that little problem sorted," she continued, moving right along. "Bring in the first offender!"
The doors burst open as two red guards pulled a small pig along the rug and placed it at the bottom of the stairs, the pig squealing and struggling but the guards were too strong.
I winched in horror.
No doubt the guards had spent hours hurling bricks and stones at the poor creature… just the thought of it made me cry inside.
"Alright, what did he do?!" Emerella snapped, pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill. "RABBIT!"
Nivens McTwisp, the small white rabbit servant, hopped out from behind one of the pillars and pulled out a long piece of parchment, his ears and hands shaking horrendously.
"O-o-offender 319, Mr T-T-Tyms Twindle- caught spreading rumours about a f-f-fellow member of the c-c-court in p-p-public," he stuttered, almost dropping the parchment as his hands were so obviously sweaty.
"Oh please do speak faster rabbit!" Emerella barked, impatiently. "We have not got all day!"
The rabbit made a low gasping sound before covering his mouth with his shaking hands.
"So My Lady," Emerella continued, all eyes turning to me. "What should we do with him?"
"Erm…" I mustered, but that was the only word I could think of.
My eye began to twitch and my lips did tremble, causing my hands to shake and my heart to skip a couple of beats.
This was not who I had hoped I'd be sentencing.
I had hoped that it would be a hideous looking monster who had murdered a whole city, that would have made my judgment easier, but instead I get a get, tubby young pig wearing a sharp waistcoat and hat.
"Oh please My Lady," the pig wailed, breaking free from the guards' grasp and pleading to my feet. "Help me! Have mercy!"
"Quiet you!" Emerella exclaimed, kicking the pig away for the guards to re-capture.
I could feel the pity moving up inside me- after all the pig had really done nothing wrong at all.
"Well, Pig," I began, stuttering slightly. "I sentence you to… to six months in the dungeons…"
I glanced over to Emerella who did not look too impressed by my sentence so far.
"…without any food privileges," I added, feeling immensely guilty already.
The pig's large blue eyes began to water and his ears drooped to the sides of his face.
The rabbit wheezed loudly, but covered his mouth quickly and lowered his ears so as she could not hear anything further.
"May I make a suggestion My Lady," Emerella smirked, a tone of menace rich in her voice. "Perhaps, we are being to harsh with no food privileges- he shall allowed to only eat, pork."
I could not help but slightly gasp in horror- that was crueler than no food at all.
"But I can't possibly eat my own kind!" the pig squealed.
"Well do not eat at all, simple," Emerella retorted, grinning. "TAKE HIM!"
The pig screamed and begged for mercy as he was dragged away- his shrill squeals echoing along the halls.
I rested my head on my hand, looking away from Emerella in shock.
I couldn't handle this anymore, it was too much.
"My Lady," Emerella said, tugging on my arm. "We must continue. Are you alright?"
Her eyes were hawk-like and thin as they gazed at me, a slight frown on her lips.
"No, I'm fine," I said, sitting up straight.
"It is just, the Court is becoming somewhat- curious," she informed me, patently.
"As to what?"
"Well, to your ability to serve this court," Emerella cried. "You seem to come up with many excuses to not attend beheading ceremonies and many of the cruel and wicked sentences the Court is used to our Queen saying you are not upholding! My Lady, I like you, personally I think you would make a wondrous Queen- but you know what will happen to you if the Court does not."
I gulped silently.
I knew exactly what would happen- and I for sure didn't want the first beheading ceremony I attended to be my own.
"Bring in the next offender!" I ordered, trying to sound distasteful.
Emerella grinned and lent close to me.
"You shall like this one, it shall determine whether the Court will accept you or denote you," Emerella whispered fiendishly. "Do not, muck this up."
She stood up and the doors opened as two guards tugged in the next assailant.
This time however it was no a pig or a monster, it was a man- an orange headed man with rather tattered looking clothes but as for his face I could not see as he was looking to the floor.
"Oh dear," the rabbit whispered to himself, but as far as I could tell I was the only person who heard him.
The guards stopped at the end of the rug and Emerella picked up the parchment and quill again.
"RABBIT!" she shouted, much too eager.
"O-o-offender 320, Mr Tarrant H-H-Hightopp, also known as 'The Mad Hatter'- caught s-s-sneaking around the castle for a g-g-glimpse of the n-n-new queen," the Rabbit stammered, all too fast.
"Please keep at a STEADY PACE RABBIT!" Emerella snapped, angrily as the Rabbit was silenced.
Alright, this time I shall sentence them to death- I have to, or else the Court will kill me.
"So, you desired to see my face did you?" I asked; trying to appear tough but it did not really work. "Well, now you can Mr Hightopp."
The man laughed- which by far was the quirkiest laugh I had ever heard.
"Why would I want to look at something as hideous as the Red Queen's daughter," the man quirked before finally peering up.
"No," I gasped, under my breath as I realised who it was.
It was that man, from all those years ago! He had never told me his name… the fair… the hat… wait, where was the hat?
"What was that My Lady?" Emerella asked, but I couldn't tear my eyes of him.
He obviously remembered me under all of my make-up because his puppy-dog like eyes opened widely and his mouth almost fell to the floor.
"Nothing, I said nothing," I lied, sharply.
"Yeah," the Hatter cried, looking to Emerella. "Nothing. Not anything. Just nothing. Like the opposite of everything-"
"I think I KNOW what the meaning of 'nothing' is!" Emerella snapped, agitatedly. "But one thing I would like to know, is do you ever shut it!?"
"Really, I thought you would like to know whether you look more like a cake or a well rounded pastry bun," The Hatter asked, smartly- laughing at his own joke loudly.
I laughed quietly, but masked it by my hand.
The Hatter looked over to me and grinned even further when he saw I was laughing.
Emerella followed his eyes to me and scowled.
I cleared my throat and sat up.
"Well, Hatter there is no need for that insolence in my presence," I lied, trying to give off the impression of authority. "So for that, I sentence you to spending time in the Dungeons…."
Emerella huffed before writing something down on the parchment.
I bit my lip in agony.
It was all fine that I could save the Hatter from death- but I would not be around to see my heroic deed for long.
"…until," I cried, the guilt pulsing through my whole body. I sighed before feeling my eyes swell up, but I knew I had to say it. "Until the day for your execution."
Emerella smiled and the Mad Hatter's eyes turned blue- telling me he was upset.
His lip began to quiver as Emerella laughed.
"Take him away," she said, through her malevolent laughs.
I couldn't bear to watch as the guards heaved him out of the room and away, but I could tell his eyes were on me the whole way.
Authors Note: Hey there! First let me say thankyou so much to all you wonderful, amazing people who have read, reviewed and put a story alert to this story and I hope I live up to what you guys want out of this story, I luv you all :) Also I may not be able to update for a while so please be patient, I have another chapter almost done and have plans for even more, so please do tell me whether to continue or not. Thankyou all soo much, and until we cross paths again I hope you enjoy this burning question; "What will happen to Hatter?"MikiChik x