Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. All I'm doing is mixing Stephenie Meyer and Lewis Carroll's characters in Tim Burton's world while adding a dark splash of my own imagination.

Chapter Eleven: Battle Creatures

The news of the Red Queen's death spread like fire the next day, proving that Riley had kept his word. No one could understand how a creature like the Bandersnatch had been able to enter the castle without being detected, but that's exactly what happened—or at least that's what people murmured. Alice was giddy when she learned that her plans had gone accordingly, yet she managed to not show it outwardly.

Everyone spoke of the tragedy, recounting the gory details. One of the rumours was that one of Victoria's servants found her brutally mauled in her bed, while another story told of Victoria being attacked in her garden while she took a walk, but the fact remained that the Bandersnatch was the only one to blame. Instilling panic in everyone had been Alice's ultimate goal, and just as she'd expected, Isabelle was already preparing to flee Wonderland.

The next part of her plan needed to be executed, so she headed into the woods to meet with Riley near the White Queen's castle. When she arrived there, Riley was already waiting for her with the Bandersnatch. He smiled immediately upon seeing her, walking over to meet her halfway.

"Good morning, Alice," he said as he took her hand. "I'm so glad to see you."

"As am I." Alice grinned. "Is everything almost ready?"

"Yes," Riley replied. "Isabelle is about to leave her castle, and this is the normal route she uses when traveling."

"And the Bandersnatch? You've already told him what to do?"

Riley chuckled. "The Bandersnatch was trained to kill Isabelle, so you don't have to worry about that. All we have to do is wait."

"Alright." Alice nodded "Be prepared to give him the order as soon as you see Isabelle's carriage."

Wordlessly, Riley went back to where the Bandersnatch was and patiently waited until it was time to do his part. Meanwhile, Alice looked on as Isabelle's coachman led her carriage through the woods and the Bandersnatch flew to catch up with it. A couple of minutes passed until the Bandersnatch's roar was heard along with cries for help, but it only lasted a few seconds.

Riley walked up to Alice, smiling proudly. "It's done."

"We need to make sure that everyone's dead," Alice told him.

"Why?" he asked bewildered. "We just heard what happened."

"Yes, but I need to see the damage with my own two eyes."

Riley wasn't happy about it, but he went along with Alice anyway, aware that defying her wouldn't do him any good. When they arrived at the scene, the Bandersnatch lay next to the destroyed carriage, licking his paws. There was smeared blood on one of the carriage's doors, indicating that the Bandersnatch had attacked Isabelle while she was still inside. The same couldn't be said about the coachman, though, since his dead body was lying in a pool of blood on the forest floor.

"I told you that the job was done," Riley said, exasperated. "We need to leave before someone comes."

Alice walked over to him and cupped his cheek with her hand. "Don't you want your prize first?"

Riley smirked, closing the distance between them as he pulled Alice nearer, and asked, "Which prize?"

"This one," Alice told him as she gave Riley's lips a quick peck with her own. When Riley tried to deepen their kiss, Alice shook her head. "That's the only kiss you get, and I hope that you enjoyed it, because it was your last."

Baffled, Riley stepped back. "What are you talking about?"

"Your days are over, Riley Stayn," Alice said coolly.

"No, no, no," Riley pleaded as the realization of what Alice was going to do dawned on him. "You can't do this to me, Alice!"

"Did you really expect me to make you king, Riley?" Alice sneered. "How am I supposed to trust you when you turned your back on Victoria so quickly? You were supposed to be her right hand and you betrayed her so easily. That only proves that you would do the same to me."

"Don't kill me, Alice," Riley said terrified. "I will do anything you want, but don't kill me."

"You'll do anything?" Alice sneered. "Doing anything for me was the beginning of your doom." She whistled at the Bandersnatch, locking eyes with him as she pointed to Riley with her free hand, saying two simple words: "Kill him."

Riley blanched as soon as he heard Alice, but there was nothing he could do. His fate had been determined the minute that he agreed to help Alice. The Bandersnatch flew forward and pinned Riley down while he pawed at him, killing him almost instantly.

When Alice looked at Riley's lifeless form, she felt no regrets about his death. He had simply been a pawn in Alice's game, but he had earned that title because of his ambition. Now that he was gone, Edward would know that Alice hadn't lied to him, so that gave her some respite.

Exhaling deeply, Alice stepped closer to the Bandersnatch and pet its head."You did good today, boy," she told the creature. "Go back to the castle and wait for me until I return."

The Bandersnatch purred as he rubbed up on her arm and licked her cheek, causing her to laugh.

"Yes, I'm going to miss you, too. Now, go!" Alice ordered, watching as he followed her command.

Cheshire Cat appeared then on top of a tree branch that from a surrounding tree. Looking bored, he spoke to Alice. "It's time for you to go home, too, Alice. Your work is done here."

Alice sighed as she nodded, thankful that everything was finally over. While she walked back to the March Hare's home with Cheshire Cat by her side, she thought about what everyone had said when they saw her for the first time. Some said that she looked exactly the same, while Tweedledum and Tweedledee hadn't recognized her at all, and that intrigued her.

Was it possible that they had been able to see through her? Because even though she was the same person they had met before, she was not the same inside.

Alice had become someone else entirely, and that's what had allowed her to scheme the death of both queens. While many might think that she had done it because she was as thirsty for power as they had been, Alice did it simply because she could. It would benefit her, obviously, but that was only the reward she would receive for ridding Wonderland of the self-centered sisters. Besides, Alice had to get rid of Isabelle if she wanted to live since she knew that otherwise she'd have the same fate as Victoria.

"What are you thinking about, Alice?" Cheshire Cat asked, breaking her out of her reverie.

"Nothing much," Alice lied.

Aware that she had indeed lied, Cheshire Cat chuckled. "Don't torment yourself with thoughts of what just happened, Alice. This is the way it was supposed to be—the reason why you returned to Wonderland."

"You knew that?" Alice asked, baffled. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Cheshire floated past Alice, turning to face her as he spun his head. "It's fairly simple: you needed to be presented with the feat first so you could decide how to deal with it without anyone's influence."

"Do you think that our plan would have failed if other people knew about it, then?"

"Probably, but it wouldn't have made much difference," Cheshire Cat explained. "You returned at this point in your life because that's when it was supposed to happen—when you were finally ready to take over Wonderland. Absolem knew it as well, but he didn't make mention of it for fear that you'd leave."

"I almost did," Alice confessed.

"And that would have been a shame." Cheshire Cat sighed. "You wouldn't have been able to enjoy a world that was created just for you."

Appeased, Alice smiled and continued walking silently, imagining what her life would be like from that point on. A thousand possibilities crossed her mind, but the best part of it all was knowing that Edward would be by her side.