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Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts or any of it's characters.
The plan was simple enough. All Alice had to do was jump out the window in the middle of the night, sneak out of the estate and get to where Jack lived, which wasn't very far from there. She had an idea for getting out of the tower that Abby didn't like very much.
"What if you fall?" Abby inquired.
"I'm not gonna fall."
"What if you're caught?"
"I'm not gonna get caught."
"What if you get lost?"
"Abby! Seriously, do you want to find Jack or not?"
"Of course! It was my idea in the first place but I don't think this plan is very-"
"That's why I'M doing it."
"But-"
"Just shut up for a second will you?"
Abby was silent. Alice, with control of their body, was throwing random things she thought they would need onto the bed, nearly hitting Cheshire multiple times.
"Alice?"
"What do you want?! I told you to shut up."
"What are we gonna do about Cheshire?"
Alice stopped throwing things.
"Um...I don't know. He's your cat."
"Can he come with us?"
"Are you kidding? No."
"Why not?"
"Because he could get in the way. What if I get out of the tower, and he starts meowing like crazy? He'll basically be telling people that we escaped. Then I'll get caught."
"Good point. Okay. Let me take over for a minute. I need to do something."
"Fine."
Alice sat down on the floor and closed her eyes. Her body went limp and fell over as she handed control to Abby. Abby sat up and blinked a few times.
"Cheshire!"
Cheshire hopped off the foot of the bed and walked over to Abby. He climbed onto her lap and meowed softly.
"Okay Cheshire, I have to leave for a while so be a good boy. I'll leave out a bunch of cat food for you but don't eat it all at once. And don't-"
"Abby." Alice interrupted.
"Yes?"
"He's just a cat. He'll be fine."
"He is not 'just a cat'. He's my cat."
"And that means what to me?"
"Never mind...hey watch this."
Abby stood up and walked over to a large container of water that was tucked into a corner of the room. She looked at the spout on the bottom and then put Cheshire's water bowl underneath it.
"Here boy!"
Cheshire walked over to the container. He put his left paw on the lever next to the spout and pushed down on it. Water poured out of the spout and into the bowl. When the bowl was full Cheshire took his paw off the lever and started to drink the water from the bowl. Alice was silent for a moment.
"Uh, Abby?"
"Yes?" replied Abby cheerily.
"That is the smartest cat in the entire world."
Abby giggled.
"How did you teach him to do that?"
"With time, Alice. With time."
"Okay. Now that that's settled, let's get back to work."
Abby sat down on the floor and closed her eyes, She fell backwards and stayed there for a minute. Then sat up with Alice in control.
She stuffed everything that was on the bed into a backpack that was in the closet. She picked up a rope that Abby had made by tying long pieces of cloth together. She tied one end of the rope onto the leg of the bed that was closest to the window. Then she threw the rope over the windowsill.
"Alice?"
"What?"
"The rope isn't long enough. It doesn't reach the ground."
"Whatever."
"What do you mean 'whatever'? This is a problem."
"No it's not."
"Yeah it kinda is."
Alice ignored Abby and swung the backpack over her shoulders. She walked over to the window and turned her head to get one last look at their room.
She wasn't the type to get sentimental, but now she was so overcome with worry and fear that she almost cried. But she knew that if she cried then Abby would start crying. Then they wouldn't get anything done.
"Okay Cheshire. Be a good cat. We'll be back before you know it." said Alice.
Alice turned and jumped onto the windowsill. She crouched and grabbed the rope. She slowly swung one leg over the sill and then the other. She placed her heels in between the stones of the tower wall. She slowly slid off the sill and was dangling in the air, holding onto the rope for dear life.
"Be careful." warned Abby.
"Shut up I need to concentrate."
Alice put the soles of her feet on the tower wall and slowly let go of the rope with one hand and placed it below the other one. She picked up her left foot and moved it downwards. She repeated this until she was at the end of the rope. She hung by the end of the rope with both hands. The ground was still quite a few feet below her.
"Now what?" asked Abby nervously.
She really hoped that Alice had a plan.
"This."
Alice let go of the rope and bent her knees in midair. Thankfully she landed on her feet. Alice smiled, pleased with herself that she was able to make a perfect landing.
She looked around. She was in the garden. It was very dark so she couldn't see much. Without any thought at all, Alice started running in a random direction, which was straight ahead.
The further Alice ran, the more she wanted to just turn back. She desperately wanted to stop, turn around, climb back into the tower, curl up on the bed with a book, and wait for Jack to come tomorrow. But she knew that would never happen. Jack wasn't going to come back, if he was, he would have done so already.
Jack wasn't there, so something was wrong, very wrong. Jack always came. He had come to see her every day since he found her seven months ago. Even after he found out about Abby, he still came. There must be a reason. There has to be.
Alice ran as fast as she could. She stumbled over what she guessed was a bush, but she didn't hit the ground, and she didn't stop running. 'If I stop going, even for a second, I might get caught. I can't get caught. Not now. I'm so close…'
Alice could see a faint light ahead. She guessed it was a way out of the garden so she ran faster towards it. She was panting hard, she didn't know how much further she could run, but she was so close. As she approached the light, slowing her pace, she could make out the huge iron gate. She stopped in front of it. The light she saw was a lamp that was hanging on the gate.
Hoping it was unlocked, Alice pushed hard on the gate. It didn't budge. 'Oh well. Next idea.'
"Abby."
"What?"
"What should I do? I ran out of ideas."
"You only had one idea?"
"Shut up."
Just then, Alice had a dangerous idea. She grabbed the bars of the gate and cautiously started to climb the gate.
"Alice, are you insane?!"
"SHUT UP! Do you have a better idea?"
"...No."
"See? Now sit back and just shut up for once, will you?"
"Alright, alright, geez."
Alice ignored Abby and continued to climb the gate. There were iron bars that went sideways to make a design on the gate, so she used them as footholds.
Once, her foot slipped and she almost fell. She quickly placed her other foot on one of the bars to steady herself. Then she started upwards again. She was almost up.
Once she made it to the top, she placed one hand on the top bar of the gate. Then she carefully swung one leg over the side, then the other. She quickly grabbed the top of the gate with the other hand. She slowly started making her descent, placing one foot on the nearest bar below her, using her sense of feel only, since it was so dark.
As soon as she was down, she dropped to the ground, panting. After a few minutes, she got up. She started wandering around until she found a road, she followed it for a long time, walking on the left side of the road. then finally she stopped. She walked away from the road and found a nearby tree.
She walked behind the tree, just to be safe, then set her backpack down on the ground. She collapsed on the ground and leaned up against the tree. She slowly drifted off to sleep, assuring herself that she was safe, and she would find Jack in the morning…..she hoped.