Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Ben's Note of Sheer Awesome: This arc is fun, seriously. Maybe it's all my OCs, maybe it's the fact I'm tying in more characters, I don't know! Still, this arc is going faster than I intended, so let's wrap this up! Three more prompts (including this one) and then we'll get to some more adorable stuff. Yay!
KCL: Sorry you're still sick. I feels bad for you. *gives you cake* You didn't guess it, but you tried. That, and I hog your cider stache. It'll probably be more obvious by the end of this chapter, but Neb and Lizzie have a connection… that's special. When you figure out who Neb is, things will make more sense.
Prompt 44: Ticking Like A Clock
Kitty, Alice, and Dexter were walking through the woods, Dexter in the lead. Using some tracking equipment (and Humphrey), he had fashioned a makeshift tracker. He was using the signal from the phone Alistair had used to make his way through the woods.
"Anywhere close?" Alice asked him.
"According to this… we're on top of him," Dexter said. "He said he was underground. The environment is too unstable to dig down to him, so there has to be an entrance around here somewhere. Then again, I'm not sure how big the tunnels stretch, so the entrance could literally be anyway."
Kitty sighed, looking around. "We don't have a lot of time," Kitty fidgeted. "Alistair's time is ticking like a clock. We need to find him now."
Alice put a reassuring hand on Kitty's shoulder. "We'll find him," Alice said. "Why don't you teleport around the area, see if you can find a cave around this area? I'll work with Dexter and see if we can find anything." Kitty nodded and quickly vanished.
"We need to rig this place to explode," Peeta said, coming into the room. Alistair sat up on his bed. They'd been alone for an hour, only Neb popping in every so often. He didn't try to help Alistair again… but he kept looking at Lizzie. Whenever Alistair asked her about him, she simply shook her head.
"It's complicated," she always said. "I know him, and yet I don't."
"B-b-b-b-but Slender said we had to k-k-k-k-kill them ourselves," Sven said nervously.
"We will. Rig the cells to explode," Peeta said. "We'll kill them after it's rigged. Pick a cell and that's who you'll murder. We'll do it at the same time."
"Whatever you say, boss," Neb muttered.
"Hang on. You said you'd give us a day!" Alistair protested. Peeta leered over at his cell.
"Shut up. I can kill you whenever the #$% I feel like it," he spat. "For that, your mine. Stand back or I'll stab you now."
Alistair did as he was asked to do and Peeta opened his cell, walked in, and closed it. While he was doing that, Sven glanced nervously over at Maddie's cell.
"Um… c-c-c-can I not have her?" he pleaded.
"Aw, what's the matter Sven? Jackalope not wearing any pop star hair?" Maddie giggled.
"Eep! She's talking to me!" Sven cried in fear.
Neb rolled his eyes. "She won't bite, idiot," he grumbled. "Man up, why don't you, and rig her cell!"
"Yes sir!" Sven mumbled in fear and reluctantly went over to Maddie's cell.
Harry glanced at Neb. "Mind if I…" he started to ask.
"I was going to ask for her anyway," Neb nodded. "Be my guest." Harry nodded and walked over to Bunny's cell. This left Neb staring at Lizzie's cell. Lizzie stared back at him as he approached. "So… you remember," he said.
"I dreamed about you for every night for two years," Lizzie said, not letting her voice slip. "Of course I remember."
Neb gave a dark chuckle. "And you've kept that silly crush on me, I see," Neb said.
"I had… before I realized who you are," Lizzie said hatefully, but tears were in her eyes. Neb reached to wipe them away, but Lizzie withdrew. "You want to kill me, don't you."
"That was the initial idea," Neb said.
"…Why wait?" Lizzie, said, turning around. "If I'm going to die anyway… do it now. When I don't have to look at you."
Neb stared at the back of her head and said nothing. Instead, Lizzie felt an object slip into her hands. "You know the thing about crushes? You always hope they love you back," Neb said and Lizzie heard him walk away from the cell.
He… didn't set explosives in here, Lizzie thought. She looked down at what was in her hands… and stuffed it in her pocket in fear. Oh Mother Goose. Whose side are you on?
Meanwhile, Harry bounced up to Bunny's cell. Bunny looked at Harry through the bars. Harry sighed and opened them, making his way inside. "Been a while, hasn't it?" Harry asked her. Bunny said nothing, only looking conflicted. "Ever since… you know, the curse…"
"You've been gone for years," Bunny said. "Where've you been?"
"My… dad," Harry said guiltily. "He… thought our story was… erased. He blamed the Hatters… I know Maddie didn't mean to…"
The two looked at each other in silence. "You're story… isn't gone," Bunny said. "You could… come back to Ever After. I'm sure you'd be accepted there."
Harry sighed. "Bunny… I know this whole destiny thing is a load of bull," he said. "But the reason I agreed to kill you… I loved you. Back when we were little. I still kind of do. But no… Alistair. He was always the one you loved. I could never compete with him. So, I thought the only way to get over you was to… kill you."
Bunny looked into his eyes and saw the tears before they came. "You don't want to, do you?" she asked him.
"What do you think?!" he screamed at her.
Bunny remained quiet for a moment. "If it amounts to anything… we aren't dating," Bunny said. "In fact… I got over my crush on him years ago."
Harry blinked. "What? But… Slender said," Harry started.
"Misinformation. Alistair's dating Kitty. Alistair and I are only close friends," Bunny said. "Look… Harry, I know it was always hard for you growing up. Your dad was madder than the Mad Hatter. But… I know I was a solid rock in your life. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. But… please Harry… I don't want to die."
Harry looked at Bunny, sadness in his eyes. He pulled out a round object and set it on the back wall. "Sorry Bunny. But I have unfinished business to deal with," he said and left the cell.
Kitty appeared in existence and fell to the ground. She was utterly exhausted. She wasn't used to teleporting this much. But, with all her strength, she vanished again, only to turn up in a stream not too far from where she was.
"Come… on…" she wheezed and teleported again. When she came into existence, she screamed in fatigue and went limp on the ground.
One… more… time…, Kitty thought to herself.
Oh, why don't you just GIVE UP! He's gone, dead, no thanks to you.
Now?! You want to come back, of all times, NOW?!
Ooo, feisty. Seems like you've been expecting me.
SHUT UP! I almost threw my life away because of YOU! I would love to rant to you about how much I want to dissect my own brain and strangle you, but I have someplace to be.
I leave for a few months and when I come back, you grew up. Fine, I'll leave you alone. But Alistair's probably dead by now. Tick tock Kitty. The clock's running out.
Kitty verbally screamed with all her remaining strength. "YOU DON'T SCARE ME!" she roared . "ALISTAIR'S NOT DEAD! I WON'T LET HIM DIE ON ME!" And with that, she vanished one last time.
Sven nervously put the charge against the wall. He yelped when he turned to find Maddie was up in his face. "Gah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to invade your space!" Sven whimpered.
"You weren't in my space silly!" Maddie giggled. "Are you always this apologetic?"
Sven nervously slid around Maddie. "P-P-P-P-Peeta always said that you never know what makes people mad," he stammered. "I thought I made you m-m-m-m-mad."
Maddie giggled. "You didn't do that silly! I think I got it from my dad," Maddie said. "Peeta isn't very nice to you, is he?"
"Well, um… don't make me answer that!" Sven begged. "Peeta will kill me if I say anything bad about him!"
Maddie cocked her head. "Sounds to me like he's not a friend of yours," Maddie said.
"Oh no, Peeta says friends are bad news! I listen to Peeta… but friend? No, we don't have friends," Sven said seriously.
Maddie offered Sven a small smile. "I'd like to be your friend Sven," she said. "It'd be better than Peeta, wouldn't it?"
"But Peeta!"
"Sh, stop," Maddie said. "Peeta might have told you things about friends, but that's all wrong. I won't backstab you, I won't hurt you. I want to help you. You don't have to kill me Sven to have a destiny."
Sven looked nervously over at where Peeta was. "But… Peeta says murder is the only way to get what I want," he said nervously. "I don't want to kill you… gah! You're getting to me!"
Maddie sighed, then looked at Sven pleadingly. "Sven, listen. I don't want to die, not yet," she said. "What you're doing… Peeta's wrong. I think he's been controlling your whole life, but you need to accept he's wrong about this. Let me help you Sven. Let me in your life and I'll help you."
Sven looked at Maddie nervously, then over at Peeta. "Friend…" he gulped.
"I take it you don't like me very much," Alistair said to Peeta in his cell.
"Shut up," Peeta muttered, setting the charge. "I don't care about sob stories or anything of the like."
"On the contrary, I'm glad you hate me," Alistair said. Peeta's eyes widened in surprise at the comment, so he continued. "I mean, I'm a pretty powerful guy with a pretty powerful story. The fact you want to kill me… that takes guts."
Peeta swelled with pride. "Why thank you," he said.
"And it also means your incredibly stupid," Alistair continued, making Peeta deflate angrily. "I've seen how you've treated Sven and Harry, Neb too, to a lesser extent. They won't listen to you if you keep treating them like they're nothing to you."
"They are nothing to me," Peeta said darkly. "All I want is the best story: Peter Pan. I figured if I kill you, my story will be ten times as great as it already is!"
Alistair sat in silence for a moment. Thinking he had gotten to him, Peeta resumed work. However, Alistair started to laugh suddenly. "You remind me of my girlfriend," Alistair said. "Always jealous. Because you never know about who is going to out do you."
Peeta stopped working and stood up. "Harry! Sven! Neb! We kill them now!" Peeta said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun. Alistair looked at Peeta and shrugged.
"Do it. Prove to me that all you are is a jealous little boy who can't grow up," Alistair said. Peeta cocked the gun and glared fiercely at Alistair.
"You boys ready?" Peeta asked.
"Drop the gun," came Lizzie's voice. Peeta threw his head around to find Lizzie was out of her cell, along with Bunny and Maddie. Lizzie was pointing a gun at Peeta, although her hands were obviously shaking.
Peeta glared over at Neb. "Traitor," he spat.
"I only gave Lizzie the gun and unlocked her cell door," Neb said. "I blame Harry and Sven for unlocking the other two."
Sven sweat nervously. "Peeta, I'm sorry! I acted out of kindness, and I know being kind is bad! Forgive me!"
"SHUT UP!" Peeta roared.
"Crap, he's going to kill me, isn't he? I don't want to die!" Sven panicked.
"No one's going to die," Lizzie said, looking over at Neb.
Neb shrugged. "Depends on whether Peeta drops the gun or not," he said. "What do you say Peeta? Willing to drop that gun? You've obviously lost here, and let's be honest, you're the only one who hasn't accepted it yet."
Peeta spat in Neb's direction. "COWARD!" he shouted.
Neb shook his head. "I'm no coward," he said. "In fact… the only reason I'm here was to save Lizzie. I was never going to kill her. Geez. Who do you think I am, some sketchy guy who kidnaps women?"
Lizzie and Maddie looked at each other. "Yes," they said in unison.
"Point taken, but not the point. Lizzie's my… how would you phrase it Lizzie? Not girlfriend, since we never started dating since it was kind of secret. Secret lovers?"
"Stick with girlfriend, it sounds less weird," Lizzie said, holding the gun toward Peeta.
"Right then. We've been a couple secretly, well, we were until I stopped visiting her about two years ago. I had stuff I had to do, you know? Then I came here about a month ago, and I've been, with the knowledge this kidnapping was going to happen, making sure you lost. See? Win-win-win-lose, where everyone wins but you!"
Peeta turned red with rage. "You know what? Fine. You win," he said, lifting the gun slowly upward. Lizzie sighed in relief and lowered her gun. With no warning, Peeta spun around and aimed the gun at someone. "YOU ALL DESERVE TO DIE!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
BN: I'm so evil! I'm so evil! I'm so evil! Geez, I should stop chanting that, because some people might seriously think I am. What can I say? Just stay tuned for the next chapter. What I wanted to do was this: establish that Wonderlandian's can basically change whoever they want. The only exception was Alistair, but I don't think he had any intention of helping Peeta in the first place. Let's face it: depending on the version, Peter Pan isn't a good guy. Heck, even the good version of Peter Pan isn't always good. Peeta, no matter what he did, would always sink back into darkness. Peeta shooting someone though? That was something I just came up with. Question is, who did he shoot? Stay tuned for Prompt 45: Pale.
Also, Neb and Lizzie's relationship might have not made sense. Lizzie and Neb were basically dating in secret (the Queen of Hearts would never approve of Neb as Lizzie's boyfriend and Lizzie needed to uphold her standing as the future Queen of Hearts in front of the public) before the curse of Wonderland was cast. After that, Neb disappeared (further explained later) and Lizzie didn't know where he went. So, yes, she was confused initially about him, but she realized whose side he's on… kind of. As for how Maddie knows him… wait and see.
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