That Mischievous Grin
Chapter Twelve
By LoveMeNever
A rough shove caused Cheshire to stumble forward but not fall. She growled at the guard behind her who was the accuser. Cheshire walked into what was to be her new 'home' until she could speak with the Evil Queen. The dungeon.
They took Aladdin to a cell further down so they couldn't see or talk to one another.
The guards locked her hands and feet into shackles on the wall. She rolled her eyes at them. "I'm not sure you got them tight enough." She sarcastically said. The guard just smirked at her and spit at her feet.
"That's disgusting." She said flatly while they exited the cell. "Hey! When can I speak with the Queen?"
"When the Queen wishes to be spoken to! You might as well get comfortable." The guard motioned to the cell beside her where a skeleton was shackled to the wall.
Cheshire gulped. "Oh dear..."
The guards laughed and left her line of sight. She tugged at the shackles seeing if they would come off but alas they did not.
Only one thing to do now. She changed into her cat form and the shackles slipped right off her small paws. She grinned.
This was going to be an easy escape. Then she remembered Aladdin. I'll come back for him. Right now I have business with the Queen.
Aladdin sat in a ball in the corner of the cell. He was scared, he didn't know where Cheshire was either. All he saw was the guards taking her to a cell down the long corridor. He got a sinking feeling when he remembered that Cheshire probably hated him.
He was the one that had gotten them captured by the guards. It was all his fault, Cheshire even said so.
A noise from the darkness of the cell interrupted his train of thought. His heart started pounding in his chest fearing what ever was in the cell with him. "Hello?" He called out shakily.
The noise came again... it sounded like a deep chuckle or maybe a cough, Aladdin couldn't tell.
"Whose there?" His voice squeaked.
"My, my such a young boy in this cell." The voice hacked roughly. Then Aladdin saw an old man with a long white beard and no hair on the top of his head. He was hunched over badly.
"Who are you?!"
The old man laughed but it turned into a breathy cough. "I'm just an old hermit who was captured by the Queen. Tell me boy, what did you do to end up here?"
Aladdin looked down in shame. "I stole two horses. Cheshire and I got caught... because of me."
"Cheshire?" The man seemed eager at the name but Aladdin still had his head down so he didn't see it.
"My friend." Aladdin said finally looking up at the hermit. "Well, now she hates me."
"I see! What if I told you there was a way to escape? You could free yourself and your friend!" The hermit grinned a crooked teethed grin.
It was frightening to Aladdin. He didn't think he should trust this hermit.
Before Aladdin could agree or disagree to what the hermit was suggesting they heard commotion coming from down the hall. "Find her! How did she escape this quickly?!" The voices yelled.
Aladdin knew they were talking about Cheshire, he wondered when she was going to come and get him if she was coming, he looked around the cell then tried to peer out into the corridor to see if he saw her. The bars were to close together to stick his head through them and he couldn't get a good visual just by looking out the cell.
"Boy, you said she hated you so she surely won't come." The hermit whispered menacingly as if reading the boys thoughts. Aladdin knew he was right.
He didn't want to believe that though because Cheshire saved him before so maybe she would do it again, maybe she actually cared.
Right?
The hermit frowned and moved closer to the boy. "You better escape now if you want to leave here!"
Aladdin wasn't sure what to do; leave or risk staying for Cheshire to come for him? "I don't know..."
"You have to learn to survive on your own, boy. Waiting around for someone who isn't coming is foolish and will get you killed." The hermit said.
Aladdin pursed his lips trying to make up his mind. He thought about the pros and cons of following the hermit. A definite pro was that he could leave this place and live another day and a con was that he might not get out of the castle. If the latter were the case he would be killed on-sight. Then he made his decision. "How do I get out of here?"
The hermit grinned widely, in strained movement he went to the stone wall and tapped on it. At first nothing happened but after a few seconds a section of the wall moved and made a hole big enough for them to squeeze through. Aladdin swallowed and went to crawl through but the hermit stopped him.
"Ah ah ah! There's a price to escaping, boy."
"What do you want? I have nothing." Aladdin started to feel uneasy about this.
"Your name will do!"
"It's Aladdin." He didn't think there would be any harm in telling the hermit his name.
The hermit grinned and let the boy crawl through the hole. He followed him shortly after and laughed to himself. Once the two emerged from the wall they stood in an open area with trees a few yards away. The castle walls towered over them from behind.
"We're out!" Aladdin exclaimed but he felt guilty for leaving Cheshire. Maybe he could still go back and get her? He turned to looked back at the hole in the wall but the hermit was closing it. "Wait! What about Cheshire?"
"She abandoned you boy." The hermit suddenly changed. He grew taller and not as old. His skin was scaly and a golden green color, his eyes were just as frightening, his voice grew higher pitched while he laughed. Aladdin took a few steps back.
"Who are you?!"
"Rumpelstiltskin!" Rumpel rolled the 'R' on his tongue and bowed mockingly.
"The Dark One?" Aladdin asked in a small voice. He was tricked by the Dark One, but he didn't understand why. Whatever the reason it could not be a good one so he broke off in a run.
His legs carried him as far as they could, which wasn't that far, he started to slow down. His eyes full of fear as he looked back to see if the Dark One was following him. When he didn't see anyone he stopped running and slowed to a walk. He was about to sigh in relief when he bumped into something. His head snapped up to look straight into the yellow eyes of Rumpelstiltskin.
"Running is futile boy!" He grabbed Aladdin by the arm and a cloud of smoke puffed them away with Aladdin yelling for Cheshire.
Cheshire sat perched on an apple tree outside in the courtyard. The guards were in a panic trying to find her which only gave her amusement. She was quite pleased when she saw the Queen storming out into the area, seemingly stressed out.
"That Huntsman was not supposed to care about Snow White! Once again Snow bats her eyelashes and convinces him to let her go!" Regina scowled, now she was resorted to venting to herself. She noticed movement inside her apple tree and narrowed her eyes at it, making sure she wasn't just imagining it.
"Threats, promises, and good intentions amount to no action." Cheshire grinned and let herself be seen by Regina.
Regina stood stunned for a minute. "You're the cat from Wonderland." Then she got her bearings and realized the cat was sitting in her apple tree.
Cheshire saw the annoyed and pissed off face so she jumped down from the tree almost instantly, her intention was not to get on the Queen's bad side. Regina only relaxed slightly.
"Yes I am the one and only cat from Wonderland! As you are the one and only Evil Queen!" She grinned and chuckled.
"How did you get here? And why are you here?!" Regina asked about to form a fireball in her hand if she didn't like the answer.
"I imagine I got here the same way you did! I am here because I need to thank you... if you hadn't betrayed Jefferson I would have never gotten away from that place!" Cheshire laughed madly. "Jefferson was so very happy to see his daughter again."
"Wait, Jefferson is back?" Regina wasn't angry she was just annoyed at the Mad Hatter. Of course he found a way to return.
"Yes and more mad than ever! Only a few weeks in Wonderland and he goes mad, imagine how mad the ones who were there longer are. Like me for instance!" Cheshire's grin still remained and she laughed again.
Regina raised an eyebrow. "I find it a little hard to take a cat seriously."
Cheshire grinned then changed into her human form. Regina couldn't help but admire her, she had never met anyone like her... in the sense of changing shape. Cheshire smirked while Regina looked her up and down. "See something you like, Your Majesty?"
"Why are you really here? Thanking me is not a good enough reason." Regina snapped at her. She didn't like being made a fool of.
"Other than wanting to leave Wonderland and thanking you? I have no motives... but I do owe you a favor since you unknowingly helped me!"
"A favor?" Seemed strange, Regina was going to be cautious about this.
"Right-o! Once that favor is complete I'll be on my way to explore the Enchanted Forest unless of course for some reason I can't or don't want too." Cheshire winked.
Rumpelstiltskin's words rang in Regina's ears, was this the woman he was talking about? When she consulted her magic mirror it had no available information. She was back to the drawing board but this, this... Cheshire Cat might solve her problems.
"You owe me one favor then? It can be anything?" Regina narrowed her eyes, she was skeptical to say the least.
Cheshire nodded, "Right-o! It can be anything! Well, maybe except anything involving myself being killed. I'd have to decline then. Self preservation is quite important to a cat such as myself."
She leaned against the apple tree with her arms crossed and a smirk across her features. Regina was as beautiful as she remembered but she wondered what the Queen would want as a favor. If she was lucky, it would be a dangerous task, her favorite kind.
"In case you haven't heard I'm trying to kill someone, Snow White, and she's managed to slip past my guards every time. I need someone reliable to bring me her heart!" Regina said with a ferociousness that surprised and enthused Cheshire.
"Your wish is my command, Evil Queen!" Cheshire grinned crookedly. "I'd assume you want me to begin, right away?"
"You assume correct. Bring me her heart!"
Cheshire smirked, she didn't want to leave so soon. "I've been through quite an ordeal trying to get here, so I'll go as soon as I take a little cat nap." She stretched her arms and back and yawned.
Regina's jaw locked, this cat dared to defy her? "I am the Queen and I am telling you to go now."
"I'm so glad you know who you are but I answer to no one. I'm not a house pet." Cheshire crossed her arms again the mischievous gleam still in her eyes.
The Queen was getting angry. This sounded almost exactly like the conversation she had with the Huntsmen. She thought about what Rumpelstiltskin told her; Cheshire didn't trust easily nor did she choose sides. If Regina was going to get her to trust her then she would have to be less hostile towards the infuriating woman... or cat, whatever she was.
Cheshire watched the Queen have an internal battle of containing her anger. It was quite entertaining, pushing royalties buttons was somewhat of a specialty of hers, she giggled silently.
Regina heard the small noise from Cheshire and realized that the woman was toying with her. She would not play her game.
Chess wiped her eye of the tear that threatened to spill out from her laughter.
"Fine. One day of rest and then you will help me." She stormed out of the courtyard and signaled for one of the guards. "Escort our guest somewhere she can sleep." She said rather darkly.
The guards nodded and did some weird salute then ushered Cheshire out of the courtyard. She laughed as she watched the Queen retreat down the hall briskly.
So uptight... Cheshire thought, I'm going to have to change that. She smirked.
The guards escorted her back to her cell, she was hardly surprised at that. In fact, she would have been disappointed if Regina welcomed her with open arms, there would be no fun in that. This time the guards doubled her shackles.
They tightened one around her neck like a leash, one Cheshire snarled at, and they made sure she couldn't move an inch. "Why so defensive? It's not like I'm going to escape again." Her eyes twinkled. The guards stayed silent while they continued to shackle her from head to toe. "What? Can't even keep me company?"
The guards all looked at each other before tightening her restraints a little tighter- just to be sure. One by one they exited the cell and after the last guard was out they shut the door loudly and locked it.
"Hey! At least tell me if the kid is okay?" A futile attempt to nod in the direction of Aladdin's cell caused Cheshire to growl in annoyance.
A guard laughed once, "What? Worried about him?" he hit the cell bars with his sheathed sword. Cheshire raised an eyebrow. Was that supposed to scare me? She chuckled at them.
"Sure. So is he alive and kicking?"
"Don't know. He escaped shortly after you but when we find him it's straight to the chopping block!"
That was an answer Cheshire was not expecting, how did Aladdin escape? He wasn't the brightest kid in the world by any means... did he have help? Who would help a kid escape from a castle though? Now she wasn't going to be able to protect him! Chess knew one thing for sure, when she got out of here she was going to look for Aladdin and kill him herself.
Seriously, that kid... he better not be getting himself killed.
So sorry for the long wait and for the short chapter! I already have this story planned out but everything I have been writing lately has been utterly terrible. I need to get caught up on these chapters too so this next chapter is going to take a little while! Once again so sorry!
Thanks to all who favorite/follow/review! You guys mean the world to me! :D