~Author's Note~

Hey everyone! Sorry about the wait but school you know… Alright so I recently had to work on this huge project for one of my classes where we had to make a movie based on the Hunger Games book and my group created the Triforce games (Nerdy I know) but I finally had the chance to write out the first few chapters for the book that's based on the "movie" (Alright more like movie project). If you have the time please, please, PLEASE at least look over it and give advice. This project is for a huge grade and the group worked really hard on it. THANK YOU!

P.S.

Alice and the Keeper of Hearts fans have been asking me for a "soundtrack" for the story and I finally put together one for you guys! Check out the fan site for the update soon!

Chapter 8

Ragnarok, Alice!

"After my father died, my mother wanted to avenge his death by killing her own sister. She hired Ragnarok to kill her sister and in return would give him gold and six gold dragons. He accepted the offer but no one knew the White King was too a sorcerer and put a protective charm on his family before he left for war. Since he was unable to kill the Queen he returned to the Queen and said he was unable to fulfill his task. Instead of my mother killing him she fell in love with him and asked to stick around but he declined. You see… I didn't know Ragnarok very well and to me he seemed nice. He was always giving me books on magic or helping me cast spells better but now that I think about it… he might've been using me. When I turned twelve he returned to my mom's side and said to challenge her sister to a battle and we could curse her son after she loses. I was still Aaron's friend at the time but I didn't dare tell him about Ragnarok's plan."

"Why not?" Aaron asked interrupting Sebastian.

"… I thought I could defeat him by myself. I knew a few curses and I wanted to prove to my mom I was like my father, a king." Sebastian replied. "Before I could even curse him I started getting love letters from this one girl I never heard of before. She was always writing about her dreams and finding true love. I never wrote back because I didn't know who this person was. She always signed the letters as B and I never knew a girl with their first name starting with a B. After receiving a few more over the months, Ragnarok found one and said this girl was merely playing with my heart and wanted me to fall in love with no one since this girl was just Aaron messing with me."

"I would never do that to you! You were my best friend!"

"Hush! I like this story." Alice said sitting on the steps next to Sebastian.

"Anyway I started to get this feeling that Aaron was betraying me. The girls were all over him and the ones that liked me I never paid attention to because I was falling in love with B. One day during dinner my mother was looking through old documents from when my father was around and she found an old trial case that she was a part of when Alice was here for the first time. "

"I remember that! Alice was only eight or nine at the time…" Hatter said.

"I was interested in Alice when my mother was explaining her. She was two years younger than me and I was fifteen at the time so Ragnarok was asking my mom loads of questions like what happened and where she came from and soon Ragnarok was researching all the time. He was trying to find a way to tap into memories so Alice could dream about visiting Wonderland again. I had no idea that the second part of the plan was to kill the White Queen and Aaron and Alice staying here forever and end up marrying me but he wanted to rule bigger places and where Alice was from… it must be a bigger world."

"So Ragnarok was going to end up using Alice to kill us and take over her world?" The White Queen asked.

"Exactly."

"Then how did you learn how to tap into memories since he didn't know how to?" Hatter asked.

"It was a natural gift."

"Can you all stop interrupting him?" Alice asked.

"ANYWAY, Ragnarok was always telling me that one day Alice would return to Wonderland and we'll get married and have a happy ending but the only Aaron was in the way."

"WAIT! Sebastian… I met this Ragnarok guy before… He called himself Mason!" Hatter exclaimed.

"Was he the guy with long silver hair at the ball?" Alice asked. Sebastian nodded his head. "He told everyone his name was Mason and he was the Queen's fiancé."

"IT'S ALL A LIE!" Mary Beth said. They all looked at her confused. She sighed: "Look… That guy is really named Ragnarok but he ran away from his real home when he was a teenager. He changed his name and found a few spells to change his appearance so his parents will never find him… He ran away because he was the one who murdered the king and queen after his group of followers overran the castle."

"Wait… what?"

"Mary Beth how do you know this?" Alice asked. Mary Beth pulled out an old page that looked like a newspaper and handed it to her.

"King and Queen murdered after a group storms their castle. As witness recall it, a group called the Seven Sins overran the palace to the kingdom of Spades and killed the King and Queen. As one maid responds: "A young man with red hair and green eyes was in charge of the group, bellowing orders and the one who sliced the neck of our beloved Queen. Since I was hiding in the secret passage I could only see red and hear a howling laugh coming from the red head after both of them were dead. They left just like they came, cause more chaos in the hallways and left the palace and even the village altogether." In total the royal couple, seventy royal officers and many soldiers lost their lives in this slaughter. The group consisted of witches and sorcerers and only contained about twenty in total." Alice read from the newspaper.

"That's not even half of the story. When I was looking through old papers and whatnot, I saw Ragnarok appear again as the Queen's beloved lover. Supposedly the two of them were in love behind the king's back and were planning on running away until the king put a stop to it and Ragnarok killed himself to escape prison."

"DOES THIS MEAN HE'S A GHOST?" Goderella screamed.

"No it means he faked his own death, crazy." Godfred said.

"Now I understand… oh goodness… my poor sister is in love with the wrong man."

"Get a hold of yourself, My Queen. You hate your sister." Hatter muttered.

"The only thing left I can say… Ragnarok ran away and joined my mother's side because she told him of riches and her own son in training of becoming a sorcerer. Oh god… This is all my fault."

"It can't be your fault! Alright what we need to do is find a way to break this curse first." Alice said standing up and pacing in front of the steps.

"The only way to break it is for one of us to die…" Aaron muttered.

"WRONG! There is always a loophole in magic." Alice said giving Aaron a nasty glare.

"WHAT'S THE POINT!" Aaron stood up. "IF THIS ASSHOLE DIDN'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING THIS RAGNAROK GUY SAID NONE OF THIS WOULD HAPPEN! BECAUSE OF HIM MY LIFE IS RUINED." Aaron screamed pointing his finger at Sebastian.

"My fault? Maybe if you weren't such a goody two shoes during school I wouldn't have to believe his lies! To me he was telling the truth because it seemed legit!" Sebastian shouted back.

"Oh so you would rather believe a stranger than your own best friend?!"

"Well at that time you were being an ass to me! Everyone loved you! Not me!"

"Well maybe if you weren't acting so cold to everyone people would be friends with you!"

"Cold? I was never cold to anyone! Everyone hated me because of where I came from! I grew up with only you as a friend and look at me now. People fear me but they obey me. You… no one paid any mind to because they're afraid the curse will kill them!"

"So what? Did you get what you want?" Aaron said coldly. Alice looked over at Sebastian whose hands were shaking from anger and suddenly he sat on the ground and started to cry.

"NO! I never wanted any of this…"

"Well it's too late now! Your actions put both of us on death row and now you're going to fix this. ALL OF THIS."

"Stop it Aaron!" Alice said.

"He's right…" Sebastian whispered. They looked and stared at him as Sebastian sat there looking at his feet. "I'm hopeless without magic you know… if you threw me in the forest without and potions or my gloves I'll be dead within an hour."

"Gloves…?" Godfred asked.

"Main source of power…" Goderella said.

"I got an idea!" Godfred said getting up. "Okay… so Sebastian… your main source of power is your gloves right? Aaron yours is…-"

"This." Aaron pulled out a dark blue pendent hidden underneath his jacket and showed everyone.

"So… what is Ragnarok's power is encased in something like what you two have…?" Godfred asked.

"It would make sense. He carries this pocket watch all the time and yells at anyone who touches it… wait…" Mary Beth said before hitting herself.

"POCKET WATCH!" Everyone said.

"Alright! My queen… you must challenge your sister to a duel." Hatter said tipping his hat to her.

"OH DEAR NO! I couldn't let my sister get involved in this!" The Queen said.

"She's already involved with letting him into Wonderland." Sebastian said rolling his eyes.

"Look… all we need to do is challenge the Red Queen and say the sons need to duel. Ragnarok is sure to show up and watch Sebastian work his magic so while he's occupied I'll grab his watch and we'll destroy it and see what happens!" Godfred said.

"But… Sebastian was the one who pulled off the curse… Shouldn't we destroy his gloves too…?" Hatter asked.

"HEY WE'RE NOT DESTROYING MY GLOVES!"

"We might have to… I just don't feel like this is the answer though…" Alice pondered.

"Well… we should come up with other plans just in case tomorrow morning." The White Queen said looking out towards the horizon as the sun was setting. The group followed the Queen inside and ate dinner, laughing at Sebastian's complaints of drinking sparkling water instead of wine. The laughter even brought Aaron a few smiles as he stared at his plate the whole time thinking of plots against Ragnarok…

"He's the key… the key to breaking the curse… If anything I have to kill himself myself but it's against my mother's code…" Aaron thought as he moved his cauliflower from one of his plate to the next with his fork. Once dinner was finished he got up from the table and took a brief walk outside in the gardens hearing the sounds of the wind hitting the white rose bushes and the hums of crickets in the grass.

"If only I could learn more about him… maybe find a weakness I could use against him…" Aaron thought out loud.

"See? The garden is beautiful isn't it?!" Aaron heard Alice's voice and turned to see her walking with Sebastian near the fountain.

"It's smaller than the one my mom created… but it's prettier." Sebastian replied giving Alice his coat. Aaron turned around and sighed.

"Looks like someone is lonely." Mary Beth said causing Aaron to jump a little. She sat down next to him and looked up at the stars.

"It's just… my mother said I was going to marry Alice… but… it seems all wrong." Aaron said.

"Well of course it is wrong." Mary Beth said. Aaron looked over at her and she laughed. "You may not notice it but those two are strangely connected. He's a lost boy who dreamed of being loved and she's a girl who dreamed of the oddest things but she wants a life of adventure. They're perfect for each other."

"I guess…"

"Look… You're a nice guy, Aaron. Someone will come around for you soon. They're always another day to follow the night."

"Maybe… maybe I did find someone… it seems strange but life is pulling me close to her no matter what I think." Aaron said. Mary Beth moved on the bench and turned to see Alice and Sebastian hugging each other as if they'll never see each other again…

"Maybe… I did too… Maybe I did too…" Mary Beth said placing a hand on Aaron's arm. The two looked up at the sky as thousands of stars glittered and twinkled above them. From the fountain, Alice stood on her toes kissing Sebastian and hoping he would never pull away.