Chapter 14

Ragnarok's Weakness Revealed, Alice!

The sun was covered with thick clouds of snow. Overnight the skies sprinkled the area with snow and ice turning it into a glittering Wonderland. Aaron woke up to the sound of ice rain hitting his window with soft thuds. He peered outside and his lips twitched into a smile, he loved the snow more than anything. He got out of bed noticing it wasn't even seven in the morning yet and threw on heavy pants and a wool sweater before grabbing his ice skates and hat. He closed his bedroom door and walked down the hallway peering into Sebastian's bedroom, the door wide open. Both Alice and Sebastian were tucked away sleeping soundly, his arms wrapped around her, protecting her from the beast who tried invading her dreams last night. Aaron quietly shut the door and continued walking down the hallway hearing the snores of Hatter and Godfred even before walking past their doors. When he reached the throne room and threw on his hat and shoved the double doors open before closing them behind him. He looked up and saw the air showing his breath.

"I love winter."

He took off in a run to the pond near the palace that was like he expected frozen over from the dreadful freezing temperatures they survived through last night. He sat on the nearest rock and put on his skates, tying them tightly before taking the ice. He wasn't used to skating since their last winter wasn't very promising and the pond never froze over but he easily glided over the ice, turning and performing tricks like a professional. He never noticed someone was watching him until he slipped and ended up on his back.

"Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me." Aaron choked out before getting to his knees and looking to see Mary Beth smiling at him from across the pond. "Why are you up so early?"

"I heard the front doors slam and saw you walking to the pond from my window. I didn't know you liked to skate."

"It keeps me from thinking about reality for a few hours."

"Well you're a beautiful skater, I give you that." Aaron picked himself back up and started skating around again staying clear away from the other side which was already starting to crack from his weight.

"Have you ever learned to skate, Mary Beth?"

"No… I was born into a poor family so they could afford school and swordsman classes."

"So you were raised as a warrior huh?"

"To protect Sebastian's family. Just after he was cursed I was taken in as his bodyguard. I was treated as an equal for a long time. After Ragnarok started showing up more and more the Queen changed and started forcing Sebastian to start choosing a wife. You know this might seem weird but… I think she might know Ragnarok's plans."

"As in you think she knows he's bad news and the only way to keep him from the crown is for Sebastian to marry Alice?"

"Well yeah she was already planning the wedding the day after the ball."

"If Sebastian is married… then when the Queen passes the crown to him and he suddenly dies then Alice becomes Queen?"

"Yep which is why Ragnarok is trying to invade her dreams all the time. He's trying to find out her weakness and use it against her."

"Ragnarok is planning on killing her…"

"I think so… and Sebastian too. If he dies the curse breaks and you can't defeat him by yourself. Aaron… I think we need to find the other two parts quickly, the moon will be full in three days."

"I know I know. Sebastian and Alice are in danger though we need to keep them protected too."

Aaron skated off the ice as soon as he saw another crack and sat next to Mary Beth. "You probably already know what I have to do in order to destroy that horse."

"I know, that's why I'm going with you."

"You can't leave them, Mary Beth. You need to stop him while I'm gone. While I take care of that horse you guys need to destroy his power source and that's the hat. Please Mary Beth…"

"I'm not letting you go alone. Curse or not you're tired of being alone so I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you, Aaron." Mary Beth said grabbing his hand. "I love you Aaron." He looked up at her.

"I'm cursed, Mary Beth."

"Sebastian is cursed too and look at him. It's time you look at the big picture instead of the little paint drops, Aaron."

"You don't understand! You just… you're going to die."

"We're all going to die one day. Please Aaron…"

He leaned over and kissed her. At first he thought it was stupid, kissing in the cold but she kissed him back and he was confused. He pulled back.

"Why haven't you left me yet? They all left before I could even kiss them back." Aaron asked. She grabbed his face and pulled him in to kiss her again. "Because the curse is slowly breaking. Both of you found love and received it in return."

From behind them a guard started shouting at them.

"Breakfast!"

Mary Beth kissed him again and the two of them made their way back to the castle hand and hand.

Sebastian stood in the throne room eyeing Aaron as he passed.

"You have Alice, I can have your bodyguard." Aaron said to him. Sebastian turned and walked into the dining hall where Hatter and Alice were already sitting and talking in low whispers.

"Alright what's going on?" Aaron asked the two of them, taking a seat next to Mary Beth.

"Ragnarok struck again in Wonderland. He destroyed the abandoned castle in the desert. The place he was hiding out when I delivered the hat to him." Hatter said tossing Aaron the paper. "We think the other kingdoms he tried taking over finally caught his scent and they're after him. He's in the crossfire and we need to destroy that horse soon or he'll conjure up another shadow worse than that horse."

"So what we start searching for the second part today? We can't even get past the gates they're frozen shut." Sebastian said.

"Damn blizzard." Hatter muttered.

"I'll go fetch a few fire fairies from the hallow and see if they can unfreeze the gate." Cheshire said and vanished into thin air.

"You know… they say the creator of a powerful weapon knows how to destroy it." Aaron said tossing the paper on the table and looking at Hatter.

"You think I know how to destroy Ragnarok's hat?" Hatter asked.

"Well you did make it so yes I think you know how to."

"Do you, Hatter?" Alice asked. Hatter looked at her sadly and then everyone else.

"Look… It's hard believe me, I put every ounce of my energy I had into that hat. It's better if you find the rest of the spell to send that horse back to where it came from and take him down while he's weak."

"Hatter we need a fall back if anything happens." Mary Beth said.

"The thing that destroys the hat is almost impossible to find!"

"We need to know Hatter!" Sebastian said pounding his fist into the table. Hatter looked out the window and sighed. "You'll be committing murder after you destroy it."

"Why who dies?" Alice asked.

"Nicolas and his wife. Their lives are bind to this book. That book needs to be burned if you want that hat to be useless. Nicolas helped me create it into a magical weapon for Ragnarok by using spells from that book. If you burn that book then Nicolas and his wife will die."

"Why would they die?" Alice asked.

"They're immortal because of it. They've been living for almost seven hundred years using alchemy."

"Didn't you guys ever think Ragnarok was I don't know… EVIL?!" Sebastian screamed.

"Nicolas said those spells would never be able to create so much damage."

"Well that's just great. First we need to find two more parts to this spell and now we have to kill your friends just to destroy a stupid hat!"

"Sebastian calm down…" Alice said.

"WE HAVE TO KILL MORE PEOPLE JUST TO KILL RAGNAROK! No I won't kill any more people."

"Sir… Sir you have a visitor." A small guard said. Hatter turned his chair around and picked up his teacup.

"Well I'll be damned." Hatter said.

"Hello Hatter." The old man said, snow stuck to his beard and robes.

"Hello Nicolas." Hatter said raising his teacup to him and taking a sip of his tea, his lips curving into a smile in the cup.