Chapter 21

The White Queen's Secret, Hatter!

Thirty Minutes Before

She was sitting there staring out the window as her people started marching to the chessboard arranged war zone. Ragnarok and his troops should be heading there as well and her eyes welled up in tears. The White Queen wasn't going to let this happen again. Her son's life was on the line to destroy the man who stole her sister's heart and maybe even life… She felt guilty; however, that she loved her son more than her own sister…

"Your highness?" Hatter asked he stepped into the throne room, his hat in his hands as he looked at her the way he always would. A face full of confidence and maybe even a hint of love, something she couldn't bear to look at. She played back the memory of talking to Alice in the rose garden. Why was she giving Alice advice but never taking her own?

"I can smell death in the air, Hatter." She responded as he took a seat next to her on the window ledge. He bit his bottom lip and stared through the window watching the guards march off to their deaths.

"You don't have to go." Hatter told her. Why was he always so calm and collected around her but a foolish child around Nicolas around her? Her heart felt a sting of jealously towards the others but she couldn't place the why factor in her mind.

"I should go… it's my duty to see my son destroy the curse and end Ragnarok's life." She replied as she felt the white rose in her hand, the petals soft and fragile.

"It's not your duty… it's out of love… Do you even wish to see if your sister is still alive?"

"My sister has always been the one to make poor decisions. She never learns from them and now when something as foolish as she is waltzes into her life she'll fall for him and he'll only kill her in the end. I'm afraid, Hatter, that the feeling I have about my sister still living is finally dead." The Queen said while she stared at the rose. "All the red roses in the land will cease to exist and the white ones will dominate as I take rightful place as Queen of Wonderland not just the White Queen of the Looking Glass."

"What will you do after you become Queen of Wonderland?" Hatter asked his eyes wandering to the Queen's rose.

"I'll have my sister's palace destroyed and all the elves set free. Godfred won't have to work for Sebastian if he so chooses. Goderella wants to work for Alice of course but those stick together like thrones on a rose."

"You realize after this is all over she'll return back to her world?" Hatter told her.

"Of course I do… but do you realize something…?" She looked at him and smiled. He stared at her confused and tilted his head. "If you were able to get through… we can too… we can go live with her!" The White Queen got up and strolled through the entire room, her feet moving in a dance of some sort.

"We can't go back." Hatter replied. "I'm not even sure Alice can return either…" Hatter replied meekly. She looked back at him and glared.

"Why?"

"Ragnarok destroyed the rabbit hole… I had Cheshire check it out just before he went snooping at your sister's palace and he told me only rubble was left."

"Then… we can fix it, right?"

"I can't be sure… Sebastian said…" Hatter looked down at his feet, his orange hair bowing like his face. The White Queen looked at him, her face full of hurt and grief. "Aaron and Sebastian brewed a special potion for her to get back… if we're really just a dream then she'll wake up."

"There has to be another way… don't you understand she finally found her one true love and after all those years of watching her live without a father she has to deal with the fact that none of us is real?"

"I think she knows we're not real…"

"Then why stay here?"

"Because she can't wake up until we win." Hatter replied as he looked up at the Queen and held her hands, the white rose dropping on the floor. His face… she wanted to touch it, to tell him everything. Everyone else around her was falling in love… and here since the day she met the Mad Hatter she was in love. She had an arranged marriage and never quite felt the pull of her heartstrings to the White King as she did with Hatter. He was a strange man, yes, but his heart was filled with nothing but nonsense and her whole life was dedicated to living by the rules. They were two different people bound by fate and she was in love. She was in love with the Mad Hatter.

"Hatter…" She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. He looked down at her and smiled back.

"I know… and you know what? I have been since the day I met you too." He said and bent down as he kissed her, her heart sighing as she finally got her perfect kiss. He pulled back and placed his hat on his head. "I should get back to the tea party. After this is all over… we should have dinner… or…-"

"Dinner sounds good." The Queen smiled as he picked up the rose and gave it to her. She took it and watched him leave the room.

She heard a loud crash outside and a cackle before dead silence. She rushed out to find her sister holding to her life by a mere small string.

"Somebody help! I need help getting my sister into the hospital wing!" The Queen screamed as she rushed to her sister's side.

"… Sis… ter?" The Red Queen asked as she tried lifting her bloody arm towards her sister. "I'm… sorry…"

"No, don't talk. You're safe now. I need to ask you an important question so blink once for yes and two for no. Did Ragnarok do this?"

Her sister blinked once and was picked up by Hatter and Sebastian as they took her to the hospital wing, Aaron stood by her along with Alice as they watched the Red Queen being carried away inside the safety of the White Queen's palace.

"He did this didn't he?" Aaron asked his mother, she nodded. "Just think what he'll do to us…"

"I won't even go there if I were you, Aaron. Prepare to leave right away. Have Sebastian heal her quickly before I see her and we'll stop him together." The White Queen replied. Aaron nodded and rushed inside the castle, a few guards following him. Alice tried following him but the Queen held her back. "I need to ask you something, Alice."

"What is it?" Alice asked as the Queen strolled back into the castle.

"Remember when you finally realized how much you loved Sebastian?"

"Of course, Aaron sort of made me realize it… but why are you asking?"

"For thirty years I've been living under a lie… I was in love with another man and… now I realized he loves me back."

"That's amazing! I knew you and Hatter would always be a pair." Alice smiled up at her.

"What?... You mean you knew all this time?"

"Well of course I did. Hatter blushes whenever I say your name and he's so protected over you. Remember when he saved you from that ugly bird that your sister set on you? What about the time your village was burned down and you were mourning for all those months, he was always there comforting you. See… he loves you."

"What should I do…?"

"Do what your heart says." Alice smiled back at her. The White Queen looked at her and quickly hugged her as tears fell down her face. "Hey… being in love… it's the most wonderful feeling a person can ever dream of. You are such a brave and beautiful Queen and now you know someone loves you for who you are and it's not an arranged marriage, its true love."

"I'm so happy." The Queen sobbed into Alice's shoulder.

"Come on… we should check up on your sister." Alice said to her and the two of them walked up the long staircase to the fifth floor where a nurse in white escorted them into a white room where her sister sat upright in her bed, her face covered in scars and running makeup.

"Sister!"

"Mother… don't talk so much, the gash on our neck still hasn't healed." Sebastian complained.

"Oh please, Sebastian. It's perfectly fine. Sister… he attacked me when he found my packed bags. I was going to leave him behind and have everyone leave the palace a little at a time so he wouldn't notice and when he saw them lying in front of the bed he came at me with a knife! I tried to run I really did and then he grabbed me and did the most awful things to me before he dropped me off here and said if I wanted to die as a traitor then I'll die with the other soon to be dead souls."

"It's okay, sister. I understand. I have my troops set out already. War will begin in less than an hour."

"We can't have war! He only wants to battle Sebastian and Aaron! The curse ends tonight! One of them will die tonight and the shadow horse will consume everyone. Everyone you sent will die out there. I need to get there quickly. I need to warn my people and make them retreat."

"I can send a messenger out and warn everyone, but I'm afraid it may be too late." The Fairy Queen said as she fluttered into the room with Nicolas behind her, in his hands was the book.

"Nicolas! What are you doing here?" The Red Queen asked.

"To end the Horse's regime." He replied and looked over at the two boys and Hatter. "It's time to end this once and for all; we need to burn the book."

The entire group was silent as they watched him leave the room. As they finally picked themselves up and left the safe grounds of the castle and make their way to Wonderland's hell ground.

"You can't go through with this…" Sebastian said to Nicolas.

"It's time Ragnarok pays for killing innocent people." Nicolas replied.

"So… you finally show up, Nicolas." A voice said. The aura of death surrounded them and Ragnarok smirked as the Shadow Horse twirled around him, his eyes laid on the two sons and his anger rushed up to his blood as he placed his hat om his head.

"Let the battle begin."