Trigger warning: Mentions of suicide.
Regina raced to where she knew Alice's family was staying however the sight that met her eyes made her heart drop.
Both Alice's parents lay dead. Though not it seemed from crushed hearts. There were slits across their throats as if self-inflicted.
"Fools," said a voice behind her and she turned to see her mother.
"They killed themselves when I arrived."
"They knew you'd use them against each other," said Regina trying to be brave. After all he mother already took her true love what more was there to take?
"The girl got away it seemed. Your father said you were friends. Do you know where she might have gone?"
"No," replied Regina. "Perhaps someone in town alerted her. You know you don't have the best reputation." If ever there was a time she needed her mother to believe a lie it was now. Her mother stared at her with that heartless gaze.
"Well it's a pity. She could have been useful. A queen needs every asset possible."
"I don't need her."
"You'll see one day. Other people are just to be used for what they can give you," replied Cora.
"Well that explains why you're selling me off to the King," scowled Regina. Her mother's eyes flashed.
"I thought we were finished with that subject."
"We'll never be finished mother," said Regina. "Because I'll never forgive you." Then she stormed out past Cora. Hoping the change in subject would be enough to take her mother's mind off Alice who with any luck would be far away soon.
OUAT
Alice waited two towns over for a full week. She checked the entire town over every day to make sure she hadn't missed her parent's arrival. But they never came. A part of her desperately wanted to hope they still lived and had simply gone a different way but deep down she knew the truth.
Her parents were dead. The only way they wouldn't come to her was if they were killed. Now she was well and truly alone in the world. They didn't have close friends she could go to or even family back in Wonderland.
What was she to do? Continue on as she was? She'd always performed with her family. Her mother making small portable props and picking up extra sewing work along the way. And her father. Never again would she have someone who truly understood her powers.
Alice knew the small amount of gold she'd gotten from Regina wouldn't last forever. So despite not feeling particularly chipper she set up shop to sing on the road. It was an old poem she'd heard from a traveler a man who'd apparently been to a world where they had machines that fired tiny balls of metal to injure you. She knew some of the words would be strange but figured most wouldn't care.
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon the cloudy seas
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor
And the highwayman came riding
Riding, riding
The highwayman came riding up to the old inn-door
He'd a leather cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin
A coat of claret velvet and breeches of brown doe-skin
They fitted with never a wrinkle, his boots were up to the thigh
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle
His rapier hilt a-twinkle under the jewelled sky
And over cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn yard
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter
Bess, the landlord's daughter
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize tonight
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light
Yet if they press me sharply and harry me through the day
Then look for me by the moonlight
Watch for me by the moonlight
I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell should bar the way"
He rose upright in the stirrups, he scarce could reach her hand
But she loosened her hair i' the casement, his face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight
Oh, sweet waves in the moonlight
He tugged at his rein in the moonlight and galloped away to the west
He did not come at the dawning, he did not come at noon
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor
A red-cloaked troop came marching
Marching, marching
The Kings men came a'marching up to the old inn-door
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed
Two of them knelt at the casement with weapons at their side
There was death at every window
Hell at one dark window
For Bess could see through the casement
The road that he would ride
They had tied her up to attention with many a snickering jest
They had bound a musket beside her with the barrel beneath her breast
"Now keep good watch", and they kissed her
She heard the dead man say
"Look for me by the moonlight
Watch for me by the moonlight
I'll come to thee by the moonlight, though hell should bar the way"
She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good
But she writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood
They stretched and strained in the darkness and the hours crawled by like years
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight
Cold on the stroke of midnight
The tip of one finger touched it
The trigger, at least, was hersTlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse's hooves ring clear
Tlot-tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill
The highwayman came riding
Riding, riding
The red-cloaks looked to their priming
She stood up straight and stillTlot in the frosty silence! Tlot, in the echoing night
Nearer came and nearer, her face was like a light
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath
Then her finger moved in the moonlight
Her musket shattered the moonlight
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him with her death
He turned, he spurred to the west, he did not know she stood
Bowed with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter
The landlord's black-eyed daughter
Had watched for her love in the moonlight and died in the darkness thereAnd back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky
With a white road smoking behind him, and his rapier brandished high
Blood-red were the spurs i' the golden noon, wine-red was his velvet coat
When they shot him down on the highway
Down like a dog on the highway
And he lay in his blood on the highway with a bunch of lace at his throat
Still on a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon the cloudy seas
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor
A highwayman comes riding
Riding, riding
A highwayman comes riding up to the old inn-door
Singing about violent death felt particularly cathartic that day. The people might not have understood every word but they certainly got the gist of two dead lovers at the hands of soldiers. A tragedy to tug at the heartstrings. When she finished her song she curtsied and held out her apron to take the money.
She'd apparently touched a good number of people, several with tears in their eyes as she collected a decent sum. At least enough to tide her over for a little bit longer though it was still less than she made with her parents.
While she'd sung her mind had been distracted and felt better. However, once she stopped the longing returned. The idea of going on alone was both scary and heartbreaking.
Still staying here much longer was unwise. If she did so Cora might catch wind and come looking. She needed to be on her way she fingered the ring around her neck however she felt that while she was down on her luck and in need she wasn't willing to cash in her deal with the Dark One yet. She'd save that for when she had no other choice. She had one shot and she wanted to get the most from said deal.
So she spent the money on a meager supper and made plans to continue travelling.
OUAT
Unfortunately her success in gathering money seemed as far as luck was willing to go. The night before she planned to leave the inn stables were raided and the horse she had was stolen. The innkeeper was kind enough to give her a little money in compensation but not enough to get a new horse and counting what she had Alice realized it would be better to stick to her feet.
So, she set off leaving behind her last hopes of reuniting with her parents and the only friend she'd had. However, she also left her grief. For grief would weigh her down and consume her she had to push it away. Otherwise, how else was she to survive?
Alice really did hope Regina escaped Cora. Though preferably without killing the woman. Not because she felt any sense of mercy for the witch. No. Because one day when she was more powerful. If she had the chance she WOULD get revenge on the woman that killed her family. Perhaps that was the start of it. When Alice's heart first began hardening to the world. But it wasn't when the Pied Piper was born. That would come later.
Author's Note: And so we see how Alice's parent's went out. While of course suicide is a serious matter I liked the idea that her parents went out on their own terms rather than Cora's though Cora is still technically responsible. The poem above is the Highwayman though it's got a few words altered to be more fitting and it's the song version (Highly recommend). Anyway if you like the story PLEASE leave a note below and let me know it would mean A GREAT deal and let's me know this story is worth continuing. Until next time!
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