Wonderland: 6.

For a second, the walls were the only thing that kept them from complete darkness as there were no walls on the chambers. The hatter was never there before, even on the previous version of wonderland (or whatever we may call how everything was before the return of the queen) but he could fell Willard’s and Mika’s steps beginning to sound louder as they got closer and closer to the castle core.

He was not sure himself how he could know it, but by the number of stairs they had already run down and by the way they had narrowed, it just made sense… He hoped.

The queen stopped before a huge wooden door, something strange to say the least, and kicked it opened with her heels. The chamber before them looked oddly old and he could see the queen’s hands shivering as she passed the door, guiding the way.

The walls inside were made from rocks, usual rocks, as well as the wooden table and chairs, from that single room, the castle didn’t look magical at all and the hatter felt somewhat uneasy to see something so… Simple, at the heart of it. He couldn’t understand the need of the room. And more, he could barely see half of it.

- Lights. – the queens said, snapping her fingers.

As she did it all of the torches hanging from the walls immediately lit up. There was not much more to see in the room. It was pretty simple, plain and empty, but the queen made it so that the pearly-rose disc were Bilac was lying unconscious would stop on the table gently enough so none of them could even hear a knock.

- It’s time to begin. We don´t have much more time. He did lose a lot of blood. – the queen moved her hand on a flick above her shoulder and the door behind them closed on its own.

Without waiting for a further order the maid got closer to him and started opening his clothes, she had barely touched his vest and started unbuttoning it when more blood came gushing out of his wound.

Looked like his vest was holding things together a bit and removing it was going to be quite troublesome. The maid immediately stopped what she was doing, looking the queen confused and frozen in place.

- Willard!

But the queen barely had to call his name, the ace already had his hand reached for the rabbit direction and started murmuring a few magic words. The cups symbol on the back of his hand started glowing slowly as he gently cast his spell stopping the bleeding.

- Ok, we will have to remove it carefully now. – the queen herself got closer to the rabbit. – Vincent, come here.

- Yes, my queen.

For a second, even though the hatter was able to answer her he was frozen in place as the queen stopped at the side of the table and turned her back to him, pulling her hair to the front of her body and revealing the buttons to her own dress.

- Open it for me, I’ll have to dig in.

- W-what…?

- Open!

The queen could be gentler, loved by her people and even beautiful but her commanding voice was still able to make people run to her aid even if they were terrified.

The hatter’s hands skillfully opened all of her buttons in a second and the queen got out of her dress, now walking around only in a white silky under-dress that revealed a bit of her slim figure, after leaving it to him. She got on top of the table on a single jump, surely using magic and got on the rabbit, hips on hips, as her hands hold his ribcage together.

- Go on, Mika, slowly. Willard and I will hold him together.

For a second, the hatter could feel his cheeks getting red, he looked to the side to get his eyes away from the image of the queen riding the rabbit only to find the Ace also red and seemingly annoyed. The girl, on the other side, looked totally focused on her job and the hatter began to think that maybe it was his mind playing him tricks.

After all, the queen was just trying to save the rabbit and, what was he thinking, right? It was not like he felt attracted to the queen. It was while he was lost on his thoughts that the rabbit growled in pain. The maid was able to completely remove his vest and shirt and the queens hand shone on the same pearly-rose way the whole castle above them did.

The ace’s hand on the other side little-by-little stopped shining until he just put it back on his pockets and the queen’s began to shine so much they had to close their eyes for a second. When they finally opened it, the white-silky dress of the queen was all spotted red of the rabbit’s blood but she had a smile on her face as the rabbit himself had his eyes opened.

- My queen?

- Hey Bilac…

- I’m… I’m alive. – he smiled. – I didn’t think I’d make it.

- Well, it wasn’t for lack of trying, you know…? You lost a lot of blood.

- I did…? – it was only then that the rabbits eyes moved from her face to her dress. He got all red from the position they were in, but his long ears immediately got down. – I’m sorry, I ruined your dress, my queen.

- Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you made it back. I’d be lost without you. I’d always be late. – the queen smiled and stroke his snout a little bit. – Rest. It will be a long day tomorrow. You too Willard. You used a lot of magic.

- You too, my queen.

- Yes I did. But I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Mika, guide Willard to his room and make sure he make it there safe. If not, make sure he eat something.

- Yes, my queen.

Even though the maid had agreed, the Ace still seemed a bit reluctant in letting the queen as they were. He looked the hatter for a few seconds with a look the hatter couldn’t quite make out and then left.

That was when the queen moved her eyes to the hatter as well. Her eyes looked darker than usual, but her heart pupils still looked him as steadily as ever.

- I’m sorry I made you hold this heavy dress this whole time, Vincent.

- No problem, my queen. I’m happy to help as I can.

She smiled, a calm slow smile before turning her face back to Bilac.

- Sleep here. I’ll send someone to get you later, okay? When it’s safer for you to move.

The rabbit bit his lips a bit, but he agreed, as unwilling he was to let the queen go, he knew his place well enough to accept her orders right away.

The queen got up his hips and walked to the limit of the table, jumping back to the floor and then looking back to Vincent, calling him with her head.

- Let’s go. There is a long night ahead of us and for being able to hurt us I’m pretty sure our peace won’t last as long as I’d like.

And as the queen opened the door, they both let the rabbit let to rest, still being lit up by the flames.

#alicethroughtthelookingglass #aliceinwonderland #english #wonderland