WONDERLAND ✯ Louis Partridge

17 | The Two

Y/N

_

FEELING BAD is an awful waste of time.

The White Queen spoke to me about my issue, told me they'd forgive me in the future, and said I mustn't worry. She never said when, but I knew better than to question it. So, that being said, I took refuge in the castle while I waited for that apparent day to come.

It was a huge space, expanding over what seemed like a mile, and everything was decorated in a Winter Wonderland aura of pearly white decor. My room was at the end of the hall on the third floor, overlooking a view of the kingdom that... rejected me. I'll spare no dramatics. I could see the Queen of Heart's castle behind the forest clearing—which made me want to gag.

And I sulked at first, never leaving my room, barely eating, and remembering better times, but then I remembered that...

...I didn't care.

Okay, of course I cared, but I made my apologies, and I willingly left, and if they weren't going to forgive me, it's not my problem. It's their choice. It's Louis' choice. And in all honesty, I never meant to cause any harm! It was one of those situations where you felt like you didn't have a choice, and you weren't informed of the consequences so early on—and humility was too strong to risk coming clean beforehand.

So instead of moping about, I sucked it up, and went to explore.

"Morning Niall," I said to a knight as I passed, "is the Queen up yet?"

Oh, and I forgot to mention. I made friends with the four head guards of the castle. They were once minstrels, but grew in rank a few years ago, and now were on their 'solo careers'. By that, they meant they were just individual knights.

Niall, who was stationed outside the kitchens, smiled at me through his plain armor. "Yeh', she's up."

I smiled back. "Thank you, Niall."

"Ya' might want to ask Louis where she is, though."

"Why?"

"She had a meeting, and probably isn't in the throne room."

"Cool, cool," I said, waving at him and departing.

Making true to his suggestion, I decided to go towards the upper levels of the castle, where Louis and his other buddies would be lingering around the Queen. Unlike Niall, they were supposed to serve as bodyguards. Niall had it better though—free snacks from the kitchen.

Ascending the grand staircase, I let my fingers trail upon the glossy surface of the railing, tapping them in boredom until I reached the very top. There wasn't much to do here, so entertainment was found in the little things. It had me wishing I could be making tea in a cottage in the woods, playing fencing with my friends, or watching the stars glimmer in the sky.

It had me wishing he was still here.

"Louis," I said, as I caught sight of the three knights at the end of the upper floor, "Liam, Zayn."

The trio turned towards me as soon as I addressed them, smiles growing on their faces as they stared at me through the slits in their helmets. They were my new friends—although I still felt like losing Emma, Daniel, Harry, James, Oliver, and (not really) Draco was hard. I missed all of them (not really Draco), and I wanted them to forgive me (you guessed it, I don't care about Draco)—that rude exposer.

"Vas happenin'!" Zayn exclaimed, "Haven't seen you since yesterday, [y/n]!"

"Thought you died," Louis added.