Wonderland? Wonderland!

18.

It was time. We left early and I was wearing the same clothes I had been wearing for the past few weeks. Of course the blouse and trousers were different, but they looked identical to the previous ones and the harness was the same.

We went on a trail. The Queen with someone else in the front, then mother and the hatter, me and Louis, and after us two people whose names I couldn't for the life of me remember.

The knife in my boot made the walk uncomfortable and I would soon get chafing. Of course I knew we weren't going to have weapons with us, my harness was completely empty, but when Mother had put it in the boot while we were getting ready I hadn't protested.

Speaking of my mother, I kept an eye on her throughout the journey. If I understood everything correctly, this was the first time in years that she had left the castle not to mention her room! Even so, she ached unfazed and was more agile than most around her. She was wearing pretty much the same clothes as me, the only difference really was that her blouse was blue, but enough of that, we were approaching a narrow road with a large puddle close to the rugged path. If I didn't want to fall in I would have to focus.

So when I put all my focus on not falling into the water and towards certain death, Louis seized the opportunity to almost scare the life out of me instead. Because when I was balancing making life happy, he confided in my ear and whispered something. Something that I didn't have time to notice because I was so busy being scared to death that I lost my balance and he barely managed to catch me.
"Do not do that!!"
"What?"
Judging by the laugh in his voice, he knew exactly what I meant!
"You almost killed me!"
"It's just water."
I got a little closer to him and almost whistled so that everyone wouldn't hear.
"Did you forget I can't swim?!"
"No!"
But I could tell by his look on his face that the answer was definitely yes.

However we were interrupted by those behind us.
"Behave! Go now, we're almost there!" We both shared a look that said exactly what we were thinking, but Louis let go of me and we continued walking.

But good God, how I missed his safe warm arms around me! For a moment there, everything around us had disappeared and it had been just us two, but now I had to stop! I didn't want to ruin our friendship, and if I didn't squash the butterflies in my stomach, I was afraid that I would once again fall over the ever-closer edge that separated path and water.

Now, later I can admit that both the path and the place were well planned. The road and position made it impossible to travel large armies or vepons, but when I saw the little tent pitched for us with a couple of chairs and the table, I dared not acknowledge anything. Nor did I appreciate the lack of weapons when I saw him sitting there ever so pleased with himself.

The others started to move towards the table, but while we were still out of earshot I stopped Louis with my arm and whispered.
"I don't think he's alone."
"Why?"
"There's no way he brought all those chairs and the table on his own."
"I was thinking the same thing."
One looked at Hatter and Alice they to thoughtsomethingwas off.
But now Louis and I were the only ones not sitting down. He took my hand and squeezed it lightly, as if to calm me down, then we walked over and sat down on the only two chairs that remained.

I could practically see the scolding hot hate emanating from Henry, but did I care?
Nope.
There was nothing between me and Louis, but just the thought of the thought of the nothing irritating Henry so much gave me courage, and in sheer defiance I rested my hand on Louis' hand which was already on the table.
Pure, teeth-gnashing anger.
He might as well have bursted into flames, and the static feeling between our hands as Louis grabbed mine and intertwined our fingers was just a bonus.

"We are here to make peace!"
Wonder if he always sounded so silly, or if it was just the hatred I felt for him that made me feel that way.
"Indeed."
"And I trust you brought your own peace demands."
"And you yours."
Wait what? Peace demands?
What a peace demands! After all, it was as simple as that, Henry just had to give the kingdom to its rightful ruler and all this would be over!
Ohh who was I kidding, even I knew it wasn't that simple.

I sat quietly during the negotiation, he read out some conditions on his list, we some from ours. There was a little negotiation and so it continued. Only until Henry reached his final demand. "Either we get Y/n or she's banished from Wonderland, forever!"
I didn't even have time to react before Louis slammed his fist on the table and stood up. It all happened so quickly that his chair fell backwards and before he jumped over the table to kill Henry I stood up and put a hand on his shoulder.
Instantly his focus shifted to me and I saw that he understood,
I got this. 

"And is this negotiable?"
"Absolutely not."
"Then it's decided, I'm leaving Wonderland as soon as possible." Despite what he just said, Henry didn't look exactly pleased with my answer, but I could swear I could see a smale smile on his face as both my mother and Louis simultaneously exclaimed.
"Absolutely not!"
"Then I guess we only have one choice left."
As if expecting dramatic effect, he stopped in the middle of the sentence before sticking two fingers in his mouth whistled loudly and in less than ten seconds we were surrounded.
Fuck.

"This is not what you want to do Henry."
It came from one of the three I didn't know. But Henry just smiled.
"Ohh believe me I want to!"
And with a wave of the boy king's hand, the soldier waded behind the man, cut his throat.

A couple of gurgles, no doubt attempts to breathe, and then he was dead. The shock numbed my body, I didn't even know how to react. The only thing that could be heard were small sobs from someone else I didn't know and Henry's voice as he happily said.
"Anyone else want to question me?"