Into the World of Twisted Wonderland Pt 2

👑 The Beautiful Tyrant: Chapter 49 👑

A/N: Thank you all for giving me time for the unfortunate circumstances that occurred in my family. As more details of what happened came to be known, the shock was just...too much. I wasn't able to post on Saturday since all through the week, I had enough mental stability to write one chapter. I will be able to write more chapters now and I hope you all enjoy it nonetheless. (6/12/24)

One night, while Angel was sleeping, the mirror started to glow, forming ripples in her mind...

She opened her eyes, seeing that she was surrounded by bricks in some sort of dark, damp room. She takes a deep breath, only to cough a bit at the air. It felt...dirty for some reason as she looked around, trying to find out where exactly she was. (What a musty room...) She thinks as she looks around, trying not to let the smell get to her. In the room, she found a small set of stairs, that seem to spiral downward and she hesitates, debating if she should even walk down to who knows what lies down. She pushed her doubts aside, and slowly walk down the staircase, holding on to the wall for some sort of leverage to prevent her from falling; however, it proved to be useless since the fact that there were only small cracks that the tip of her finger could just barely grasp. She mentally prepared herself as she continue to walk down the stairs, feeling the smooth yet bumpy grove of the wall as she descends into darkness. After a while of twists, she see flat ground, connected to a room, dimly lit with a shadow forming on the ground. She step off the stairs and hide behind the wall, leaning her head to take a peak into the room, silently gasping at the scene.

She sees the witch from before stirring in a cauldron, smiling sinisterly as she stirs, seeing that whatever was in the cauldron was to her standards, or at least, whoever standards since it was dark green. She cackles, and slowly walk over to a table, picking up a shiny red apple, confusing Angel as she inspects it, smiling at it as she walks over to the cauldron with the apple in hand. She carefully grabs it by the stem and slowly dip it in the cauldron, while Angel only watches in both confusion and curiosity. She carefully pulls the steam, bringing the apple out, seeing that instead of it being shiny red, it was dull green. "Dip the apple in the brew. Let the Sleeping Death seep through," the witch says as the liquid start to morph into a smile, as if understanding the witch, and it only made Angel gag a little as she watches it. "Now, turn red to tempt Snow White," the witch says with a smile as the apple only understands, its shiny red glow start to appear, coloring the apple back to it's original color. "Make her hunger for a bite," the witch says as the last bit of green completely disappears, leaving a perfect, bright, shiny, red apple. The witch smirks, admiring the apple, making sure that it was absolutely perfect. Even Angel felt a bit enticed at the apple, seeing how it looked perfect and juicy to eat. She quickly turn around, surprising the crow behind her with the apple in hand. "Have a bite! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" She laughs, seeing how the crow shuddered at the apple, almost feeling something dangerous about the apple. She laughs at their reaction, only to stop and run towards the table in a hurry. "But wait!" She exclaims as she quickly goes through a book, looking for a specific section. "There may be an antidote," she says as she scans through the book. "Nothing must be overlooked." She follows her boney finger, stopping on a section, reading intently. "Love's First Kiss? Bah!" She reads. "No fear of that. The dwarfs will think she's dead. She'll be buried alive!" The witch closes the book and leave, grabbing a basket and walking deeper into the room, with Angel quietly following her, only to see that the surroundings became damper and the smell becoming more prominent, with chains on the wall, almost like some sort dungeon. The place made her shudder, and she sees that the witch was boarding a small boat, with the apple nestled in the center of the basket. "Buried alive! Haaa ha ha ha ha..." She laughs as she pushes herself off with a stick, the boat starting to float down the waterway. Angel could only look at the scene in shock, feeling darkness overcome her as the vision start to fade.

Angel slowly opened her eyes, wincing at the light in the room as she starts to wake up, seeing that morning has come. She sits up, rubbing her eyes as she recalls the dream. "So the beautiful queen was trying to kill the princess...?" She mumbles as she recalls the dream. Once she recalled the apple, she shuddered a bit, feeling cold. Why does it feel like something similar might happen...? She shook the thought out of her head, letting the warm air fill the room, thanks to Grim's body heat filling the room from moving around and sighs. There's no way anything like that will happen. After all, nothing bad should happen on the cultural festival day. She got out of bed and looked at the window, seeing that during the past week, it has become warmer with the temperature rising and the snow melted, with grass starting to grow on campus again. She even saw that the plants the ghosts were growing in the garden started to have a little 'pep in their step' as they told her when they were sprouting. She happily sighs, knowing that today was the day that everyone's hard work came into effect and the fact that she was kind of excited to see what the arts clubs around campus has been working on during the year. She did her morning routine, anticipating the day when suddenly, there was a knock on the door, the sound getting Grim's attention as the door clicks open, showing Epel at the door.

"Good morning, Angel, Grim," he greets. "Are you up?"

"Hey, Epel!" Grim happily says. "Today's the big day! It's the Song & Dance Championship! You'd better take home the gold, okay?! My tuna bonanza is ridin' on it!" He states.

"Absolutely!" Epel happily agrees. "I'm ready to win this thing. But...it's kinda sad to think this will be the last day of our training camp," he says as he looks around the hallway. "Thank you for accommodating us this long. Heh heh."

Angel smiles at him. "You know, you're welcome to stop by anytime if you need an escape," she states to him. "This is a place where even Ace and Deuce come to slack off and take a breather. Even Jack and the others as well."

"Are you sure?" He asks.

"Yeah. It's perfectly fine."

"Then, thanks!" He happily says.

"Morning, Angel! Epel! Grim!" Kalim says as he pops in the hallway with Jamil in tow, shocking the three. "Did you sleep well? I didn't. I was too excited," he says with a smile. "Jamil even yelled at me to go to sleep! Aha ha!"

"Seriously. You're not a child on a field trip," Jamil states with a sigh.

"Bonjour!" Rook greets as he joins the five. "Good morning to you all! I hope the day finds you well. Vil has some words for everyone before the show. Would you mind coming to the lounge?" The announcement makes everyone confused as they head to the lounge.

"I see everyone's here," Vil states as everyone quietly sits in the lounge, waiting his next words. "The time will be 3 p.m." He states. "The place will be the Purple Stage set up in the coliseum. Then and there, the Song & Dance Championship will finally kick off. The competition will be streamed live worldwide. This is our moment to reap the beauteous seeds we've sown and take the entire world by storm! I trust all of you are ready?"

"Yes, sir!" Everyone shouts in unison.

"Rehearsals start at noon. I expect each of you to be ready to take the stage before then."

"Oooh....It's killin' me that all we can do is watch," Grim states. Even Angel had to agree with the statement.

"Correct- you and the manager will be of no use simply lurking around and twiddling your thumbs," Vil states to the two, making them flinch. "Your fidgeting will only distract us. Go see the sights at the festival instead. I'll give you a staff pass," he says as he hands her two passes with lanyards attached to them. "Wear it when you go in. But I expect you to be present for rehearsal in the coliseum at noon. Is that clear?" The two nod in understanding.

"Aw, maaan," Ace groans. "I wanna check out the festival!"

"Me, too!" Kalim happily says.

"Out of the question for you!" Vil scolds them. "Have you been listening to a word I've said? The festival lasts for two days, so you'll have your chance to cavort on day two. Today, you will focus strictly on the SDC show. Now, let's start out final checks!"