Impossible (A HEARTLESS Fanfic)

Chapter Eight

Ace ran his fingers through his hair as he poured over the documents before him. It was quiet in the library, which was no surprise considering the late hour. Still, even during the day, he was one of the few who frequented the room. It held mostly history books and the like, but it also housed all of the legal documents in Hearts, including criminal cases. Being the captain of the guard, he tended to be the only one who took much interest in such information. Most days it was a professional interest. Tonight, though, he could not deny that he felt a personal curiosity in the files he was perusing.

There were no official records of Alice Liddell. No birth record, no school records, there weren't even any criminal records despite her being a self-proclaimed thief. There were plenty of files on Mr. Ferret; he had a long history of pilfering. But Alice? Nothing.

However, through a thorough search, Ace had managed to discover some clues. While her name was not listed anywhere on paper, there were certain recorded incidents that involved criminals who sounded suspiciously like her.

For instance, the Duchess of Tuskany had filed a complaint against an ugly little blonde flower girl with whom she had engaged in, as the Duchess called it, "a battle of morals." When the Duchess had at last bested the urchin, she had made her way home only to find that her baby's very expensive rattle had gone missing. She blamed the ugly flower girl.

Another incident had involved the Knave of Hearts. He had set his sights on tormenting a pretty blue-eyed mime who was performing in the marketplace, and as he laughed at the entertainer and attempted to steal her hat, the mime began to distract him with a card trick. Playing along, Jack chose a card from the mime's hand and was about to return it to the deck when the cards flew at his face in a mad shuffle. By the time he had regained his footing, the mime was gone, as was the Knave's eye patch.

Ace could not help but smile as he read through these reports. Knowing the victims involved, he felt little sympathy for them. The Duchess was a self-righteous prude, and the Knave was a petulant nuisance. Neither of them elicited fond feelings from Ace, and the idea of Alice duping them both oddly endeared her to him.

He found himself absentmindedly fingering at his handkerchief. It was still damp from having cleaned it earlier, and he couldn't help but think of Alice crying in the prison cell. The memory of the execution replayed in his mind, and every time he saw the look of despair on Alice's face, his heart ached. And every time he remembered how he had gone along with Mr. Ferret's lie, he felt a measure of shame. He had assisted in deceiving the Queen, even allowing an innocent—well, mostly innocent—citizen to be executed.

Why?

True, he had known that Mr. Ferret had been trying to save his ward's life, and he would have hated to have taken that away from him, knowing what the Queen would have done to them both had he exposed the lie.

But that was not the only reason he had done it. There was something inside of him that had dulled his sense of reason, something that had challenged his loyalty to the crown. For whatever reason, he had wanted Alice to survive, despite the fact that she was a criminal. And even now, he didn't just want her to survive. He wanted her to be released. He wanted this obvious lawbreaker who had dared to steal from the Queen Herself to be set free. Preposterous, he knew, but that didn't quell his desire.

Why did he have such unreasonable hopes?

Sighing, he closed his hand over the handkerchief. He wasn't that dense. If he allowed himself to think about it long enough, he knew why he wanted her unharmed. Even with his position in the guard, he was a young man who was not immune to the charms of a pretty girl. Still, it wasn't just her lovely blue eyes or her soft blonde locks that had him so taken. Her recklessness, her unquenchable curiosity, her wit. It all had him utterly spellbound.

It was not a good position to be in as the Queen's captain of the guard.

Someone burst through the library door, and Ace quickly tucked the handkerchief into his pocket, hoping the slight blush on his neck was not noticeable in the dim light. It was his sergeant at the door, panting and seeming quite out of sorts.

"Sergeant?" Ace asked.

"Captain," the man said, saluting clumsily. "Captain, I have unfortunate news to report."

Ace's heart sank, thinking that the Queen had decided to execute Alice after all. "Concerning?" he asked, trying to sound as professional as he could despite the disappointment swelling in his chest.

"The prisoner, Alice Liddell."

Ace clenched his jaw and trained his eyes on the papers before him. "What about her?"

"She's gone."

Ace jerked his head up in surprise. He turned to the sergeant, questioning whether he had heard correctly or if his mind was just telling him what he wanted to hear. "Repeat that, please?"

The sergeant looked anxious. "Alice Liddell is gone."

Gone? She had escaped? Already? It had only been a few hours since she had been placed in the cell. "When did she disappear?"

"It is uncertain the exact time. The guard assigned to feeding went down there only a few minutes ago and found the cell empty."

Ace's brow furrowed. "Weren't there other prisoners in there besides her?"

The sergeant's face drained of its color as he nodded his head. "Yes, sir. Hatta and Haigha were also in the cell."

"And they're gone as well?"

"Yes, sir. Without a trace."

It was silent for a moment before Ace cleared his throat. "Send the men out, have them search the grounds. They couldn't have gone far."

"Yes, sir!" The sergeant hesitated. "Ah, sir?"

"Yes?"

"The guard who was assigned to feeding, he's awfully worried about his...well, his head. When the Queen finds out—"

"I will inform the Queen of the prisoners' escape myself, and I will allow her to assume that I was the one who discovered their disappearance. Tell him that he can rest easy."

The sergeant's rigid body relaxed slightly, and he gave Ace a salute before exiting. Ace turned back to the files, his eyes darting from one report to another. He couldn't seem to keep his lips from pulling into a smile.

She had escaped.

He knew that as the captain of the guard he should be eager for her imminent capture, yet a part of him wanted her to never be found. And still, ridiculous as it was, there was another even smaller part of him that hoped their paths would cross again. Despite knowing the predicament it would put him in, he couldn't help but want to see the witty pickpocket once more.

And the thought of such a meeting made his heart race.

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