Impossible (A HEARTLESS Fanfic)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Hatta awoke with a start. He lifted his head from the table and looked about the room. Raven ruffled his feathers and regained his balance on Hatta's shoulder. Other than the bird, there was no one else in his office. So what had woken him so suddenly?

He glanced down at his work table—littered with odds and ends—and found a letter. Shaking his head and blinking the remnants of sleep away, he picked it up. Before he could read it, though, he noticed that sitting before it were two pieces from his chessboard: the white queen and the red knight with the blue heart. He smiled wryly as he reached for the white veil that had been taken from his hat wall and draped about the two pieces. Finally, he turned his attention to the letter.

Dearest Hatta,

I would like to thank you for all of your assistance during the rebellion, infuriating as it was at times. I'm sure this note comes as no surprise to you. Perhaps I was fated to become a queen. And so I have. But I will not let my fate govern my decisions.

I cannot tell you where we're headed, for I do not know. Although, even if I knew, I would not tell. Nor can I tell you how long we'll be gone. Time is a funny fellow, and while I doubt he's heard my pleas to be kind to our foolish martyr and dethroned queen, I hope he'll allow me a chance to enjoy all the wonders this world holds before submitting to the monotonous duties of a monarch.

I've sent letters to the rest of our rebel friends and have asked them—as I am now asking you—to please watch over Hearts while I am gone. I trust you all to rule with a kind and merciful hand. Remember, you will answer for any decisions you make when I return.

And I will return. We will return.

All our love,

Alice, Ace, and Tart

Hatta chuckled softly to himself and placed the letter back on the table. He picked up the white queen and examined her with a smile. Not even a week into her reign and she was already gone.

"Full of surprises is she," Raven said. "What sort of queen will she be?"

"Exactly the sort of queen Hearts needs," Hatta replied.

The bells on his shop door jingled beyond his curtained office. He furrowed his brow. Strange, he thought he had locked it last night.

"I'll be with you in a moment," he called out exasperatedly.

"Perhaps you could answer a question first," a man responded.

Hatta froze. That voice. It was very familiar. "It depends on the question," he said.

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

Hatta's heart leapt into his throat, and he found he could not find his voice to reply. Swallowing several times, he managed to croak out, "What did you just say?"

"He asked why a raven is like a writing desk," said another familiar voice, this one belonging to a woman.

It couldn't be. Time would never have allowed it. In all his years and minutes, Hatta had never known Time to be so merciful.

"In my short life, I have seen things remarkable," Raven said, "but this does seem quite—"

"Impossible," Hatta whispered.

Without another word, he rose from his desk and made his way to the curtain. He paused for a moment, preparing himself for what may lay behind it. Taking a deep breath, he moved it aside and scanned the shop.

A smile slowly spread over his face.

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Not the ending I initially had in mind, but because of all of my amazing, awesome readers, I decided to end it on a more hopeful (though still open-ended) note.

Thank you so much for reading! Hearing from you all throughout this story has been amazing, and I am beyond grateful for your reads and comments. I'm not quite done with Heartless. I have a few other fanfictions in mind, and there's a sequel to Impossible that follows Alice and Ace and explores Alice's past:

Check it out here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/120064495-infamous-sequel-to-impossible

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart!