Cheshire has been on the run since the day she turned eleven, having made a little too many enemies. Everyone knows who she is; The Cheshire Cat, the sassy assassin with the wicked grin. Despite that, however, she has nowhere to go. Until she runs i...
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A/N: Pictures are of Cheshire in her cat and black jaguar form. The song is her theme song.
Alice was starting to get annoyed.
"Fine," I sighed, examining my claws as if I was completely oblivious to the fact that I was lying on the branch of a tree. "If you'd really like to know, he went that way."
"Who did?" The girl asked, confused. I sighed again.
"The white rabbit."
"He did?"
"He did what?"
"Went that way."
"Who did?"
"The white rabbit."
"What rabbit?" I questioned, pretending to look confused. As the Cheshire Cat, I loved to mess with people. My favourites were the arrogant, obnoxious ones who thought that they could beat me in a battle of wits without doing anything to sharpen their intelligence. Or keep up with me in sword fighting, same circumstances; I never did anything I wasn't good at. Bad form for a skilled assassin, otherwise. Alice was absolutely livid.
"I want to see the white rabbit!" She announced, stomping her foot as if she was two years old rather than nine. Spoilt little brat.
"Not with that attitude," I replied, getting to my paws and preparing myself for the jump from my tree. "And his name is Percy." Conveniently, Percy came bounding up to my crossroad, casting a nervous glance at me. I leapt gracefully from my branch, landing on all four paws, and studiously ignored the trembling coward.
"The Queen wishes to see you." He informed me, somehow without stuttering. Alice stuck her tongue out at me triumphantly, forgetting exactly who I was. Shifting into my black jaguar form, I shoved her to the ground with my shoulder, and proceeded on my way to Cora's court. That's right. I knew who she really was, the mother of that bitch Regina, and was secretly hoping that I would be banished from this hell hole. Why? Because I hated being her pawn. I'd kept it under hats (heh) though, acting as if I truly adored her; I only told or showed people what I wanted them to know, keeping all the juicy information to myself.
"Happy birthday to me," I sang quietly, as I padded along the dirt path that lead to the throne room thingy. "Happy birthday to me-eee! Happy birthday to me." I was physically eleven today, and yet my abilities and experiences gave me more wisdom than all the great magicians put together. I'd seen the light die in the eyes of thousands of people and been underestimated by every single one of them. I was young in their eyes but really, I was older than they thought. The price I paid for being able to handle magic at an early age was an elongated life, and so, I had grown up slowly. Immortal life wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
Finally, I reached Cora's courtyard and shifted into my human form; Her Bitchiness preferred to, and I quote, "talk to a respectable human being, not a vicious animal". Unfortunately, until I escaped Wonderland, I had to tone down on answering back with a witty retort.
"We're with you," a low, guttural voice reassured me, one that only I could hear.
"You've been very quiet today," I replied bitterly, recognising exactly who, or what, the voice belonged to. Onyx, the part of me that was black jaguar.
"You didn't need us before," another, slightly higher voice returned. This one belonged to the last section of myself, a black and white cat called Bandit.
"Rude," I muttered, and grudgingly knelt before Regina's mother. Onyx and Bandit fell silent, waiting for her to speak. The woman regarded us coolly, before sending her guards away. There was no reason for her to whisper in a man's ear just to talk to me; I knew who she was, after all.
"I heard what you did today, Cheshire," she began coldly, "And I am afraid I will have to punish you."
"Damn, we've got it bad," Bandit stated sadly.
"Oh yes, totally!" Onyx replied sarcastically.
"I don't know about you, but I like having a home!"
With effort, I managed to ignore the squabbling felines, and focus my attention on Cora.
"What is your judgment, your Majesty?" I asked, clenching my jaw to keep myself from throwing up. She regarded me with mild interest, trying to determine which punishment I'd hate the most. I merely placed a hand on my hip and tilted my head slightly to the side, keeping my face blank and my composure calm.
"I am afraid that I will have to banish you, Cheshire," Cora decided, after a full minute of having a staring contest with me. "I must think of my people and you are a threat to them."
"I'm an assassin. Isn't being a threat kind of the point?" I retorted, smirking at the spark of fury that flared in her eyes. Her Bitchiness smiled tightly.
"I see that I've given you exactly what you want, then," she replied coldly.
"It seems you have," I agreed calmly, completely undaunted. "And, since I am my own Queen now, you can't change my punishment." She rose from her chair, fixing me with a furious glare.
"I can send my guards after you," she snarled, "And torture you with my magic."
"Indeed you can," I agreed, giving her my famous grin. "If you can catch me." With that, I switched form, into Onyx, and was running at fifty miles per hour before two seconds was up. A black jaguar could usually run at thirty, but I was no ordinary black jaguar.
"Finally! Freedom!"
"Shut up and run!" Bandit snapped back, right before an arrow stuck in the tree beside me. For once, the felines were silent, until I reached a dead end halfway through Cora's hedge maze.
"Let me take control." Onyx suggested.
"No! The last time that happened, I had to lure our target out with a bargain. You know I hate making bargains!" I hissed back.
"You'd be dead by now if it wasn't for us," Bandit pointed out smugly. Grumbling, I reluctantly allowed the black jaguar to take control for the time being.
"Vice versa, as well." I responded smartly, before falling silent; when we had met each other, we had all been at the door of Death. Somehow, using magic, my parents had managed to combine our souls and hearts so that we could live. I had absorbed most of the magic they used, and so I could do many things that others couldn't. It got stronger every day, and I could now cross over into a different world, if I so wished, though unfortunately Cora was more powerful than me. However, I liked the thrill of chases, which was why I ran away from Her Bitchiness instead of teleported.
"Now can we cross over?" Bandit questioned, when we had dodged another of Cora's magic attacks.
"Yes, now we can," I responded, and immediately felt the familiar warm feeling spreading through my veins.
A hurricane of black and blue smoke surrounded The Cheshire Cat and, just as the guards finally caught up, it disappeared to show that her magic hadn't failed her.
