The Forest Guardians

35. HP Chapter 6

Warning: Descriptions of gore and horror in the middle of the story!

Mike's POV

"Greetings, your majesty"

I stepped in front of the coronation portrait. I had visited the portrait numerous times within the past few weeks but this was perhaps the first time I had visited it during the night. It was a request by the Queen of Clubs.

After the Halloween feast, Sirius Black had tried to infiltrate the castle and caused the Fat Lady who was protecting the doorway to the Gryffindor's sleeping quarters to flee from her portrait in tears. So, that has caused quite a stir among the students and teachers. Security around Harry has tightened, much to his annoyance. Any hopes of going the Hogsmeade legally was dashed. But knowing how Harry and his friends were (especially the Weasley twins giving him the Marauders' Map), that wouldn't stop him.

Fortunately, nightly patrols have increased in frequency so that hasn't stopped me from visiting the Queen.

The green haired Queen was lying in the middle of the large bed filled with pools of red silken sheets and many puffy coral pillows. It nearly seemed like she was drowning in her own bed because of how there are so many pillows surrounding her. She looked deathly pale with dark circles haunting her now dull mint green eyes. Even the green in her hair has been reduced to that of a dirty seaweed green, like a patch of evergreen grass that was once so glossy and so filled with life became plagued with an incurable disease and was slowly losing vitality to it.

My eyes widened in surprise at such an alarming change. How she had kept her condition from me was indeed a wonder.

"Oh! The teacher!" There was a soft gasp of exclamation from her as her face brightened up slightly in my presence. "Forgive me for this unsightly look. I have been plagued with nightmares."

She gave a feeble cough.

"About what?" I asked as I slowly moved closer.

"About death." She answered back while mustering whatever grace she had to smile pleasantly back at me. "It's odd, isn't it? I haven't done anything to warrant such fear. And yet I..."

Another bout of coughs interrupted her words. Her aides looked on with worry worn on their faces. Some of the maids even burst into quiet sobs. It was quite obvious that she was a well-loved Queen from the reactions of her subjects.

"I would like a favour from you, teacher." She rasped, pain evident from the scrunched-up expression of her face. "Please, find out who I am."

I furrowed my eyebrows at her strange request. "But we have never met before, your majesty."

She gave a smile. "Indeed. But you must have investigated where I came from."

Another bone-shaking cough.

"There's not much time. If possible, I would like the answer now. If you fail, you won't get the letter."

Shock buzzed through me before a wave of calmness settled over me. There was no choice but to solve this task, hence I took a step back to think.

My eyes gave a cursory glance over the portrait.

There were hints of the card symbol of the Club peppered around the drawing and that caused the screws and gears in my head spun as they worked through the information I had on the Human Alice Sacrifice incidents and its story. The 3rd Alice in the story was an outsider of Wonderland like all the other Alices that we have found. That was obvious because of the stark differences in facial features of the Queen compared to her subjects. Alice definitely wasn't her name, as I recalled the conversation I had with Omen and Sebastian back in the Black Butler World.

Then, who was she?

From my previous conversations with her, she loved singing and acting. Yet, she has a habit of turning her head behind every once in a while or this sudden dilation of her pupils and trembling of her limbs. But immediately, she would recollect herself and hid behind her brightest smile like nothing had happened at all. It was signs of some past trauma that she couldn't get over it.

The incident, as I recalled from Dice's investigation, have the names of the victims. And the name of the 3rd victim was...

"Lucy Lancaster."

She looked up at the mention of her name. Relief and satisfaction flooded into her face.

"Continue. Please."

"You are the 3rd Alice to enter Wonderland. It was rumoured that in the human realm, you suffered many setbacks as an actress. However, your last act, which was as an enchanting and graceful Queen earned you much popularity to the point that a crazed fan stalked you.

You sought protection from the police but you were still kidnapped. When the police found you, you were sitting on a carved stone throne in the middle of a cemetery.

Eyes carved out from your sockets, a crown sewn on your head and extended cuts from your lips to make a gruesome smile. The kidnapper has even dolled you up in a royal Victorian dress and wrote on the back of the stone throne, "She reigns forever in Wonderland." He even left the Card of Clubs there.

That was who you once were."

She sucked a breath and opened her eyes. "Yes, that is correct."

"Perhaps that's why you were plagued with nightmares."

Her eyes looked up to mine. Then it was crinkled by her relieved smile.

"Perhaps so. Thank you, Guardian. It's been a long time since the last one has come by and solved my mystery."

My eyes widened in disbelief. "There were others before me?"

The sides of her eyes crinkled in amusement. "Of course! Many wanted to enter Wonderland. And many died before they could enter. Had you not succeeded, you would have died a horrible death."

A cold chill ran down my back.

"Wonderland is not a place that anyone can enter or leave freely. Do tread carefully there." I nodded with resolve, intending to take her advice to heart. She chuckled at my actions. "It was pleasant talking to you. Now, it's time for me to depart like before."

"W...Wait!"

She merely gave a small smile as her eyes closed bit by bit. "The twins will tell you what you needed to know."

Wails of her devastated subjects punctuated the air as Lucy slowly closed her eyes.

There was a bright flash of green light. Then, in the place of the portrait, was the 3rd Alice's letter stuck to the wall. As I took the letter from its place, there was only one thing on my mind.

There's only the 4th Alice of the Heart now.

~~~~~Author's Words~~~~~17 March 2021

I have to honest. :D

I completely made up the 3rd Alice name by making a spin out of the name 'Alice'. If you read creepypasta human alice sacrifice (it's not for the fainthearted, it's filled with gore and horror), I adapted part of how the 3rd Alice in this story was found dead from the story. I'm not sure if the story from creepypasta is ever true since I couldn't find any articles of the killings.