Down The Rabbithole

Ch14

(The art and characters above belongs to Vivziepop.)

The smell of roses lingered in the air as senses slowly came back to Allison. AH! See? She knew she was just dreaming this whole time she was dreaming. Chesire must've placed her on a bed when she suddenly fell asleep. It would certainly explain the soft thing he was laying on, must've been right? But what was with the giant, too heavy smell of roses everywhere? What the world was Chesire getting into? And why the heck was her head hurting so much?! It felt like she got run over twice by a train and then rolled down a giant hill, well wouldn't have been the first time she had gotten a headache from working a lot and going to bed sore. Maybe Chesire had an ice pack or something? Allison groaned and moved in the soft bed, moving her hands up to adjust on her elbows before pushing herself up to a sitting up position. Groaning and reaching up to rub her face. Oh gosh she still felt sore and tired. But thankfully her feet had stopped hurting and she felt less better now that she had been out for-......Hours? Allison had no idea. On instinct, she threw the red covers with rose and checker patterns off her and threw her feet off the bed-....It was only when she was done rubbing her face and blinked her eyes around did she freeze. ....This bedroom was NOT Chesire's tent. Allison looked around the room and gulped. A sinking feeling in her guts. This room was MASSIVE. It was as if someone slapped two and a half regular sized bedroom together, added a bathroom and closet, and then rented it out like that. The wall paper looked like it was painted by hand by a really famous artist and roses dotted all over the green walls. The ceiling a light blue with birds and beautiful clouds painted to It and a decent sized crystal chandelier. The floor was all covered with a checkerbourd carpet that looked soft if she stepped on it, and the canopy bed wasn't the only expensive piece of furniture in the large room. A giant polished wood table with carvings was sitting in the far right of the room and had a whole BUSH of roses on it, the bush inself was neatly trimmed into the shape of a heart. She wondered briefly if that was where the rose smell came from. An expensive looking LONG vanity was against the wall just in front of the bed and it was littered with what she guessed was make up. A kit with brushes of various sizes, lots of containers that glittered, or looked like lipstick or blush or rouge(she couldn't tell. Never was good with make up), and what she did recognize. A powder brush and old styled perfume bottles. The kind you'd squeeze a pump think to spray the perfume on you. What the world?!

It was then she remembered what had happened in her 'dream'. Singing roses. A cage being pulled by a horse down a path towards a giant castle on top of a tall hill. Her red eyes widened more remembering farther back. Chesire had-....Something threw a bowling, juggling pin at him and he fell to the ground. Something....Something had hit the back of her head and she- Panic and fear set in as her eyes wondered around the room more. Realizing that she had basically been kidnapped by someone. A castle. Men in gleaming armor. Who would have a reason for kidnapping her?....And what usually ruled a castle?....A Queen. Allison abruptly stood from the bed and jumped when something clattered to her feet. Falling back into her sitting position on the bed. ...She blinked seeing it was just that tacky red umbrella she seemed to be stuck with. She slowly bent down to pick it up, and mid way leaning back up she paused again. Staring right into the mirror and red eyes blinking back to her. Subconciously, she stood from the bed she had been laying on and approached her reflection. It stared right back at her and blinked it's red eyes. Those...Those weren't her eyes. Her eyes were a reddish brown and was just a bit red near the bottem, but she thought that was normal....These eyes were just a wee bit back near the top of her pupils and faded into a deep red everywhere else....What was-

CREAK!!

She ended up yelping and jumping around gripping the umbrella...And was met face to face with the most BEAUTIFUL woman she had ever seen. If it weren't for the fact that the whites of her eyes were a deep red, and her pupils was literally white floating hearts amongst the red, she would've easily passed as human. The woman was taller than her definitely, around six foot. Her body was fit and slim and the glittery, featherly outfit accented her perfectly. Her long bright red hair was pulled up in some kind of fancy do, and her make up was neatly done of course. And her face was also slightly glittery. It looked as if she had just stepped out from a ballet performance or something. She regarded Allison with a calm, almost slightly bored/irritated face, before closing the door calmly behind her and walked over towards the vanity. She immediately stumbled back and watched as the taller lady pulled out the chair and sat in front of the mirror looking at herself. Not even looking at Allison in the reflection.

"I was wondering if you would sleep forever," She spoke without looking away from her own reflection. The woman reached over and pulled a tissue from the box of tissues next to her and reached up to run it across her cheeks. Immediately the glittery make up started to come off revealing the pale, flawless skin of the woman underneath it. Even her voice was lovely, it was smooth and held no harsh emotion despite her face. "I apologize if my men caused you any trouble. I asked them to bring you to me unharmed, but I guess knocking you unconscious didn't count."

She scowled and before she could think pointed at her and blurted out, "Your 'men' hurt my friend!"

The lady hummed, wiping her eye lids free of the dark eye shadow applied to it. "And who might that be? If they're hurt perhaps I could help."

"Chesire, that's who!" The woman then paused what she was doing, and those eyes flicked over to her scowling reflection. She was still pointing at her as a sudden realization came over her and she got madder. "You're that Queen everyone's told me about! Chesire told me you'd be up to no good!"

....Silently the taller woman turned around and gave Allison her own calm, half make uped slight scowl. She regarded her silently for a moment, before sighing through her nose. "Perhaps I came off on the wrong foot. I assure you I mean you no harm, but now perhaps I may have a new problem to face."

"What are you talking about!?" She was confused, sore, but most of all angry. Angry she had to run around all willy nilly for just one break home. Angry someone wanted to capture her just because she was human. ...Angry because all this time Chesire had been tiring himself out trying to get here to help HER and then this woman had the nerve to have men go out and hurt him just to get to her! She growled and pointed again and without thinking let all her frustrations out. Screw it! If she was going down then fine! She had a rough life anyway and she had hurt the one good person left in it. "You listen here you- ..you-....Cold hearted, heart breaking witch!" The queen blinked, obviously not expecting that comment out of the timid looking human. She had been so easily captured, she didn't think she had a tongue like this. "I crash landed her BY ACCIDENT, which hurt because those giant mushrooms aren't as soft as they look! I'm talking to mice in dresses, clowns, pink rabbits, wizards, a girl with two heads and I have been following their instrustions EVERYWHERE JUST TO GET HOME!! First I had to find a literal fork in the road, then Enchanted Vil where I almost got hit by flying beer, then a magic mothman inside the fog, and then Im told to follow a bug all night through the woods to find a tent! Then I FINALLY find someone I can trust, and Im sore and tired and hungry!! Then the next thing I know some one attacks my friend, hits me over the head, and then I hallucinate I'm in a cage with singing flowers, only it wasn't a dream and now Im here and I don't know if my friend's hurt. And I never did A. SINGLE! FUCKING!! THING!! TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE!!" She heaved as she ended her angry rant still scowling at the silent surprised looking woman and she still pointed. "And now you have the nerve to apologize to me after I was scared you'd capture me and Chesire might be hurt!? Screw you! I had it with my life up to now so if you're going to off my head or ban me then do it now and get it over with!!"

There was silence as Allison finally stopped her ranting and both women just stared at each other for a long moment. Before the taller lady's shocked face slowly, contorted back to her bored scowl and half lidded eyes.

"I still see his opinion of me hasn't changed." Allison rose a brow in question and the Queen sighed, turning back to the mirror and proceeding to wipe her face. "I'm afraid my family and his have....butted heads a few times."

"Your family wiped out his entire kind sixteen years ago." The queen once again paused. "Why WOULDN'T anyone judge you for that?"

...."You already heard about that. Not too surprising." She finished wiping her face which left her fair skinned face blank before looking over her shoulder at him. "It's true, my parents did do that. I can't try to hide that fact, but don't you think it's unfair to judge me for something they had done when I was a mere child? Wasn't there things YOU couldn't control that affected you as a child?" Allison immediately stopped. Staring at the queen like she had just read her mind and made it into a book, then read it outload to her. The queen hummed at Allison's look. "You're right, I shouldn't NOT expect anyone to judge me for it, but that doesn't mean I have to follow in their footsteps now do I? But now I wonder. Did this friend tell YOU what he had done?"

She had been quiet for a while. Honestly still so confused. But-...No. She guess she couldn't judge her based on what her parents had done. No one could judge her granny for how she grew up, Allison was taken from her care. As bad as her aunt was with showing her favoritism towards her cousins and not helping her out ever, she didn't compare to horrendous tranical rulers and...And didn't the Twiddle Sisters say something about her being better than the previous rulers?...But still, she banned and fought people for no reason! She sent her men and they possibly hurt her friend and kidnapped her! She may still be thrown into a dungeon or something! She wasn't bad, but she wasn't the greatest either.

"No. It isn't fair to judge you by their mistakes, but that doesn't mean I can't judge you by yours! You hurt my friend, you scare people with your stupid fights, and you kidnapped me! You're literally doing all these things for no reason and it's wrong!"

Her slight scowl became more irritated. "Do YOU know how to rule a kingdom? Have you ever ran one?"

"No. But I know enough that banning someone just because I was jealous of their singing skills." The Queen's eyes blinked wide in shock from the closet and Allison crossed her arms. "And I know enough to talk things out instead of challenging a defenseless woman...Women?? To a fight they couldn't win and punish them for it. If you want to be a better person then maybe you should try not jumping to conclusions-"

The Queen's hand slapped down on the vanity moving everything and looking to her fully with an obvious angry face. "You know nothing about why I did it! I had to do it! For his safety!"

"Who's safety?!" The queen immediately stopped. Looking almost horrified as she did so but Allison scowled again. "If you claim to ban two innocent women for someone's safety, then you better be ready to convince me. You hurt my friend, so I'm not a big believer on your safety measures." Instead of answering, she immediately faced away from Allison and looked back down to her lap silently. Making the strawberry blonde human raise a brow...before groaning and throwing her arms out. "Look. I don't care if you have your reasons, but at least tell me why? Why am I here? If you're gonna ban them, then how can I trust what you say if you can't tell me anything?.....You don't have to say his name or anything. Just give me a reason to give you even a bit of my time."

The Queen really didn't change from her position and remained sile- "You really want to know why?" She finally looked up from her sitting position and looked at Allison through the mirror's reflection. "It's because they knew the truth of where my beloved was. I couldn't risk him getting discovered like that, and strangers leading him away from me. He likes his privacy."

Allison confused to stare at the closet door confused for a moment. Who could the Twiddle Sisters possibly know that- Allison's eyes widened in realization, and stared at her in disbelief. "You mean the fortune telling guy?" The queen looked away again with red rising to his cheeks. "Wait. You and HIM are a thing?"

"Not yet. He still believes I have something to learn before be agrees to be by my side. He's usually right about these things," She stood up and went over to the closet. Opening the door before disappearing from sight. "Apparently I need to rethink about how I do things, and I have."

"But what does this have to do with me? I never did anything to anyone."

".....A lot of my citizens still view outsiders as people who are a danger and expect some kind of measure to be taken. And I can't just leave them feeling afraid and like I didn't do anything to protect them."

"Well, what ARE you going to do?"

. "Simple. In one hour I intend to 'confront' this danger head on. We shall have a battle like all the others and if you win, you win the right to go home. That's what you want isn't it?" Allison fell quiet and she hummed. "And if you lose, you'll be 'reformed' and be banned to live out your days here. A 'reformed' human just might be what my kingdom needs to stop feeling scared. I take measures to help my citizens slowly. You see? Where you see unfairness, I see ways to repair my family's damage without rolling them into a boulder doing so. I banned a woman who could reveal the location of my betrothed who doesn't want to be found. I give fairer chances to my people and offer labor or exile as punishment than imprisonment or death.....I am the ruler my parents weren't. Even if no one sees it or understands now. Everything will fall into place, after all. There is ONE rules we fallow here. Never judge a storybook by it's cover. Now I do wonder so badly, did anyone tell you about what your beloved Chesire did?"

Allison gave her a look like someone had asked her to solve the mystery of life. "What do you mean? He's been nothing but kind to me. He saved my life and.....and he's honestly all the good I have left in my life. ..What did he do to you that could've been worse than what your parents and your men did to him? Everyone seemed to like him."

The queen soon exited the closet, red hair flowing down her shoulders and outfit now similar to a ringleader of a circus. "....As revenge for what my parents did to his, he returned stronger than before and turned them to ashes for their crimes." She watched Allison's face turn to one of shock and chuckled, smiling. "Oh, don't act so surprised. I was expecting it from the start something like that would happen. I should really thank him really. Without his help I wouldn't be Queen right now and trying to fix everything, and my parents would've most likely killed you on sight with no questions asked. Of course that meant mixed feelings. Some view him as a savior for his actions, some view him as a danger. But barely anyone approaches him for it."

Allison still looked off at nothing in disbelief. Chesire.....turned someone into dust?! Why didn't he tell her? "H-How-"

"Magic." Something slapped her other hand and Allison blinked at a black baton with some giant ruby at the end shaped into a heart. " We both poses great power passed down from our ancestors. Each of the generations more stronger than the last, which is why I rule without question. And why he was able to perform such feats. He's a dangerous person to cross and shouldn't be trifaled with."

"....." She shook her head. "W-W-Why didn't he tell me?!"

"We all have our reasons. You got angry you can't get home. I do what I do to fix my past. Perhaps he did it to keep a friend?...You two ARE friends aren't you?"

Of course they were. He waited patiently for her. Fed her. Helped her work around the house. And he spent all that energy just to come try to help her. He wouldn't NOT do that if they weren't friends. And because of her he got hurt. Guilt bubbled up in the back of her mind again, but something else also rumbled out. She looked down almost embarrassed as her stomach rumbled and the Queen rose a brow...Before making her way over to the door and opening it.

"I'll have one of my maids bring you some food. In one hour our performance shall take place. I'm expecting someone important coming, so make yourself look presentable, my things are at your disposal....Human?" Allison jumped and looked up at her. "I-...never got your name."

"Uh-..A-Allison. It's Allison. Uh. W-What's your name?"

The Queen of Hearts regarded her for another moment before closing the door behind her. "Velveteen."

The door closed and as soon as it did Allison's mind finally began to panic with questions. She was gonna have to fight the QUEEN!? Who had MAGIC?! What was she gonna do?! If she didn't win she'd be forced to spend the rest of her life here...She guessed it wouldn't be so bad if everyone didn't already not like humans that much, but she wan't ready for that kind of thing and what would the point of her whole journey be then if she just gave up now! She immediately went over to the one window in the room...but any hope of escaping out of there was squealched when she saw how HIGH she was in the castle. Now that she got a good look, she saw the backyward of the castle so to speak. It had lots of beautiful flowers and a giant fountain spouting water out. And behind that was a giant maze made of bushes. Guess she found out what the green walls were. Allison shook her head and headed to the door, opening it and going to quickly step out- But jumped out when two spears suddenly crossed over each in front of her and she blinked when two tall men in gleaming armor leaned over to peer down at her.

"Sorry, Ma'am. Her Highness says you're to remain here until she sends for you."

She backed away as one of them reached back in and closed the door right in front of her and she was left staring at the door for a few silent moments, before aimlessly looking around the room. What was she going to do now?

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The blue cat groaned but wasted no time pushing himself up off the floor and sitting down on his behind. He remained in that pose for a moment before reaching his tiny paws up to rub at his face and hiss at the obvious bruise under his fur. Without even getting up from his current position his head tilted slightly to his left where a juggler's pin was laying down- Immediately he jumped into the air and snapped his fingers. The hat and staff that had been on the floor flew up to retake their positions on his head and in his hands as his head and eyes snapped around the room around him.

"ALLISON?!"

There was no human girl anywhere but something else sure was. His worried eyes locked onto it almost immediately and slowly floated over to it. The door by the pins-.....Behind it was a giant hole in the tent's hallway's fabric. In fact there was another one after that and another, until there was a very obvious few holes where someone obvious cut straight through his maze to get to them. Usually the tent couldn't be destroyed but he guessed the magic he used to make it so wasn't enough at the time. His worried frown slowly turned to just a thin small line on his usual smiling face as he started to fly through the holes. A tearing noise sounded behind him as the holes began to magically repair themselves one by one as he passed through them. Until he got to the last one. The tent all repaired behind him as he looked around, not seeing anyone in this giant field of him...Before those half lidded eyes looked down and the floating cat paused at the sight of footsteps. Heavy bootprints sank into the ground and their was a decent amount. Maybe four of five men based off the size of them, and horse shoe prints too. As well as two straight lines which he assumed were the tires of whoever was pulling the cart along. He stared at them for a moment before slowly following the path they made with his eyes,....and a grin devoid of any happy emotion spread over his face showing his fangs, his eyes slanted and narrowed, his ears pinned back against his head as he chuckled without happiness.

"Well, well, well.~ It seems someone wants to play a game of cat and mouse.~ They got the cat and they're the mouse.~ Hmhmhm." A crackling sound appeared and his tail shook violently before snapping off his body only attactched by a few beadlike strand attatched to his lower back. More crackling sounded as his tail shook more and broke off into three segmented pieces, rings of blue energy vibrated off them like energized halos as he smiled. "Well then kidnappers of Allison Gale.~ Ready or not. Here I come.~"