op2024
Red Hood
wintersoldier
Bugman
RawrEspada4
Stern Algorithm
CitrusArms
Noctis
SnowdropsIt was sunset once again, just as it had been burned into Eula’s memories. Just like then, Carroll sat beside her…but…this was a different Carroll. A wounded Eula, a Carroll from long ago…neither knew this place with the person next to them.
Not really.
"Carroll," Eula started. "...What do you think of me? With what you see and know now?"
“I could ask you the same,” Carroll says, “I’m someone you thought you knew, a part of me is someone you once knew, and yet all of me is someone you couldn’t have dreamed to know, yet you do, now...” she rambled, before leaning back on her hands, “Asking that, I see someone confused and lost, desperately seeking the return of another... but not wanting to show that out of fear of rudeness.”
"...Even so…pining and hoping won't bring you back to how you were. Nor would I force you to. But…there was a promise that I made to you. To my dearest Carroll."
“A promise,” Carroll asks. “I’m not the type you should make such promises to,” she says, “I’m flighty. I’m selfish. I want what I want, when I want it, and I’m prone to temper.”
“You’re much too nice to be promising anything to me.”
“Io... Never a finer Queen than Io S/32,” Carroll says, smirking softly, “You’d make for her twin sister, if I had to admit. If you know her name, you know more about me than I about you...”
"Only what you once shared with me. We fished here, holding hands…you teased me quite a bit," Eula said, smiling with her eyes full of nostalgia. "And my promise…was to go to Wonderland with you and Alice…Cecilia, I mean. To fight against the Queen of Hearts."
“You should break that promise,” Carroll says, “That’s a death sentence, dying in a foreign land for a cause that doesn’t involve you. Dying to my tyrant mother... like she did... like they all did.”
"I won’t," Eula said, before placing her hand atop Carroll’s, curling her fingers around Carroll’s hand with utmost care. "...Because even if you don’t remember…that just means I have to try again. To try over and over, until we can do anything, and then…" Eula would turn to face Carroll, her eyes seeming more…alive than she’d seen yesterday.
"...Then, I can ask you if you love me again. I don’t understand it. This feeling…this desire. But its mine. Its the only thing I’ve ever had that wasn’t put there by someone else. So I won’t let it go…"
“You sound so confident. So... so...” Carroll looked at her hand, then her arm, as it had transformed into a metal arm from the fingers to the shoulder. “My arm...”
"It was mine, once," Eula said, her own arm mimicking what Carroll’s was, beneath the veneer of humanity she maintained. "As was this your’s.”
“But... why would I have...”
"I can’t answer that. Not without ‘you’ here. But…its proof that we happened," Eula said, her grip gaining surety and strength.
“I don’t... understand...” Carroll says, “Why would I do that... burden you? Why would I be so cruel?” Eula could tell that Carroll was conflicted, despite telling her what a “trade of arms” means for her and Eula’s Wonderland kith and kin. “I’m sorry...”
"Because," Eula said, gently placing a finger to Carroll’s lips to silence her. "You wanted me to be able to escape how I was programmed. I’m not there yet…and…it terrifies me when I break my precepts. But you were there with me when I was scared. So…I want to be there for you while you figure your life out again. And, if you no longer want to walk beside me…I can take that. But I won’t accept your apology for this. Not now, or ever."
“I don’t... I... -- You aren’t her replacement! I’m... I’m not... replacing her... with you...” Carroll was choking up.
"Nobody can replace Io. I never could. And I would never replace you with yourself," Eula said, gently touching her forehead to Carroll’s.
Carroll grit her teeth, as she started to crumble; just like Dinah, her walls were falling down around her. “Please... I don’t want to be alone, anymore...” she says, tears breaking through, “I just...Amarie... Io... I can’t strike out a third time... I can’t lose again...”
"And you won’t."
“You can’t promise that! You can’t! She did! Amarie! Io! They promised me forever! And, they died! They died, and I lived! I! Me! Alone!” Carroll shouted, getting to her feet, tearing streaming down her cheeks, as she threw her arms out, “I’m the Third Princess of Wonderland! Carrollynn Wunderland! Two Rs! Two Ls! Two Ns! A U, instead of an O! I was born with a name as unique as I could be, but all I bring is the mundanity of death to anyone close to me!”
“I can’t do that anymore to anyone! So, why would you promise to follow me to your grave with a smile?!”
"Fish with me, and find out," Eula offered.
“F-Fish...” Carroll asks. “Why would you... wanna fish with me?”
"Its fun," Eula said, simple as could be.
“Nobody’s ever said that,” Carroll says.
"Then, let me be the second, and first," before hugging Carroll tight.
“Wuh...” Carroll blushed.
Figuring it was time to shut up and act, Eula would simply sit back down with Carroll, “fishing” with her as they held hands through the evening. The sun as their witness, just like it had been.
As the morning broke, Carroll would find herself entangled with Eula; hands, legs, bodies entwined and together. However, it was simple to break away - converting to slime, and planning to rejoin with Cecilia to get their own problems figured and sorted for the immediate future.
However, the shapeshifting sword would overhear the refugees chatter about a prisoner of war from the Varjan elite. Smirking, she hurried to Cecilia to relay the news...
Morning brought with it the most favorite time of a certain automaton: Breakfast. It was the most determining meal for energy intake, yet so many people undervalued the importance of a well-balanced meal to start the day.
Rice was well-suited for a meal base, so it was no wonder that the Zipangu diet was so versatile in using it. Fish, Red meat, Vegetables, Salted, Buttered-
"Uhhh…" Liliana said, eyeing the gargantuan pile of plain white rice that Eula had amassed, compressing it down with her mechanical arms until the wealth of rice was the size of a normal rice ball. "...A-Aren’t we supposed to be making riceballs? That was like a rice black hole!"
Satisfied, Eula wanted to share breakfast with Carroll, figuring that twice the automaton’s usual portion was more than enough to sate them both. That was, at least, until the fairy and the ferrous heard a gunshot ring out.
"...No time," Eula said before shoving the entire rice ball into her mouth and darting out, Liliana quickly following behind enroute to the sight of Na'kratz bleeding upon the floor.
Retribution was…something that either of them expected to be inflicted on a Varjan leader. But a gun was beyond the means of most in this land. So who could have done this other than-
Before she even had to think about it, Liliana would hold her sword aloft, silently channeling Whimsy’s healing magic to Na'kratz.
As Liliana did her best, and Eula’s suspected, the bickering couple would walk by them towards the smell of the village hosted breakfast venue.
“...as I was saying, before you rudely interrupted me - again...” Carroll huffed, not even looking at Na’kratz, “There is something greater in spirit alone about coffee.”
"Darling, I don’t care..." Cecilia sighed, as she splashed through the blood pool. "Have you decided what to eat, yet?"
“Nope~” Carroll smirked.
Cecilia rolled her eyes, and they continued on...
"H-Hey, wait! I get that he’s a bad guy and all," Liliana said, before darting ahead of Cecilia in her tiny form, then growing to human size again. "...but you can’t just go around shooting someone that’s been beaten and taken prisoner."
"Hm," Cecilia asks, "Oh, it’s you? Need something?"
"Yeah! Lady Alice, you can’t go shooting at prisoners of war! That’s something the Varjans would stoop to. You’re better than that," Liliana said.
Eula didn’t know what to say, more shocked to find that she held no real sympathy for the Varjan before her…
"I told you before," Cecilia says, "That woman, whoever she is, whoever she was, is DEAD," she says, "My name is Cecilia Lewis, Queen Piece of the Krumpet Family of Salvarsion. Whatever you are clinging to, stop."
"It’s pathetic."
Feeling a twinge of heartache at Cecilia’s words, Liliana would lay a hand over her heart. "Its not. And she isn’t gone. One day, you’ll get to meet her too. But, even so, you’re still Lady Alice to me. Even if you’re not the same, you’re my friend!"
"Pff! Listen. Back there, back then, that... that was a moment of weakness," Cecilia says. "My head was foggy. My heart was uncertain. Now, that’s not the case. There’s no way we were close. That’s just your delusion."
Seeming to look upset for a moment, Liliana would smile slightly, her hands behind her back. "Maybe. But, fairies are made of stuff like that. Delusions and fantasy. Dreams and miracles. Belief and promises," Liliana said, before turning her back to Cecilia. To Alice. Then, she would look back.
"Stupid people believe in anything, Lady Alice. Miracles, promises, all that. So, of course I can believe in you remembering one day."
"Don’t make promises to someone like me," Cecilia says, bitterly. "I’ve watched stupid people with dreams die, convert into Mamono, and I’ve put them down like dogs days later, time and time again," she says, "Hopes and dreams are nothing, when you’ve seen what I’ve seen, done what I’ve done."
"But, then again, what would a Fairy know about war, about death," Cecilia asks. "Born of flowers and dewdrops. You call yourself a Knight, yet you would lend aid and succor to your moral enemy, to the threat of the vassal state that retains you? Until you learn where you place your blade and smote your enemies, you are no Knight."
"You’re just a clumsy Pawn, doing what she’s told."
A soft smile crossed Liliana’s lips as she walked past Cecilia, back towards the center of town.
"I’m strong. That’s why I can be kind, and be a Knight. And I’m kind, so I can be strong, and be a Knight. Its as simple as that."
"That so," Cecilia doffed her hat, and reached in; drawing forth a gleaming, ornate dagger, "Then, turn that strength and kindness into an edge that can topple mine. I am a Queen, my moveset is all-ranging, but my strength to capture is limited to the reach of my dagger. A Knight can outmaneuver me, but I can reach you on all sides."
“Cecilia’s [Line of Intention. It’s all eight spaces around her on the board,” Carroll says. “All spaces she can threaten.”
Pausing briefly, Liliana’s head would tilt. "Spaces…? I don’t get it…but, Dinah’s stance was a bit scarier."
Cecilia disappeared before reappearing at Liliana’s front, and clashing with Liliana’s blade; the Splinterblade, Whimsy.
“Cecilia, I get that you’re not in the mood, but she did help us recover, so... back up a bit, and calm down!” Carroll shouted, wielding the wooden sword; the thinnest lining of her slime granting it an edge to combat Cecilia’s blade. “If you wanna fight someone, fight someone of your caliber!”
"Are you offering, then," Cecilia asks, before drawing back into a flurry of stabbing strikes.
“I wasn’t, but I can!” Carroll says, using Whimsy as if she were naught but a simple practice blade. “Whatever your grievances are, the Fairy is an innocent party!”
"You say that, but all I hear is ignorance hope in a time of war and strife!" Cecilia snapped. "You blabbering on, because she isn’t YOUR problem. She doesn’t call YOU by that cursed name. You’re just Carroll! I’m the dead idol!"
Internally pissed, Whimsy would just bear with it.
Perhaps, most unnerving to Cecilia, was that Liliana hadn’t moved to guard or dodge in the slightest, believing that “Alice” wouldn’t stab her.
"Let me show her who I am!" Cecilia barked, as she pressed Carroll relentlessly.
“I think you are doing just fine!” Carroll says. “Oi! Bug! You wanna DO something, or did you brain turn off?! Make this stupid sword work, or I will!”
"Whimsy. Pretty please," Liliana said before the sword sparked to life, gaining the edge it needed to repel Cecilia.
“Good,” Carroll says, “Whimsy, was it? Not bad for a piece of wood,” she says, “Could be a little more refined, a little more experienced. If you’re Knight knew better, she might be able to wield you one day, but... Un. Til. Th. En...” Carroll drew Whimsy into Dinah’s rapier stance, holding her between her left pointer and middle finger, like a pool stick. “Amarie... your legacy lives on... [Wallflower Waltz. Tempo: Allegro. First Step: Pawn’s Invasion.]...”
Carroll would take two steps forward, and clash Whimsy with Cecilia’s Queendagger - tip-for-tip - for the Temple to heard, as the blade met...
...before Cecilia’s dagger launched into the clouds and her arm was sliced off her body along the path of a blade of wind that went another five feet behind her.
“Are we going to relax, now,” Carroll asks. “Next is your throat, if not. A master of time, you’ll survive. You’d made sure of it.”
Cecilia glared at Carroll, before huffing...
"Fine."
“Queendagger isn’t come back down for a while, and when it does, it won’t land here,” Carroll says, “I’d say, likely, about ten miles south of you. So, why don’t you and the Bug go and walk that way, eh? I’ll hang onto this character,” she waggled Whimsy, “So, once you have your blade back, if you still wanna stab her, you won’t have a bit of opposition.”
Spinning Whimsy, Carroll would turn back to Eula, “Now, then, I believe, you and I have a breakfast date,” she smiled charmingly, “Plus one.”
"Okay!" Liliana said before skipping over to Cecilia.
Eula would look up, seeming to have been lost in thought for a fair while. "H-Huh? Oh…right. That sounds lovely," Eula said. "I was going to make you breakfast, but…I had to eat it on the way, otherwise it would get dry and go to waste."
“Seems like my little housewife will have to start over,” Carroll teased. “Too bad you don’t have a Humanoid form, little thorn. I bet you’d look darling in an apron.”
Cecilia was resisting the urge to strangle Carroll, but... she was right. It was... out of line, her reaction, overblown and overdramatic. However, she was in her rights to be mad! At least, in her opinion. Liliana was disrespecting HER existence for some fantasy in her own head, clinging to the past. It was rude. Depersoning her for... Alice.
Alice.
Someone Cecilia couldn’t be, didn’t want to be - being Alice meant not being Cecilia, and Cecilia had a wife-to-be, a child on the way, and a war to win. Not Alice. Alice was just a collection of memories for everyone else, and not her. Alice would fade with time, and she would not.
Alice was dead.
Whether or not, Liliana liked it.
That’s how she felt about it, anyways.
Gathering herself, Cecilia would start on the journey to retrieve her dagger... she wouldn’t stop Liliana from following, but she damn sure wasn’t going to acknowledge her...
That was a good thing, considering that Liliana shrunk herself down and fluttered alongside Cecilia, respecting the silence she wanted.
“Well, then, shall we be off,” Carroll asks, still twirling Whimsy.
"Lets." Eula said.
Stewing in her sword form, Whimsy was quiet, seeming to not be able to get comfortable covered in a slime-edge.
Carroll would reach for Eula’s hand, only to remember that Whimsy was in her dominant hand. A conundrum, as she knew they Livingwood Cursed Sword would immediately gravitated to wherever Liliana was - explicitly born to be by her side, duty-bound to serve as aid and confidante, no matter what - which was exactly the opposite of Carroll’s intention to force a resolution.
But, she wanted to hold her “girlfriend’s(?)” hand...
Something, to be sure, but Whimsy was on high alert. Like a cornered cat.
"Something wrong?" Eula asked.
“I wanna hold your hand, but... I can’t let go of this one,” Carroll pouted, her cheek getting a little chubbier.
Eula stared blankly for a few seconds before taking matters into her own hands. Literally. By just taking the free hand Carroll had.
“Oh, yeah,” Carroll says.
Eula would walk off, glad that her Carroll was truly using all of her intelligence to the fullest.
Not really.
"Carroll," Eula started. "...What do you think of me? With what you see and know now?"
“I could ask you the same,” Carroll says, “I’m someone you thought you knew, a part of me is someone you once knew, and yet all of me is someone you couldn’t have dreamed to know, yet you do, now...” she rambled, before leaning back on her hands, “Asking that, I see someone confused and lost, desperately seeking the return of another... but not wanting to show that out of fear of rudeness.”
“I don’t think you want me. You want her.”
"...Even so…pining and hoping won't bring you back to how you were. Nor would I force you to. But…there was a promise that I made to you. To my dearest Carroll."
“A promise,” Carroll asks. “I’m not the type you should make such promises to,” she says, “I’m flighty. I’m selfish. I want what I want, when I want it, and I’m prone to temper.”
“You’re much too nice to be promising anything to me.”
"Do you remember Io? Your Io, I mean."
“Io... Never a finer Queen than Io S/32,” Carroll says, smirking softly, “You’d make for her twin sister, if I had to admit. If you know her name, you know more about me than I about you...”
"Only what you once shared with me. We fished here, holding hands…you teased me quite a bit," Eula said, smiling with her eyes full of nostalgia. "And my promise…was to go to Wonderland with you and Alice…Cecilia, I mean. To fight against the Queen of Hearts."
“You should break that promise,” Carroll says, “That’s a death sentence, dying in a foreign land for a cause that doesn’t involve you. Dying to my tyrant mother... like she did... like they all did.”
"I won’t," Eula said, before placing her hand atop Carroll’s, curling her fingers around Carroll’s hand with utmost care. "...Because even if you don’t remember…that just means I have to try again. To try over and over, until we can do anything, and then…" Eula would turn to face Carroll, her eyes seeming more…alive than she’d seen yesterday.
"...Then, I can ask you if you love me again. I don’t understand it. This feeling…this desire. But its mine. Its the only thing I’ve ever had that wasn’t put there by someone else. So I won’t let it go…"
“You sound so confident. So... so...” Carroll looked at her hand, then her arm, as it had transformed into a metal arm from the fingers to the shoulder. “My arm...”
"It was mine, once," Eula said, her own arm mimicking what Carroll’s was, beneath the veneer of humanity she maintained. "As was this your’s.”
“But... why would I have...”
"I can’t answer that. Not without ‘you’ here. But…its proof that we happened," Eula said, her grip gaining surety and strength.
“I don’t... understand...” Carroll says, “Why would I do that... burden you? Why would I be so cruel?” Eula could tell that Carroll was conflicted, despite telling her what a “trade of arms” means for her and Eula’s Wonderland kith and kin. “I’m sorry...”
"Because," Eula said, gently placing a finger to Carroll’s lips to silence her. "You wanted me to be able to escape how I was programmed. I’m not there yet…and…it terrifies me when I break my precepts. But you were there with me when I was scared. So…I want to be there for you while you figure your life out again. And, if you no longer want to walk beside me…I can take that. But I won’t accept your apology for this. Not now, or ever."
“I don’t... I... -- You aren’t her replacement! I’m... I’m not... replacing her... with you...” Carroll was choking up.
"Nobody can replace Io. I never could. And I would never replace you with yourself," Eula said, gently touching her forehead to Carroll’s.
Carroll grit her teeth, as she started to crumble; just like Dinah, her walls were falling down around her. “Please... I don’t want to be alone, anymore...” she says, tears breaking through, “I just...Amarie... Io... I can’t strike out a third time... I can’t lose again...”
"And you won’t."
“You can’t promise that! You can’t! She did! Amarie! Io! They promised me forever! And, they died! They died, and I lived! I! Me! Alone!” Carroll shouted, getting to her feet, tearing streaming down her cheeks, as she threw her arms out, “I’m the Third Princess of Wonderland! Carrollynn Wunderland! Two Rs! Two Ls! Two Ns! A U, instead of an O! I was born with a name as unique as I could be, but all I bring is the mundanity of death to anyone close to me!”
“I can’t do that anymore to anyone! So, why would you promise to follow me to your grave with a smile?!”
"Fish with me, and find out," Eula offered.
“F-Fish...” Carroll asks. “Why would you... wanna fish with me?”
"Its fun," Eula said, simple as could be.
“Nobody’s ever said that,” Carroll says.
"Then, let me be the second, and first," before hugging Carroll tight.
“Wuh...” Carroll blushed.
Figuring it was time to shut up and act, Eula would simply sit back down with Carroll, “fishing” with her as they held hands through the evening. The sun as their witness, just like it had been.
As the morning broke, Carroll would find herself entangled with Eula; hands, legs, bodies entwined and together. However, it was simple to break away - converting to slime, and planning to rejoin with Cecilia to get their own problems figured and sorted for the immediate future.
However, the shapeshifting sword would overhear the refugees chatter about a prisoner of war from the Varjan elite. Smirking, she hurried to Cecilia to relay the news...
Morning brought with it the most favorite time of a certain automaton: Breakfast. It was the most determining meal for energy intake, yet so many people undervalued the importance of a well-balanced meal to start the day.
Rice was well-suited for a meal base, so it was no wonder that the Zipangu diet was so versatile in using it. Fish, Red meat, Vegetables, Salted, Buttered-
"Uhhh…" Liliana said, eyeing the gargantuan pile of plain white rice that Eula had amassed, compressing it down with her mechanical arms until the wealth of rice was the size of a normal rice ball. "...A-Aren’t we supposed to be making riceballs? That was like a rice black hole!"
Satisfied, Eula wanted to share breakfast with Carroll, figuring that twice the automaton’s usual portion was more than enough to sate them both. That was, at least, until the fairy and the ferrous heard a gunshot ring out.
"...No time," Eula said before shoving the entire rice ball into her mouth and darting out, Liliana quickly following behind enroute to the sight of Na'kratz bleeding upon the floor.
Retribution was…something that either of them expected to be inflicted on a Varjan leader. But a gun was beyond the means of most in this land. So who could have done this other than-
Before she even had to think about it, Liliana would hold her sword aloft, silently channeling Whimsy’s healing magic to Na'kratz.
As Liliana did her best, and Eula’s suspected, the bickering couple would walk by them towards the smell of the village hosted breakfast venue.
“...as I was saying, before you rudely interrupted me - again...” Carroll huffed, not even looking at Na’kratz, “There is something greater in spirit alone about coffee.”
"Darling, I don’t care..." Cecilia sighed, as she splashed through the blood pool. "Have you decided what to eat, yet?"
“Nope~” Carroll smirked.
Cecilia rolled her eyes, and they continued on...
"H-Hey, wait! I get that he’s a bad guy and all," Liliana said, before darting ahead of Cecilia in her tiny form, then growing to human size again. "...but you can’t just go around shooting someone that’s been beaten and taken prisoner."
"Hm," Cecilia asks, "Oh, it’s you? Need something?"
"Yeah! Lady Alice, you can’t go shooting at prisoners of war! That’s something the Varjans would stoop to. You’re better than that," Liliana said.
Eula didn’t know what to say, more shocked to find that she held no real sympathy for the Varjan before her…
"I told you before," Cecilia says, "That woman, whoever she is, whoever she was, is DEAD," she says, "My name is Cecilia Lewis, Queen Piece of the Krumpet Family of Salvarsion. Whatever you are clinging to, stop."
"It’s pathetic."
Feeling a twinge of heartache at Cecilia’s words, Liliana would lay a hand over her heart. "Its not. And she isn’t gone. One day, you’ll get to meet her too. But, even so, you’re still Lady Alice to me. Even if you’re not the same, you’re my friend!"
"Pff! Listen. Back there, back then, that... that was a moment of weakness," Cecilia says. "My head was foggy. My heart was uncertain. Now, that’s not the case. There’s no way we were close. That’s just your delusion."
Seeming to look upset for a moment, Liliana would smile slightly, her hands behind her back. "Maybe. But, fairies are made of stuff like that. Delusions and fantasy. Dreams and miracles. Belief and promises," Liliana said, before turning her back to Cecilia. To Alice. Then, she would look back.
"Stupid people believe in anything, Lady Alice. Miracles, promises, all that. So, of course I can believe in you remembering one day."
"Don’t make promises to someone like me," Cecilia says, bitterly. "I’ve watched stupid people with dreams die, convert into Mamono, and I’ve put them down like dogs days later, time and time again," she says, "Hopes and dreams are nothing, when you’ve seen what I’ve seen, done what I’ve done."
"But, then again, what would a Fairy know about war, about death," Cecilia asks. "Born of flowers and dewdrops. You call yourself a Knight, yet you would lend aid and succor to your moral enemy, to the threat of the vassal state that retains you? Until you learn where you place your blade and smote your enemies, you are no Knight."
"You’re just a clumsy Pawn, doing what she’s told."
A soft smile crossed Liliana’s lips as she walked past Cecilia, back towards the center of town.
"I’m strong. That’s why I can be kind, and be a Knight. And I’m kind, so I can be strong, and be a Knight. Its as simple as that."
"That so," Cecilia doffed her hat, and reached in; drawing forth a gleaming, ornate dagger, "Then, turn that strength and kindness into an edge that can topple mine. I am a Queen, my moveset is all-ranging, but my strength to capture is limited to the reach of my dagger. A Knight can outmaneuver me, but I can reach you on all sides."
“Cecilia’s [Line of Intention. It’s all eight spaces around her on the board,” Carroll says. “All spaces she can threaten.”
Pausing briefly, Liliana’s head would tilt. "Spaces…? I don’t get it…but, Dinah’s stance was a bit scarier."
Cecilia disappeared before reappearing at Liliana’s front, and clashing with Liliana’s blade; the Splinterblade, Whimsy.
“Cecilia, I get that you’re not in the mood, but she did help us recover, so... back up a bit, and calm down!” Carroll shouted, wielding the wooden sword; the thinnest lining of her slime granting it an edge to combat Cecilia’s blade. “If you wanna fight someone, fight someone of your caliber!”
"Are you offering, then," Cecilia asks, before drawing back into a flurry of stabbing strikes.
“I wasn’t, but I can!” Carroll says, using Whimsy as if she were naught but a simple practice blade. “Whatever your grievances are, the Fairy is an innocent party!”
"You say that, but all I hear is ignorance hope in a time of war and strife!" Cecilia snapped. "You blabbering on, because she isn’t YOUR problem. She doesn’t call YOU by that cursed name. You’re just Carroll! I’m the dead idol!"
Internally pissed, Whimsy would just bear with it.
Perhaps, most unnerving to Cecilia, was that Liliana hadn’t moved to guard or dodge in the slightest, believing that “Alice” wouldn’t stab her.
"Let me show her who I am!" Cecilia barked, as she pressed Carroll relentlessly.
“I think you are doing just fine!” Carroll says. “Oi! Bug! You wanna DO something, or did you brain turn off?! Make this stupid sword work, or I will!”
"Whimsy. Pretty please," Liliana said before the sword sparked to life, gaining the edge it needed to repel Cecilia.
“Good,” Carroll says, “Whimsy, was it? Not bad for a piece of wood,” she says, “Could be a little more refined, a little more experienced. If you’re Knight knew better, she might be able to wield you one day, but... Un. Til. Th. En...” Carroll drew Whimsy into Dinah’s rapier stance, holding her between her left pointer and middle finger, like a pool stick. “Amarie... your legacy lives on... [Wallflower Waltz. Tempo: Allegro. First Step: Pawn’s Invasion.]...”
Carroll would take two steps forward, and clash Whimsy with Cecilia’s Queendagger - tip-for-tip - for the Temple to heard, as the blade met...
...before Cecilia’s dagger launched into the clouds and her arm was sliced off her body along the path of a blade of wind that went another five feet behind her.
“Are we going to relax, now,” Carroll asks. “Next is your throat, if not. A master of time, you’ll survive. You’d made sure of it.”
Cecilia glared at Carroll, before huffing...
"Fine."
“Queendagger isn’t come back down for a while, and when it does, it won’t land here,” Carroll says, “I’d say, likely, about ten miles south of you. So, why don’t you and the Bug go and walk that way, eh? I’ll hang onto this character,” she waggled Whimsy, “So, once you have your blade back, if you still wanna stab her, you won’t have a bit of opposition.”
Spinning Whimsy, Carroll would turn back to Eula, “Now, then, I believe, you and I have a breakfast date,” she smiled charmingly, “Plus one.”
"Okay!" Liliana said before skipping over to Cecilia.
Eula would look up, seeming to have been lost in thought for a fair while. "H-Huh? Oh…right. That sounds lovely," Eula said. "I was going to make you breakfast, but…I had to eat it on the way, otherwise it would get dry and go to waste."
“Seems like my little housewife will have to start over,” Carroll teased. “Too bad you don’t have a Humanoid form, little thorn. I bet you’d look darling in an apron.”
Cecilia was resisting the urge to strangle Carroll, but... she was right. It was... out of line, her reaction, overblown and overdramatic. However, she was in her rights to be mad! At least, in her opinion. Liliana was disrespecting HER existence for some fantasy in her own head, clinging to the past. It was rude. Depersoning her for... Alice.
Alice.
Someone Cecilia couldn’t be, didn’t want to be - being Alice meant not being Cecilia, and Cecilia had a wife-to-be, a child on the way, and a war to win. Not Alice. Alice was just a collection of memories for everyone else, and not her. Alice would fade with time, and she would not.
Alice was dead.
Whether or not, Liliana liked it.
That’s how she felt about it, anyways.
Gathering herself, Cecilia would start on the journey to retrieve her dagger... she wouldn’t stop Liliana from following, but she damn sure wasn’t going to acknowledge her...
That was a good thing, considering that Liliana shrunk herself down and fluttered alongside Cecilia, respecting the silence she wanted.
“Well, then, shall we be off,” Carroll asks, still twirling Whimsy.
"Lets." Eula said.
Stewing in her sword form, Whimsy was quiet, seeming to not be able to get comfortable covered in a slime-edge.
Carroll would reach for Eula’s hand, only to remember that Whimsy was in her dominant hand. A conundrum, as she knew they Livingwood Cursed Sword would immediately gravitated to wherever Liliana was - explicitly born to be by her side, duty-bound to serve as aid and confidante, no matter what - which was exactly the opposite of Carroll’s intention to force a resolution.
But, she wanted to hold her “girlfriend’s(?)” hand...
Something, to be sure, but Whimsy was on high alert. Like a cornered cat.
"Something wrong?" Eula asked.
“I wanna hold your hand, but... I can’t let go of this one,” Carroll pouted, her cheek getting a little chubbier.
Eula stared blankly for a few seconds before taking matters into her own hands. Literally. By just taking the free hand Carroll had.
“Oh, yeah,” Carroll says.
Eula would walk off, glad that her Carroll was truly using all of her intelligence to the fullest.
An hour was a long time to exist in silence. Sixty minutes was a long time to dwell in one own thoughts. Three-thousand, six-hundred second was a goddamn long time to --
"CAN YOU SHUT YOUR WINGS UP!?" Cecilia snapped, whipping around to face Liliana, as the soft “whuff-whuff-whuff” of her beating wings - a noise that NOBODY could hear, because they didn’t listen for the imperceptible - was like a gnat in her ear.
Flinching, Liliana would recoil a bit before folding her wings at her back, walking as she grew to full size. "Okay, geez…"
"Thank you..." Cecilia says. "You should stay like that. Silence is befitting you."
Folding her arms, Liliana would keep quiet for the time being.
Cecilia sighed, raking her cheeks. "Not like that, you bimbette..." she says, "Your wings are loud. A Knight is meant to strike fast in ambush," she explains, before lifting off her feet, slipping out of her heels, and drifting over the earth, "Stop flying, and start floating. You have Magic. A crude facsimile of Chaos Magic, like mine. Use it. Better."
From 0 to 10, Liliana would exclaim: "You can fly now!?"
"A Queen can do anything," Cecilia says, "Flight is nothing more than a subset of Speed Magic, the speed to defy gravitational field. Chaos is expectational at such things," she boasted, "My greatness was legendary, my ability to create vantage wherever I wished..."
Cecilia’s expression would fall, from the height of pride to the depth of disgrace, "...I was great... The Forever Pawn... then, I become a Mamono, through-and-through... a Monster."
Happy to see Cecilia so proud, Liliana would come over to pat her back. "Being a Monster isn’t all bad! Right?"
"Yeah... a Monster would say that... after all, what would a Monster know about Humanity? About living under the fear of Mamono Rule and Law, being born lesser, inferior, as toys to a uncaring gaggling of cackling whores, content to trade Human lives and Mamono lives for part and parcel," Cecilia asks. "My life. My friends. My mother. Commodified. Given a value from Pawn to Bishop to Rook to Knight to King to Queen. Put on a stage to perform - one side to kill, one side to convert, both sides victims of Mamono games."
"It’s not all bad~!" Cecilia mocked. "I only shot and killed my best friends, lost my mentor, and stabbed my mother, in a quest to free everyone from the very fucking thing I became..." she says, "But, I’m alive, and they aren’t suffering, I guess, so yeah, it’s not all bad."
Recoiling at Cecilia’s words, Liliana…couldn’t say anything, remembering what she’d seen in the dream. "I…yeah…I’m…s-sorry," she said, before falling back into silence.
"Well, look at that," Cecilia says, "The airhead can be introspective..."
Not used to arguing with Alice prior, Liliana didn’t have anything to say in response, clamming up as they walked.
"What did I tell you," Cecilia asks, turning on Liliana after ten minutes.
"H-Huh?" Liliana asked, having been lost in thought.
"Stop. Flying." Cecilia says, annoyed.
"I’m walking…"
"Your wings are still moving, instinctively keeping you upright," Cecilia says, "That reliance is weakness. You need to be faster. Better at using the instinctual parts of your Wild Magic," she look around, and pick up a stick, before throwing it to Liliana, "En garde!"
"I-I can’t just STOP having my wings!" Liliana protested, before grabbing the stick and assuming her usual stance with Whimsy.
"I don’t have wings, yet my feet don’t touch the ground," Cecilia says. "If you can’t learn to float, you will not defy my [Line of Intention]." she says, shifting her position, and unfurling her fancy attire into a tank top and short-shorts, much like what Kerry wore. Liliana could see the scar she inflicted on Alice, it had bore down into Cecilia. "Strike me. If you don’t, I will strike you."
Cecilia adopted a familiar combat post, extending her hands as if they were blades.
Liliana’s eyes were focused on the scar, her expression growing pale for a moment. "I-I…Dinah…"
Cecilia was in her face; bringing her right hand down.
Barely able to put up a block in time, Liliana would get knocked down to her knees from the strike.
Stomping her right foot, Cecilia would pivot to strike with her left; her movements were mechanical, but fast and hard.
Gritting her teeth, Liliana would use her lowered vantage point to intercept right when Cecilia’s blow would connect, using the force to gain distance as she let it carry her.
Cecilia would follow, launching into the air by floating, before bring her right heel down to chop at her shoulder.
Liliana would forego the stick entirely, throwing it at Cecilia before grabbing her heel between her hands, then flipping her to disorient her in the air.
Cecilia smirked, and floated, once more, rolling, and righting herself. "Brave. Forgoing the Path of a Knight for the Path of a Rook," she says, "You aren’t built for it, but... a Queen is. So, little Pawn... what shall you become before me? A Knight? A Rook? ...a Queen?"
"I wanna…" Liliana said, before taking a deep breath, continuing with a shout of: "I WANNA BE STRONG! SO STRONG I CAN KEEP MY PROMISE TO ALICE! STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT UP THAT QUEEN OF HEARTS! STRONG ENOUGH TO COME BACK! So here goes everything," Liliana said, before Cecilia would feel a sense of…
…dread?
Something tremendous was gathering behind Liliana, as if nature itself was pooling magic into her, coursing up her legs, down her wings, to her hands, joined together and netting fingers as if to perform a haymaker. "Gaia Hazaaaaaaard!"
Cecilia smirked, as she crossed her arms to block. However... blocking was a simple affair. In another life, Alice would have known to dodge at the last second. Cecilia lacked the [Heavenly Strike], and misunderstood the burst of speed that outpaced her own. As such, her block would hold, but her body would not; crushing into the earth, as the speed turned into kinetic energy - the secret behind the technique. It wasn’t that it was fast and unpredictable, but that it was fast and unstoppable.
Speed beyond speed, stopped in an split-second, and turned into kinetic energy that powered throwing nearly any defense. If used on a normal Human, it was a true death sentence. If used on a Mamono, or another user, it varied in the strength of the speed behind it. Caught off-guard as she was, Cecilia almost stood no chance, as her arms broke against the impact and her legs broken against the halting ground.
However, she stood her ground.
"You learned to float,” Cecilia says, "How terrifyingly interesting...” she grit her teeth, leaking green from between her lips, nose, and ears. "It’s been... a long time... since I’ve been pushed into a corner...” Cecilia fell to her left knee, "and by a Fairy, no less. How terrifying, yet curious..."
Diving to catch her before she fell, Liliana would frantically channel her remaining magic buildup into trying to heal Cecilia, her own hands red and raw, as if they’d been set ablaze and burnt, in spite of the rapidly healing tissue her blessing granted.
"Oi, oi, stop it, now," Cecilia says. "I do not ask for your aid nor your succor. Attend to yourself, or we shall begin this lesson anew."
"Shut up! I’m not listening to you," Liliana barked, continuing to heal. "I’ll heal who I want, and beat up bad guys, and if they say sorry, I heal them too. "Liliana said, crossing her arms. "That’s what being a Knight means to me!"
There was a wet clash of flesh on flesh, as Cecilia slapped Liliana.
"You ignoring me is tiring,” Cecilia says, coldly. "This delusion you uphold does not give you the right to disrespect my wishes," she says, "You are not my friend. I am not Alice. You are nobody to me. Cease. Treating. Me. As. Such."
"...I know…" Liliana said, tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she turned her face back towards Cecilia. Bitterly, she’d cry, shaking Cecilia by her shoulders. "She goes and does her best, then dies and breaks apart…how can I just accept that!?" Liliana questioned, before hitting Cecilia back.
"I saw it. How much you lost. Who you lost. So even if I’m nobody to you, you’re someone to me! So I can’t just stop…" she sobbed, before wiping her face. "...Alice isn’t gone. Not as long as I remember. …So…" Liliana would float up, before looking back at Cecilia. "...I’ll make sure she knows I kept our promise when she does. And we can meet her again together. …Four miles to go," she said before starting to continue, drying her tears as she used Cecilia’s lesson to hover.
"And, if she never returns? And, if she does, but she's not her, then what,” Cecilia asks. "What then? Will you just dissolve? Disappear? You speak of a promise, but... do you think I want you to follow in my war? Do you think I want you to kill in my name? For my cause? In a war that will possibly kill you, and damn you to never see your homeland again?"
"If you saw so much of what you claim, then you should understand what I'm asking. I'm tired of your platitudes and grandstanding. Be honest," Cecilia asks, "Can you leave them? Her? Can you surrender who you are? Liliana, Sixth Bladeflower, favourite of Rosebud, wielder of Whimsy, and protector of Titania's Glenn? Can you damn yourself to a life of potential misery for someone that may never return?"
"...None of those things will change, even if I keep this promise. And I’ll find a way for both you and Alice to have freedom. That’s what it means to believe in miracles," Liliana said, before continuing on. "Alice will come back. If she doesn’t, then I was wrong. I can live with that. But if I go the whole time thinking that…thats just like saying its okay that she’s gone forever, when she didn’t even die."
Cecilia raised her hand, shaking, but glowing with magic, and from the swirling chaos, she would manifest her dagger... and toss it to Liliana.
"Then, kill me.”
"No," Liliana said simply. "...You deserve to live. Even if you’re not my friend, Cecilia."
"Finally...” Cecilia says, "You said my name..."
Cecilia smiled softly, before she collapsed onto her side - the dagger turning into packed soil. Laughing, Cecilia would stare into the sky, and laugh... laugh... laugh... laugh... scream... cry... lament...
"...my Bladeflower... my first Bladeflower...”
Unsure how to feel at being called that, Liliana would gather Cecilia in her arms. "...Let’s go home, Cecilia. Kerry’ll be worried…"
Cecilia just laughed under her breath; sobbing with a smile.
Slapping Liliana gave her insight into the Fairy's hopes and dreams, and all she saw was someone that wore themselves upon her like a puppet. A puppet that was loved and respected by the pinkette. A puppet that was idolized and longed for.
A puppet that would be forever more important than she ever would be.
It was maddening.
Still…there was something else there now. The respect for what Alice once was. What Cecilia is.
Liliana would find herself frozen in time, before her next step crushed a field of flowers under foot, and she fell forwards without Cecilia. Instead, she would come to the foot of a table and the scent of sweet tea and cookies.
Wincing as she fell on her face, Liliana would look up. "What the…?"
"Such a clumsy thing you are, now and forever,” an all-too-familiar voice says, as a pale hand offered aid to stand, hair of strawberry-blonde falling into view, as a rather tall woman smiled down at Liliana. "The guest of honor shouldn't be on the floor at her own party."
Looking up in disbelief at the hand before her, Liliana would ask: "...Lady Alice?"
"In so much as I can be, thanks to you,” Alice says, a fusion of the Blonde Alice and Redhead Alice. "I'm something of a facsimile of you memories. I am, but I am not, because I cannot be, but Cecilia has a little bit of me left, so I can be, for now, but not later, I'm afraid.”
As usual, Liliana didn’t have the brainpower to understand at all…but…
"...I never…got to say goodbye to you, y’know…" Liliana said, eyes welling up with tears.
"I know,” Alice says, sitting, motioning to the only chair. "Sadly, I can say the same.”
Rising without Cecilia in her arms anymore, Liliana looked on, confused before going over to the chair and taking a seat.
The location was a merry clearing, a field of familiar flowers, but wackified. It was like... no, it was Marigold's favorite place to spend time among the flowers, but tinted, or tainted, by Wonderland. It felt... right, though? The way the Wild Magic and Chaos Magic dances around each other felt like what Lotus described mating to be like: an intimate dance of rightness.
"...I…I don’t understand…"
"That's not surprising,” Alice teased.
Pouting, Liliana would say: "...You could at least be nice to me one last time, you know…"
"I could, but would that be me,” Alice asks.
Scratching the back of her head, Liliana would say: "...Kind of, but not really. …I’m going to miss you, Lady Alice. …But I know I’ll see you again someday."
"You'll see me every day,” Alice says, "I'm always here...” she says, touching Liliana's breast above her heart, "...and here,” she poked her belly.
"There's a little bit of me lingering within,” she teased, "my hungry, little Bladeflower.”
"Ehh? I…guess that makes sense. But…" Liliana would raise Alice’s hand, pressing it against her cheek. "...I’ll do my best. I promise. I’ll go with Cecilia;, and beat Kardia."
"I believe you will, because I believe you can,” Alice says, "I'll be there, by your side. However, you'll have to convince Cecilia and Carroll to trust that I won't take over their lives.”
"I know you won’t. …But…I bet I’d be scared, if I was worried about something like that too. Anyone would…" Liliana said, looking down at her own lap. "...But It’ll be okay! Your First Bladeflower is on the job!"
"That she is," Alice giggled. "If anyone can do it, it’s you. The only one that believes in me without condition."
"Mhm! Lotus always said I was great at easing people’s hearts. So…s-so…" Tears started to drop onto Liliana’s hands, her smile betrayed by her leaking eyes. "S-So don’t worry! I…I have everything under control. Leave everything to me and…a-and…" Unable to keep speaking, Liliana would weep and sob, not wanting to say goodbye.
A gentle warmth would embrace her forehead, before a soft giggle filled her ears like music, as Alice pulled her lips from her, and pressed their noses together, looking into Liliana’s eyes, "Lilianas don’t cry, you know. Not the ones I know. And, I happen to know three."
"You don’t need to be in control. You have friends. Cecilia, Carroll, Kerry, and Eula will be there. Cecilia wants to train you, and so does Carroll - its in their natures. I’m sure Kerry and Eula would want to do the same," Alice says, "Friends help each other. They don’t shoulder everything alone. You taught me that."
Liliana would look up, tears still streaming down her cheeks before she smiled. "...Yeah. You’re right. Bladeflowers especially are never alone…and…I’m your #1! So…f-for now…"
Liliana would stand from her seat and embrace the memories of Alice, holding on tightly to them.
"The party isn’t over, just yet..." Alice says, before the location change, from a clearing to a cabin, as she pulled Liliana onto a comfy sofa, and tossed her hat forward - from within, lights exploded in the form of patterns, and those patterns became images, and images became stories. "You always wanted one day. So, let me, at least, make sure you leave with good memories..." she pulled up a blanket, "It’s a little selfish to show you only my stories, though. I hope you’ll forgive me."
Nodding, Liliana would settle in for stories that would only be beholden to her, to tell the world of her friend Alice until the day that Alice could tell the world of herself.
Liliana would learn of the Diamonds; of the special taskforce comprised of one of each of Wonderland’s Race; of Bonne, the Wonderworm turned Papillon; of Bridgette, the Trumpart, a mere Rank of 2, now an Ace; of Runny Sunny, the Humpty Egg, given shape and purpose; of Ifrit, the Jabberwocky blacksmith who hammered magic into reality; of Camila, Cecilia’s big sister and Dormouse, now; of Twee Tee and Syl Vester, rivals and lovers, cat and bird; and of Ester Bonne, the manipulative shadow with unclear motivates.
Liliana would be witness to how Alice’s [Blessing of the Blood Diamond] had changed them, not explicitly for the better, but towards greater; breaking them free of the oppressive reality they lived under, and allowing them to fulfill Cecilia’s life goal of rebellion.
In a way, Liliana was watching the formation and growth of her peers in another land: Cecilia’s Diamonds where like the Bladeflowers, but not as uniform.
Still, it spoke greatly on Alice’s character, and who Cecilia truly was as a proper Alice.
At the very end of the stories, Alice, the projected memories, would look at Liliana... and wink?
Liliana would end the party with a smile on her face, finally feeling like…she finally knew Alice, and knew Cecilia in kind, before she was Alice.
"Did you have fun," Alice asks, "Sorry my memories were a little explicit."
"A lot of fun," Liliana said, giggling as she sat up.
Alice would stand up, and retrieve her hat, before rummaging around inside, digging into up her armpit, "Found it!"
"Found what?"
"Imagine, if you will, a box that contained whatever you wanted most - world peace, immortality, or living beings, notwithstanding, because I’m only SO powerful - and I can give it to you, as gift," Alice says. "It’s not a party without, at least, one present. So, go ahead. First non-miracle thing you can think of, and I’ll yank it out!"
As she proclaimed it, Alice would pull her arm back like she was pulling on a ripcord.
"Well, that’s an easy one," Liliana said, before diving at Alice and hugging her.
"Geh!?" Alice squawked, as she ripped herself out of her hat, and the got tackled by the guest of honor. TECHNICALLY, she wasn’t a living being, since she was a collection of mushrooms piloting a skinsuit of mycelium with the power to think as the woman that she was once upon a time, so... she could be a gift. Normally, Mad Hatters were the ones that did the tricking and trapping, so Alice wasn’t fully certain what to do, beyond fulfill the condition of being a “gift”. "Well, I was expecting something that would have wrapping paper," she confessed. "But, uh, ta-da?"
Surprised that it was that easy, Liliana couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
"Oi, oi! You brat! You -- You -- HUMPH!" Alice huffed, crossing her arms, as her hat was replaced by a large, pink bow and her clothing converted into blue-green wrapping paper with verdant lilypads upon the crinkling material. "Well..." she attempted to say something, as she wiggled her toes in wrapping paper slip-ons, like medical students wore. "Ta-da, redux?"
"...If it was that easy, then why be so dramatic!?" Liliana questioined, poking at Alice’s cheek. "Or…will you go away once the party’s over?"
"I did NOT do this, " Alice says, before looking solemn, "And, we both know the answer to that..." she says, "I don’t want you to leave in tears."
Nodding solemnly, Liliana would close her eyes and hug Alice. "Then…thank you. For one last hug."
"I’m not sure if i can hug without ripping the wrapping paper," Alice chuckled.
"That’s alright. …I’m fine now," Liliana promised, meaning it with all her heart. "See you again someday, Lady Alice. This isn’t Goodbye. Its ‘See you Later’."
"Sounds like a plan," Alice says, "It’s dark, time to retire to bed," she says, moving stiffly, "Care to join me? The party will be ending soon."
Liliana would nod, tucking into bed just as swiftly for one last slumber party.
Alice would slowly make her way to the bed, attempting not to tear her present state of being. A good present didn’t rip her wrapping paper so rudely. "It’s not a race, you know," she admonishes, but with a smirking tone. "Now, how the hell am I going to bend over without ripping apart? I can’t float with these shoes on..."
"Lemme help," Liliana said before helping Alice make her way under the sheets, tucking her in delicately.
"Why thank you," Alice chuckled.
Liliana would slip in bed herself, folding her wings behind her as she laid on her side.
Alice would keep her gaze on Liliana until the Fairy gave her cause to do elsewise or slipped into sleep, and out of the temporary respite. Either way, Alice hoped that she had managed to bridge a path between Liliana and Cecilia, and whatever Alice came next would be better than her. Better for Liliana.
Resting against Alice, Liliana would close her eyes, feeling a million miles away from every worry and anxiety that this morning had dredged from the little fairy’s mind.
As she did, Liliana would fall asleep to the marching beat of Alice’s heart, the combat style that Cecilia used, and that same glory-found tempo would be what pulled her into wakefulness, as she found her head upon Cecilia’s chest, ear to her heart. From one dream to the next, Liliana returned to her body - time passed enough that the morning sun was in the middle of the sky upon the tree they took shade in.
Protectively, Cecilia cradled her; smoothing her wings, and preening her hair, before she noticed the Fairy had awakened. "Welcome back..." she says, softly.
Beaming at Cecilia once she awoke, Liliana would rise slowly, before saying: "Hi, Cecilia. …Um…sorry for slapping you…"
"Water and bridges, and all that lies underneath," Cecilia says, before popping onto her feet. "Four miles, you said?"
"Could be less. I’m bad at counting," Liliana admitted.
"Well, then... let’s bet on it..." Cecilia says, extending her hand, "Anything above or four miles, you owe me a favor. Four miles, and I’ll do anything you ask me for the rest of the day," she says, "And, because I’m nothing if not fair, I’ll give you a half-mile in both directions. Confident?"
"You’re on!"
Taking the next step where she would have faltered in reality, Liliana would float on with Cecilia by her side, more than ready to face today, while not foregoing a promise of the past, or the battle that awaited her in the future.
As she marched-floated forward, the future in her eyes, and a promise as her sword, Liliana would be caught by a wind from behind, and a black ribbon would flitter before her eyes with her pink hair. It was her hair ribbon, but no longer green. If she explored, she would see the dove feather ornament that she wore was replaced by a raven’s feather - by Alice’s feather.
It wasn’t just a dream. Alice was her present. Her muse. Her purpose. Her Destination, if she asked the more faithful.
Alice, too, promised they would reunite, Fairies of a feather... destined to flock together once more.
Gripping the ribbon with utmost gentle care, she would adjust it before flying forward.
"CAN YOU SHUT YOUR WINGS UP!?" Cecilia snapped, whipping around to face Liliana, as the soft “whuff-whuff-whuff” of her beating wings - a noise that NOBODY could hear, because they didn’t listen for the imperceptible - was like a gnat in her ear.
Flinching, Liliana would recoil a bit before folding her wings at her back, walking as she grew to full size. "Okay, geez…"
"Thank you..." Cecilia says. "You should stay like that. Silence is befitting you."
Folding her arms, Liliana would keep quiet for the time being.
Cecilia sighed, raking her cheeks. "Not like that, you bimbette..." she says, "Your wings are loud. A Knight is meant to strike fast in ambush," she explains, before lifting off her feet, slipping out of her heels, and drifting over the earth, "Stop flying, and start floating. You have Magic. A crude facsimile of Chaos Magic, like mine. Use it. Better."
From 0 to 10, Liliana would exclaim: "You can fly now!?"
"A Queen can do anything," Cecilia says, "Flight is nothing more than a subset of Speed Magic, the speed to defy gravitational field. Chaos is expectational at such things," she boasted, "My greatness was legendary, my ability to create vantage wherever I wished..."
Cecilia’s expression would fall, from the height of pride to the depth of disgrace, "...I was great... The Forever Pawn... then, I become a Mamono, through-and-through... a Monster."
Happy to see Cecilia so proud, Liliana would come over to pat her back. "Being a Monster isn’t all bad! Right?"
"Yeah... a Monster would say that... after all, what would a Monster know about Humanity? About living under the fear of Mamono Rule and Law, being born lesser, inferior, as toys to a uncaring gaggling of cackling whores, content to trade Human lives and Mamono lives for part and parcel," Cecilia asks. "My life. My friends. My mother. Commodified. Given a value from Pawn to Bishop to Rook to Knight to King to Queen. Put on a stage to perform - one side to kill, one side to convert, both sides victims of Mamono games."
"It’s not all bad~!" Cecilia mocked. "I only shot and killed my best friends, lost my mentor, and stabbed my mother, in a quest to free everyone from the very fucking thing I became..." she says, "But, I’m alive, and they aren’t suffering, I guess, so yeah, it’s not all bad."
Recoiling at Cecilia’s words, Liliana…couldn’t say anything, remembering what she’d seen in the dream. "I…yeah…I’m…s-sorry," she said, before falling back into silence.
"Well, look at that," Cecilia says, "The airhead can be introspective..."
Not used to arguing with Alice prior, Liliana didn’t have anything to say in response, clamming up as they walked.
"What did I tell you," Cecilia asks, turning on Liliana after ten minutes.
"H-Huh?" Liliana asked, having been lost in thought.
"Stop. Flying." Cecilia says, annoyed.
"I’m walking…"
"Your wings are still moving, instinctively keeping you upright," Cecilia says, "That reliance is weakness. You need to be faster. Better at using the instinctual parts of your Wild Magic," she look around, and pick up a stick, before throwing it to Liliana, "En garde!"
"I-I can’t just STOP having my wings!" Liliana protested, before grabbing the stick and assuming her usual stance with Whimsy.
"I don’t have wings, yet my feet don’t touch the ground," Cecilia says. "If you can’t learn to float, you will not defy my [Line of Intention]." she says, shifting her position, and unfurling her fancy attire into a tank top and short-shorts, much like what Kerry wore. Liliana could see the scar she inflicted on Alice, it had bore down into Cecilia. "Strike me. If you don’t, I will strike you."
Cecilia adopted a familiar combat post, extending her hands as if they were blades.
Liliana’s eyes were focused on the scar, her expression growing pale for a moment. "I-I…Dinah…"
Cecilia was in her face; bringing her right hand down.
Barely able to put up a block in time, Liliana would get knocked down to her knees from the strike.
Stomping her right foot, Cecilia would pivot to strike with her left; her movements were mechanical, but fast and hard.
Gritting her teeth, Liliana would use her lowered vantage point to intercept right when Cecilia’s blow would connect, using the force to gain distance as she let it carry her.
Cecilia would follow, launching into the air by floating, before bring her right heel down to chop at her shoulder.
Liliana would forego the stick entirely, throwing it at Cecilia before grabbing her heel between her hands, then flipping her to disorient her in the air.
Cecilia smirked, and floated, once more, rolling, and righting herself. "Brave. Forgoing the Path of a Knight for the Path of a Rook," she says, "You aren’t built for it, but... a Queen is. So, little Pawn... what shall you become before me? A Knight? A Rook? ...a Queen?"
"I wanna…" Liliana said, before taking a deep breath, continuing with a shout of: "I WANNA BE STRONG! SO STRONG I CAN KEEP MY PROMISE TO ALICE! STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT UP THAT QUEEN OF HEARTS! STRONG ENOUGH TO COME BACK! So here goes everything," Liliana said, before Cecilia would feel a sense of…
…dread?
Something tremendous was gathering behind Liliana, as if nature itself was pooling magic into her, coursing up her legs, down her wings, to her hands, joined together and netting fingers as if to perform a haymaker. "Gaia Hazaaaaaaard!"
Cecilia smirked, as she crossed her arms to block. However... blocking was a simple affair. In another life, Alice would have known to dodge at the last second. Cecilia lacked the [Heavenly Strike], and misunderstood the burst of speed that outpaced her own. As such, her block would hold, but her body would not; crushing into the earth, as the speed turned into kinetic energy - the secret behind the technique. It wasn’t that it was fast and unpredictable, but that it was fast and unstoppable.
Speed beyond speed, stopped in an split-second, and turned into kinetic energy that powered throwing nearly any defense. If used on a normal Human, it was a true death sentence. If used on a Mamono, or another user, it varied in the strength of the speed behind it. Caught off-guard as she was, Cecilia almost stood no chance, as her arms broke against the impact and her legs broken against the halting ground.
However, she stood her ground.
"You learned to float,” Cecilia says, "How terrifyingly interesting...” she grit her teeth, leaking green from between her lips, nose, and ears. "It’s been... a long time... since I’ve been pushed into a corner...” Cecilia fell to her left knee, "and by a Fairy, no less. How terrifying, yet curious..."
Diving to catch her before she fell, Liliana would frantically channel her remaining magic buildup into trying to heal Cecilia, her own hands red and raw, as if they’d been set ablaze and burnt, in spite of the rapidly healing tissue her blessing granted.
"Oi, oi, stop it, now," Cecilia says. "I do not ask for your aid nor your succor. Attend to yourself, or we shall begin this lesson anew."
"Shut up! I’m not listening to you," Liliana barked, continuing to heal. "I’ll heal who I want, and beat up bad guys, and if they say sorry, I heal them too. "Liliana said, crossing her arms. "That’s what being a Knight means to me!"
There was a wet clash of flesh on flesh, as Cecilia slapped Liliana.
"You ignoring me is tiring,” Cecilia says, coldly. "This delusion you uphold does not give you the right to disrespect my wishes," she says, "You are not my friend. I am not Alice. You are nobody to me. Cease. Treating. Me. As. Such."
"...I know…" Liliana said, tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she turned her face back towards Cecilia. Bitterly, she’d cry, shaking Cecilia by her shoulders. "She goes and does her best, then dies and breaks apart…how can I just accept that!?" Liliana questioned, before hitting Cecilia back.
"I saw it. How much you lost. Who you lost. So even if I’m nobody to you, you’re someone to me! So I can’t just stop…" she sobbed, before wiping her face. "...Alice isn’t gone. Not as long as I remember. …So…" Liliana would float up, before looking back at Cecilia. "...I’ll make sure she knows I kept our promise when she does. And we can meet her again together. …Four miles to go," she said before starting to continue, drying her tears as she used Cecilia’s lesson to hover.
"And, if she never returns? And, if she does, but she's not her, then what,” Cecilia asks. "What then? Will you just dissolve? Disappear? You speak of a promise, but... do you think I want you to follow in my war? Do you think I want you to kill in my name? For my cause? In a war that will possibly kill you, and damn you to never see your homeland again?"
"If you saw so much of what you claim, then you should understand what I'm asking. I'm tired of your platitudes and grandstanding. Be honest," Cecilia asks, "Can you leave them? Her? Can you surrender who you are? Liliana, Sixth Bladeflower, favourite of Rosebud, wielder of Whimsy, and protector of Titania's Glenn? Can you damn yourself to a life of potential misery for someone that may never return?"
"...and most of all: would you be so willing to force me to give up my freedom to bring her back?”
"...None of those things will change, even if I keep this promise. And I’ll find a way for both you and Alice to have freedom. That’s what it means to believe in miracles," Liliana said, before continuing on. "Alice will come back. If she doesn’t, then I was wrong. I can live with that. But if I go the whole time thinking that…thats just like saying its okay that she’s gone forever, when she didn’t even die."
Cecilia raised her hand, shaking, but glowing with magic, and from the swirling chaos, she would manifest her dagger... and toss it to Liliana.
"Then, kill me.”
"No," Liliana said simply. "...You deserve to live. Even if you’re not my friend, Cecilia."
"Finally...” Cecilia says, "You said my name..."
Cecilia smiled softly, before she collapsed onto her side - the dagger turning into packed soil. Laughing, Cecilia would stare into the sky, and laugh... laugh... laugh... laugh... scream... cry... lament...
"...my Bladeflower... my first Bladeflower...”
Unsure how to feel at being called that, Liliana would gather Cecilia in her arms. "...Let’s go home, Cecilia. Kerry’ll be worried…"
Cecilia just laughed under her breath; sobbing with a smile.
Slapping Liliana gave her insight into the Fairy's hopes and dreams, and all she saw was someone that wore themselves upon her like a puppet. A puppet that was loved and respected by the pinkette. A puppet that was idolized and longed for.
A puppet that would be forever more important than she ever would be.
It was maddening.
Still…there was something else there now. The respect for what Alice once was. What Cecilia is.
Liliana would find herself frozen in time, before her next step crushed a field of flowers under foot, and she fell forwards without Cecilia. Instead, she would come to the foot of a table and the scent of sweet tea and cookies.
Wincing as she fell on her face, Liliana would look up. "What the…?"
"Such a clumsy thing you are, now and forever,” an all-too-familiar voice says, as a pale hand offered aid to stand, hair of strawberry-blonde falling into view, as a rather tall woman smiled down at Liliana. "The guest of honor shouldn't be on the floor at her own party."
Looking up in disbelief at the hand before her, Liliana would ask: "...Lady Alice?"
"In so much as I can be, thanks to you,” Alice says, a fusion of the Blonde Alice and Redhead Alice. "I'm something of a facsimile of you memories. I am, but I am not, because I cannot be, but Cecilia has a little bit of me left, so I can be, for now, but not later, I'm afraid.”
As usual, Liliana didn’t have the brainpower to understand at all…but…
"...I never…got to say goodbye to you, y’know…" Liliana said, eyes welling up with tears.
"I know,” Alice says, sitting, motioning to the only chair. "Sadly, I can say the same.”
Rising without Cecilia in her arms anymore, Liliana looked on, confused before going over to the chair and taking a seat.
The location was a merry clearing, a field of familiar flowers, but wackified. It was like... no, it was Marigold's favorite place to spend time among the flowers, but tinted, or tainted, by Wonderland. It felt... right, though? The way the Wild Magic and Chaos Magic dances around each other felt like what Lotus described mating to be like: an intimate dance of rightness.
"...I…I don’t understand…"
"That's not surprising,” Alice teased.
Pouting, Liliana would say: "...You could at least be nice to me one last time, you know…"
"I could, but would that be me,” Alice asks.
Scratching the back of her head, Liliana would say: "...Kind of, but not really. …I’m going to miss you, Lady Alice. …But I know I’ll see you again someday."
"You'll see me every day,” Alice says, "I'm always here...” she says, touching Liliana's breast above her heart, "...and here,” she poked her belly.
"There's a little bit of me lingering within,” she teased, "my hungry, little Bladeflower.”
"Ehh? I…guess that makes sense. But…" Liliana would raise Alice’s hand, pressing it against her cheek. "...I’ll do my best. I promise. I’ll go with Cecilia;, and beat Kardia."
"I believe you will, because I believe you can,” Alice says, "I'll be there, by your side. However, you'll have to convince Cecilia and Carroll to trust that I won't take over their lives.”
"I know you won’t. …But…I bet I’d be scared, if I was worried about something like that too. Anyone would…" Liliana said, looking down at her own lap. "...But It’ll be okay! Your First Bladeflower is on the job!"
"That she is," Alice giggled. "If anyone can do it, it’s you. The only one that believes in me without condition."
"Mhm! Lotus always said I was great at easing people’s hearts. So…s-so…" Tears started to drop onto Liliana’s hands, her smile betrayed by her leaking eyes. "S-So don’t worry! I…I have everything under control. Leave everything to me and…a-and…" Unable to keep speaking, Liliana would weep and sob, not wanting to say goodbye.
A gentle warmth would embrace her forehead, before a soft giggle filled her ears like music, as Alice pulled her lips from her, and pressed their noses together, looking into Liliana’s eyes, "Lilianas don’t cry, you know. Not the ones I know. And, I happen to know three."
"You don’t need to be in control. You have friends. Cecilia, Carroll, Kerry, and Eula will be there. Cecilia wants to train you, and so does Carroll - its in their natures. I’m sure Kerry and Eula would want to do the same," Alice says, "Friends help each other. They don’t shoulder everything alone. You taught me that."
Liliana would look up, tears still streaming down her cheeks before she smiled. "...Yeah. You’re right. Bladeflowers especially are never alone…and…I’m your #1! So…f-for now…"
Liliana would stand from her seat and embrace the memories of Alice, holding on tightly to them.
"...Goodbye."
"The party isn’t over, just yet..." Alice says, before the location change, from a clearing to a cabin, as she pulled Liliana onto a comfy sofa, and tossed her hat forward - from within, lights exploded in the form of patterns, and those patterns became images, and images became stories. "You always wanted one day. So, let me, at least, make sure you leave with good memories..." she pulled up a blanket, "It’s a little selfish to show you only my stories, though. I hope you’ll forgive me."
Nodding, Liliana would settle in for stories that would only be beholden to her, to tell the world of her friend Alice until the day that Alice could tell the world of herself.
Liliana would learn of the Diamonds; of the special taskforce comprised of one of each of Wonderland’s Race; of Bonne, the Wonderworm turned Papillon; of Bridgette, the Trumpart, a mere Rank of 2, now an Ace; of Runny Sunny, the Humpty Egg, given shape and purpose; of Ifrit, the Jabberwocky blacksmith who hammered magic into reality; of Camila, Cecilia’s big sister and Dormouse, now; of Twee Tee and Syl Vester, rivals and lovers, cat and bird; and of Ester Bonne, the manipulative shadow with unclear motivates.
Liliana would be witness to how Alice’s [Blessing of the Blood Diamond] had changed them, not explicitly for the better, but towards greater; breaking them free of the oppressive reality they lived under, and allowing them to fulfill Cecilia’s life goal of rebellion.
In a way, Liliana was watching the formation and growth of her peers in another land: Cecilia’s Diamonds where like the Bladeflowers, but not as uniform.
Still, it spoke greatly on Alice’s character, and who Cecilia truly was as a proper Alice.
At the very end of the stories, Alice, the projected memories, would look at Liliana... and wink?
Liliana would end the party with a smile on her face, finally feeling like…she finally knew Alice, and knew Cecilia in kind, before she was Alice.
"Did you have fun," Alice asks, "Sorry my memories were a little explicit."
"A lot of fun," Liliana said, giggling as she sat up.
Alice would stand up, and retrieve her hat, before rummaging around inside, digging into up her armpit, "Found it!"
"Found what?"
"Imagine, if you will, a box that contained whatever you wanted most - world peace, immortality, or living beings, notwithstanding, because I’m only SO powerful - and I can give it to you, as gift," Alice says. "It’s not a party without, at least, one present. So, go ahead. First non-miracle thing you can think of, and I’ll yank it out!"
As she proclaimed it, Alice would pull her arm back like she was pulling on a ripcord.
"Well, that’s an easy one," Liliana said, before diving at Alice and hugging her.
"Geh!?" Alice squawked, as she ripped herself out of her hat, and the got tackled by the guest of honor. TECHNICALLY, she wasn’t a living being, since she was a collection of mushrooms piloting a skinsuit of mycelium with the power to think as the woman that she was once upon a time, so... she could be a gift. Normally, Mad Hatters were the ones that did the tricking and trapping, so Alice wasn’t fully certain what to do, beyond fulfill the condition of being a “gift”. "Well, I was expecting something that would have wrapping paper," she confessed. "But, uh, ta-da?"
Surprised that it was that easy, Liliana couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
"Oi, oi! You brat! You -- You -- HUMPH!" Alice huffed, crossing her arms, as her hat was replaced by a large, pink bow and her clothing converted into blue-green wrapping paper with verdant lilypads upon the crinkling material. "Well..." she attempted to say something, as she wiggled her toes in wrapping paper slip-ons, like medical students wore. "Ta-da, redux?"
"...If it was that easy, then why be so dramatic!?" Liliana questioined, poking at Alice’s cheek. "Or…will you go away once the party’s over?"
"I did NOT do this, " Alice says, before looking solemn, "And, we both know the answer to that..." she says, "I don’t want you to leave in tears."
Nodding solemnly, Liliana would close her eyes and hug Alice. "Then…thank you. For one last hug."
"I’m not sure if i can hug without ripping the wrapping paper," Alice chuckled.
"That’s alright. …I’m fine now," Liliana promised, meaning it with all her heart. "See you again someday, Lady Alice. This isn’t Goodbye. Its ‘See you Later’."
"Sounds like a plan," Alice says, "It’s dark, time to retire to bed," she says, moving stiffly, "Care to join me? The party will be ending soon."
Liliana would nod, tucking into bed just as swiftly for one last slumber party.
Alice would slowly make her way to the bed, attempting not to tear her present state of being. A good present didn’t rip her wrapping paper so rudely. "It’s not a race, you know," she admonishes, but with a smirking tone. "Now, how the hell am I going to bend over without ripping apart? I can’t float with these shoes on..."
"Lemme help," Liliana said before helping Alice make her way under the sheets, tucking her in delicately.
"Why thank you," Alice chuckled.
Liliana would slip in bed herself, folding her wings behind her as she laid on her side.
Alice would keep her gaze on Liliana until the Fairy gave her cause to do elsewise or slipped into sleep, and out of the temporary respite. Either way, Alice hoped that she had managed to bridge a path between Liliana and Cecilia, and whatever Alice came next would be better than her. Better for Liliana.
Resting against Alice, Liliana would close her eyes, feeling a million miles away from every worry and anxiety that this morning had dredged from the little fairy’s mind.
As she did, Liliana would fall asleep to the marching beat of Alice’s heart, the combat style that Cecilia used, and that same glory-found tempo would be what pulled her into wakefulness, as she found her head upon Cecilia’s chest, ear to her heart. From one dream to the next, Liliana returned to her body - time passed enough that the morning sun was in the middle of the sky upon the tree they took shade in.
Protectively, Cecilia cradled her; smoothing her wings, and preening her hair, before she noticed the Fairy had awakened. "Welcome back..." she says, softly.
Beaming at Cecilia once she awoke, Liliana would rise slowly, before saying: "Hi, Cecilia. …Um…sorry for slapping you…"
"Water and bridges, and all that lies underneath," Cecilia says, before popping onto her feet. "Four miles, you said?"
"Could be less. I’m bad at counting," Liliana admitted.
"Well, then... let’s bet on it..." Cecilia says, extending her hand, "Anything above or four miles, you owe me a favor. Four miles, and I’ll do anything you ask me for the rest of the day," she says, "And, because I’m nothing if not fair, I’ll give you a half-mile in both directions. Confident?"
"You’re on!"
Taking the next step where she would have faltered in reality, Liliana would float on with Cecilia by her side, more than ready to face today, while not foregoing a promise of the past, or the battle that awaited her in the future.
As she marched-floated forward, the future in her eyes, and a promise as her sword, Liliana would be caught by a wind from behind, and a black ribbon would flitter before her eyes with her pink hair. It was her hair ribbon, but no longer green. If she explored, she would see the dove feather ornament that she wore was replaced by a raven’s feather - by Alice’s feather.
It wasn’t just a dream. Alice was her present. Her muse. Her purpose. Her Destination, if she asked the more faithful.
Alice, too, promised they would reunite, Fairies of a feather... destined to flock together once more.
Gripping the ribbon with utmost gentle care, she would adjust it before flying forward.
