A/N: And we are having the end! Extreme extreme extreme gratefulness to those who have it thus far. By-the-by the little verse isn't mine. I haven't even tampered with it. It belongs to some probably-dead italian thinker guy.
Oh, and a little warning for this chapter: It gets weird. Very, very weird, to the point where I think Muse had gotten into the catnip when he made me write this. Make your own conclusions. And the dates are apparently the real ones, that you can see on her gravestone in the New Forest.
Chapter 10 – Fables of Reflections
What is life? A frenzy.
What is life? An illusion, shadow, fiction.
And the greatest good is of slightest worth
As all of life is a dream
As all of dreams are life
She picked up the box and opened the lid.
Instantly, Mouse was blinded by the force of shining, ruby-coloured light , mixed with a dark swirling, smoke-like substance that seemed to whisper and chatter indistinctly as it poured out of the dull metal container. As she watched, the light and smoke coalesced into four pairs of separate and distinct shapes - each made up by the plain suit and its tarot counterpart.
Hearts – cups.
Spades – swords.
Clubs – wands.
Diamonds – pentacles.
The shapes, after a moment, as though they were getting their bearings after being trapped in the iron, began to flow towards their respective owners, who all seemed to bigger somehow, brighter somehow, as though some inner light had been turned on as their symbols touched them, and (strangely this did not happen to the Cheshire Cat,) markings on fur and clothes faded into view, as though they had been there all along.
At last, after what felt like at least half an hour, there was only the heart-cup symbol floating in the air above the box (Mouse had put it on the ground as soon as the fireworks display started) like it was unsure of where to go. Suddenly it began to glow brighter and brighter, a mini super-nova in the dark stone room.
Mouse held her breath.
The Heart-cup pulsed for another minute, then swirled in on itself, like the others had and flowed, no, threw itself at it's new owner.
The Cheshire Cat.
As the red light was absorbed by the black leather collar created by the shadow-smoke for the spade suit (primarily by the silver spade-shaped tag that hung off it), a physical change came over Cat. He grew larger, longer legged, and thinner, until his stature was almost that of the hairless, emaciated creature from Mouse's vision, but more slender, as apposed to gaunt. The colour of his coat changed, the silver bleeding into a glossy, red-and-black roan, and the nightshade purple fading out of his stripes until there was only a shining, lightning black. His grin grew to a size that, if you were to see it,
(you would even say it glows)
you would be afraid of his loping the top of his own head off.
Also, for an reason unbeknown to Mouse, several gold hoops appeared in his left ear.
The most startling change was his eyes – as they were no longer simply orange, but orange and red and yellow, ranging from the darkest maroon of dried blood, to the hot coppery colour of a dying fire, to palest buttercup shade of yellow. These colours swirled and clamoured behind the void-black of his slit-pupils.
The new (and rightful, if Mouse was any judge) ruler of wonderland half closed his vibrant eyes, shuddered as though getting used to treble the power he had before the previous owner of the hearts had been killed, then lifted his head, and looked Mouse.
POWER.
Mouse wasn't entirely sure what happened after that.
"c'mon," he said, and his voice was different too, deeper, with an odd candence to it that hadn't been there before. "I've something to show you".
Mouse hesitated, and The unicorn, it's mane and tail now crimson and it's single, anterlopian horn wrapped in threads of red like a candy-cane, gave her a nudge forward, to…
To…
Mouse went.
She followed chess out to a kind of courtyard, lamps lit against the darkening skies, and roses dozing fitfully in the borders, several of whom woke up with cries that alternated between surprise, alarm, and a few even joy. Chess barely gave them a glance, stalking over to the centre of the courtyard to what lay there, and lying down, sphinx-like, on one of the nearby stone benches.
It was a tombstone, and it read:
Alice pleasance liddell
1852-1934
great friend, great saviour, great noblity
T'was Brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogroves
And the mome-raths outgrabe
Mouse looked at Cat, startled.
"But I just killed alice!" she cried.
He shook his head. "you killed an aspect of her. A memory of her darker half, as it were." He sighed, and mouse sat down, and unthinking, put an arm around the feline's narrow shoulders, feeling sleek fur and hard muscle under her hand.
"What? What's wrong now?"
He sighed again, and turned to her, looking directly at her. And she knew, without words, she knew.
A thin laugh escaped her mouth, gone as quickly as it had come.
Kiss the king to change him to a handsome prince.
She leaned forward, and, just for a moment, there was fur against her lips, but then there wasn't, there was only lips against lips, tongue against tongue, and long, strong fingers in her hair.
Then it was over, and eyes the colour of fire and sunsets met her own.
6969
The next thing she knew, her aunt was shaking her. "Amy, Amy! Are you alright?"
She sat up, and discovered she was sitting on the main path leading down to the river, at her aunt's place in Ireland. No hatter, no hare, no unicorn, no lion.
And no CC.
She focused on her aunt. "What? Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Must've … I'm fine."
Was it all a dream? Did I hit my head on my way down here? Was any of it real?"Amy, what on earth is that thing on your wrist?"
She looked. There was a bracelet on her right wrist, made of three thin chains of ametal she couldn't identify. One was red, one was black, and the third seemed to be some kind of fibre optic, because there was no such thing as transparent metal, right?
Right?
There was a number of charms on the bracelet, a claw from something pretty big, a chip of something that she thought was
(if you go down in the woods today)
horn or ivory wrapped in a shining red hair that felt like horse's, and circle-within-diamond symbol. There was a tiny hat made from some
(you better go in disguise)
smooth-yet-stiff fabric, a silver model of what looked like a
(if you go down in the woods today)
large rabbit's paw, and a black club symbol with a thick red line splitting it in half. And lastly, there was a gold hoop, too large and thin to be called a ring, a silver shape that she first took to be a half-moon, but on closer inspection
(be sure of a big surprise)
proved to be a silver grin, and a larger spade symbol, with the point elongated so it resembled a sword, a blood red heart in centre, and an inscription on the back:-
Keep Grinning, U, L, MH, MH, CC.
Oh, it hadn't been a dream, alright.
It hadn't been a dream.
No. Not a dream at all.
Right?
END
WATCH OUT FOR WRITER'S BLOCK, BY FUDGE1 AND MOUSEWOLF, COMING SOON TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU! A/N: Please review this fic of mine. So I will know that you took time, And my efforts weren't a waste of ink, Click the button, and write what you think.