Chapter 18

Akefia awoke very groggy on a cold and bumpy floor. He shivered against the chill of whatever he was, wondering where the hell his coat had gone. He blearily opened his eyes and looked around, confused as to where he was. He was sure he was in the bar just a moment ago. Then he remembered as he sat up sharply, wincing at the pain in his head. The god-damn Queen of Hearts.

While he rubbed his head and tried to scrape some of the grime out of his white hair, the Ringleader tried to piece together his memories on what happened. He was drinking, he knew that. The barlady at where ever he'd been had flirted with him, he remembered with a grumble. He's seen the Caterpillar, and then watched him go meet Queen Bitch. What had he seen then? Akefia shook his head to clear his thoughts. The solider at the bar talking to that lady. Then the lady took longer than usual to make his drink. Did the soldier ask her to spike it?

The Ringleader groaned in frustration, slamming his back against the stone wall behind him then wincing in regret at his actions. His ankle was chained to the wall like some sort of animal. He tugged at it futilely, fingering the metal links to try and figure out a way to escape. But they were pretty solid and it was bolted tight to the wall. It was tight around his ankle too and the only way he was going to get that one off was if he cut off his foot. Akefia wasn't about to do that. He needed his feet.

Deciding he'd had enough of the frigid floor, the pale eyed Ringleader shakily stood up in his prison, grasping onto the stone wall nearby or support. There was a window nearby, pretty high up but it was still low down enough to see out of if he could grab hold of the bars and hoist himself up. Which the man did, and got a lovely view of the grass of the Queen's gardens. He hissed in pain when he jumped back down, pins and needles shooting up his leg. "God-damn it." Akefia cursed himself, sliding back down to the floor again. He glanced outside of the bars of his new cage, seeing only a long dark corridor lit by a single flaming torch by the door at the bottom. Everything else was pitch black save the second torch by the door to his cell.

The man shivered again, bringing his knees up to his chest for warmth. He was silently thanking whoever it was that chose to leave his boots on, as there was nothing more he hated than cold feet (well, except for maybe someone messing around with his hat, but that wasn't a concern at that very moment). He grumbled a little at how pathetic he must've looked but at that moment he didn't particularly care as long as no one saw and he was warm. It didn't help much but Akefia thought it was better than doing nothing.

The door at the end of the dark corridor opened, letting the light flood into the confined space like the proverbial 'light at the end of the tunnel'. Akefia looked up from his knees and glared and whoever came towards him, which happened to be none other than the Queen of Hearts himself. The glare turned into a snarl as he stood up to meet his captor.

"About time I got my hands on you." The Queen practically purred when he stood in front of the bars. Akefia kept a safe distance. Far enough away from the bars not to be grabbed but close enough not to be called a coward. "You've been very hard to capture, you know."

"That's because I retch at the thought of those slimy hands of yours ever coming near me." Akefia growled, still glaring at the shorter man before him.

The Queen chuckled darkly. "Well it appears they finally got hold of you. And I have no intention of letting you go." He strutted closer to the prison, snaking his hands around the metal and smirking cockily. "You're mine now. Mine all mine. No one else is gonna touch you, and you'll never escape."

Akefia charged at the bars, startling the Queen back a few steps with a menacing growl that would rival Marik's. "We'll see about that!" He grinned at the red-eyed man's reaction, and moved back as he stepped closer once more.

"Oh we will. You're going to be the prize in my next tournament, but of course, I always win." The Queen of Hearts smiled in a way that digusted Akefia right to the core. "And I'll get my hands on that pretty little pet of yours too." He chuckled again, delighting at the viscious look on the Ringleader's face when he mentioned the blonde lion.

"You stay away from Marik." The tanned man threatened, clenching his fists tightly by his sides. "If you touch him I-"

"Won't be able to do anything." The Queen interrupted with a sickly sweet smile. "You'll be in this prison, or in a cage, or somewhere with bars. And you'll only be able to watch as I have my wicked little way with him."

The thought of the leather-clad Queen in from of him capturing his lion, his loyal pet, was sickening. It was almost as sickening as imagining what the Queen wanted to to do himself but it was even worse thinking about it happening to Marik while he watched. As pissed off at he was with the feline at that moment he still didn't want any harm to come to him.

"You touch him, you die." Akefia threatened once more. "Either by my hand, or his, or one of my other minions. But the threat still stands. Touch and die, Queen Bitch."

"Hm, I had hoped you'd be a little bit more compliant." The Queen almost pouted, sounding slightly disappointed in the outcome even though he'd expected it. "I guess I will have to use this after all." He suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out a fist full of red powder, throwing it directly into the Ringleader's face.

"Gah! What the fuck?!" Akefia yelled, closing his eyes against the onslaught and rubbing at them furiously. He tripped over the chain around his ankle and cursed loudly as he fell hard on his rear end.

"Shroom dust. Uke shrooms to be exact." The Queen grinned manically. "Maybe now you'll be a little bit more obediant."

While Akefia was still flounderin under the itch of the red dust, the Queen strutted out of the dungeon with a sadistic grin on his face. "Everything is going according to plan."