Chapter 21

The King of Spades looked out of the window when he felt a strange feeling wash over him. It was the same feeling that tingled down his spine when Akefia came through the portal into Wonderland. He walked over to the glass panes while Marik and the March Hare dug into their meals behind him and looked out over his land. Someone had most certainly come through a portal and landed in his region. The question was who?

"What's wrong?" The March Hare asked when he noticed the man by the window, his mouth full of half chewed steak. Marik's attention was on him too.

"Someone else has come into Wonderland." He explained, not turning around and still looking over his estate. "I have a feeling it might be someone you know, Marik."

"What?" Marik swallowed his own mouthful of food and stood from his chair, coming to stand beside the King. "What do you mean someone I know?"

"I got the same feeling just now as I did when you came here, and everytime Akefia returns." He told the shorter blonde. "Where did you leave the hat?"

"Hat?" Marik cocked his head to the side for a second or two in thought until he realised when he'd landed in Wonderland he'd left the hat by the tree. "Oh shit. Someone found it."

"That's obvious." The March Hare remarked while sipping at his tea. "Can you guess who it could be?"

Marik thought hard. He doubted any of the customers would dare touch the hat considering how terrified they all were of the circus people (and yet they still kept coming). That only left the employees themselves. Malik might have played with it, but he was more bothered about getting his beauty sleep and watching TV than tormenting the Ringleader. The same could be said of shy little Ryou, who really didn't want to cause any trouble. Bakura, on the other hand... the blonde nodded internally to himself. If anyone was to play with the Ringleader's top hat it would be Bakura. He never wasted an opportunity to tease their King, even if half of the time it was subconcious.

"Bakura, probably." He told his two companions when he came to his conclusion.

"The foxy little knife thrower?" The King of Spades raised an interest eyebrow with a small smirk. "Yes, Akefia has told me about him."

"He's the dude who had to wear hot pants and high heels as punishment, right?" The March Hare chuckled when Marik nodded. "I like him. Not afraid of the consequences."

"It didn't teach him a lesson," Marik sniggered almost evilly, "He still causes chaos at the circus."

"Well, what harm's a bit of fun?" The King of Spades grinned before turning back to the table and sitting down again. "Although in his case, I suppose a lot."

"He's the only one I know that can make knives a sex toy." Marik mused, causing the March Hare to choke in his own saliva while they joined the King at the table. The lion looked over at the white hare who had a very faint blush across his cheeks.

"Minions." The white haired royal called to his servants, and two of them drifted over to his side. "Do me a favour and go fetch this man. He's no good to us if he wanders around and gets lost. Or worse, if the Queen gets hold of him." The servants sort of nodded before gliding out of the door to obey their orders.

"What are those things?" Marik asked, snacking on a piece of rare steak.

"I suppose the closest thing you could say is a zombie." The tanned man answered him, "But I also suppose they're kind of spirits too. I honestly don't know. I just know they serve me without question." He finally shrugged and went back to his tea.

It was strange how Marik was growing used to the weird happenings in Wonderland. Things that would normally be completely out of the ordinary to him seemed normal now, and normal things just remained as they were. He pondered the fact that Akefia never seemed surprised by anything weird or strange happening in the circus, and now the blonde lion supposed that it was all down to this place.

"Its nearly night." The King of Spades announced, rising from his seat once more. "We should probably get to bed. Tomorrow we'll train Marik in the finer arts of croquet and hopefully try and anticipate what the Queen will plan for this tournament."

The March Hare let out a wide yawn, not even bothering to cover his mouth with his hand. "Yeah, good plan. I'm beat anyways." Marik looked over at the white hare and saw he was a little down, a tired look in his eyes that wasn't due to the lack of sleep. "C'mon Marik. Bed."

"We better not be sharing a room." Marik growled softly as if he hadn't noticed anything.

The King of Spades had two more servants lead them to where they were going to sleep for the night. Marik was taken to a room that was far more extravagent than the one he'd stayed in at the Duchess's mansion. His jaw really did drop on the sight of it, and he cursed as the dark robed servant shut his doors, leaving him alone.

The feline practically squealed as he lept into the incredibly comfy looking bed, burying his head deep into the pillows and snuggling into the covers. He let out a content sigh and didn't even bother going under the covers as he drifted off to sleep.