Chapter 38

With the manacles removed from everyone's wrists, the Queen was roughly manhandled into the dungeons below the palace. Some of them, mainly Lady Isis and the Duchess, held back and let the boys have their fun, taunting and basically torturing the dishonourable former Queen while they forced him into one of the barred cells. Alice took the liberty of locking the door to the cage and stood there looking the Queen, or who used to be the Queen, in the eye.

"You were nice, at the start." He said, tilting his head to the side innocently. "I've heard stories. Lovely stories. Of the kind young son of the gaming champion. What ever happened to that young man?" Alice asked no one in particular, knowing the man in front of him in the cell wouldn't reply. He only got a cold but broken glare as a response.

The blue dress wearing boy lead turned and walked out of the dank dungeon, taking the Duchess, Lady Isis and the March Hare with him. The rest of them remained, determined to get some answers out of the battered former royal. The Ringleader stood tall and strong, goosebumps appearing over his skin but determined not to show any weakness. He'd shown enough of that the past three days to last him a lifetime. Anyone who made him submit to anything ever again was getting a call from Marik's claws and Bakura's knives.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Akefia hissed, grabbing the bars and looking like he wanted to pounce on the man like MArik did before. "I can't believe anything Alice said. How the fuck were you ever nice?" Again, the Queen said nothing.

"You've had a tainted heart since the start of your reign, Yami." The King of Spades said, a lot calmer than Akefia. "One cannot be a ruler of the suit of Hearts when their own is so dark and cold." More people wanted to say things, but the Ringleader's mirror image ushered them all out, claiming to want to warm up and get away from the events of the day.

Marik growled at the forlorn crimon eyed man in the small prison before obediantly following his master and friend, glad that things were on the track to being normal again. Or as normal as it came when you lived at the Nightmare Circus.

The King of Spades didn't want to go back to his mansion, as much as everyone silently screamed that they wanted to get away. No, they had to make sure the Queen of Hearts, or the former Queen anyway, was properly punished and a suitable replacement. Afterall, Wonderland would go to Hell, or more so than it already was, without some sort of ruler to govern the most of it.

Instead the mismatched group of unlikely friends retreated to the inn where the King and the others were staying. They at least could get out of the palace, and they'd assigned a very guards to make sure the Queen didn't escape. They were also told to keep an eye on any supporters who would try and break him out.

The King of Spades lead them all into a large lounge-like room, with a roaring wood fire that was happily burning away in the diminishing light. There were plenty of comfy places to sit, from couches to huge plush armchairs, and the Ringleader happily flopped himself down into one with a huge sigh of relief right by the fire, glad to warm himself after being without his trademark red coat for so long. Marik sat by his feet like the good pet he was, content with just being by Akefia's side while they both silently relished each other's company. Bakura sat close-by, not ruining their moment but not feeling quite right to leave his boss alone after such an ordeal.

Everyone else sat down as well, engaging in small talk while they relaxed from the day's events. Lady Isis and the Duchess sat a little too close to be simply friendly but no one questioned it, as was the usual for this particular group. Sometimes you didn't need to question it because you already knew the answer. Alice was silent, curled up on an armchair close to the fire but away from the circus performers, pleased to be alone in his thoughts for a while. The King of Spades sat on a sofa next to the March Hare, and they had the Cheshire Cat sprawled over their laps being petted by the both of them like a spoiled kitty.

The content mindless chatter was broken then the double doors to the room swung open to reveal a slightly hysterical Mad Hatter followed closely by a worried looking White Rabbit. "Alice!" The Mad Hatter squealed, racing over to the small boy and throwing himself at his feet, hugging the other's legs. "I was so worried when I heard you'd faced the big bad bitch and kicked him off his throne and locked him up and oh my god are you crazy you could've been hurt!" He babbled, crocodile tears streaming down his cheeks while the White Rabbit looked apologetic to everyone as he rubbed the tanned boy's back soothingly.

"How did you hear about everything so quickly?" The March Hare asked a little sleepily.

"Its pretty much all over Wonderland already." The White Rabbit told everyone, "Word spreads fast when it concerns royalty." He smiled and went back to comforting his friend, or lover, whatever they were.

"Ugh, that reminds me, Wonderland can't be left without a ruler." The King of Spades let his head roll back and he covered his eyes with his gloved hand. "That's gonna be hell to figure out."

"Not really." Lady Isis piped up after sipping at a cup of tea that had appeared out of nowhere (Marik wondered how much tea the damn kingdom drank). "Why don't you be the ruler? It's that simple."

"Are you serious? Really?" The King looked at her with a raised eyebrow before laughing hard, "Not only would I be a shit ruler, but I don't really want to be King of Wonderland anyway. I'm perfectly happy with my position as King of Spades."

"Well, what about you, Alice?" The Duchess turned to the young boy in the striped stockings. "You seem to know the basic laws of the land, and you're pretty infamous."

"And people like you." The Mad Hatter chirruped from his seat on the floor.

"Uh, really? Are you sure?" For the first time since Marik met him, Alice looked doubtful and genuinely surprised. "I mean, I'd love to be, but it seems hard work, and I don't think I'd be good at it."

"Bullshit." Bakura suddenly said, causing everyone to turn their heads towards him. "You've been practically leading us in this little mission from the start. You'd be a fucking great Queen, or King, whatever. Better than that bitch in the prison anyway." Everyone could agree to that at least.

Alice looked unsure still. He looked at his two friends, or lovers, who both gave him reassuring smiles of affection. "I'd be happy to work for you rather than Yami." The White Rabbit told him, sitting on the arm of the chair and stroking his red and black spikes.

"And I promise to try and keep the March Hare out of trouble!" The Mad Hatter giggled, earning an annoyed 'Hey!' from the hare in question.

"Ok, I'll give it a shot." Alice shrugged and laughed nervously. "How hard could it be?"