[Discontinued*] The Darling Princess [A Twisted Wonderland Fanfic]

🥀 Chapter 35

When she opened her eyes again, it was like she was back on Main Street, that first day of classes, when Ace had been pestering Yuu and Grim. She stared down at herself and smiled when she realised that she could see her hand opening and closing, the white sparks that made up her body showing her movement. Below her, a small trail of blue snaked forward into the black nothingness, only about two feet wide, and disappearing far away into the distance.

You can see the path, can't you, my darling?

Y/N let out a small breathy laugh. "I can."

Well. It is time for us to go then.

"Wait." Y/N instinctively looked around for the source of the voices. "Stay. Please."

We cannot, regrettably. The longer we stay, the more risk we place on you.

Y/N nodded and blinked her silver eyes. "All right. Goodbye then... I guess."

Goodbye, my darling.

Goodbye, my dearest heart.

We will see you again, Y/N.

Y/N started off down the path, enjoying the quiet serenity and the gentle breeze blowing through her hair. It was comforting to know that it wasn't entirely silent out there, especially since she could see nothing but black, the sparkling blue path, and the white diamonds that made up her own body.

She felt as if she had walked for an hour, but eventually, Y/N saw a shimmering blue vortex at the end of the path. She picked up the pace a bit and smiled as she finally reached it, allowing her strange vision to shift back to the world that held more than just three colours. 

In front of her, was simply what seemed to be a rift in the world she was in, but through the rift, Y/N breathed a sigh of relief when she saw something that was a little more familiar to her. True, it was not the sight that she wanted to see when she could return to her dorm and see the comforting blandness of the brown ceiling and feel the comfort of her new bunny against her arms, but the sight of the rose garden was more of a comfort than the invisible ground that she had been walking on.

Y/N slid through the rift, nearly collapsing onto the ground a second later when she felt the comfort of grass beneath her toes. True, it lacked colour and was a simple drab grey, but it was a comforting feeling if nothing else.

"Back here again," she said with a sigh, walking deeper into the maze. The last time she had been here, three cards were working to paint the roses on the trees red. And now, one of the trees was being held up by an angry-looking woman.

"You went and sullied my roses," she screamed in a high pitched voice. She brandished the tree like a double-edged sword, and dear little Alice cowered on the ground in front of the queen. 

"Prepare yourself," the queen shouted.

Next to Alice, the three of clubs appeared, holding a paintbrush in his hands. Once again, the only colour that could be seen was the red of the newly painted roses, the red paint still dripping onto the ground, and the stunning red of the Queen of Heart's somewhat childish dress. 

"I beg your forgiveness, Your Highness," the three of clubs begged. "It's their fault." He pointed to the two.

The two of clubs appeared. "It wasn't me. It was Ace!"

Y/N couldn't help but snicker at the mention of her new friend. Ace did seem like the type who would irritate the queen, even if he was trying to make her garden suit her better.

"Was it you," the queen exclaimed, glaring down at the Ace. 

"No, it was Two!" The bucket of ruby paint on his head said otherwise.

"Two's doing?"

"No, it was three!"

'You just said that it was Ace,' Y/N thought, fighting the grin. This was a dire situation for the three cards, but she couldn't help but find a little bit of humour in the situation.

Two's final claim seemed to push the queen over the edge and she let out a rage-filled scream. "Enough! Off with all their heads!"

A legion of cards all decorated with hearts, diamonds, and spades appeared, two seizing each club card by the arms and dragging them off down the maze, heading toward the large castle in the distance.

"Of course, you lose your head for using the wrong colour," the two of diamonds said to his friend, the three of spades.

"I can't believe anyone would mix up red and white," the three of spades said.

With the dream done, Y/N felt herself falling once again, but instead of screaming this time, her mind was preoccupied with the thoughts of what she had just witnessed. This crazy monarch was willing to cut off their heads simply because they planted the wrong colour of roses. Was that such a crime? They could easily be replaced, either being covered with paint or ink or simply moving them to a different location and replacing them with red roses. Certainly, in a world full of magic there was some way to change the colour of the roses.

But, morning had come, and there was no time for Y/N to linger on the thoughts of the poor cards. They were part of a dream that she could not interact with, but the sun was already rising in Twisted Wonderland, and Y/N knew that the coming day would bring more challenges.

As she was sitting up in her bed, smiling out at the bright sunlight that the day had brought, someone knocked on her door.

"Who is it," she asked, taking a clump of her hair and running a hand through it.

"It's Deuce."

Y/N smiled and slid out from underneath the covers, wrapping her robe around herself, and pulling open the door to her bedroom. Sure enough, Deuce was standing on the other side of the door, looking slightly embarrassed. 

"I'm sorry to wake you, Y/N," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, "But today is the day of the Unbirthday Party, and Riddle won't be pleased if we're late."

"Oh, right," Y/N said with a snap of her fingers. "I almost forgot that it was today. Well, let me just get changed and I'll meet you downstairs."

Deuce nodded and was about to walk away, but he turned back. "Also, Cater is downstairs with the others."

"Okay, I'll see you down there."

Y/N shut the door and grabbed her uniform. She quickly threw it on and grabbed a brush as she ran downstairs to the lounge where the rest of her friends were waiting.

When she got there, she noticed that Ace was still nearly asleep on the couch, and she chuckled. Apparently, that collar was making his sleep difficult.

"N/N~" Cater was the first to notice her coming down the stairs and he ran up to her as she descended the last few, scooping her up around the waist and swinging her down. "Good morning!" He didn't set her down as he walked over to the boys and instead held her close, nuzzling his face into her neck. "How did you sleep last night?"

Y/N felt her face heating up. "U-uh I slept okay... Can you put me down now?"

Cater sighed. "But you're so warm and cuddly."

Deuce walked over to Cater and gently pried Y/N from his arms, helping her down and leading her over to the couch where she sat down next to Yuu.

"So how was your sleepover last night," Y/N asked, slumping over and leaning on Yuu's shoulder.

"Fine," Ace said with a shrug. "We played old Maid for hours though, because Grim didn't know how to play anything else."

Y/N laughed. 

"Well let's go get the tart you made yesterday and apologize to Riddle. There was some trouble yesterday so I'm low on manpower and need you to come now," Cater said, grabbing Y/N's hand and pulling her out of the dorm.