Hopeful (My Sequel to Heartless) Unfinished

Chapter 5- The Aftermath

Cath was shaken to her core as she bathed later that same night. She held the handkerchief while she soaked and stared at the words embroidered on the fabric. 

The Rook Lives

It had to be a joke. She had watched Jest die right in front of her. Or he could mean another Rook. Could he? She didn't know whether to be angry, happy, or relieved. Maybe it was foolish to get her hopes up. Her chest throbbed to the point where it was painful. She rubbed her aching chest and sighed as she put the handkerchief down on the table beside the tub. She let her head fall back against the lid of the bath. She closed her eyes and tried to calm the pain by taking deep breaths. She shook her head with an annoyed grunt when the pain didn't seem to subside and climbed out of the bath. She wrapped a warm towel around her body and looked out the bathroom window.

The sky was almost pitch black without the moon but it was beautiful nonetheless. A smile grew on her lips at the beauty. She froze. Was she... feeling something? Cath felt certain emotions without a heart, but it was mostly feelings of anger, confusion, or satisfaction. Happiness hadn't felt like this since she lost her heart years ago. Cath held her breath and buried her sharp nails into her palms and clenched her eyes shut. She tried to focus on something else. She tried to move her thoughts to anger. She would think about Peter Peter. But thoughts of him brought back thoughts of that night, and when she did that, she seemed to spiral and couldn't keep herself from reliving the worst night of her life. Every time her thoughts wandered to that night, the power she felt within withered away into nothing. She hadn't cried since then, so when the first tear slipped down her cheek, her fury burned bright. 

Letting out a furious scream she grabbed the nearest object to her - a lamp- and threw it against a wall. She watched it smash and break into a million pieces. She fell to her hands and knees and let out uncontrolled sobs. She was having a breakdown.

"WHAT Is HAPPENING TO ME!" she screamed. 

A knock on her window sounded but Cath ignored it, even as she heard the latch come undone and the squeak of the window pane.

"Poor Catherine, Queen  of Hearts." A voice purred. She looked up to see the very girls who took her heart, Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie. All three of them sat on the window sill with their legs crossed. Their blank stares made Cathrine shiver. She didn't move in fear that they would somehow cut her open again. 

"What do you want." She said sharply with a sniff. 

They blinked at her in sync, something so unsettling Cath thought she might be sick. 

"It's not what we want, it's what you want." Elsie said with a smile that didn't quite reach her black eyes.

"What does that mean? I already have everything I want, I'm the queen." Cath snapped. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand, something very unqueen-like but so was throwing a perfectly good lamp against the wall. She lost all pretense. 

Tillie gave her a look of pity, "Oh my dear Queen, we remember a time when being queen wasn't the thing you most desired. It was a certain humorous man." 

Cath clenched her jaw, "Well he's dead now." She said lowly. 

Lacie clicked her tongue, "See? I told you, she wouldn't believe it if Hatta blabbed it to her." She said with a breathy laugh. 

Catherine snarled, "Hatta did no such thing. Here." She said thrusting the handkerchief at them.

They gathered around the object and let out hisses of laughter. "He most certainly loves to be creative," Lacie said to the other girls with a wide, horrifying smile on her face.

Elsie scrunched her nose, "He also forgot to tell her why she's in such pain right now." She pointed out. 

Catherine's eyes narrowed at them, "what do you know about my pain?" She asked suspiciously. 

Tillie sighed, "That you're feeling this pain because your heart is growing back." She said going over and laying on Cath's bed. 

Cath's eyes widened. It made sense. But how was it possible? "How-" She began, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat, "That's impossible." 

Lacie smiled, "You should know by now to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast ."

Cath gaped at them. It was all becoming too much. Her breaths began to speed up. 

Her heart was growing back. Jest was alive. 

She had given up everything and it may all have been for naught. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the soft carpet. 

Elsie, Tillie, and Lacie looked at each other before deciding to take their leave. 

Giving Catherine a bow, the three girls disappeared, but not without leaving a gift in their departure. Something simple but powerful. 

Sitting on the window sill, they left a single white rose.