Hopeful (My Sequel to Heartless) Unfinished

Chapter 21 - Another Brilliant Ball (Part 2)

They never knew their names and they always wore a mask. One of them always wore a black jesters hat and performed tricks before they left.

It was always their favorite part of the visits.

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Hatta paced the room with a parcel in his pocket. Alice, being the kind girl he had the honor of knowing for a couple of days now, had taken some of her mixtures and made him a special pumpkin seed -  their emergency escape plan.

                                                                                                        
Every once in awhile, Hatta would scream. He never knew why and no one asked. He would just become so scared that he would scream. 

                                                                                                               
He hated that feeling. He wanted a hug. He hadn't felt this way for a while, and of all times to strike, it had to be now. 

He continued to pace and fret when he heard the crowds ooh's and ah's. He knew it was time to go.

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Chrystal approached Jest far into the night when the dancing mixture began to wear off, and the guests began to tire. It was his time to perform.

With a nod, Jest walked to the center of the ballroom and dug into his pocket for the pellet he made the night before. 

With a toss upward, the pellet stayed in midair. No one had noticed him yet, but when the fireworks started, everyone stopped to look at the Joker. 

The fireworks were more of a kaleidoscope that gravitated in the center of the ballroom. The pellet had expanded to a transparent sphere where the kaleidoscope took place. 

And he started with red.

With a gasp, everyone turned from the fiery red ball of wonder to look at their peers. Their skin began to turn the same shade as the scene in front of them, and soon each person was displaying a different design from the kaleidoscope. All the patterns included different shades of red and everyone was laughing and smiling in wonder. Even the Queen.

He moved on to pink.

The kaleidoscope continued to display unique patterns that had some mesmerized, but when Jest looked around, most people had turned their attention to their hair. Hot pink, light pink, fuchsia, magenta, every shade of pink took a different strand of everybody's hair. Some girls were desperately trying to free their hair from their updo's so they could see it in full glory. He let his display continue for a few minutes before moving on. 

Next was blue.

Once again the kaleidoscope changed, as did the guests. Where you would formerly see the whites, the pupils, and the iris in their eyes, you would now see an ocean. A quiet, serene display that everyone seemed to relax at. You could hear the sighs of happiness. Until the storm began to brew. 

The waves began to grow slightly bigger, the sky getting darker, the people getting anxious. The clouds rolled in and the rain started. 

Jest watched as everyone began to gasp. Laughs were heard, people were crying, it was chaos. Chaotic enough for him to sneak away and find Cath unnoticed. 

He had 3 minutes to find her before he had to move on to the final act. 3 minutes until he and his friends escaped and the palace begins the shutdown process, leaving Cath behind.

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Cath was in awe from the performance, it didn't occur to her that she should find Jest until the storm. She pushed to the center of the room and saw that he was scanning the crowd for her. She had 3 minutes to say goodbye. 3 minutes to make up for 10 years of lost time. She ran up to him and blinked away the storm that resided in them. She felt like weeping.

She watched as time seemed to slow and Jest placed his hands on the side of her neck. His thumb stroked her jaw as he leaned in and placed a soft kiss to her lips. One that screamed of hope and reunion in the future. One that spoke of love and comfort and the promise of a thousand more kisses. 

His cheek brushed against hers as he pulled away to embrace her. He whispered his love in her ear.

Her eyes leaked, a different kind of storm taking place within her as she watched him slip away and run to the exit under the stairs.

2 minutes.

Cath held her breath as the trick began to wear off and the audience began to stir in wonder and confusion as they searched for their joker. It took 30 seconds for the crowd to realize they were gone.

1 minute

A shrill scream of order rang out in the crowd for the guards to find the lost entertainer. 

Cath smiled.

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Yay! So, there are going to be 3 parts to this section. I plan on publishing it tomorrow, but I don't know if it will be done by then. I've been working on this editing process, so I will be going through and fixing all the mistakes in the earlier chapters, so look out for that. I hope you like this chapter! I wanted to give you guys a check up on the Hearts kingdom, so there you go, a scene about Diamond in Spade. Thank you guys!

-Neltje