2.1 | Alice ✔

One Last Betrayal

All the citizens of Wonderland charged forward boldly, surrounding the heels of the beast and attacking with whatever weapons and magic they possessed. Claudia laughed sadistically at their pointless struggle before dodging a barrage of light daggers. She snarled wickedly at the culprit, and Erik transformed into his beast, lunging down to attack Katherine.

He was intercepted by a charging Seifer. Katherine sighed in relief, preparing to unleash another attack, when Elizabeth suddenly stepped in front of her and shot chains of darkness at Claudia.

The queen summoned a bow and arrow of light, and together with Zhenya, began to shoot at the beast's heads. Simultaneously, Zephyr and Zyanya were placing heavy attacks on the beast's ankles, and as it ducked down to combat the two, they effortlessly dodged the attack.

Claudia avoided the dark chains, summoning balls of fire and shooting them down on the twin sisters.
Both Raelen and Ridosen sprang to block it, colliding into each other and nearly burning to death if it weren't for Ridosen's lightning fast reflexes, summoning a fire plant to absorb the cannon balls.

As Eliad attacked the beast's rear, Zaer scaled up its side to attack Claudia at the top. Alfred and Jeremiah both shot beams of powerful energy at Claudia, just as Zaer aimed her gun at her head. The woman smirked, jumping from the beast just as the beams collided. The explosion of impact catapulted Zaer far into a nearby burning tree.

"Nothing is working!" Alfred roared in frustration. That's when Claudia began to laugh manically.

"You fools are so blind, it's pathetic!" she cried, laughing until it hurt. "You've all 'banded together' to fight for Wonderland, but you're all just competing to one up each other!"

Everyone stopped and exchanged stricken looks.

"Don't you idiots realize that your deep seated hatred for one another is what makes the Ancalagon stronger?" she sneered. "You're merely fighting my battle for me!"

"Oh no. This is bad!" Meredith gasped.

"It sure is," Claudia grinned with amusement.

"No! You don't understand!" Alfred pleaded.

"If we've all been feeding this thing more energy," Jeremiah reasoned, "it's only a matter of time before he regains control!"

"What are you talking about?" Claudia hissed, her amusement quickly turning to annoyance. "The Ancalagon is under MY control."

"The Ancalagon is his own master!" Zain countered.

"The Ancalagon holds allegiance to no one," Saber informed gravely. "He will destroy EVERYONE, including the ones that summoned him!"

Comprehension hit Claudia like a freight train as she whirled on the beast, who glared down at her with a look of death and utter despair.

"Oh my God . . . you didn't kill Ophelia on my command," she whispered in horror. "You killed what was no longer of use to you."

The Ancalagon roared down in confirmation, lifting a gigantic paw over her head.

"CLAUDIA, LOOK OUT!" Ezra cried.

It was too late. Claudia flew like a sack of flour, crashing into the ground with such force, she was almost knocked unconscious. Completely winded, and the whole left side of her body torn to high Heaven, she sat up to try and understand what happened.

Her blood ran cold as she watched the Ancalagon crush Erik's beast under his foot, a sickening crunch ringing throughout the forest. Erik was staring right at her, eyes clouding over, blood exploding from his snout.

"ERIK!!!!" she screamed in inexplicable horror. A powerful beam of lighting struck the beast in the face, and it reared off of Erik's disfigured body. Saber stepped forward and struck it again, eyes glowing violently. Her powers had never been so strong. The Ancalagon roared with rage, it's eyes igniting with literal fire.

"Everyone! Work together!" Saber commanded. Everyone exchanged looks and nodded their heads with determination. Seifer and Zephyr came together, looking deep into each other's eyes.

"You still know how to do the forbidden thing?" Seifer asked with a smirk. No matter how hard he tried, Zephyr couldn't contain the smile that came to his lips.

"I could never forget it," he replied, holding out his hand. Joining them together, their bodies started to glow and morph into a two headed Cheshire beast.

Meredith, Jeremiah and Alfred placed their hands on their form, infusing them with so much power that they grew to the size and ferocity of the Ancalagon. The citizens began to cheer as the Cheshire stepped to the challenger.

Without a moment's hesitation, the beast bellowed and lunged for Cheshire. Cheshire reared up, and their limbs became entangled, their fangs snapping as they battled for dominance.

Katherine and Elizabeth joined hands, and Elizabeth summoned much more powerful chains of darkness, shackling the beast to the sanctuary it was summoned from. Katherine reinforced those chains with her light daggers, before directing more at the beast's side.

The attack was joined with Zhenya and Zaer shooting his opposite side, and Elias and Zyanya attacking his hind legs with their blades.

Ridosen summoned thick vines from the sanctuary to entangle the beast's body and begin to drag it back to the hole. Raelen summoned a powerful vortex to help the effort.

The Ancalagon started to yell as he was bested by Cheshire, but just as he was beginning to collapse, he sunk his fangs into the twins. Cheshire cried in agony, his limbs tearing as he tried to prevent the beast from dragging him into the pit.

"ZAIN, NOW!" Saber commanded, mounting Cheshire and summoning a lightning beam that shot the beast in both faces simultaneously. Cheshire collapsed as soon as the beast released him, but he still had his claws anchored in the ground, resisting the pull.

"Elias! Zyanya!" Zain called when he was positioned at the mouth of the hole. They both nodded their heads, dismembering both paws in sync. The beast screamed as it was dragged backwards, and Zain lifted his scythe at the perfect moment, sawing the beast's spirit in two.

As the lifeless corpse was dragged back into the hole, narrowly missing Zain himself, the spirits of the twin Hellhounds howled happily as they ascended and disappeared into the sky. Alfred and Jeremiah watched in disbelief: it had been their beloved pets this entire time!

The hole sealed up, the fog slowly lifted and the fire eventually died down. Everyone stood around in utter shock, marveling in the wake of what just transpired.

"WE DID IT!" a resident of Rose Estate suddenly cried out, and everyone broke into harmonious cheers, high fiving and hugging anyone they could grab. Zain and Saber watched as the Red and White Kingdoms united, congratulating each other and celebrating their success.

They looked to each other and smiled, before looking around at all the destruction. Now that Veloren had fallen, you only had to turn your head to see the Red and White castles on the opposing horizons.

"Eris is gone," Saber whispered, looking forlornly down at the crumpled, blood stained hookah mysteriously lain at her feet.

"Ophelia, too," Zain replied, noticing the rubies from the witch's crown sunken in the dirt. They silently noted the mysterious disappearance of Claudia and Erik, as well.

"Looks like they escaped," Ezra addressed as she approached them. "It's a shame. King Alfred wanted to drop the charges and nurse them back to health. I hope they can survive on their own."

"That man isn't going to survive that injury, especially if he isn't already dead," Saber murmured painfully. "Poor Claudia . . ."

"Well . . . we're all going back to White Kingdom," Ezra said, her eyes glowing with excitement. "ALL of us. You guys really did it!"

Zain and Saber smiled at each other as they allowed the ecstatic rabbit to lead them behind the others toward the kingdom.