Evelyn slowly blinked her eyes open, the room was sunny and bright. The curtains were pulled wide open, happy bright sunshine was spilling into the small shabby room. Evelyn rubbed her eyes, it took a hot minute for her eyes to get used to the sudden brightness. She groaned loudly. 

"Good Morning Star Shine! The earth says HELLO!" 

Evelyn turned her head towards the voice. And a wide lopsided grin formed on her face. Standing at the foot of her bed was the Mad Hatter. Evelyn slowly sat up, sitting cross legged in Goose's bed she felt like a small child. She ran her good hand through her hair. 

"Why Good morning Hatter." 

"Dear Princess, do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"

"Those, Hatter...are excellent questions." Evelyn thought about it for a second, continuing to run her fingers through her tangled hair. "Well, I wish you a god morning, it is good to see you, not sure if it's a good morning or not, but the sun is out and my mind feels like mine...for now, so I guess that answers the next question; for I do feel good this morning- sleeping in an actual bed is quite helpful, and as far as that last question...what has GOOD ever got me? I like being mad. Let's be mad together, shall we?" 

"Wonderful answers." He nodded seriously. He looked out the window wistfully, looking out into the bright blue sky.

"Hatter?" 

He hummed and looked back at her, his eyes unfocused. 

"Where's Goose?" 

"Oh! How silly of me!" He took his hat off, holding over his chest and bowed, "I do sincerely apologize, Princess. He said he had some business to take care of, and said he would meet you in a bit. I was sent to bring you to breakfast." 

"You work for him?" 

"That I do." He grinned mischievously, "I have eyes and ears everywhere. I hear it all.  I see it all. It's why I'm stationed at the front gate of Central Zone. It's a very no nonsense job, and I take it very seriously." He said with the most serious of faces, he even narrowed his eyes to confirm what he said.  

"Ahhh. It all makes sense." 

"Does it?"

"Nope." Evelyn popped her p. "But a little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men, is it not?" 

"Too true, Princess. Too true." 

Evelyn stretched and slid out of bed. "So about this breakfast?" 

Hatter's face lit up, "Yes yes!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the bathroom door and shoved her inside, "Put on your Birthday clothes, we are going to a party!" 

"Why didn't you say so?" Evelyn grinned. 

She closed the door and pulled her clothes from yesterday on, and washed her face again. Straightening up, she stood staring at the girl in the mirror. Her happy mood bobbed like a bubble. She looked terrible. And she felt even worse. She didn't know if the pain in her chest was from the Flare mixing with her powers, or the heart break of watching Newt's angry frame stomp away from her. She knew deep down inside her, no one would ever be able to fully keep their promises, she would have to just maybe pick a fight with someone who could end it for her. No friend could ever pull the trigger for her. Maybe she would do what Winston did. Do it herself.  

Yes. Yes do it! Do it! Do it! 

"No. Not yet. I need to be a Crank Mafia Princess" She whispered to herself.

Then go, My little Witch, take your rightful place. Be the Princess of the most powerful gang! My murderous little Princess. 

"Yes. Yes I will." 

She straighten up, wiped the tears away, lifting her head and squared her shoulders. She saw the crank flash behind her eyes, her eyes weren't as bright emerald green anymore, they always had a permanent frostiness to them. The white veins stood out against her sun kissed skin and the black clothes she was given, but these Gang Cranks seem to think she was some kind of gift from the heavens. No more trying to hid them; show them off in all her frosty gloriousness. 

She swung the door open. Hatter was sitting at the table, his wild boots up on the table, his hands folded on his chest and his chin was resting on his chest, like he had fallen asleep. 

"Hatter? Are you sleeping on this good morning?" 

"Certainly not! I'm contemplating." 

"Contemplating?" Evelyn asked.

"Indeed." He looked up at Evelyn, his eyes were steady, a little wild, but he mouth pulled down into a frown, "Chewing gum is really gross. It's what I hate the most." 

Evelyn frowned, and tilted her head. She had no memory of what chewing gum was. 

"I even wrote a song about it. Would you like to hear it?"

Evelyn giggled and nodded. 

"Chewing gum is really gross! Chewing gum I hate the most!" He put a simple tune to it and danced around the table singing it. Evelyn giggled the whole time, he stopped and bowed deeply, while Evelyn clapped. 

"Now, off we go. We're late!" He yelped, pulling a pocket watch- of all things out of the inside pocket of his coat. "We're late for a very important date." 

He skipped over to the door and pulled it open.

"Would you like some chewing gum?" 

"I thought you said it was the worst?" 

"I did? Couldn't have been!" 

He popped the small bright coloured ball into his mouth. He held his hand out, holding another one, offering it to Evelyn. She took it hesitantly and shrugged, popping it into her mouth. It was sweet, and as the name of the candy indicated, chewy. Hatter smiled at her like an over excited child and skipped down the hall, Evelyn right behind the silly fellow. There were a few huge Cranks milling about. 

"Princess!"

"Good morning Princess, did you sleep well?" 

Evelyn smiled sweetly at the huge men. They all looked at her with big doe heart eyes. The wild dangerous cranks inside seemed to settle and purr when they looked at her. They all bowed their heads when she was around or when she was talking, like they weren't worthy to be in her presence. 

"Boss said to keep you in our sights at all times." 

"Ooo! I have a security detail? I AM part of the Crank Mafia!" She clapped her hands. She batted her eyelashes up at these huge men. They all smiled sheepishly at her. 

"Boys, don't be shy." She cooed, "I do happen to enjoy violence. And...being good is so over rated." 

Their shy smiles turned devious. 

"What do I get to call you gentlemen?" She asked. 

The guy from yesterday, with the veins on his bald head bowed his head, his voice was gravelly, "I'm spider." He pointed to the guy, "That's Rex and that's Ruffio." 

Evelyn curtsied for each one, and gave them a big smile and batted her eyelashes. "Now don't this make a girl feel special." 

"Is hatter taking you to breakfast?" Ruffio asked.

"Indeed he is, its a party apparently. Will you be joining?" 

The huge guys nodded. Hatter led the way down the hall and down the stairs. The four huge cranks followed behind Evelyn. She giggled as she leaned over the railing. 

"Squid went splat!" She giggle, she sang it all the way down the stares. The Hatter joined in with her sing song.  Instead of going through the door from last night that went into the club Hatter turned and went to the back of the stairs. 

"OOooo! Secret tunnels!" Evelyn squealed, "So mysterious!" Her body guards chuckled. He opened a door that was hidden in the wall. The tunnel was dark, and damp. But it was brick, so it must have been here long before the Cranks took over the place. It was a straight hall, but it reminded her of the tunnels in the Underneath. She shivered. 

"Cold, Princess?" 

"No..." Her voice was small and childlike. "It's just like the Underneath." 

"You were in the Underneath?!" Rex yelled. His voice echoed off the wall making her shiver more and whimper. 

"You survived the Maze, and the Underneath?" Spider asked, even more awe in his voice. 

"Yes." She snapped, she felt her anger rising. She was angry with all the awful things she had been put through. If it wasn't for WICKED she would have a mother, her childhood, she would still have innocence, she wouldn't have had to live in the Maze, watching friends die, she wouldn't have been attacked by a crank, she wouldn't have had to be used and abused by Janson or gone through the Underneath, or the fear of Saints & Sinners and being shot by Pistol, almost dying more than once, being chained and abused by Janson again. Yes, she was angry. She hated her life. And she hated WICKED and hated Janson. Her body felt hot, but her arm was throbbing with a sharp shooting freezing cold. 

"Yes...I survived. And I killed them! I killed them all!" 

"Good job Princess." 

The praise made her pause. Usually everyone scolds her or looks shocked or scared of her. These huge cranks looked at her with approval. The angry crank calmed down a little. 

"They tried to hurt the Princess...they tried to take our little godling!" Ruffio growled, "They deserved it!" 

"And more!" Rex snarled, "No one touches the Boss's Princess." 

"Boys..." Evelyn teared up, her anger disappeared, looking up at these huge grown muscle men all looked murderous at the fact she had gone through some terrible Klunk. In a weird twisted way, her heart broken and crank heart swell in love. 

_________________________________

It took Evelyn and her personal security detail about 10 minutes of walking through the dark damp tunnels. She was told the only people who know about these secret tunnels are a select few in Goose's gang. So there was no way past Goners could get in here. Hatter stepped up to a brick wall and knocked on the brick. They waited a minute and the wall slid open. 

Evelyn threw a hand up to shield her eyes with an angry hiss. The group stepped into the back of an old kitchen. There was a skinny guy leaning on the wall, chewing on a tooth pick. His dark beady eyes flicked over them, and then nodded. The noise of Central Zone hit her like a Griever. A constant crash in her ears, it was almost soothing, listening to all the wild noises mixing together creating one giant soothing chorus. Hatter bounced through the kitchen, Evelyn followed. 

"Wait a second!" Evelyn gasped. She stopped dead in the kitchen entry way. "HATTER!" she yelled. He did a wild pirouette, a giant wild smile on his face. 

"Yes dear child?" 

"This is Leroy's!" 

"Is it?" He asked innocently. 

"Leroy is part of this." 

Spider grinned at her. Evelyn huffed and rolled her eyes. "Of shucken course he is." 

She followed Hatter further into the building, where she was meet by Leroy who handed her food. Her stomach rumbled and her mouth watered. She sat down and started eating. She had just finished when Spider, Rex, and Ruffio stood up, and Hatter swept his hat off and made a wild bow, bending at the waist with wild hand flailing. Evelyn twisted around. Goose was standing in the doorway. Evelyn's eyes swept over him. He looked angry, his eyes were dark and he was growling, his jaw clamped tight. Evelyn could see the muscle in his jaw was clenching. His knuckles were bleeding and his lip was bleeding. He spat out a mouth full of blood. She frowned, getting up she started towards him when Ruffio grabbed her wrist. 

"Get your hands off me." She snarled. 

"Don't he's dangerous right now." 

"Is not." 

She ripped her arm away and walked up to him. His dark eyes watched her. She saw how dark and full of a wild anger. But he hadn't moved, just stood in the door, seething in the madness of the Flare. She walked right up to him. She looked up at him and reaching up she placed both hands on his chest. His heart was beating wildly. He was also breathing heavily. Evelyn ran her hands up his neck and up to his jaw. 

"Noah." She said quietly. 

Crazy worrying about crazy. The irony was awful. She was way more gone and dangerous then he could ever be. But right now, the crank in her head was purring, worrying about him. She watched him blink. 

"Noah. Come back. Come back to me. I need you, Noah." She whispered. Reaching as high as her tip toes would allow her to go, she gently pulled his head closer to hers. She gently nuzzled her face into his. 

"Noah." She whispered. 

She felt him move, the next moment she felt arms wrap around her waist and then tighten. He stood back up straight, bringing her feet off the ground. Automatically she wrapped her legs around his waist. The crank was purring so loud in her head it blocked out all other noise. She could feel her mind slipping again, the anger...someone fought him. Didn't matter if Goose started it, someone made him angry and she wanted to see them hurt. 

"What happened?" She murmured against his 

"Gang business."

"Tell me what the fuck happened Goose." She snapped

"Someone tried to challenge for leader." 

"Is he dead?" 

"Good as."

"No. Not as good as. Where is he?" Evelyn snarled. Her entire body tensed up.

"Is Kitten feeling a little feral?" He asked a smirk on his dark featured face. 

"Kitten has claws and wants to scratch something. Now where-is-he?" 

Goose put her down gently, took her hand and they went back outside. Hatter had scampered off somewhere, but Spider, Rex and Ruffio followed. weapons of glass, a crow bar and a hammer appeared from somewhere in their hands. Jonsey and his two buddies, Evelyn recognized from yesterday were waiting beside the door outside, with their iron pipes. They also looked a little beat up, and Evelyn's protectiveness fired up. She was growling now, She could feel the anger making her heart beat faster, the pounding in her ears made it hard to hear or concentrate. 

The crowd parted, Cranks scamped as fast as they could out of their way. Evelyn's hand was starting to glow with the frost, she had slid her hatchet out as Goose and her walked directly throw the crowd. A few where whispering and pointing. He walked her right up to the weird dancing club from yesterday, the cranks wiggling on the ground. didn't seem to notice Goose and Evelyn and their 6 huge cranks holding weapons behind them. The Munies and their launchers had suddenly disappeared. 

Goose walked through the thresh hold, stepping on anyone in his way. Evelyn had a wild twisted smile on her face, her eyes almost completely frozen. A guy stepped in front of them, he looked greasy and creepy. His hair was so greasy it looked like he dipped his hands in oil and slicked his hair back. His dark eyes looked Evelyn up and down, and licked his lips. Then slid over to Goose. 

"I thought we took care of this problem?" 

"Was he part of the problem?" Evelyn cut in, looking up at Goose. He looked down at her and nodded. That was Evelyn needed. She pulled her hand free, swung her hatchet in a circle, while the slime ball chuckled at her. His chuckle was cut off, and turned into a scream of pain. Evelyn had swung the hatchet into his stomach. He dropped to the floor. Blood pooling all around him, Evelyn watched him twitch and his limbs spaz until he stilled. The loud weird music continued to play, bodies behind them continued to dance. She finally looked up at Goose. 

"Where are the others?" 

He stepped over the crank on the floor turned and held his arms out, picked Evelyn up and lifted her over the blood puddle. He led the group over to the back door which he threw open and stormed down the short hall to another door. He stopped and looked back at Evelyn. Their 6 huge henchmen behind them.

"Kitten's claws still sharp?" He rumbled, his voice sounded deeper.

"Always." She smiled. 

Goose pulled her close into his chest, his eyes darkening for a moment. She stretched up while Goose leaned down, they kissed for a moment. He straightened up, still looking into her frosted white eyes. Evelyn used her thumb to wipe some of Gooses blood off her lip. With a smirk, she licked her thump clean, turned back to the door. Her anger flowing through her icy cold veins and kicked the door open with a crunch. She stepped inside with a feral scream. She finally let her powers and the Crank take over while Goose and the other stood back and watch with a wild fascination.