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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟒
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

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Indigo was fast asleep when something smacked her in the face. That caused the curly-haired girl to jump up faster than humanly possible while unsheathing her dagger to prepare for a fight. After spinning around in circles a few times to look for any sign of danger, her eyes landed on the apologetic face of Will Scarlet. The Lark girl sent the Knave of Hearts a playful glare as he threw a branch aside. It wasn't long after that when the pair turned their attention to the sound of a sword hitting wood, only to find Alice attacking a nearby tree. While the Ace of Spades put her dagger away and sat back down on the ground, the curious adventurer slightly turned around to look at her two companions with a small smirk on her face.

"Good, you're both up," Alice muttered before going back to her previous task of attacking the tree.

"What are you doing?" Will asked while he and the Lark girl continued to watch the woman in purple repeatedly hit the helpless plant in front of her.

"I'm getting ready. I'm a bit rusty," the Kingsleigh woman responded after using her sword to chop off a couple of branches of the sapling, causing Indigo to let out a somewhat irritated groan.

"There. Now you've hurt the tree. Happy?" the Ace of Spades scoffed, making the woman stop what she was doing before turning around to face the duo.

"I'll be happy once we get Cyrus back," she retaliated as she took a few steps toward Indigo and Will while looking around at the forest as if someone was about to pop out at any moment, "we've been in Wonderland for too long. Our enemies know we're here."

"'Our enemies'? Who would they be?" Will questioned, completely oblivious to Indigo's face slightly paling while her hand went into her pocket to grip the red knight chess piece.

"Excellent question. Come on," she said as she reached out to help the Knave of Hearts to his feet, which he gladly accepted before he did the same with Indigo while Alice continued speaking, "I have a plan, Knave."

"And a new outfit. Where'd you get that?"

"The clotheshorse came by."

"Of course it did."

"Our biggest problem is we don't know where Cyrus is. He could be trapped somewhere or...or captured," the blonde woman explained while Indigo watched her with a raised eyebrow and a blank look on her face. At the same moment, Will started to ramble about a coffee horse coming by, only to be cut off by Alice as she continued. "But then I realized, we don't need to know where he is. Because we know something...something nobody else does. We know where the bottle is hidden."

After taking in her words, Will and Indigo exchanged a confused look. Not even a second after that passed when the latter turned her attention back to the blonde woman. "You know, I'm not sure you're clear on what the word 'we' means."

"It's a two-step plan," the curious adventurer continued as if the curly-haired girl had never said a word, which only made the irritation Indigo was feeling toward the situation grow, "step one, we find the bottle. Step two, we make three harmless wishes. And no matter where he is, he'll just get drawn back inside."

"I thought you said there was no such thing as a harmless wish," the Knave of Hearts retaliated as he and the younger girl at his side kept their attention glued to the pacing Alice.

"True, that's if you wish for something big. But if you wish for something small and innocent, like a cupcake, it should be fine," the blonde woman shrugged then stopped pacing and turned to face her traveling companions before gesturing over to Will, "which, um, brings us to you. You'll rub the bottle, and Cyrus will reappear and we'll be together again. And then we'll figure out a way to truly free him once and for all."

"Um, Alice...once I rub the bottle doesn't that make Cyrus my genie?"

"I guess I'll just have to trust you."

As soon as Alice finished her words, the pair had a small staredown while Indigo just stood in the middle of their awkward silence. After a long moment of neither of them making a move to break the tension that was slowly building between them, the Ace of Spades let out a sigh before drawing their attention to her and opening her mouth to speak. "Okay, so where do we find this magical bottle?"

"We buried it in the Mimsy Meadows. Under the towering Tum Tum Tree," the blonde answered while keeping her eyes glued to the man in front of her, "it's a place where nobody goes."

"With a name like that, why would they? Unless they were a Care Bear," Will scoffed, only to be greeted by looks of confusion from both of the women in front of him. That was enough to cause the Knave to let out an annoyed sigh and turn his attention toward Indigo. "Do you know how to get there from here?"

The only response he received from the Ace of Spades was an unamused look along with a quirked eyebrow before soft snoring began to cut through the air. "Do either of you wanna wake him or should I?"

The Knave's question caused both Alice and Indigo to follow his gaze to find the White Rabbit's feet sticking out from behind the tree. As she stared at his small polished shoes, a strange feeling formed in the pit of the curly-haired girl's stomach. A feeling that made her want to get as far away from the creature as possible.

"Trust your instincts, Iggie. They haven't steered you wrong yet," Jefferson told her before she turned her attention back to her traveling companions at the sound of Alice sheathing her sword.

"Leave him be. Poor Rabbit's been through enough," the blonde told the pair as she bent down to pick up her bag while Will sent her a slightly irritated look.

"Which is Alice-speak for, 'he's slowing us down.'"

"I have to agree with Alice on this one, Willie. There's something about Rabbit that I don't trust," Indigo muttered while trying to ignore the confused look the brunette man was sending her. But before he had a chance to question her, she grabbed her things and began walking out of the clearing. "Come on. Let's go get that bottle before it gets dark."

Kaden watched the trio from the shadows until they were out of sight. Not even a second after that passed when he stepped into the light to talk to the White Rabbit. The creature was brushing off his coat and looked up as soon as all the dead grass was off of him, only for him to jump when he saw the Red Knight standing a few feet away from him.

"Go tell Her Majesty the information you've learned," the Scarlet boy told Percy before his eyes fell on the path that his former companions took, "I'll follow them to make sure they don't get there before we do. The Queen knows how to reach me if she wants me to join her."

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Indigo stood in front of one of the only ways out of Wonderland with the Scarlet brothers standing on either side of her. Her brown eyes scanned the shimmering surface that few people from this land knew about as she thought back to the time she helped Jefferson escape years ago. After a moment of the three of them just staring at the portal, the Ace of Spades turned her attention to the moon stationed in the sky right above them. A small smile soon appeared on her lips as she turned her attention back to the brunette brothers.

"Just a few more minutes until it opens," she told them as the shine from the magical door began to glow brighter than before, "remember, only one of us can go through at a time or else it won't work."

"That's the fifth time you told us that, Didi. I think we get it," Kaden laughed while slipping his hand into hers as Will rolled his eyes at their antics.

"Do you really think this will work?" the older Scarlet brother asked as he turned his attention away from the teens and back to their last chance at escaping this place.

"It worked for Jay."

Before their conversation could continue, they were blinded by the bright light emitting from the portal. It wasn't long after that when the glow slowly dimmed to reveal a green forest on the other side. The trio shared a smile at the sight of the Enchanted Forest and their turn at freedom, only for their grins to fall at the sound of approaching footsteps. When the three of them turned toward the source of the sound, they found the Red Queen standing at the end of the clearing with her guards slowly starting to surround them.

The Scarlet brothers instantly took a few steps toward the girl standing between them as the trio unsheathed their swords and prepared themselves for the oncoming battle. Right as their backs touched to keep an eye on their enemy from all sides, the Red Guards lunged toward them then the sound of metal hitting metal filled the air. The clashing continued for an unknown amount of time before Indigo's eyes landed on the portal once again, only to find it completely unguarded and undamaged. However, she was completely oblivious to one of the Scarlet brothers noticing the exact same thing.

As she and Kaden continued to fight against the Queen's guards, Will slowly walked back toward the shining door while continuing to fight. When the Ace of Spades finally noticed the Knave's movements, he was standing directly in front of the shining door and about to take his first step through.

"Will, stop!" the curly-haired girl shouted, causing the man in question to freeze and turn back around to face her while she and his brother continued to keep the Red Guards at bay, "are you seriously just gonna leave us behind?! After we made a deal to leave this place together?!"

"I'm sorry, Indie, I can't risk being in this realm any longer," he responded as he took a step back so that half his body went through the portal, "I promise to come back for you both once I find a way."

Before Indigo or Kaden could even think about saying another word, Will disappeared through the magical door before its glow slowly began to fade. The Ace of Spades glanced up at the sky to find the moon moving across the sky and away from the portal before the door stopped shining altogether.

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After Indigo led the pair through clean-cut paths for most of the day, the trio was greeted by a wall of fully-grown trees in their path. The Ace of Spades stared at the newly discovered greenery with confusion in her eyes, completely unaware of Alice unsheathing her sword until the woman used it to cut through the branches in their path. The curly-haired girl just watched the curious adventurer for a moment before looking up at Will. She found him staring back at her before he sent her a shrug and followed Alice.

With the blonde now taking the lead, Indigo felt herself falling back a bit to walk behind Will as her survival instincts began to take over. She followed in their footsteps with her hand tightly wound around the hilt of her dagger as her eyes scanned her surroundings for any sign of danger. When her eyes landed back on the two walking in front of her, she began to have a mental debate on whether she should continue on her journey or go back into hiding.

"Care to tell me why you think they're going to betray you?" the Mad Hatter's voice rang through her ears while her attention stayed glued to the back of the Knave of Hearts, "Scarlet already told you he came back for you. What else do you want from him for you to trust him?"

"The last time I fully trusted the Scarlet brothers, one of them left me behind to deal with his crazy ex while the other almost put a sword through my chest," Indigo muttered, completely unaware of the Knave of Hearts listening to her one-sided conversation as she pushed a branch back to avoid getting smacked in the forehead, "why do you even care if I trust him or not? You never liked either of them to begin with."

"And I still don't. But I know both of them meant something to you. I'm also sick and tired of hearing all of your conflicting thoughts. It's exhausting."

"Oh, and listening to you go on and on about the perfect tea-making techniques is so entertaining," Indigo retaliated, earning an annoyed sigh from Jefferson before she caught Will gazing back at her with a concerned look on his face.

"Keep up, would you? We're making good time," Alice called out to them, ending any conversation between the two before it even began as the blonde woman continued to cut a path for them to walk through, "if we keep at this pace, we'll arrive at Mimsy Meadows before midday."

"You may want to lower your voice. The walls in this place have ears, literally. There are walls with actual ears," the brunette man responded while slowing his pace down a bit to walk by Indigo's side.

"He's right, Alice. We don't want the whole of Wonderland to know where we're going," the Ace of Spades added before she ducked to avoid a branch that the blonde woman pushed aside.

"You're thinking about what happens if we find him?"

"When."

"When we find him," the Knave of Hearts corrected himself before letting out a long sigh after exchanging an unconvinced look with the curly-haired girl at his side, "what if it's nothing like you thought?"

As soon as he finished his words, Alice came to a sudden stop and spun around to face her traveling companions with a hint of anger in her eyes. "Meaning?"

"Well, I just think to protect yourself, you should consider the possibility that things may be different," Will explained himself, only to continue to receive an irritated look from the woman in front of him, "you've been gone a long time."

"Cyrus is waiting for me. He needs me."

"Then why hasn't he contacted you?" Indigo retaliated after deciding this was the best time to get more information out of the blonde who was blindly leading them toward the unknown, "if you know where he is, surely he knows where you are, too."

"The only reason he hasn't contacted me is because he must be in trouble. That's why we need to pick up the pace," Alice stated while gesturing toward the trees that blocked their path.

"Or he's moved on," Will suggested, only to receive a sour look from the curious adventurer before she took a step closer to the pair in front of her.

"Not a chance. What Cyrus and I have...well, neither of you would understand."

Once she finished speaking, Alice turned her back on her companions again before continuing on her way. Indigo stood in her place for a moment longer, unable to find it within herself to take another step. Her thoughts filled with memories of her and the Red Knight as her grip on her dagger became so tight her knuckles turned white.

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"This way! Quickly!" Kaden shouted as he led Indigo through the Wonderlandian forest and away from the Red Queen's advancing guards.

The two ran as fast as they could toward the Outskirts of Wonderland, which was the only place where they would be safe from the woman's clutches. When the bronze brush came into view, the Ace of Spades sent a large grin in the Scarlet boy's direction. It wasn't long after that when the two interlocked their hands and continued toward their safe haven. Just as they were about to leap over a small stream and complete their journey into the Outskirts, two men dressed in red appeared out of nowhere and blocked their path.

Indigo and Kaden skidded to a halt and were about to change directions, only for more guards to appear until the duo was surrounded. The two teens went to grab their swords to fight their way out of their current situation. But their actions were stopped by a pair of guards grabbing them and pulling them to opposite sides of the clearing. As soon as both of them were restrained, the guards cleared a path for the Red Queen to enter the clearing before her men sealed their only means of escape.

The blonde woman sent a cocky smirk in Indigo's direction before she turned and made her way toward Kaden. The Ace of Spades continued to struggle against her captors' grasp while watching the Red Queen mutter something to the Scarlet boy. Not even a second after that passed when Anastasia plunged her hand into the boy's chest and pulled out his heart. The curly-haired girl's body stilled at the sight of the glowing red object in the Queen's hand while her guards released Kaden. It wasn't long after that when the smirking blonde woman turned her attention back toward the girl.

"Kill her," the Red Queen whispered into Kaden's heart, making the latter move his gaze over to Indigo. The two of them stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before Kaden unsheathed his sword and slowly made his way toward Indigo.

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Her fingers continued to grow tighter around the hilt until she was snapped out of her daze by a hand placed on her shoulder. Indigo looked up to find Will looking down at her with worry in his eyes. The two just stared at the other for a long moment before the curly-haired girl shrugged his hand off her shoulder and followed Alice through the path she cleared. When she finally pushed through the last of the greenery, the Ace of Spades found the blonde woman standing on a sandy shore looking out at a large body of water. Something that Indigo didn't remember being there before.

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