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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟓
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐘

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"I suppose we could swim across," Alice suggested, breaking the silence that surrounded the trio while they continued to stare at the large body of water in front of them.

"No, we can't," Will responded with a hint of fear in his voice which caused Indigo to remember one very important fact about both of the Scarlet men.

While the curly-haired girl sent a concerned look in the brunette man's direction, she caught Alice sending him an irritated glance before the former let out a silent sigh. "Before you say anything condescending, you should know that he and his brother aren't known for being strong swimmers...or any kind of swimmers."

"How have you lived your whole life and never-"

"I was doing other things," Will interrupted the curious traveler while keeping his eyes glued to the vast lake a few feet in front of him.

"Like what?"

"Like being afraid of water, Alice."

Indigo studied the annoyed look on the woman's face for a long moment before a wave of anger washed over her like a tsunami. The Ace of Spades suppressed an eye roll as she pushed herself between the two to act as a buffer then found herself looking up at the Scarlet man with a small smile on her face.

"It's fine, Will. We'll just take the fairy. It'll be faster anyway," the curly-haired girl told the Knave of Hearts while ignoring the irritated sigh coming from Alice's direction.

Her words caused the brunette man to finally snap his attention away from the water to meet the young girl's brown eyes. Confusion replaced the anger that was coursing through Indigo's veins at the panic in Will's eyes before he finally opened his mouth to speak. "Or, better idea, we walk...we walk around it."

"Walk around the entire thing?" Indigo questioned as the confusion within her did nothing but grow while she continued to study the man in front of her, "that would take two days at least so that's not an option considering we're working on borrowed time. It's either we swim across or take the fairy."

The only response the girl received from the Knave of Hearts was a long sigh before the former caught Alice walking toward the shore out of the corner of her eye. She and Will watched as the blonde woman stood as close to the water as possible. Not even a second after that passed when she began to start randomly clapping while looking toward the horizon. After a moment of her continuing what any onlooker would consider a ridiculous act, the curious traveler turned her attention back toward her traveling companions and gestured to them to join her. The brunette man sent the girl next to him a slightly annoyed look before he let out a sigh and went to join the woman. A small smile slowly began to appear on Indigo's face at the sight of Alice and Will clapping their hands at practically nothing before walking toward the water and copying their actions.

A small shimmer of light could be seen in the distance as soon as the Ace of Spade began to clap before it got closer and closer until it was right above them. Once the fairy's true form could be seen, Alice called out to the magical creature as she and her companions stopped clapping. Indigo watched in awe as the fairy flew right in front of the blonde woman's face before she grew to the size of a normal human in a flash of blue light.

"I am the fairy Silvermist. Where may I-" the raven-haired woman cut herself off at the sight of the Scarlet man standing next to Indigo, causing the curly-haired girl to look up at the Knave to finally see the uncomfortable look he was sporting.

"Heya, Silv."

In response to the man's greeting, the fairy slapped him so hard that the Ace of Spades thought she felt it before Will stood up straight once again. The second his eyes met Silvermist's again, she used her other hand to smack him once again. The fairy's actions made both Alice and Indigo wince as the latter turned her full attention back to the magical woman. "I take it you know each other."

"Awfully bold of you to show your face in Wonderland. Do you know how many people are looking for you?" Silvermist ranted as if the curly-haired girl never said a word while she kept her eyes glued to the Knave of Hearts.

"Might be easier to figure out how many aren't."

"You think you're funny?"

"I think I'm buggered no matter what I say right now," Will retaliated while shoving his hands into his pockets right as the two women next to him exchanged a confused look.

"Perhaps you two might continue reminiscing while we make our way across the lake," Alice suggested with a hint of urgency in her voice while Indigo continued to study the irritated look on the fairy's face.

"I think we have to walk," the curly-haired girl muttered, earning an elbow in the side from the Scarlet man that almost made her stumble into the sand.

"Not at all. I'm happy to take you," Silvermist announced as she turned her attention toward the shocked-looking Ace of Spades.

"All three of us?" Indigo questioned with a hint of skepticism in her voice as she glanced over at Alice and Will before her eyes settled on the fairy once again, "are you sure?"

"Of course. It's my job, and I'm a professional. I don't let feelings get in the way of my work," the fairy responded before glancing over at the brunette man, "especially old feelings that I've completely moved on from."

"Okay. Thank you very much," Alice told her as Indigo nodded along with the blonde woman's words.

When the young girl looked up at the man at her side, she found him simply staring out into the distance with a blank expression on his face. A sigh passed over her lips before she nudged him just as hard as he did to her, causing him to send her an annoyed look. It wasn't long after that when his eyes landed back on the fairy once again. "Yeah, thank you very much."

"Excellent. Well, then, we need to get to the Tum Tum Tree in Mimsy Meadows," the curious adventurer told the fairy, only to receive wide-eyed looks from both of her traveling companions before she furrowed her eyebrows in their direction, "what? I need to tell her where we're going."

"Don't worry. You can trust me. I'm here to help," Silvermist said to the blonde woman as she waved her wand in the air, causing blue pixie dust to surround the trio before their feet left the ground. Once they were in the air, the fairy returned to her tiny size before she began to fly across the lake with her passengers in tow.

Kaden stood just inside the tree line and watched as the three travelers flew across the water and off into the distance. He was about to make his way forward to swim across the large lake, only for him to stop in his tracks when he felt a sharp pain in his chest.

The Red Knight slowly backed up into the coverage of the branches so he wouldn't be seen before he leaned against a tree and clutched the area where his heart should be to make the pain subside. The pain continued for another moment or two then it slowly faded away as the Red Queen's voice began to run through his head. Come back to the castle at once. We have work to do.

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Indigo watched in terror as Kaden stalked toward her with his sword in hand. She continued to struggle to break free from the Red Queen's guards before her eyes met the Scarlet boy's emotionless ones once again. Fear flowed through every inch of her body at the sight of the brunette she had known for years staring at her as if she was an absolute stranger. As if she was someone who meant absolutely nothing to him.

Her attention stayed glued to Kaden for a moment longer before Indigo elbowed the man restraining her as hard as she could in the stomach. The guard instantly loosened his grip around her as he slightly doubled over in pain, giving the Lark girl the opportunity to grab the sword from his sheath. Once the handle was tightly gripped in her hand, she spun around to face her best friend.

As the two teens circled each other while waiting for their opponent to make the first move, one of the guards moved to grab Indigo, only to be stopped by the Red Queen herself. Her blue eyes were glued to the scene before her as a smirk slowly formed on her face. This was a show she didn't want to miss.

"You can fight this, Kay," the Ace of Spades whispered as she adjusted her grip around the sword's hilt, "you're stronger than her magic."

Her only response from the Scarlet boy was a small grunt before he lunged at her. Indigo was taken off guard by his sudden attack and barely had time to block it, resulting in his sword nicking her cheek just under her eye. As she used all her strength to keep her lost friend at bay, the Lark girl could only wonder how she was going to save Kaden from the Red Queen.

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"I must admit, I do enjoy the flying," Will said as he looked around in awe at all the things he could see before his eyes landed back on Silvermist. Indigo watched from the corner of her eye as the Knave of Hearts stared at the fairy with a hint of guilt in his eyes before he continued speaking. "For what it's worth, Sil, I enjoyed some of the other bits as well."

The Lark girl smacked the Knave as hard as she could in his arm, causing him to send her a confused look right as they heard a small scoff come from the fairy. Before anyone was able to say another word, Silvermist forced them to stop in mid-air and turned around to face them with a blank look on her face. The magical being just stared at the Scarlet man for a long moment while Indigo and Alice watched with a hint of fear in their eyes. It wasn't until a smirk appeared on the raven-haired woman's face that Indigo knew for sure Will was doomed.

"Not nearly as much as I'm going to enjoy this."

As soon as she finished speaking, Silvermist pointed her wand directly at the Knave of Hearts before he fell from the sky. Will's screams filled the air as Alice shouted his name and Indigo watched in horror as the brunette man splashed into the water.

"I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for that," the fairy told the two women with a proud smile on her face while the Ace of Spades stared back at her with anger coursing through her veins.

"How could you do that?!" the curly-haired girl shouted at Silvermist as she gestured down toward the lake.

"Trust me. He deserved it."

"Oh, I don't doubt that! But we have to get him! He can't swim!"

"Sorry. No detours."

Indigo sent another glare toward the dark-haired fairy before turning her attention back to where Will vanished. Her eyes didn't leave the water for a long moment before she let out a sigh.

"I hate magic so much," the Ace of Spades muttered under her breath as she broke free of Silvermist's fairy dust and dove toward the lake to save the Knave of Hearts.

As soon as she felt the water surrounding her, Indigo opened her eyes and looked through the blurry world for any sign of the Scarlet man. She kept turning around in the water like Jefferson after tea time before she spotted a human-like silhouette floating in the water. The curly-haired girl swam toward the man without an ounce of hesitation and wrapped her arms around his body as soon as she reached him. It took her a moment to get a good grip on his form before she used all her strength to pull him toward the surface.

Their coughs were the only thing that was heard when they broke through the water then they were followed by a loud splash. When Indigo turned her attention toward the source of the sound, she found Alice swimming toward them before the two girls worked together to get Will to a small island in the center of the lake.

"What did you do to that fairy?" the blonde woman asked the man after all three of them settled down on the stone-covered piece of land.

"What did I do to her?" Will responded in an offensive tone as he turned to look at both the women sitting across from him, "she just tossed me into the bloody lake!"

"Which you clearly deserved!" Indigo shouted before she looked around at the water that surrounded them then rubbed her hands down the sides of her face, "now we're stuck in the middle of nowhere, all because you broke a fairy's heart!"

"Well, she shouldn't have given it away in the first place."

"People can't help falling in love, Will," Alice told the Knave, causing all the anger the Ace of Spades was feeling toward the man to fade at the sight of all emotion vanishing from his face.

When the Scarlet man noticed his young friend closely watching him, he turned away from Indigo. He kept his eyes glued to Alice while the Lark girl watched him put on a mask to hide his true feelings. "Sure, they can. You just sneak out in the middle of the night, grab your trousers, your keys, and don't ever look back."

"How did you get this way? Who did this to you?"

"This isn't about me, Alice. If it were, I'd be sat back at home, happily watching the telly...don't ask," Will said in a calmer tone at the same time Indigo reached into her pocket to wrap her hand around the red knight chess piece, "look, all I'm trying to tell you is, you've got this picture of Cyrus in your mind, these perfect little memories of how things were. But maybe that's just how they were for you."

"It wasn't like that," the curious adventurer muttered just loud enough for them to hear while the curly-haired girl kept her eyes glued to the Scarlet man as his words replayed in her head, "and if you really believe that, what are we doing here?"

"This is your quest, Alice, not mine, and not Indie's. We're in it for the wishes, just like everybody else looking for a genie."

The Kingsleigh woman just stared at the man in front of her for a moment longer before letting out a scoff and turning her back to him. After watching Will look down at his intertwined fingers, Indigo's eyes went to the blue water that surrounded them. She couldn't help but wonder if she truly was in it for the wish. Or maybe a small part of her, somewhere deep down within, thought this was her only chance to save Kaden.

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