Chapter 98: Old Friends

The Rabbit walked through a forest where the trees had forgotten how to die.

Purple mist curled around his boots.

His pocket watch ticked backwards.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

His swirling purple-black eyes reflected nothing.

The smoke drifting from them left faint trails in the air before dissolving into the gray sky.

Ahead, an old wooden cottage stood beside a hill of oversized mushrooms.

A kettle whistled softly.

The Rabbit smiled.

“Still pretending to be normal.”

He knocked.

No answer.

He sighed dramatically before opening the door himself.

“I’ve come in! Hello?”

The room appeared empty.

A teacup floated through the air.

A chair slid backward by itself.

The fireplace crackled.

Then a familiar grin appeared.

Bright white teeth.

Suspended in empty space.

“You’re late.”

The Rabbit laughed.

“Fashionably.”

Two golden eyes appeared above the grin.

Then a purple nose.

Then whiskers.

Finally, the rest of the enormous Cheshire Cat slowly shimmered into existence.

His striped body constantly shifted between reality and illusion.

Parts of him vanished while others became transparent.

His tail detached itself, lazily floating through the room before reconnecting.

The two regarded each other for several seconds.

Then simultaneously burst into laughter.

“You look terrible,” the Rabbit said.

“So do you.”

“You’ve gotten thinner.”

“You’ve gotten crazier.”

“I thought that was impossible.”

“So did I.”

The Rabbit walked over.

Without another word, the two embraced like old soldiers reunited after a war.

After a moment they stepped apart.

“You’ve changed,” Cheshire observed.

The Rabbit’s smoke-filled eyes slowly rotated.

“So have you.”

The Cat scratched behind one ear.

“It has been… what?”

He tilted his head.

“A few centuries?”

“Give or take.”

The kettle whistled again.

“Would you fancy a cup of tea from an old pal”

The Rabbit nodded.

“I definitely hoped you’d ask.”

Moments later the two sat across from one another.

Steam drifted from porcelain cups.

For a while neither spoke.

The silence wasn’t awkward.

Old friends rarely needed words.

Eventually Cheshire sighed.

“I really do miss the old days.”

“So do I.”

“When roads actually went somewhere.”

“When clocks behaved.”

“When children laughed and played.”

“When Wonderland was…” Cheshire paused.

“…alive.”

The Rabbit stared into his tea.

Before the corruption.

Before nightmares.

Before the Hollow King nonsense started.

Neither wanted to continue that sentence.

Instead a purple Cat  reached beside his chair.

An old television now sat on a crooked table.

It certainly hadn’t been there a moment earlier.

He tapped its side.

Static hissed.

The screen flickered.

One picture.

Then another.

The television showed places impossible for any normal device to see.

A distant ocean.

A ruined kingdom.

The Nightmare Hotel.

Finally…

Gene.

Selene.

Lilith.

The screen showed them bursting from Queen Rosanella’s castle as nightmare creatures flooded after them.

Wilbur punched through stone walls.

Gene’s chaos armor crashed into monsters.

Selene’s magic lit the battlefield.

Lilith and Fluffy fought like tiny whirlwinds of destruction.

The television froze on Wilbur rising after losing his arm.

The room became quiet.

“They survived some how.”

“They are totally full of surprises!”

The Rabbit smiled.

“I told you it’ll be interesting.”

“That you did.”

Cheshire sipped his tea.

“So.”

The Rabbit reached beneath his chair.

From nowhere he produced a weathered leather satchel.

It landed softly on the table.

The curious cat looked inside.

His smile somehow widened.

“Oh my my my.”

He reached into the satchel.

Out came…

A cracked silver spoon.

A rusted pocket compass.

Three oddly shaped chess pieces.

A broken clock hand.

An old ribbon.

Lastly, A tiny glass bottle filled with shimmering blue dust.

The Cat laughed.

“You’ve been collecting again.”

“I’ve been preparing.”

The Cat gently returned everything.

“I wondered where these disappeared to.”

“I borrowed them.”

“You stole them.”

“I borrowed them permanently.”

“I suppose if you look at it in a certain way.”

A grandfather clock somewhere in the cottage chimed.

One.

Two.

Three.

The Cat stood.

“I believe…”

He stretched.

“…we should rejoin the war efforts.”

The Rabbit nodded.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

The Cat picked up his teacup.

“After tea of course.”

“Naturally.”

The Rabbit snapped his fingers.

A comfortable armchair appeared beside the fireplace.

Then another.

A silver tea service floated through the air.

Fresh cups materialized.

“I thought we’d need a few snacks.”

The Cat chuckled.

“You always were dramatic.”

“And you always pretended not to enjoy my company.””

The Cat raised his cup.

“To old friends.”

The Rabbit clinked his against it.

“And new heroes.”

Far away…

The war continued.

⸻

Several hours later…

Resistance Headquarters.

The underground tavern buzzed with exhausted conversation.

Survivors filled every chair.

Bandages wrapped fresh wounds.

The smell of soup drifted through the room.

Gene finally had to sit down to take a 10 minute break.

Selene rested beside him.

Lilith was happily eating what appeared to be her fourth bowl of stew.

Wilbur, despite having only one arm now, argued with Baby Bear over whose turn it was to wash dishes.

For the first time since escaping the castle…

Everyone breathed.

Then Athena spoke through Gene’s helmet.

WARNING.

Gene froze.

Selene immediately noticed.

“What is it?”

Athena’s voice remained perfectly calm.

Multiple unidentified biological signatures detected.

Gene slowly stood.

“Where?”

Inside this tavern.

The room suddenly felt colder.

Gene looked around.

Resistance members continued eating.

Talking.

Laughing.

Nothing seemed wrong.

Athena continued.

Warning.

Warning

Hostile aura levels increasing.

Gene opened his mouth.

“Every—”

A man screamed.

Everyone turned.

The middle-aged resistance fighter grabbed his chest.

Blood seeped through his shirt.

His eyes bulged.

“Why—”

His ribs expanded outward.

Something pushed beneath his skin.

Crack.

Crunch.

Crack.

Bones audibly snapped.

His jaw stretched impossibly wide.

Blood poured out from his mouth.

People screamed.

Then…

Two impossibly long, pale hands slowly emerged out from the man’s throat.

The fingers gripped either side of the man’s mouth.

The hands pushed and stretched the man’s jaw apart.

Flesh split as the body started convulsing violently.

With a wet tearing sound…

The Rabbit’s head appeared.

He ripped himself out of the  man, as if he were an old pair of basketball tare away pants.

Covered in blood.

Completely unharmed.

The man’s corpse collapsed behind him.

Silence lasted less than a second.

The Rabbit adjusted one cufflink.

“Oh dear.”

He looked around.

“Pardon me! I think i over shot the entrance.”

Before anyone could react…

A resistance member transformed.

His skin blackened.

Bones twisted.

His smile stretched across his face.

A nightmare creature.

Another followed.

Then another.

Cult infiltrators.P

Disguised.

Waiting.

The Rabbit moved first.

His umbrella flashed.

One creature lost its head.

Another had both knees shattered before its skull exploded against a nearby table.

Blood sprayed across the room.

The final beastman panicked.

“RUN!”

He bolted toward the door.

He never reached it.

His body suddenly stopped.

He found himself floating up into the air.

Invisible teeth began eating the screaming man.

Chunk.

Chunk.

Chunk.

Pieces vanished one bite at a time.

Blood poured downward like crimson rain.

The room stared in horrified silence.

A massive blood-covered smile slowly appeared beside the floating body.

Then mutiple pairs of yellow eyes danced through the air.

Then a striped head twisted itself into existence.

The Cheshire Cat.

His mouth was stained a unique scarlet.

He swallowed loudly.

“A tad stale… and could use some salt.”

The nightmare’s screamed in rage.

One had his head popped out of existence. 

Another bite removed everything above the man’s torso.

Nothing remained except for spilling organs and twitching legs. 

Crimson droplets hovered lightly in the air as another mouth came into existence.

The Cat licked its fangs.

“Not that bad, I tasted way worse last time I fought at this castle.”

The remaining living corpses shuddered.

Black mist seeped from their wounds.

The undead infiltrators began changing.

Bones elongated.

Limbs multiplied.

Their bodies warped into grotesque nightmare creatures.

The Rabbit sighed.

“They never do  stay dead anymore.”

Gene slowly smiled.

The room looked between the newcomers and Gene.

Gene scratched the back of his head.

“…You know what.”

He laughed.

“I was literally just thinking we could use some reinforcements.”

The Rabbit tipped his hat.

“Convenient timing then.”

The Cheshire Cat’s grin widened until it split its face.

“Did someone Say…

He glanced at the nightmare creatures beginning to rise.

“Seems like it’ll be time soon.”

Behind him, the grandfather clock hanging on the tavern wall struck another hour.

The sound echoed through the underground headquarters.

For the first time in years…

A few ancient guardians of Wonderland had returned.

And this time…

They had chosen a side.