Who's Alice? (A Black Butler/Ciel Love Story)

Chapter 15

The next morning, Ciel and I were forced onto the train. No one else was on that train, which only made me more worried. Not only because that meant we really were going to court, but that the Queen would be bored. All her punishments were worse when she was bored.

Ciel and I hadn't spoken to each other since the night before at Lighter Valley. I think we were both embarrassed by what happened. It just shocked me, really. I thought he would have loved to stay in Wonderland if he didn't like England so much. Was his revenge really so important? Well, I guess I couldn't judge. I didn't have parents, and if I did, they had to be dead. Still, there was no recollection in my mind. I could never feel the same pain Ciel did. Maybe it wasn't too unreasonable to want to leave so he could continue his search for whoever killed his parents.

We sat across from each other. I looked out of the window and watched the water and sunrise. The train didn't require tracks to run. It just needed the air. It would land on tracks once more soon, but it was kind of fun knowing you were basically flying. So many dreamed of the feeling, and I actually was.

"Alice?" Ciel finally spoke. I looked over at him. "I don't know what's going to happen once we reach the castle, so I just wanted to say thank you for everything. You've been the greatest help here."

"There's no need. I was just trying to help, mate," I dismissed. He nodded in response and fell quiet for a few minutes more.

"You seem a bit calmer about our situation now," he observed.

I grimaced and shook my head, "No, I'm just a pretty good actor." His frown deepened.

When I turned back to the window, the castle was in view. It was truly magnificent. The bricks it was made out of were white, but the pointed tops were crimson, like someone had gotten lazy while painting. The accents and decorations were also red. All I saw was my place of death, though. It was hard to envision anything else. I would have liked to only see the castle from afar, not go inside.

The train lurched when it hit the tracks. I coughed violently, but Ciel managed to help calm me down. I told him breathlessly, "We're... almost there."

A few minutes later, the train halted. We were at the platform. "Are you ready?" Ciel asked as he stood.

I sighed and mimicked his motion, "Ready as I'll ever be, mate." That meant I really wasn't ready. No one could be prepared for their death. Still, I would never tell him that I allowed him to lead the way off the train. The door was opened by one of the House of Cards walking around the platform and castle. He was the Three of Spades. Then, he was joined by the Six of Hearts. They were there to take us away.

House of Cards all looked the same. They had long, black hair tied into a ponytail and spectacles. Their eyes were a strange yellow. The only way to tell them apart was by the cutout pinned in their hair.

As they walked us along, Ciel said quietly, "This place is strange. Much stranger than all the others. I can't begin to guess why we were called here."

I reminded him, "I poisoned a lake."

He asked, "But why would that require me?"

I shrugged, "You were there. I mean, honestly, who knows? The Queen is the Queen. She doesn't need to abide by reason." We walked past the knights standing in two rows like a path to the giant red front doors.

When we walked through, I knew that there would be no foyer or Grand Hall. It was the courtroom. It made the place very inviting, yeah? Ciel and I were shoved into the stand as the knights moved to stand next to us. When I looked on the floor below us, I saw the Dodo, the Fungus, the Caterpillar, the Mock Turtle, the Dormouse, the March Hare, and the Hedgehog already in the stand for the witnesses. I wondered why they would all be there? What had we done to them? Well, besides me breaking the Turtle's record.