Rubynrags (by the way, the last one was mine):
We arrived at Thackery's house around midnight.
" Veronica!" Thackery hugged me with a grin," You..with the...and the...FUTTERWHACKEN!!!" he yelled in my ear.
" Beautiful nightgown." the Chesire Cat remarked. I tried to pull it down lower, feeling weird without wearing my over-sized bloomers. I walked over to Queenie, Chess, and Hatter.
" Thank you guys, for everything you've done," I hugged them one-by-one. " I wish I could see how bad her majesty is freaking out."
" Glad to eavesdropp." Queenie smiled and tried to see into the Red Queen's Quarters.
" They did WHAT?!" the Queen shrieked.
" Exactly as I said," Stayne repeated," Harriet Hatter and her two bratty friends came and kidnapped....er....Victoria."
" Veronica, Stayne." She looked as if she was about to burst into tears. " Niccy....is....once again......gone...." she took a deep breath," It's okay, Iracabeth.....she found her way back last time.........she can do it again...." She sat down onto her canopy bed," Oh, who am I kidding?! Niccy's gone, Stayne! Gone gone gone gone..." she buried her face into her pillow, truely a pathectic sight, to see one's misstress in such a position.
" There there, my Queen," Stayne patted the sobbing Red Queen's shoulder, " you still have me." Stayne was not at all sad to be rid of Niccy, and was rather happy to have himself be once again the Red Queen's favourite.
" I suppose..." the Queen sat up, her mascara running down her huge face. " It's not like we can steal her back- OH MY GOD, STAYNE, I'M BRILLIANT!!!"
" Say what?"
" We can STEAL Niccy back! We've done it before! You kidnap people all the time! We could do it!" She kissed Stayne. " Oh, I'm so happy!" She stood up and started pacing.
" Now, how shall we do it, Stayne?"
" The Bandersnatch?" Stayne said, conjuring the absolute worst answer he could find. The Bandersnatch? In a little tea party area? Absolutely ridiculous, he thought.
" Perfect, we'll use my Bandersnatch!"
" Your majesty, I was merely jok-"
" No time for merely doing things, Stayne! I'm offf to go get my favourite back!"
" ...you?"
" Yes me," The Red Queen put a amazingly-long cloak on with a hood amazingly big enough for her head. " Who else would I trust with Niccy? You?"
" I brought her back last time."
" Uh-huh, yeah, and she's gone again. No more 'Niccy Missions' for you, love. As a wise Mr. 'Scarface' Capone once said,' You can get farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.' "
"What does that have to do with anything?"
" Stayne, that is entirely besides the point!" She went out the door, then popped her head back in, " If I do not come back with Niccy, we declare war onto the Hatter and his trouppe." and with that, she left.
" You must be kidding!" Hatter said.
" Is she serious, the Bandersnatch?!" Chess exclaimed.
" That's what she said, I saw it!"
" Oh...." I sat down, my stomach suddenly uneasy. " It's all my fault...again...."
" Hey," Chess smiled," What other chance would I have to use these babies," she flicked out her claws," to gouge out that over-pampered poodle's eyeballs?"
" If I just beat up Stayne, that dog-cat-thingy should be no problem." Hatter hugged my shoulders.
" Long live the White Queen, and down with the bloody big head," Queenie laughed.
" You guys don't joke around when it comes to mad," I weakly smiled. Clutching my stomach, I was about to barf. " Ohhh..." I was much more nervous than I had ever been, so much more confused than I ever knew I could be, and much more guilty feeling knowing I may cost my friends their lives.
" I could use a White Queen recipe, it might make you feel better. It's made of eyeballs, saliva, buttered fingers of a dead man-" I ran behind the tea tables and threw up my guts. Metaphorically.
" Nice going, Queenie," Chess nudged Queenie hard with her elbow.
I sat in Tarrant's bed that night. He started wiping the remains of any puke off my cheek.
" Mr.Hightopp," I said sadly, " please tell me you aren't going through with battling that...thing?"
" Of course, Veronica." He wiped a little puke off my face with his sleeve like it was nothing. " Would you mind making some tarts tomorrow? With tea in them?"
" Mr.Hightopp, I think tarts are the least of your worries!"
" Very true, it'll take a while to clean up your mess behind the tables," he looked up and smiled, " nice form, I may add. I was once holding a reguritating contest with Thackery and-"
" Mr.Hightopp, please, say on topic! Hatter, Chess, Queenie, heck, EVERYONE might die because I screwed up!!!"
" No one will die and no one screwed up. Screwing up is something for screwdrivers to do." I laughed a little, but then turning serious again.
" Mr.Hightopp-"
" My name is not 'Mister' so please stop calling me that. Call me Tarrant.
" Alright, Tarrant, then-"
" Just Tarrant, no need for the 'then' at the end."
" Please, listen to me! You might die and it's all my fault!"
" I doubt that." He kissed my forehead, something I'd seen him do to the three girls when they are troubled, " Everything will be wonderful." He smiled, stood up, and turned out the bedroom lights.
" Veronica," I heard him say from the dark, " Just cocentrate on those tarts tomorrow. I need them for six o' clock tea, right after we kick the Bandersnatch's butt."
I laughed to myself and fell asleep.
