White Hearts Hospital, London
“L ewis! Behind you!” Fabiola was shouting as she fought the Reds.
Lewis Carroll had morphed into a child again. One who’d been playing a video game of killing Reds who were trying to stop him and Fabiola from reaching out and helping the Inklings.
“One down!” the rabbit in Lewis’ pocket stuck its head out, cheering for its master.
“Two down!” Fabiola killed another Red, back to back with Lewis.
“Long time,” Lewis grinned, battling along as they descended the hospital stairs.
“I thought I’d never be myself again,” Fabiola commented, choking another Red.
“I see you have healed,” Lewis said. The closer they came to the door at the bottom of the stairs, the more the noise outside increased. The world was in a mad state of war.
“Seeing you did the trick for me,” she said. “Never give up on us, Lewis.”
He said nothing, fighting a little, tiny, teeny tear in his eyes.
“Never give up on the most precious thing,” Fabiola said, reaching the bottom of the stairs. They had only a couple of Reds to fight to kick the doors open and face the world.
“What’s that most precious thing everyone is talking about?” the rabbit peeked its white head out, chewing on a carrot, “Really? What is it?”
Fabiola and Lewis exchanged a brief look. It was as if they held to certain secrets between them. The rabbit couldn’t read between those lines.
“It’s what this war is all about,” Fabiola said, stabbing a Red to his death.
Lewis killed the other two; then he peeked out through the broken glass in the door leading outside.
“How bad is it?” Fabiola asked.
“It’s mad.”
“That’s sad!” the rabbit said, trying to rhyme up. “Mad, sad, and bad!”
“So it’s happening,” Fabiola said.
“The Wonderland War,” Lewis nodded absently. “I never thought I’d live to see this day.”
“How can you say that?” Fabiola asked. “This what you’ve been waiting for.”
“Sometimes the things you wait for, feel so different from what you expected them to be.”
“Let me see,” she shared the view outside. “It’s a mess.”
“People don’t even know what they are fighting for.”
“They think they are fighting terrorism.”
“In the form of a group called the Inklings.”
“A mad group, I beg your pardon,” Fabiola said. “The sane humans think they are fighting madness.”
“They are being used.”
“Black Chess played it well,” Lewis said. “The Vatican Pope is a slick addition to their manipulation.”
“So what’s our next move?”
“We have to help Alice and her friends by the river,” Lewis said.
“Are we going to tell them everything?”
“Too soon to think about that. Let’s gather as the Inklings once again. We’ll take it from there. Saving Alice and her friends is a priority.”
“Let’s do that,” Fabiola reached for the handle, but Lewis stopped her.
“You know the Pillar is dead, right?” he asked.
She felt a lump in her throat. “So?”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Of course I’m okay. I only regret not killing him myself.”
“Why haven’t you then?” Lewis was curious. “All those chances you had, you could just have stopped him.”
“You know he has fourteen lives,” she said.
“That’s not it. You could have killed him 14 times. You’ve been around him so long — not to mention that maybe he isn’t dead yet, having so many lives.”
“I just couldn’t, Lewis. Let’s not talk about it,” Fabiola looked away.
The rabbit in Lewis’ jacket got ever curiouser and curiouser.
“I need to know, Fabiola,” Lewis said. “I don’t want surprises. It’s a sensitive time. Why did you not kill him?”
Tears rolled down Fabiola’s cheeks.
“Good,” Lewis said.
“Don’t be cruel to me, Lewis. You know what he did.”
“I’m not cruel. I need to know you didn’t switch sides. That you don’t have personal plans that will conflict with the Wonderland War.”
Fabiola dried her tears and straightened up. “I didn’t kill him because…”
“Because?”
“Alice loved him. It pained me not to kill him every second I saw his ugly face. I wouldn’t mind stabbing him a million times, not just fourteen. But somehow he touched Alice in ways I’ve never seen before. And he knew it. He used it, all the time. Or he wouldn’t have introduced her to me in the Vatican in the first place. He knew my heart would weaken, seeing her.”
“But you were not sure it was her at first.”
“I wasn’t, Lewis, but I hoped. Who wouldn’t hope that the Real Alice is back? I pushed her. I hated her. I even wanted to kill her. With all the conflicting feelings inside, I did my best in case there was a tiny hope that it’s her. In case we can save the most precious thing.”
Lewis nodded. He knew how hard it was for her. Oh, God, how she had suffered in Wonderland. Damn you, Pillar, Lewis thought. He pushed the door open, ready to fight thousands of people who wanted him and Fabiola dead.