Magical flame danced on the remains of what had been a magnificent chandelier, illuminating the throne room with an eerie reddish tint. The walls were lined with portraits, presumably of the red queen, now torn and dirty. The floor was covered with both the usual broken tiles and a long strip of red carpet leading up to the throne, where the gold and velvet throne of the red queen lay among a bed of roses.
The queen herself rose from her chair and slowly approached the Dreamer hanging from several thorny vines extending from the ceiling. Her body no older than that of a child, her massive claws hung at her sides as she circled around Glen.
"All right," Glen said, trying to ignore the pain of the thorns slowly digging into her skin. "Now what?"
"A lesson, if you are clever enough to absorb it. You seek the heart of darkness from which the ichor spews forth, but suppose you should find it; what then?"
"Then I'd deal with it." Energy blades erupted from the ends of Headache, slashing through the thick vines. Glen landed on her feet, tek-boots appearing on them as she landed. She immediately boosted away from the Red Queen, a good move on her part seeing as more thorny vines were already flying toward her. Glen batted away the vines as they drew near until her energy blades ran out of power, then blasted them with Headache's rivet driver. The heavy rivets pinned the vines against the wall even as more flew toward Glen.
Of course, as a Dreamer (particularly one currently in the Dream Realm), she had more options. With a wave of her hand, the tiled floor shot up, forming a protective shield between her and the incoming vines. The vines quickly slithered over the barrier, but Glen was already gone, having transformed into a sliver of light that shot across the chamber as quick as a lightning bolt. She reappeared behind the Red Queen, both Headaches firing energy grapples to subdue the girl. The Red Queen remained impassive as the grapples wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her side.
Glen's grin fell from her face as the Red Queen raised her arms, the beam of the energy grapples sending out a small pulse shockwave that knocked her back. She landed on her feet, metallic hands extending from Headache in time to catch the vines already reaching for her.
The Red Queen slowly approached Glen even as the Dreamer continued to fight off the approaching vines. "To face the darkness is considered an act of bravery. To face darkness in the seat of its power is an act of foolishness."
"Got it," Glen said through clenched teeth. Metal blades emerged from the sides of Headache and spun about, slicing through several vines.
"We may have lost much of our power," the Red Queen continued, "But here, in the heart of our palace, we remain strong. It would take much effort to remove us, in part because of the power Alice gave to us. "
"Alice? What's she got to do with this?"
"Everything. Wonderland is nothing more or less than a reflection of her. All of the strange and wondrous characters you've encountered; the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Glass Queen … even our royal selves are all connected to her. When her family was killed in the fire, Wonderland felt the impact. As she gave in to despair, my power grew until we had this land under our sole control. Under our hand, there was order."
"Yeah, I heard about your order," Glen said, stomping a metal-clad foot down on a vine that got a little too close. "You enslaved the people, slaughtered plenty more."
"I instilled order into the chaos!" The Red Queen snapped, her voice now much higher-pitched and matching her child-like appearance. She quickly composed herself before continuing, "That changed of course as she regained herself. Our power was put in check … but Wonderland still bore the marks of her ordeal. It was weakened … and that was when the ichor appeared, courtesy of the Doll-maker and the Infernal Train. He infected Alice with the ichor, using clever words to convince her to let the infection spread through the cracks."
The Red Queen sneered. "She fought like anything to take our power, then simply gave it away to that mind-bender. She'd have been better off letting us rule."
The vines pulled back into the bushes, leaving Glen standing in the middle of the room with Headache at the ready. The Red Queen sat down primly and laid her claws across her lap.
Not letting down her guard, Glen said, "All right, so Alice is integral to Wonderland. She went insane, her inner darkness, represented by you," here the Red Queen sneered at Glen, who continued, "took control. She fought you off, creating an opening which the dollmaker used to slip into Wonderland..but wait, if he infected Alice, and she's the heart of Wonderland so to speak, wouldn't that mean Alice was the source of Wonderland's ichor infestation?"
"Certainly not," the Red Queen said, "The Doll-maker was the one who let in the ichor. He let it in to his soul, and in turn slipped it into others, used it to hollow them out and leave them husks. Alice fought against the ichor, and once she defeated the Doll-maker, the ichor's power faded. He was the source, and as such, the major threat of the ichor was vanquished with him." There was a dark look on her face as she said, "That is why we never accepted the ichor's offer. Those who let the darkness within their hearts risk losing their hearts altogether."
Something about that last statement made a shiver run through Glen, though she didn't know why. "It contacted you?"
"Not directly, but yes. It promised to give me the power to retake Wonderland … but that time has passed for us. Now we seek only to be left alone in the shambles that is our home."
Glen asked, "So how do I find the source of the ichor? Where is it?"
"This you have already been told," The Red Queen said. "Now, you will leave us. We find your presence … tiresome."
"Wait a damn minute! I'll leave just as soon as … Hey!"
Dark red tendrils shot from under the queen's throne. Moving far faster than the thrones, the red tendrils quickly wrapped around Glen's chest and hurled her across the room. The doors slammed shut moments after she passed the threshold and crashed into the far wall before falling to the ground with a loud 'oof!'.
The Hatter hurried toward Glen and helped her to her feet. "My goodness … are you quite alright? Is your head firmly attached?"
"More or less," Glen said, brushing off her clothes. She stared at the doors for a moment before asking, "She's always this friendly?"
"Oh, no!" The Hatter said, "I've never known anyone but Alice to survive a meeting with her. You are to be commended!"
Glen rubbed her now-sore neck. "Yeah. I'm honored. Let's get out of here, yeah?"
"Of course, of course. This way."
The sight of the distant Solarius brought a sigh of relief to Glen as she and the Hatter stepped out of the remains of the Red Queen's palace. The warmth of the Dream Realm's sun washed over her, dispelling the unnatural coldness of the crumbling ruin.
"Ah … much better," Glen said, rubbing her neck.
To her surprise, the Hatter let out a laugh. "I expected no less from you, Miss Sunshine. I must admit, however, that I'm curious; was the Queen able to give you the information you sought?"
Glen shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. All I really got out of our little talk was that the ichor's source is probably somewhere nasty, and that fighting it directly might be a really bad idea."
"And is that to stop you from your pugilistic pursuits of this problem?"
"Phhb. Not likely." Glen thought back to her conversation for a few moments before asking, "Say, where did Alice fight the Doll-maker anyway?"
"Ah, you know about the train."
"The Wonderland line?"
"No, no, no … not by a long-shot." The Hatter shuddered and said, "This was a horrible thing, inspired in part by the Dormouse and in part by my former compatriots, the March Hare and the Dormouse. Hulking monstrosity of smoke and ichor, it tore through Wonderland, bringing ruin in its wake."
"Hmm. Any chance I could see the remains?"
The Hatter stopped dead in his tracks. "Look here, Miss Sunshine, you asked for knowledge about the ichor, and I've provided. More than provided; I've put my own self at risk."
"And I appreciate that," Glen said evenly, "But I need to know what about it gave the Doll-maker more power, and hopefully figure out from that where the ichor facing the Underground is hiding. Look, I get you're scared, but there's a whole multiverse at stake here. If you won't bring me there, at least tell me how to get there."
The Hatter looked skeptical. Before he could respond, however, a hideous laughter filled the air. A few moments later, a surge of something black rose from the depths of the maze. The laughter grew louder as the shape sprouted arms and what looked to be some kind of fire on its head.
"Is that … ichor?" The Hatter asked, but Glenda barely heard it, she was already running toward the sound. With her tech-boots, she was able to leap over hedges with only a few scratches; unfortunately, the dark figure was moving away from her at an incredible rate.
She was in mid-leap when suddenly she found herself crashing face-first onto a carpeted floor. She pushed herself up and stared around in confusion for a few moments before realizing she was back in Alice's study.
"Glen!" It was Alice, a horrified look on her face.
"I'm okay," Glen said, stumbling to her feet, "Just a little-"
"It's Ashi!"
Glen looked at Ashi only to find the woman still seated on the ground in exactly the same position. Her skin was pale, however, and from her expression, she wasn't at all enjoying her stay in the garden.
"C'mon, Ash," Glen said, lightly slapping her on the cheek. When that didn't work, Glen spoke louder. "Ash!"
Looking at Alice, Glen asked, "What happened?"
"I-I don't know. When I caught up with her, she was trying to tear off her strange clothes, but they kept growing back. I tried to calm her down, but she was in a complete state of panic."
"Did she say anything?" Glen asked.
"Yes," Alice replied, "she kept saying that she could feel him inside her … that he was coming, and she couldn't stop him."
"Him?" when Alice shook her head, Glen sighed and sat back in her usual chair.
"Right," she said, "I'm going back in."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Alice asked. "Glen, whatever was taking over her was powerful."
"All the more reason to find them both," Glen said, "You don't have to-"
She paused; Alice had already sat down and closed her eyes. Smiling, Glen said, "All right. Let's go get our friend back."
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