Queen of Hearts - First place winner: WhiskeyJaneDoe
Kill The Cliche Challenge 

♦️❤️♦️ Part 1 ♦️❤️♦️

Alice straightened her blood red dress as she entered the great hall. There was a time when she'd detested the color red, but now she owned it, just as she owned the plunging neckline and soft velvet material that clung to her curves. She enjoyed dressing up and loved the deep red color that had adorned the palace prior to her ascension to the throne.

Now, the color she despised was sky blue. It had been his favorite color.

"Your highness," one of her courtiers approached her bowing his head as he continued, "The generals are ready for your briefing."

She nodded, checking her reflection in one of the ornate mirrors lining the wall to ensure her hair was perfectly coiffed and her bright red lipstick properly applied. Satisfied, she gestured for the man to lead her to the meeting hall where her generals, all wearing somber expressions, were arranged around a table.

Upon her entering the room, they stood and only re-seated themselves after she took her spot in the throne-like chair placed at the head of the table.

"Majesty," the commander of her forces began. As he spoke, Alice's eyes were drawn to his family crest that adorned his tunic. She'd always liked his crest, which bore a white rabbit, probably because of the significance that creature held for her. She'd also developed a soft spot for the old man himself because he'd kindly guided her when she first came unwillingly to this world.

When the Rabbit continued to speak, she returned her attention to his face. "Our forces are converging upon the remainder of his armies in the Black Forest. After our victory at Boro Grove, we're confident we will be able to finally bring this war to a close."

"He lost half his forces at Boro." The Knave of Hearts, one of her youngest and most loyal supporters, added. "There's no way he can continue this war after losses like that." The man's cocksure grin brought a smile to Alice's face as she regarded him. From the time she'd saved him from the wrath of the first queen, he'd been smitten with her.

But, she'd been in love with another then...until he'd betrayed the ones he supposedly loved most.

Alice nodded, shuffling through the reports in front of her before turning to one of her servants. "Prepare my armor. I shall be ending this war myself."

The Knave's eyes widened with both surprise and worry, as did the Rabbit's, but the two men kept quiet. They knew better than to question her.

Over the years, she'd developed quite a temper, but that wasn't what kept her people in check. No, her people trusted her. After his treachery, she'd been there to pick up the pieces for her kingdom and lead them back down the path of prosperity.

That was why they remained loyal to her when others had left and joined him. And, this was her chance to finally bring this whole sordid affair to a close. The generals continued speaking and planning among themselves with Alice offering her own input whenever they required it or whenever she had a solution to a problem they couldn't solve. By the end of the meeting, their strategy had been meticulously devised.

When the meeting adjourned, Alice stood, bidding her generals farewell as she left the room. Unsurprisingly, the Knave of Hearts rushed out to trail after her. She smirked when she turned to find that helpless look of affection in his eyes, but she scowled as she noticed his undercurrent of worry in that gaze.

When they were out of earshot of the others and standing in the hallway that led to her private rooms, she spoke, "What worries you, Knave?"

"You..." he explained, "You don't have to personally fight in this. I would die for you. You know that, majesty. I will kill him for you. I swear it."

Alice fought the urge to make light of his thoughtless desire to please, and she instead cupped his face in her hands. "I appreciate that. I truly do. But, this is something I must do."

His look of dejection, as if she'd rejected him rather than his offer to die for her, tugged at her icy heart and drew a dark smile to her lips. She ran her fingers through his hair before saying, "Stay with me tonight, Jack. Tomorrow, we end this." His resulting boyish grin threatened to melt her heart. But, she could never give her heart away again after she'd fought so hard to get it back.

She was, after all, the Queen of Hearts, and you couldn't be the Queen of Hearts if you gave your heart away.

♟️♥️ Part 2 ♥️♟️

Alice dismounted and handed the reins to her squire. The horse would be of no use to her anyway because of the terrain. She hadn't expected the battle to move into the woods, which were pitch black and indescribably thick.

The Rabbit shot her a dubious look from under his helmet as he watched her dismount. "Highness?"

"I'm going in. You're in charge, Rabbit." She ordered in a tone that made it clear she'd accept no argument. She'd lost sight of several of her people in the melee, including Jack, and the reports from their scouts were coming less and less frequently. She was worried and also eager to bring this entire thing to a close.

Before the Rabbit could try and stop her, Alice unsheathed her sword and began stalking deeper into the woods, ignoring the bodies of both her own soldiers as well as his as she moved stealthily into the undergrowth.

Much to her annoyance, a small contingent of her guards fanned out around her, cutting down would-be assailants barely visible in the depths of the dark wood. Though, the further they strode into the woods, the more frequently they encountered enemies, and when one of his people would slip by one of her guards, Alice would make quick work of the attacker with her black sword that shone red in the sunlight. Too bad there was so little sun on their current battleground. She'd be unable to admire her sword's beauty as she wielded it.

Alice flinched when two of her guards were taken down by knights bearing his crest, and Alice snarled as, with a quick slash of her deadly blade, she severed the heads of her enemies. After fighting their way through the gloom for several long minutes, Alice spied a clearing up ahead where she finally saw him, the bane of her existence: the Hatter.

He fought in his purple armor emblazoned with his crest, which featured a ridiculous-looking top hat, expertly cutting down several of her men in the time it took her to cross the distance from her observation point to the edge of the clearing. Once he saw her, peering at him from the dark, he grinned before pulling off his helmet and tossing it to the ground.

He hadn't aged a day in the years since his deception, and he and Alice stared each other down with malice in both their gazes. Sensing the intensity of their hatred for one another, their forces who had been fighting around him took a step back when they realized the showdown that was about to occur.

As she fought the urge to lose herself in his mesmerizing eyes, eyes she'd once have gladly stared into for all eternity, he spoke, "There's my Alice."

♠️💔♠️ Part 3 ♠️💔♠️

"I stopped being your Alice a long time ago, Hatter." She spat, rage coloring her voice.

He grinned, running his fingers through his mess of orange hair before looking back at her with madness in his eyes. "You'll always be my Alice. You can never escape that, love."

Alice readied her sword, narrowing her gaze and almost growling at the man she'd once adored. "You forfeited the right to call me your love when you betrayed us."

He scowled then, her mentioning of his past betrayal angering him but not wiping the look of insanity from his face. "Don't be so melodramatic, dear."

She genuinely growled then before flinging herself into the clearing and lashing out with her sword. He easily parried her attack and stepped back to smile at her with that infuriatingly insane expression. "Remove your helmet so that I can see you."

She snorted, taking her own step back but continuing to hold her sword at the ready. "Since when do you order me around, Hatter?"

His expression grew sad as he nodded in agreement. "Yes...you always were obstinate."

She knew he was pushing her buttons, that he was goading her into reacting irrationally, but she couldn't fight her urge to attack him once more, driving him back and drawing him into a breathless back and forth where they were both far too absorbed with their combat to speak. Alice didn't want to admit that she was reminded of old times, of the Hatter and her sparring just after she first arrived here and when she was still learning to defend herself.

That's when she'd fallen in love with him.

When Alice recalled her memories of him, her footing faltered, and she fell flat on her back. Hatter was on her in a minute, pinning her to the ground as he removed her helmet, freeing her hair to flow loosely onto the packed earth.

When he saw her face, she saw the fondness seep into his gaze before he schooled his expression so that she could only read his hatred for her. She fought against his superior strength and planned to keep fighting, but a cry of rage coming from the woods nearby drew their attention to the Knave, clad in his armor and yelling as he launched himself angrily at the Hatter.

"No!" Alice screamed, but it was too late. The Hatter, moving with his characteristic unnatural swiftness, expertly plunged his sword into Jack, aiming for the gap in his armor where his neck was left unprotected. The Knave paused eyes widening in shock as his mouth opened and closed while he bled out. The Hatter, snarling, pulled his sword from the man. Alice felt tears sting her eyes as she watched Jack collapse to to the floor of the clearing, twitching in his death throes.

With an inhuman cry of her own, she threw herself from the ground and flew at the Hatter, drawing him into combat once more. She managed to land several attacks, eventually even slashing him across the face with her weapon, which caused the man to pull back as they both panted.

"He was important to you."

The Hatter's words were a statement, not a question, and Alice blinked her tears away while she fought desperately to ignore Jack's body lying to the side. "Yes." She said simply.

Hatter looked at the body sadly for a moment before hiding the expression. "Do you ever wonder how we ended up like this, Alice?"

She growled. "Because you turned on us."

"What was I supposed to do?!" He screamed, breath coming out rushed from his physical exertion as well as his emotional agony, "We couldn't win. There was no way we could win against her."

"So you betrayed us? Went to her side at the drop of a hat? Didn't even consider the implications of you turning you back on us...on me?"

He looked grief-stricken, tortured by his desire for her to understand. "I was trying to do what was right! Trying to protect you!"

Alice snarled. "And now our daughter is dead, and it was your fault. Tell me again how that was protection?"

He howled before throwing himself at her, and Alice sensed the change in his fighting style, felt his desperate attempts to hurt her as the blood flowed freely from his injured cheek.

When they paused in their fighting, he spoke with pain in his eyes and agony in his voice. "I loved you. I worshiped both of you."

She snorted before retorting, "Yet you turned on us."

"To protect you two."

"She killed her! Our baby girl! And, it was all your fault. If our daughter had been with me, if you had never taken her from me..." Alice was crying as trailed off and resumed her attacking him, fighting with her own tormented desperation to finally end the hurt he'd caused.

As their swords crossed, he spoke, "And, I live with the consequences of my choices every day. It drives me insane, Alice, but I thought I was doing what was right."

"Yet, you stayed with her?" Alice's voice broke as continued, ignoring his pleas for her to believe him. "Even after she killed Emilia, you stayed with her!"

The Hatter's expression grew more agonized. "I believed her. She tricked me into believing in her."

Alice grinned evilly before replying. "So, how did it feel when I won?"

Hatter frowned. "You haven't won yet, Alice." With that, he redoubled his efforts, threatening to drive Alice back once more as her own exhaustion began creeping up on her. Eventually, though, Alice took the upper hand, pushing him back onto his heels and driving him back with enough force that he paled as she pinned him against a tree with her blade.

The injuries she'd inflicted seemed to have visibly exhausted him, and his eyes met hers before he slumped in defeat. "Just...do it, Alice. End me. I can't live with the torment anymore."

She wanted to stop, wanted to take his face in her hands and kiss away the sorrow like they should have done for one another after their daughter had died, but they were both in too deep by this point, the Hatter on his side and her on hers.

With tears in her eyes, she gave herself over to her urge to kiss him, and he leaned into her touch, returning the kiss with a hungry passion as she raised her weapon, aiming it for the gap in his armor near his abdomen. He smelled as she remembered, tasted as she remembered. Those thoughts threatened to ruin her resolve, but the thoughts of their daughter gave her strength.

He barely reacted, only grunted as she drove the weapon home while he continued to kiss her. Eventually, he grew weak, slumping against her and breaking the kiss. With a cry, Alice removed her weapon from his torso and collapsed to the ground, taking his fast-weakening form with her and cradling his head in her lap.

As she gazed down, his own blood began leaking from his mouth, mingling with her lipstick that had transferred to his lips as they'd kissed. As he died in her arms, he said, "Fix this world, my queen." When he took his last breath, she cried out in anguish as her tears fell on his still perfect face.

As the Queen of Hearts, she may have won the war, but she'd lost the only battle that had given her life meaning. 

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