We climbed up the slightly wobbly and unsafe scaffolding and soon reached the top. It was simpler to jumped from the scaffolding to the wall than I had expected, but once we got to the wall, I started having some doubts again. I peered over the edge, the twins each looking over one of my shoulders and making it hard to balance. "It's too high," one of them stated bluntly.

The other nodded and I glanced at Chesh who frowned. "Stop complaining. I've got it all figured out," he said. He grabbed one of the twins by their arm and hoisted him over his head. "Hold still, Dee," he said, taking aim.

Just then, there was a shout from the ground and we saw the guards had spotted us. The twin, Dee it seemed, started to protest this course of action. "Wait, wait, wait! I'm not ready," he said.

"Too bad. We don't have time," Cheshire replied. He braced himself on the wall's bricks before he suddenly flung Dee off the ledge.

I gasped. "Cheshire! What are you doing?!" I asked.

Dee shrieked as he hit a tree hard, but he managed to grab the branch so he could hand on tightly as his legs dangled below him. Cheshire smiled in relief. "Slide down!" he called.

The twin nodded and made his way to the tree's main root and then he shimmied down the tree until he reached the grass below. Once he was sure Dee was safely on the ground, Chesh turned and grabbed Dum, throwing him over to the tree as well without so much as a word of warning. Dum followed Dee's example and soon they were both on the ground, staring up at Cheshire and I.

I frowned at the distance between myself and the tree. "I don't want you to throw me," I started.

"Hey! Stop right there!"

A shout came from too close nearby and we glanced back to see guards climbing the scaffolding; they were only a few levels from the top. I glanced at Cheshire and he grinned, grabbing me so he could toss me over his shoulder like I was two pounds of weight. As he leaped nimbly from the wall to the tree, I ended up biting my tongue. I winced in pain and tasted blood for a few seconds before my tongue went numb like the rest of my body as I felt us wobbling unsteadily. I gripped the back of his shirt to keep my balance on his shoulder as he bounced from branch to branch until he made it to the ground. He set me down carefully and I stumbled back a few steps. "Jeez... Give a guy some warning," I said.

Cheshire gave me a look that had a mixture of annoyance and frustration, but I didn't have time to think on it much as he was already pushing the twins into the trees. "Come on, guys. We need to keep moving," he said.

We could hear shouts from the guards as we hurried though the trees and into the growing darkness of the woods. Sometimes Chesh would stop and put a finger to his lips, and we would wait for guards to race past before we began running again. Eventually we lost the guards altogether and we felt safe enough to slow down.

I followed half-heartedly behind the twins as we made our way back to the house, partly from exhaustion and partly from the worry that Cheshire was angry with me. When we reached Cheshire's place, Cheshire told the twins to head to Mouse's place to get cleaned up and checked for injuries. They started to complain about wanting to hang out, but I didn't listen to much more. I went into the house and straight to my room. With a sigh, I flopped down on my bed and buried my face in my pillow. Somehow, I felt like I had made a major fuck up.

I rolled onto my back to stare at the ceiling as I let out another sigh. Maybe I wasn't cut out for this hero roll, I thought. It sure seemed Cheshire didn't think so.

As I laid there, there was a creak from my door and I propped myself up on my elbows as Cheshire walked in and closed the door. He wasn't smiling. "Alice, back at the castle I told you to stay where you were," he said.

Every word was like a kick to the chest. "I know..." I said.

"If you plan to help take back Wonderland, then you need to learn to follow orders," Cheshire told me. I looked away and he sighed. "But I guess I have no place getting upset. I suppose your little diversion was helpful in a way."

That didn't help me to feel any better than before, so I still refused to meet his eyes. "Sure," I said.

Cheshire came and sat down next to me. "I'm sorry I snapped at you," he said. "I just had a lot on my mind and I wasn't expecting you to step in like that."

I kept my head down with a small nod. "Sorry..." I said.

He sighed and pulled my face up to meet him. "Would you, please, look at me? I'm not mad, okay?" he said, giving me a smile.

I felt like such a kid as my eyes welled up with tears and my thoat got all choked up. "I really didn't mean to get in the way..." I forced out. "I just wanted to help."

Chesh smiled softly and pulled me into his chest. "I know. I was wrong to get so angry at you. You did nothing wrong," he told me.

Though he said that, I didn't really believe him. But I leaned into his warmth anyway and hid my sniffles in his shirt. Being in Wonderland was terrifying. All I wanted was to go home. But going home wasn't an option right now, and even though I knew that, I couldn't seem to stop getting upset.

Hating that I looked so childish, I eventually forced my crying to cease and I sat back. Cheshire smiled. "Better?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, slightly embarrassed that he'd seen me cry. Again. He probably thought I was a baby. 

Cheshire frowned when I looked at him and tilted my head upward, towards his face. "You have a little blood on your lip," he said.

Remembering I had bit my tongue, I reached up and wiped the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand. "Oh. I bit my tongue earlier," I explained. "I'll be right back."

I stood up to go to the bathroom to wash my mouth, but Cheshire pulled me back down. "I'll clean it for you," he said sincerely. Before I could protest, Chesh pressed his lips to mine. I froze in my place, eyes wide. He held my waist with one arm while his other went up to my hair. Chesh had kissed me before, but this wasn't like the rushed, teasing kiss he'd given me when we were on our way to rescue the twins. This was more caring. Like maybe I was the most precious thing in the world.

My skin crawled with arousal when Cheshire's tongue slipped its way past my lips and moved across my own tongue until it found the sore spot my teeth and had made. It stroked the spot on my tongue lazily and I felt so dizzy from the feeling I started to lose my balance. Cheshire took advantage of this and pushed me onto my back, his lips not losing contact with mine for a second. I couldn't breathe; I was suffocating. But it was a good kind of suffocating. It felt like a drug or something was coursing through my system.

When the initial surprise passed, I finally gained back some of my strength and grabbed Cheshire's shoulders. But I didn't push him away. Somehow, I couldn't seem to give any resistance. But I knew I didn't want him to stop.

Suddenly, he seemed to hear something and he pulled away. It took everything in me not to drag him back down, my hands involuntarily clenching into his shirt. He glanced at the door with a frown before he sighed. When he looked back at me, I could see a tiny blush on his cheeks. "Sorry," he breathed.

I didn't get to ask him what he meant before he stood up and left the room, closing my door behind him. I frowned, my body feeling cold and confused. Sorry? That was all he had to say? No explanation, nothing to try to defense his case? My mind filled with questions and I curled onto my side. I didn't understand. I gripped my hair in my hands and clenched my eyes shut, trying to make sense of something that hadn't made any sort of sense from the start. This was turning into mess and it was getting dangerous. With everything that's happened, I was surprised I hadn't gone mad from the confusion of it all... Or had I? 

*******

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