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Cath stared at Alice with nothing but hatred in her gaze. The young girl watched her back, watched as the ten of diamonds and two of spades came forward with their spears and aimed them at their fallen Queen.
“You have terrorized the kingdom of Hearts for too long, Your Majesty,” spat the White Rabbit.
He was watching everything unfold from the corner of the garden. Mary Ann stood next to him, and she was the only one who had a hint of sadness in her gaze. Cath saw it, but ignored it, not looking anywhere but Alice.
“I don’t want to do this,” the girl whispered, her mouth turned down into a frown. Cheshire floated in the air behind her, a wicked smile taking up his whole face, but his eyes filled with guilt.
“Do it,” Cath growled, not even trying to lift herself from where she knelt on the floor. “Do it.”
The guards around her shifted and she didn’t feel an ounce of panic. She didn’t feel anything and hadn’t since the Sisters took her heart.
“For your crimes against Hearts and the murder of too many souls to count,” Alice announced, the crowd that had gathered around them falling still. “I sentence you to death.”
Cath removed her gaze from the girl to look at her kingdom one more time. The King was cowering in a corner and she completely ignored him, instead turning her gaze to Raven. The bird watched her from a branch in a rose tree, the roses dripping with red paint that made her vision blur once again from anger. Below the tree, Hatta stood with his hat in his hands.
For a moment, she let herself remember the times when she had been happy. She remembered the white rose set on her windowsill and the tea party with the Lion and the Turtle. She let herself remember baking and her determination to reach for an impossible dream.
Impossible.
As the ten of diamonds raised his hand, the spear sharp and ready, she let herself remember Jest.
The spear was coming down fast as she remembered the dream she had, with him. How close they had gotten to discovering that future.
The spear came down and she felt a brief second of pain before everything around her was black.
The Queen of Hearts could not see it, but her head rolled away from her body, and her eyes still had a glint of hope in them.
~
Cath did not know what to expect when she died. She thought maybe she would be thrust into a world and be surrounded with her worst nightmares, or bombarded by all of the souls she had so helplessly taken.
But none of that came.
Instead, she felt a wave of emotions come crashing back to her as her heart and body came together once again.
It seemed as though her heart had paused when the Sisters took it, for now, she was overwhelmed with the feelings of grief and anger, just as she had been the moment before her heart was taken.
Tears filled her eyes and, though she didn’t open them, she felt the streaks they were leaving on her cheeks.
Jest.
Jest.
Jest.
She was burning inside, her mind swirling with a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions. Her mouth opened and she meant to scream but a sob tore through her instead.
At last, she opened her eyes and the bright light nearly blinded her.
She steadily adjusted and looked around the room she was standing in—a bakery.
Her throat tightened as more tears fell down her cheeks, tears she hadn’t known or felt for years and years and years. It was such an unfamiliar feeling.
She took in the cakes and tarts lining the windows, the walls painted in pastel colors and the flowers painted just outside the windows. The streets were filled with people, but she didn’t recognize where she was...until she read the name printed on the glass, big enough for anyone strolling down the street to see.
SWEETS AND TARTS: THE MOST WONDROUS BAKERY IN ALL OF CHESS
Her eyes narrowed and she twirled around again to take in what was around her. The bell hanging above the front door rang and she jumped, startled. But when she looked at who had entered the shop, she froze.
He was exactly as she remembered him, his golden eyes wide, his dark hair messy. Without the joker’s hat, he looked different, but there was no mistaking that face. She had fallen in love with that face and then, later on, it had broken her to even think about it. Now…
“Cath.”
Her name was barely a whisper, and Jest’s eyes were still wide and pinned her to the spot. She didn’t dare move.
“What is this,” she demanded, though she said it breathlessly. “Where am I?”
“You…” He took a step forward and she noticed his eyes starting to water. “You died?”
She sucked in a breath and nodded, the realization hitting her at last.
“Cath, when I died, I was brought back to Chess.” He motioned around the room. “Of course, not the real Chess, but I’ve been waiting for you for so long.”
Cath watched him, hesitantly. He looked real, he spoke as if he were real, but she reached forward to cup his face in her hands and…
Skin met skin.
She gasped but kept her hands where they were.
Jest smiled sadly, his hands coming up to rest against her own. “We’re both dead,” he murmured. “But this is death. Your happy ending.”
A broken noise escaped her as she stared at him, baffled. But before she could think any more on the situation, she surged forward and claimed his lips with hers. They were soft, just as she remembered, and her hands wove into his hair to keep him in place, paranoid that if she let him go he would disappear and leave her alone. He didn’t seem to care that she was kissing him senseless, or that it was getting difficult to breathe. Cath pulled away enough to look up at him.
“This is death?” She asked, a tear slipping down her cheek.
He nodded, his hands coming to rest on her waist.
“I thought it would be terrible. Jest, I’ve done so many unthinkable things—”
He kissed her once again to quiet her. “You have your heart back, love. And in death, I wanted you more than anything else, so it seems my wish has been received.”
Cath let herself smile and threw her arms around him once more, kissing him as if they had no time left. Kissing him like she wished she could do before he was taken from her.
He lifted her up and set her on the baking counter at the back of the store, both of them smiling so brightly that the sun outside seemed dim.
“Cath, I missed you so much.” His eyes filled with tears and she grabbed his face so she could kiss him again.
“I love you. I love you more than anything, Jest.”
“And I you, Lady Pinkerton.”
Hearing her name instead of ‘Your Majesty’ made her release another breathless sob before they got lost in each other once more.
This was the dream she had always wanted.
This was happiness.
Death, it seemed, was her escape all along.