Chapter Text
Dee was in her bedroom; she was packing up the last few of her things into a cardboard box. She was moving out today, into a much bigger split-level apartment a couple of blocks away. Dee picked up a wooden music box with a nostalgic smile, lifting the catch and opening the lid. The brass cylinder inside turned and plucked the metallic comb to produce the familiar notes of a lullaby, while a small ballerina twirled away.
Dee’s mother used to play this for her to help her sleep when she was a child, she’d hold Dee close to her as they sat on an old rocking chair together. Just hearing the song was enough to make her feel safe and warm inside. Dee ran a finger over one of the hinges that had broken when she dropped it some time back but it had been fixed to such a high standard that the repair was completely seamless.
She closed the box again and wrapped it up carefully in newspaper and placed it into the box. Next Dee reached for a stained glass jewellery box and she couldn’t help smiling. ‘When I first bought this six months ago, I could never have imagined what adventures lay in store for me.’ She wrapped up the box and put it away before looking down at the matching key that was hanging around her neck. Her life had been completely turned upside down when she first went to Wonderland, but she wouldn’t change it for the world.
“Hey Dee! You finished saying bye to the old place?” The door opened and Bill walked in. “We’ve started taking things down to the van but we really need to put the bed in first.” There were more cardboard boxes piled up behind him and Dee could see Joker and Mad carrying her couch and Noir had grabbed the coffee table.
“Oh right! Let me get out of the way then.” She picked up her box and took it off the bed. Bill headed into her room followed by Ash. “Think you can carry that between the two of you? Need me to help?” Dee offered as the pair of them started by taking the mattress off the bedframe.
“No, we’ve got it, thanks. But if you could take the headboard off the frame while we take this down then I’d appreciate it… There’s a wrench in my pocket.” Ash asked her, looking like he wasn’t having any problem with the heavy double mattress at all. Dee put her box down and walked up behind him, reaching her hand in to one of Ash’s jeans pockets. “No no! I meant in my hoodie, not my trousers!” Ash had jumped in shock, almost dropping his end of the load, which made Bill laugh loudly.
“I had no idea you were so forward, Dee!” Bill grinned as Dee reached into the pouch of Ash’s blue top and pulled out the wrench.
“Quiet, hippie, or I’ll throw this at you.” Dee told him as she moved out the way so the two of them could take the mattress out of the room. She pulled the bedframe away from the wall so she could get to the back of the headboard. It was a wooden fabric upholstered piece that was bolted to the frame in several places. Dee used the wrench to loosen the nuts quickly, but when she removed the last one, the headboard fell on to her with a crash.
“Dee! Are you ok? What was that noise?” Dee heard someone call to her and the sound of rapid footsteps coming into the room.
“Is that you, Sakuto? Help! I’m trapped between the headboard and the wall!” She heard the sound of Sakuto pulling the bedframe out further before he lifted the heavy wooden board off her and put it aside. “Phew! Thanks for that! …Don’t worry, it didn’t hurt me.” Dee said in anticipation to Sakuto’s next question as she got to her feet.
“Well that’s good to hear then… Cardia! Are you free to help me with this bedframe?” Sakuto called out to the living room and Cardia appeared in the doorway.
“No problem, I was just taking the shelves out of the freezefridger thing anyway.” Cardia answered as Dee bit on her lip to hide a chuckle at his mispronunciation.
“Sorry to make you help me move on your day off.” Dee told him apologetically, she knew the Red Queen could be stingy with time off but Cardia just shook his head at her.
“Don’t worry about it, I wanted to help out. Plus, an extra pair of hands should make everything easier after all.” Cardia answered as he went and picked up the metal bed frame with Sakuto, looking back over his shoulder carefully so he didn’t collide with anyone or anything. Dee collected the nuts and bolts and put them in a small sandwich bag and taped it to the headboard so they didn’t get lost.
Between the guys, they managed to get all the big furniture items down to the van before an almost endless procession of people with cardboard boxes began to follow. Noir had decided to be the one to put everything into the back of the removal van. He was obsessively fitting things together so there were no gaps to limit the chances that things could fall and break in transit.
Dee was still upstairs and looking at her empty flat, it looked so much bigger now it had been stripped bare. A part of her felt a little sad at leaving this apartment, this was where she’d built a life for herself and where her heart had started to heal from its past wounds.
“Dee? We’re all packed up and you’re the only one who can drive the van.” Joker had come up to get her and found her standing in the middle of the barren living room. “Are you ok?” He asked Dee at seeing her looking a little melancholy.
“Yeah, I am. It’s just every new beginning means something else has to come to an end. I was taking a moment to remember all the good times I had here.” Dee gave him a bittersweet smile and Joker nodded in understanding. He came over and stood next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders.
“Yeah, but I really think you’ve outgrown this place. It was good when it was just you, but now you’ve got all of us too. You’ll really be able to spread your wings in the new place.” He told her as he gave her shoulders a squeeze.
“I had no idea you were such a poet at heart, Joker.” Dee told him with a half teasing smile, but she appreciated the sentiment behind his words. The flat was spick and span, Mad had used his magic to do the final clean up once they’d removed everything, so that was one less thing to do. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and separated out the ones for the old apartment. “Come on, let’s lock up and post the key into the landlord.”
Back downstairs there was an argument brewing about who would get to sit up front with Dee and who had to ride in the back with all the boxes and furniture.
“Come on, there’s no need for us to bicker like children.” Sakuto gently admonished everyone. Mad and Cardia always seemed to wind each other up, no matter what was happening around them, but Sakuto’s words made them both quiet down finally. “Only three people can fit in the front seats, including Dee, so let’s be mature about this… Ash, you said you were ok with going in the back?”
“Yep, I’ll probably take a nap.” Ash nodded with a tired yawn; he’d done a lot of the heavy lifting today because he was the strongest. But he was the only volunteer, everyone else wanted to ride up front. They were still at an impasse when Dee and Joker came back out after having locked up the old flat and dropped off the key.
“Sorry to keep you waiting! Noir, Cardia, you two don’t get to come to my world as often as the others so you’re both up top with me. The rest of you need to pile in the back, I’m afraid, but it’s only a short trip.” Dee twirled the van keys on her finger as she immediately put an end to the debate that she hadn’t known they were having.
There were a few discontented grumbles from Mad and Bill but Joker and Sakuto bundled them into the van after Ash. Dee climbed into the driver’s seat while Noir and Cardia climbed in the passenger side, she had to show them both the proper way to put on a seatbelt.
“Is your new place very far from the dorms?” Noir asked Dee as she started the van and pulled off. The Wonderland boys hadn’t seen any reason to stop using the accommodation the Red Queen had provided for them once the ‘Heart’ situation had been resolved some months back. It served their purposes well as a base where they could come back to after doing their own thing in this world.
“It’s about the same distance away from it, just in a different direction. I didn’t want to go anywhere too far, being able to walk over to your place when I want to is handy.” Dee answered him as she kept her eyes on the road. “There’s only one spare bedroom over there though, what are you both going to do tonight?”
“Depending on how late we get done, I might just head back to Wonderland so Noir can have the sixth room. If not, I’ll take the couch.” Cardia answered her, though he suddenly spotted something that made him gawk. “That person has wheels on their feet! Were they born like that?!”
“No, they are just wearing roller blades, the wheels are on the boots, not her feet. It’s a fun way to get around, especially for people too young to learn how to drive.” Dee informed him with a smile on her face, promising to tell Cardia more later as they pulled up to her new apartment block. She turned off the engine and hopped out, heading to the back of the van and opening it.
“Everyone survive ok?” Dee asked the boys; they were alright but they didn’t look like they’d had a particularly comfortable ride. Well, except for Ash, he was stretched out asleep with his arms behind his head like he was having a nap in a field, not in the back of a removal van. Dee grabbed his foot and gave it a shake to wake him. “Come on, we’re here. I can’t wait to show this place to you guys.”
This apartment building was taller than the previous one so they had to pile into the two lifts to head up to the fifteenth, and top, floor. Dee had finally decided to buy a flat outright, she wasn’t afraid to allow people to see her wealth anymore. She knew her friends didn’t care about her money, they cared about her as a person… and anyone that tried to take advantage of her would be thrown out the nearest window before they could blink.
“You actually bought a penthouse flat, I thought you were joking around when you said that.” Noir commented in surprise as he readjusted his grip on the box of dinnerware that he was carrying. Dee just grinned mischievously at him as she unlocked the door to apartment number 55, throwing the door open dramatically.
“Tada!” She declared as she walked into the spacious open plan living/dining area. There was hardwood flooring laid everywhere and their footsteps echoed loudly throughout the empty room. The far wall was all window glass to give a brilliant view out over the city, with a large balcony accessible through a pair of sliding doors.
“This room is bigger than our whole place put together!” Bill exclaimed in shock as he looked around. “Where’s the bedroom? I’ve got a box of bedding right here.” Dee beckoned Bill to her and the pair of them went up a set of stairs near the front door, they came out on the second level which stretched over half of the floor below.
“So that’s what split-level means!” Mad said with an impressed whistle as he looked up at Dee and Bill while they lent on the railing and waved down at them. “Is the bathroom up there? Ash has a box of towels.”
“There’s an ensuite with a toilet, sink and shower up here but the main bathroom is that door behind Sakuto. It’s so nice, it’s got a shower and a bathtub!” Dee pointed from the bedroom level. Ash turned to head that way and tripped over his own feet, falling on his face with a clatter. “…Annnnd this is why we give Ash the non-breakable things.” Ash jumped back to his feet with a sheepish look and picked up the box that he’d squashed underneath him.
“So, what’s this room for?” Joker had opened another door leading off the main area. “A spare bedroom?” Dee had come back down the stairs to join them.
“That or maybe a study, I haven’t made my mind up yet. Why? You angling to move in?” Dee teased Joker with a grin, jumping backwards with a laugh when he mock swiped at her.
“Being serious, this is an amazing place to live. All of your current things would only fill one small corner of it.” Sakuto approached the windows and slid open the door, letting a cool breeze in. “This view is going to be amazing when the sun sets. Ash might move on to your balcony just to see the stars.” Noir had dropped his box in the kitchen, there was a fitted kitchen complete with built in oven and a downdraught hob built into a counter island that faced into the room.
“I can already sense the great many cakes that will come into existence in this place.” Noir ran his hand over the glossy black granite that the kitchen counters were made out of. “Come on, guys, let’s get the rest of Dee’s stuff up here.”
“We might have trouble getting the mattress and the bedframe in the magic moving box though.” Cardia said with a frown and a small shake of his head.
“We can squish the mattress in, it’ll be fine. Might have to take the frame apart but we’ll see how it goes.” Bill answered him with an easy going smile. He had jumped down from the upper level without bothering to use the stairs. “And it’s called a lift, it’s not magic, it’s mechanical.”
The other Wonderland boys were veterans of her world when compared with Cardia. He was married to his job so he didn’t often get time to visit the Alice World, in fact, it was his workaholic tendencies that had had a hand in making Cardia’s budding romance with Dee fizzle out after only a few dates. But the pair of them had formed a firm friendship instead, and given the choice, Dee would pick friendship over love any day.
Between the eight of them, they managed to get all the furniture and boxes into the flat. Even with all Dee’s worldly possessions in situ, the flat looked ridiculously empty. Dee was making everyone some tea in her new kitchen having dug out her kettle and mugs out of one of the boxes.
“Do you want us to stay and help you unpack things?” Mad offered as he took the cup he was given. There weren’t enough stools for them all to sit at the counter island so Dee made a mental note to buy a few more.
“No, it’ll be faster for me to do it myself, no offence. I already know where I want everything to go. I won’t be in Wonderland tonight either, I want to enjoy my first night in my new place.” Dee told them before she grinned at them, reaching into a cupboard and pulling out a basket of homemade muffins. “I made these yesterday and hid them here last night in anticipation of a job well done. Thank you so much for your help today, guys. Moving is supposed to be really stressful but you all made it look easy.”
“You’re very welcome, Dee, we were glad to help.” Sakuto gave her a bright smile as he took one of the muffins from the basket. “Promise me you won’t try and move any of the furniture by yourself if you don’t like the placement later? We don’t want a repeat of earlier with the headboard.” The blood drained out of Joker’s face when he heard that, the thought not having previously occurred to him.
“I second that! What if something did fall on you? We’d notice if we hadn’t heard from you for a while but there’s no telling how long that could take.” Joker’s overprotective streak was on show again and Dee refrained from rolling her eyes at him but she nodded her agreement.
“Well I know it’s not traditional to do a toast with a tea cup, unless you’re Mad that is, but I’d like to propose one.” Noir had stood up from his stool with his mug. “Dee, congratulations on your new place. I hope you have many happy years here! Cheers!” There was an echoing chorus of ‘Cheers’ as everyone clinked their cups together before going back to the muffins.