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"Oh, dear," Rabbit says, and that's all. Alice can already see that she's late, very late.
Wonderland has changed again, though the alterations are more subtle this time. The cracks in the world and the red, raw feelers sneaking through haven't returned, but there's a stillness to the air around them that isn't just quiet; it's dead. No cheerful bustle from just down the road or around the next corner, no half-heard gossip amongst the flowers and no featherbrained chatter from the trees.
The flowers, she notices on second-glance, have all turned a deep, velvety black from petals to roots, and they sway like anemones, mostly toward her.
"Rabbit?" she asks uneasily, wanting to roll the hilt of her knife between her palms but not wanting to look rattled. He's counting on her. "What's happened?"
"We don't know," he admits, paws clenched tight on the gold handle of a wicked sword cane, fierce and lean and prepared to fight. "They came out of nowhere, and nothing we did seemed to hurt them. Gryphon had the best luck, and the Unicorn, but they've got magic on their sides. The rest of us...."
"But what are they?"
Rabbit twitches an ear shredded rakishly at the tip and gives her a helpless look. "Caterpillar calls them 'Heartless.' He says he's seen them before, but he doesn't remember when. It's the pipe, I expect, although he is very wise."
She half-turns to question him further, a niggling touch of memory teasing her now, but a dark shadow slinking through the branches above distracts her. She's been waiting for him to show himself, a little vexed that he hasn't come to meet her before this, but she knows better than to expect punctuality from a cat.
"There you are!" she cries, grinning up at bright golden eyes and wondering where his grin is, considering how rarely he's without it. "And where have you been, you wretched--"
"Alice!" Rabbit yelps, throwing himself between them and releasing the blade from his cane with a raspy snick. "You must run--Cat's changed!"
"What?" Run from Cat? But he--
Cat uncoils himself in a powerful leap, and she realizes too late that it isn't the shadows of the trees that make him hard to see. Cat is neither grey nor striped now but black, whiskers and all, even the gold hoop in his ear traded for onyx. Even so, his purr is still the same, though his voice is hungrier than she remembers.
"World's heart," he rumbles at her, stalking closer, stalking her.
"Alice," Rabbit whispers, holding firm.
She knows she should run, but it's Cat, her Cat, and he's always brought her luck whenever their paths have crossed before.