The Final Pieces

Double update! Remember to go back and read Chapter 31 if you haven't already done so.

By the next day, Yulhee couldn’t take it anymore – she needed to find answers. Too much time had passed since Haru and the other children had been taken. What if they were dead? If Wonderland’s food had made her ill, it might kill them from such an extended period of time. And there was only one creature that she was certain had all the answers.

The last thing Yulhee really wanted was to meet Baekhyun, but what choice did she have, she thought to herself, as she stood outside the door to his abode. 

Skin crawling, nausea overcoming her momentarily, Yulhee regained her bearings as she stepped inside. Looking upwards, she saw the impossibly blue sky. Smoke began to coil around her, twisting around her legs like snakes, and suddenly a man with piercing blue eyes appeared before her, flashing her an ugly smile. “Hello there, Alice’s friend. You are not welcome here.”

“Baekhyun,” Yulhee breathed, causing the Caterpillar to cackle shortly to himself, “You were once Kai’s top enforcer. You helped him take the children. Please, you have to help us!”

“Oh little girl, why should it matter to me at all?” Baekhyun laughed, blowing a great smoke ring in the shape of a question mark. “Little human children are weak and fragile… If they should perish because of my dear King’s desperation, why should it concern me? It does not bring me revenge. It will not make me feel complete. I do not care about anything else.”

“You are disgusting,” Yulhee hissed through her teeth. Now she could understand why Kyungsoo had been so disturbed by this thing. It was like looking in a funhouse mirror. 

Baekhyun’s lips stretched into something that was not a smile. “As are you, you poor, idealistic little thing.”

“At least I am not sitting by while children are dying!”

Baekhyun wagged a finger at her. “Do you think you can stop the End? The King will doom Wonderland. I’ve won, now. I’ve won! Do you hear me, my King? You have lost! He will die, and I will die, but he will know it was because he failed, and that crown upon his brow means nothing.”

“What do you mean?” Yulhee demanded, backing away from the creature’s mad glee. Baekhyun laughed, blowing two smoke figures that resembled her and Kyungsoo.

“If he kills you or Alice, Wonderland will die,” Baekhyun stated. He blew a smoke axe, slicing clean off the smoke-Kyungsoo and smoke-Yulhee’s heads. “You are all Wonderland has left, you see. So Wonderland is about to become dust. And so shall I. Poof. Like that. Perhaps it is better for us to perish this way. So that we will not have to continue on, across the centuries, to be there when the last creature of this wretched world says its last goodbye, and be the ones to put the chairs on the tables and turn off the lights, so to speak.”

“I don’t understand,” Yulhee whispered, staring at the scene Baekhyun had created before her. “Why are Kyungsoo and I important? Wonderland existed long before we did!”

“What a stupid little girl you are,” Baekhyun murmured, running a hand across her cheek. Yulhee shuddered – his skin felt positively snake-like. “The truth is right in front of you! It always has been! So dislikeable. I do despise you, little girl. You gave me hope that I could live. But you have failed us. Begone.”

“But –”

“Begone!”

There was a great burst of smoke, and Yulhee felt her slide across the ice-slick floor as she was thrown backwards. She landed on her back on the dirt outside, and when she peered through the doorway, Baekhyun had disappeared. Cursing, Yulhee pushed herself into standing position, wincing at the scrapes on her arms.

What did Baekhyun mean? The end of this fairytale was approaching, Yulhee could sense it. But whether she was the hero that slayed the dragon, or the poor dragon itself, Yulhee didn’t know.

It happened so quickly the next morning that Yulhee could barely even remember it all happening. She and Kyungsoo had been walking through town, holding hands, the books from the bargain sale in her hands. She recalled vaguely that she had been telling him about what she had read. Kyungsoo’s hand had been warm, and he had been hanging onto her words. That, or he had been staring at her face and trying to decide whether or not to kiss her, Yulhee wasn’t sure which. She would have enjoyed both options.

Then something very hard had struck between her shoulder blades, and she felt herself tumble to the ground. Crying out in pain, she’d glanced up to see the familiar red-and-gold of the Card Soldiers. One of them was holding a sword to Kyungsoo’s neck, twisting his arms behind his head. Kyungsoo cried out her name. Kai was standing next to him, baseball bat resting against his shoulder, smiling that dangerous smile.

“Take Alice to the castle and show him a good time,” he said brightly, “You’ve interfered and made things difficult for so long! I can’t let you find a way to take those children fro me. I need to save my World, you see. No matter what."

“And the girl, sire?” Sehun was asking, still looking worse for wear, his eyes dark and angry as he looked at his King. 

Kai glanced down at Yulhee. “Leave the girl. She is not of importance. But make sure she cannot follow after us.”

Before Yulhee could scream or leap to her feet, something heavy hit the back of her head. She saw stars, and then everything went black.

Something soft was brushing against her cheek. Sleepily, Yulhee batted at it, mumbling under her breath for Yerim to leave her alone. The softness continued, and Yulhee, irked, opened her eyes. Everything felt painfully bright, and with a start, she realised that she was lying on the ground of Lay’s cottage. Above her, she could see the hanging lights that had reminded her of a sky