Chapter XIOnce the smoke cleared, Cheshire rubbed her eyes, groaning. Once she opened them, however, she blinked them quickly. She was standing in, what it seemed, the middle of nowhere. The dirt under her feet looked so dark, it almost seemed black, and the sky was cloudy with clouds low and dark. However, in front of Cheshire and her two new acquaintances, was a castle of seemed to be black diamond. The castle seemed to reach for the clouds and give it a small kiss, seeming to be stretched, lanky and tall. There were very few windows from Cheshire’s view, but she noticed one in what seemed to be the tower and another on the large, black doors oddly.
She heard Maleficent clear her throat as she walked forward, Pete lingering behind her. Cheshire merely twitched her ears before following. It was odd, she felt as if…something was watching her. Cheshire looked up to the sound of Maleficent saying, “open,” watching in complete shock as the doors slowly opened, nothing behind him. Seconds after Cheshire thought that, shadows seemed to rise as about five odd, black creatures appeared. Cheshire was shocked by this and quickly got ready to shock them, but Pete stopped her by putting a large hand on her shoulder, saying, “Don’t worry. They work for us.”
As Cheshire glanced at them, she quickly knew that she wasn’t in that
us.
As Pete let go of her shoulder and started walking, Cheshire glared at the shadows before moving on, close behind Pete. The halls alone were dark and Cheshire was sure she could see more moving shadows in them. There seem to be no furniture, she noticed. It didn’t take long for the three of them to reach the throne room, Cheshire guessed. As the doors opened, once again by moving shadows, the first thing Cheshire noticed was how lightless it was. The second thing she noticed was who was on the other side.
He, Cheshire guessed by his bald, black head. Large, black wings came from his back as a sharp pointed black tail swished back and forth. “Did you find her,” he asked. Maleficent walked in, unfazed by the darkness around her. For Pete, it took a bit of time, as he glanced around. Cheshire didn’t even want to walk in until a shadow pushed her in, almost knocking her into Pete.
He turned and Cheshire quickly wished he didn’t. His face was scarred, making it seem more red than black. Two, yellow eyes glared as his frame was that of a body builder. Cheshire knew she was most likely paranoid, but it seemed he had a dark aura around him as well. He smirked, showing off yellow fangs, as he said, “Perfect…but,”
Cheshire blinked at his “but”, as did Pete and Maleficent. His smirk slowly came to a frown as he muttered, “She has wings…”
In one swift, almost unnoticed, movement, he was near her. Cheshire shrunk back, not liking how close he was. Too her shock and horror, he reached with a strong hand and ripped her wings right off. At first, it was silent, as Cheshire felt nothing. But the pain quickly slapped her in the face as she hissed, falling to the ground. She glared up at him, sill panting from pain as she raised her arm up, ready to shock him. Maleficent quickly made her move as she simply waved her hand and a green bind was round Cheshire’s hands.
“Don’t be like that, Chess, it was simply because you reminded me of Martin…and I hate being reminded of my son.” The horrified man said.
Cheshire glared, not noticing that the name brought a ring to her mind. The man simply smirked as he said, “My name is Lord Vladimir. I expect you to call me this at all times…if you don’t, I’ll rip off
more than your wings.” He growled the last part.
Cheshire slowly nodded, gulping. It didn’t go past her to notice how cold the floor was. Lord Vladimir turned to Maleficent, nodding. Cheshire watched as the binds left her arms. She looked up at Lord Vladimir and watched as he simply stared at her for a few seconds before turning to Pete and saying, “Take her to Bushroot….he’ll most likely have something for her…
wound.”
Cheshire was very eager to add “the one you gave me,” but held her tongue, remember his promise. Seconds later, she felt Pete lift her up and it was then that Cheshire realized how sleepy she really was. She tried to stay awake, blinking her eyes, but Pete hadn’t even gotten out the door before Cheshire was off in a deep slumber.
***
“Tell Lord Vladimir she’ll be fine. Her wound is not that bad…however, her shirt needs to be fixed.”
“Just send it to Maleficent; she’ll magically fix it or whatever she does.”
What…? What happened?“Alright.”
She heard walking and the closing of a door. She heard shuffling, along with someone whispering something. She was unable to here due to her dazed state.
…Is someone licking my hand?Blinking her eyes open, Cheshire lazily looked over to watch as an odd, flytrap looking plant licked her hand. She didn’t really care until her senses came to her and she realized what it was. Giving a small screech, she jumped back, landing on what was most likely a stool.
“Spike! Oh, I’m so sorry! He gets like that to new people!” a baritone voice said hurriedly.
Since she was fully awake now, Cheshire was able to turn to her left and stare into the blue eyes of a toon. It didn’t take long for her to notice his green feathers with odd, purple afro hair. Falling off the chair, Cheshire pointed at him, gasping.
“Calm down or you’ll open your wound.” The green duck sighed, obviously used to this reaction.
Cheshire blinked, glancing at Spike before she cleared her throat. The duck turned back to her, raising a brow. Cheshire rubbed her arm, starting to calm. “I’m, um, sorry. Your, err, dog…thing…shocked me…”
Cheshire was shocked she could talk so calmly. Still, she was pleased to see the duck quickly smiling, saying, “Oh, don’t worry about Spike.”
Cheshire glanced at the dog flytrap. “Is he a….flytrap?”
“Well, yes…it sort of hard to explain. You see, I’m a hybrid of a plant and duck…experiment.” He quickly added the last part when he noticed Cheshire’s questionable expression. Still, the insane girl nodded before jumping up, landing in front of the duck. Ignoring his shocked face, she held her hand out, the other on her hip, as she said, “Cheshire.”
He glanced at it before shaking her hand, “Reginald Bushroot.”
Cheshire blinked, loosening her grip before it to her side. “Fancy.”
Bushroot shrugged. “Most friends call me Reggie.”
“Do you…see me as a friend?”
Bushroot blinked, crossing his vine arms as he cocked his head to the side. Spike was running around their feet, obviously wanting to be picked up. Cheshire did so, already used to the dog. She petted him as his tongue hung loosely out of his…mouth, causing her to smile.
“Well…your
hat certainly reminds me of a friend of mine…and I heard you had an electrical ability…again, reminds me of a friend…As for you, alone, you’re nice to Spike and haven’t kicked him yet, so I don’t see why I should hate you.”
“Alright, Reggie it is.” Cheshire said, tickling Spike under his chin. “Oh, by the way, what’s wrong with my shirt?”
“Two holes in it…I’ll have to send it to Maleficent…until then, you can wear my lab coat. It usually doesn’t take her long to fix stuff.”
Cheshire nodded, her focus on the flytrap dog. She had to admit, Spike was pretty cute for a plant. She pricked her ears as she heard shuffling, staring at Bushroot as he messed around in some closet. As Cheshire glanced around, she noticed his room had one of the view windows. That, and it was rather sunny and pretty nature themed. Plants seemed to overwhelm the room, but Cheshire could understand. Since Bushroot was, in a way, a plant himself. Daisies were here and there while vines scaled the walls. Roses were also noticeable, as was violets and some other flowers unknown to Cheshire. As the girl looked back at Bushroot, she saw he was holding up a white coat. “You’ll simply have to wrap it around yourself, but it will do for now.” He said in his baritone voice.
Cheshire nodded, putting Spike down as she grabbed the coat, looking at it. “You don’t mind?”
“Not really.” Bushroot answered.
Cheshire watched as he turned, putting his hands behind his back. Cheshire blinked at him and blushed when she realized he was waiting for her to say it was okay to turn around. She quickly took off her shirt, quickly putting the coat on and buttoning it up. She couldn’t help but noticed the faint scent of roses and some scent of grass after you mow the lawn. Cheshire couldn’t help, but be calmed by it. Then again, she guessed flowers always did that to her.
“Okay.” She murmured.
Bushroot turned, smiling at her. He picked up her shirt and walked towards the door, which was covered in ivy. He opened it and started muttering to someone, handing them Cheshire’s shirt. He turned back and explained, “The heartless can’t come in my room…too sunny for them.”
“Heartless?” Cheshire asked.
“Those shadow things you saw…I assume you saw them...They’re everywhere.”
Cheshire nodded. She glanced around once more before yawning.
“You might as well go back to sleep, Cheshire. You only slept a few minutes when Pete was brining you here. I would suspect you’re tired…” Bushroot said, looking over at the bed Cheshire was in. Cheshire glanced over at it and noticed it was actually just a table, with a blue blanket over it and a white pillow. Another blue blanket was on the floor, neatly next to it.
“Sure you don’t need it?” Cheshire asked.
“No, I’m not tired…that, and I’ll just ask for a bed from my plants.”
Cheshire paused, one hand on the bed. “You can talk to plants?”
“Yes.” He answered, not missing a beat.
“Sweet!” Cheshire laughed, getting up onto the bed.
As Bushroot walked over, Cheshire raised a brow and Bushroot said, “I need to add some medication to your wounds.” Cheshire nodded, sleep starting to come to her again. It didn’t take long before she was, again, in deep slumber.
This chapter showed sort of a Shelbi side in the later chapter with Bushroot. Cheshire has no clue who Shelbi is. She has amnesia. Just to make that clear. Lord Vladimir is my OC. And, yes, he is Martin's father. Ohh....drama~
Anyway, as for adding Bushroot, I thought he would most likly be a healer. And he
is a villian. And I thought he would be a good first friend for Cheshire. The Heartless are from Kingdom Hearts and they are really the only things I'm going to put in here that is from or related to Kingdom Hearts.
Oh, and, yes, Cheshire no longer has wings.