Cora, Princess of Hearts

Cora blinked, red-rimmed eyes making contact with the person who previously was her greatest nightmare.   Unlike everyone else in Wonderland these days, he wasn’t wearing blue or white, but then again, he never had.  He wore black, though the leather was less worn than she remembered it.  His cloak swept the floor, but if she knew him as well as she thought she did, she knew he could still have concealed weaponry on his person.

“Thought you would have stopped pretending to care,” she shot back. 

“Am I pretending?” he asked, stepping closer to the bars of her cage.  A smirk played at the corner of his lips, and Cora wished Alice hadn’t taken her daggers, because she would loved to rip the smirk off his face personally.

“You always were,” she said, daring him to contradict her, “So why stop now, Raphael?”

The name fell from her lips like water, but it burned her as though it were acid.  Cora hadn’t spoken his name in years, vowing to leave him behind like the terror he was, but what was a little more terror now?

Raphael shrugged, “Are we laying all our cards on the table then, princess?”  He smiled, stepping even closer, and Cora hated, just hated, how he looked so confident.  And guiltless.  Then again, while he understood how to manipulate others’ guilt, he’d never seemed to really apply the concept to himself.

Determined to restore some semblance of dignity to herself, Cora wiped away her tears.  Sitting on her knees- which she’d learned was the best way to maintain her balance in case someone pushed her cage –she narrowed her eyes at him.  He had no reason to be here, and taunting her was too juvenile for a game of his.  So what was he here for, exactly?

“You still doubt me?” Raphael asked, seeming almost surprised.  He shook his head, and said, “Fine.  You want the truth?  Father’s price to get back into the Church, to repent for having me, was bringing in thousands of souls who’d previously never known God.  The Isle wasn’t a place for that, but Wonderland would certainly work.  And what wickeder way to start than with its princess?”

“I know that, Raph,” Cora said, “I get it.  I figured it out, though I’d really like to stop losing this goddamn game over and over.”  Despite herself, she was perversely pleased to see him flinch at her swear.

“Besides, what does it matter now?  Wonderland’s got a new royal family, in case you missed it.  I’m an abomination,” Cora wrapped her fingers around the bars, gesturing to the various posters in the room, “I was back then.  Your father said I was cursed by God, which is why I have slips,” after all, that’s why they’d broken up.  Cocking her head at him, Cora added, “I still have them now.  I may not be royal anymore, but I’m still cursed.”

Raphael was so close to her cage now she could feel his breath on her lips.  He ran one hand through her hair, and he murmured:

“God heals all.” 

Fast as lightning, her hand grabbed his, wrenching it away from her hair, “I don’t want your God, Raph.  And I don’t want you.” 

 A long moment passed between them, Raphael’s hazel eyes meeting her own with a self-satisfaction she wanted to crush. 

“Then why,” Raph asked, voice low, as his lips brushed hers, “are you still holding my hand?”

Cora felt as though her brain had short-circuited at his touch.  Her heart, which had seemed frozen for days, actually started to beat again, and she gasped- but once his words sunk in, she threw his palm away from her as though it were ablaze.  

Raphael rubbed one of his hands in the other, a smirk playing at his features, “You’re right, princess.  You’re not ‘royal’ anymore, but I’m not holy either.  The Church won’t let me take Holy Orders because they say I was living in sin.  My father disowned me for it, saying he’d hoped his son wouldn’t inherit such proclivities, but here I am.  And here you are, locked up.  Just…if I’m going to keep sinning, wouldn’t you rather sin with me, princess?  Out of that cage?”

Her heart pounding, Cora tried to regain her senses.  There was a reason they had broken up, and it hadn’t just been because of Frollo’s disapproval of her…condition.  It was also because Raph treated everything- and everyone –as a game.  Including her.  As much as she wanted to believe him, there was no reason for him to change.

No matter how much she’d always wished he would.  That somewhere, buried underneath the charm and the smirks and the lies, was the love she’d given him, returned in equal measure.

Like the devil had tempted Eve with the apple, her own devil tempted her with the key to her cage, holding it before her, “Come on, princess.  Let’s get out of here, leave it all behind.  Go to a place where no one knows our names and maybe, just maybe, they can heal your slips.”

For a brief instant, she allowed herself to dream about it.  They could run far away, somewhere past the Boiling Seas, past the Agrabanian deserts, outside Auradon’s borders.  They could be together, safe, and free, and in love.

Cora shuddered, ashamed at how much she still wanted it. 

“You should go before the guards catch you.  My soul’s beyond saving, Raph.  We both know that,” she said finally, turning away from him.   There was a long silence, and if she didn’t know wickeder, she would have thought she heard Raph sigh in disappointment.

“Though yours, my son, is apparently not.” Judge Frollo walked into the room then, resting a hand on Raphael’s shoulder with a fond squeeze.  To Cora’s horror, Raph smiled:

“Thank you, Father.”

“And as you, Corazana, have admitted to heresy, have no desire for forgiveness, or to seek God at all…” Frollo- now attired in the robes of an Archdeacon –pronounced, “You will burn.   Queen Alice wants this room destroyed anyway.  You will perish in it.”  Not even bothering to give her the Sign of the Cross, he swept away. And Cora was left wondering how much of what had Raph said was a game.  Again.

As for Raphael, he lit a match: “Enjoy hell, princess.”

Refusing to cry for him again, Cora spat, “I will when I meet you there.”

Then Raph threw the match to the ground, and Cora watched him leave her for the last time.

Why would the architects do that?  Remodel the palace after Alice’s dress? Cora wondered, though aloud, she slurred, disgusted at how weak she sounded, “What did you do to me?  What did you give me?”

Because Palaterra had obviously concocted some sort of biological weapon. 

“Nothing you don’t deserve,” Alice sing-songed, “but don’t worry.  You were only playing pretend.  And I, unlike your mother, don’t kill people for playing.  It’ll wear off soon.”

“You killed your daughter,” Cora tried to spit, but the venom behind her words was somewhat lost due to her weakness, “How could you do that?”

“Iris wasn’t my daughter,” Alice replied, high heels clacking on the floor, while Cora’s vision finally decided to sharpen, “She was a mistake.”  

“You’re wrong-” Cora started to condemn the woman she hated more than anyone, but the words disappeared as she took in Alice’s outfit.  A blue silk gown, white embroidery woven throughout.  But on her head…on her head….

“Do you like it?” Alice simpered, performing a twirl for Cora, “I had them make a few adjustments of course.”

“How dare you!” Cora wheezed, “That belongs to the Queen of Hearts.”

“This belongs to the Queen of Wonderland,” Alice tapped the gold, though indeed, as she said, it was no longer recognizably Ardenzana’s crown- or Cora’s.  Intertwined with the gold were strips of silver, and the rubies had been ripped out, to be replaced by pearls.  It was an abomination.

“And you see, I’m now Queen of Wonderland.”

“You’re a liar!” Cora retorted immediately, trying to spit in Alice’s face. 

Alice slapped her, the gesture sudden and sharp like the blade of a knife.  And Cora momentarily felt the wind knocked out of her.  She tumbled, losing her footing, but the guards held her tight.

“No.  You see the people were persuaded by my argument at your so-called ‘coronation.’  Ben, Aziz, Hannah…they told me they’d all been thinking of it themselves.  People were just waiting for an excuse.  And when I chose to defend Wonderland, well, they all said they wanted me to be queen.  Who am I to deny the people what they want?” Alice shrugged, “Which reminds me…” She snapped her fingers, and the guards hauled Cora further down the hallway.

Abruptly, they turned outside towards the hedge maze, and Cora hissed in pain as the sunlight met her eyes. Courtiers murmured, though Cora didn’t recognize them.  No one from the House of Clubs, no one from her father’s extended family, the House of Diamonds, and curiously, no Palaterra.   Where was she?  The ghost who had no business existing, let alone destroying Cora’s future?  

Cora tried to find her, but instead of finding her, found the guards dragging her past Alice, pas the hedge maze, into a courtyard where the tiles were laid out like a chessboard.  She knew this place, instantly, from all the stories. 

No.  No.  Alice said she wouldn’t kill me, so why…?

And then she saw her mother.  Unlike Cora, who remained in tattered coronation gowns, Ardenzana, it seemed had been dressed in her most frabjous.  A long silk gown, red as blood, trailed behind her, and ropes of rubies graced her elegant pale neck.  Similarly, bracelets wrapped around her wrists, and on each ring finger, she had a ring: one, symbolizing her marriage to Rhombus, and the second, the signet ring of the monarch of Wonderland. 

Unable to keep her fear, her roiling emotions, her utter terror inside her any longer, Cora completely forgot every bit of etiquette Ardenzana had taught her.  For the first time, she uttered the word: “Mother,” dread in the word.

The Queen of Hearts turned to look at her.  Her green eyes swept over Cora, taking in her appearance from head to toe, and she pursed her lips in an unmistakable look of disappointment.

“Mother,” Cora pled again, completely ignoring the guards at her side, “What do we do?  Alice says- she says the impossible –she says she’s queen of Wonderland.”

Ardenzana merely replied, “Not yet, she isn’t.  But she will be.”  This time, as she stared at Cora, the green eyes flashed with fire:

“You failed, Corazana.  You didn’t accept the crown, so Wonderland is left without a monarch.”

Somehow, though Alice had been the one to actually hit her, it was Ardenzana’s words that made the deepest wound.  Shaking her head, Cora insisted fiercely:

“No it’s not.  It has you.  You’re the Queen of Hearts, ruler of all Wonderland-”

Ardenzana’s smile twisted as she said, “Indeed I am.  But Alice will rectify that situation.  As I have no heir, the crown goes to who the people desire, and unfortunately, that appears to be her.”

“I’m your heir!” Cora repeated, rattling the chain one of the guards was still holding, “And you’re talking like you’re going to die-”

Cora’s face drained of color as Ardenzana broke into a laugh.   It was so unexpected, so shocking, that Cora was momentarily left speechless.

And then she remembered Alice’s words:

“You were only playing pretend.  And I, unlike your mother, don’t kill people for playing.”

Now, as her own eyes landed back on a newly constructed executioner’s block, she realized the horrible truth: this wasn’t for her.  In Alice’s eyes, she’d only played at being Queen of Hearts.  Ardenzana, however, actually was Queen of Hearts.  And, as she had never abdicated- and Cora had never been crowned –would remain Queen of Hearts until her death.

“I am going to die,” Ardenzana confirmed Cora’s worst fear, “in a few moments.  However, at least I will die for my country.  I will die a crowned queen.  You?” her mother shook her head, and Cora felt tears start to spill from her eyes before Ardenzana even finished speaking, “You are a failure.”

“Mother,” Cora struggled against her guards’ grip as Ardenzana’s own guards began to escort her to the block, “Mother- MOTHER-”

That forbidden word she’d never spoken until now, it seemed she couldn’t help but repeat over and over again, desperate to prove Ardenzana wrong, desperate to get one last moment with her, desperate to say all the things she should have over the years.   Perhaps, most importantly, “I love you.”

But Ardenzana never looked back.  Instead, she stood tall and regal on the dais, hands bound as Palaterra read the charges against her:

“Ardenzana of Wonderland, Queen of Hearts, you stand accused of willful and unrepentant murder of your subjects.  At least 2,000 cases where you misappropriated the wheels of justice into a knife-”

Cora couldn’t stand to listen anymore.  She pushed back against her guards, increasingly desperate to escape their grip.  She managed to to punch one in the nose, sending him stumbling back while the other tried to bring her back under control.  Still, Cora was beyond that now.  She had no idea how this was happening- how could Ben of all people allow this to happen –but she had to stop it.  She couldn’t let her mother die.  She couldn’t just stand here and watch-

That thought in her mind, she launched herself at the second guard, wrapping her chains around his neck and tightening them.  The man started to gasp for her, but before she could strangle him to death as he so richly deserved and she could save her mother –someone else yanked her off him.  He gasped for air, color returning to his cheeks, and Cora tried to elbow her new captor, but he instead looped his arms under hers, immobilizing her.

“Ah, ah, princess, this is a bad idea.  We don’t interfere with Judgment Day.”

Cora knew that voice, and oh, she decided she’d kill him later, but she had other priorities first, and even he wouldn’t stop her now-

“Fuck your judgment, and fuck you, Raphael,” she hissed, for once welcoming the neon that flooded her vision.   Digging her foot into the black tile, she leaned forwards- forcing him to be pulled onto her back –before throwing her own own head back as hard as she could.  Raphael groaned, releasing her as she headbutted him, and Cora ignored the gasps, the shouts, the cries as she scrambled towards the block-

“-for these and all your crimes against humanity itself, you are sentenced to death.”

Somewhere in the corner of her vision Cora saw red curls lay down on wood.  She saw a man who told her bedtime stories kiss the wicked White Queen on the cheek.  She saw the witch raise a blade, and it flashed in the sunlight, temporarily blinding her.  She felt splinters in her skin, and then the warm rush of blood around her fingers.

Oddly, she heard cheers.   

And then, in her ear: “Come on, princess.  Your sins aren’t worth dying for.”

Then he hauled her up, leaving behind the warm blood on her hands for tears running down her cheeks.

Giddily, she eyed the gown of red silk.  It felt foreign on her skin- after wearing leather from the Isle for so long -and yet, at the same time, it felt like coming home.  The train stretched out behind her, the entire bodice studded with rubies.  Her hair was loose and curled, and as she made her way down the aisle to the Throne Room of Wonderland’s Chessboard Palace- now restored to its former glory -she met the smiling faces of her friends. 

Iris, bouncing up and down with excitement, Eddie grinning next to her.  Aziz, Hannah, Mal, and Ben, standing with foreign delegations as representatives of their various royal families.  Ethan and Altair, waving shyly from the crowd. Eve, still somehow present despite her facade of being a guardian angel, and Peony, marking the presence of the Fiercesome Four.

Cora nodded to each of them, trying to keep the smile from spreading across her face.  Each step felt like a lifetime and barely an instant, and her heart started to pound as she approached the dais.  Representatives of the remaining Three Great Families of Wonderland stood there- the House of Diamonds represented by her father (who had born as the younger brother of the Duke of Diamonds), and the House of Clubs represented by the Duchess of Clubs.  And then, of course, representing the House of Hearts, was her mother.  Ardenzana was smiling more broadly than Cora had ever seen her, and Cora felt her heart twist.

I did it, Your Majesty.  I did it.

Still, she couldn’t cry.  Not now. 

So Cora focused instead on the throne and finally turned outwards to face the crowd.

“Do you, Corazana of Wonderland, solemnly promise to govern the people of Wonderland according to its laws and customs?” Rhombus asked, barely suppressing a smile of his own.

“I do,” Cora replied.

 “Do you promise to use your power to listen to your people’s needs, and provide peace and prosperity?” the Duchess of Clubs inquired.

“I do.”

“Do you promise to grant justice, giving your life in service to this queendom if need be?” Ardenzana asked, offering a golden dagger to Cora.  One of the monarch’s daggers.  Cora swallowed, knowing the heavy significance of what came next.

“I do,” Cora affirmed.  She took the dagger and swiftly sliced her palm, scattering a few drops of blood to the marble floor, “I offer this as a token of my love for the land.”

“Then the land offers you the Vorpal Sword, to wield in its defense,” the Duchess of Clubs proffered the famed blade to her, once used by Queen Ilystrenzana.  And Cora took it by its hilt, ignoring the stinging in her palm.

“And Wonderland gives you its crown,” Ardenzana lifted a bejeweled crown from a pillow offered by the White Rabbit. Cora bowed to her mother- the last time she would ever bow, for once she was Queen of Hearts, she and Ardenzana would technically be equals –knowing the significance of the moment.  Ardenzana stared back at her, and Cora cast her gaze to the floor, waiting for the heavy gold, diamonds, and rubies, to be placed on her head.  “

May you, Corazana, always provide justice as you wear it,” her mother intoned, but before Ardenzana could do anything more, a voice interrupted loudly:

“Justice?  You call this justice?”  

No. It can’t be. 

Like a figure out of the darkest reaches of her imagination, Alice Kingsley stood at the entry way to the throne room, the Duchess of Spades at her side.  Who was supposed to be dead.

“You-” Cora murmured, dizzy with shock, but it was Ardenzana who said haughtily: “-are unwelcome here.  Leave, Alice.  You can keep your head, but we will only be generous this once.” 

“Your Majesty- it’s not just Alice- Palaterra is here…” Cora reached forward, almost tugging on her mother’s sleeve like a forlorn child, but Ardenzana passed the crown to the Rabbit and swept down the aisle to face her old enemy, Rhombus following in her wake.

Gasps swept through the crowd, but Alice was unfazed.  “Generous.  You, generous?” the blonde sneered, “This is a farce.  This is the biggest miscarriage of justice, and you’re all here supporting it!  Did you forget?” Alice called out to the attendees, the royal ones looking uneasily at each other, “This woman is a glorified serial killer!  And that,” she jabbed her finger in Cora’s direction, “is her diseased, broken, spawn!  You want to give her power?  She can’t even control herself!  How is she going to rule you?  She’s going to kill you!”

Concerned whispers broke out, and Cora started to see the world tilt sideways.  

Not now.  Goblins, not now.

Still, she couldn’t- wouldn’t fall for this.

“Please,” Cora struggled to ignore the neon in her vision, this time leaving the dais herself, “Stop this, Alice.  It’s uncalled for.  I know you and my mother have...a history, but-” She made her way backwards, though her gown seemed to be growing heavier and heavier, and this time, it felt like she was trudging through mud rather than approaching her destiny.

“History?” Alice queried, “I won’t let history repeat itself.  The people of Wonderland deserve better.  We deserve better.  You?  You just deserve to pay.” Cora didn’t know at that moment who Alice was addressing- Ardenzana or herself –but that was the moment when the bomb went off. Acrid smoke filled the the throne room, and the oil portraits of previous monarchs began to curl in on themselves as flames licked their borders.  People shouted, various royal protection officers snatching their charges out of harm’s way, and Cora began to cough, struggling to catch her breath. She couldn’t see, and this time, it had nothing to do with a slip, and everything to do with the smoke.

Palaterra.  Alice and Palaterra…together…

How Alice had raised the Duchess of Spades from the dead Cora didn’t tell, but this had all the hallmarks of her work. And yet, instead of cries of rage at this, Cora heard cheers.  As she began to grow dizzier, and dizzier, she tripped over something.  The only scream was her own as she realized she’d fallen on Iris’ body, glassy, lifeless eyes staring back at her.

And the cheers were from the crowd, eagerly watching as her parents were arrested in the mayhem. Cora pitched forwards, her head smacking the marble as a familiar hand ran through her hair.   “Long time, no see, Princess.” When he held a handkerchief in front of her nose, forcing her to inhale something she knew had to be a poison, her heart shattered for the second time.