#v . 𝖎𝖓 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗 > . . . 𝑣; 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛

[offwithhxrhead]

[ text from maddie ] smiler , it is THREE IN THE MORNING . i swear to GOD if i open this link , and it's a rick roll , i will come into that room and SMOTHER YOU WITH YOUR PILLOW .

[ text from maddie ] ON MY WAY TO YOUR ROOM , YOU TROLL

@thevalicemultiverse

[offwithhxrhead]

she laughs again at her mother's expression . " no , seriously , she's actually a really good listener . and she gives . . . decent advice , though you'll have to ignore the 'off with their head' at the end . "

maddie pouts a little at hearing her mother's unwillingness to talk to the queen . " fiiiiine , " she sighs , giving up .

she sees the look on alice's face as she talks about her nightmares , and , god she doesn't mean to upset her in any way ! she just wants to show that alice isn't alone . . . anyhow , alice manages to shake out the negative thoughts and reply . madeline nods as she goes on to say that some nights are " a lot harder than others . "

" of course they are , " maddie responds , resting her hand on alice's in support . " but dad and i will always be here for those nights . we aren't going to abandon you when things get rough , okay ? "

Alice’s expression indicates that she has never thought the words “delightful” and “the Queen of Hearts” together in the same sentence. “I’ll concede that you probably have a point in that she’d like to hear about Victor,” she admits, leaning on her free elbow. “But I don’t know if she’d like to hear about him from me. It’s a nice thought, Madeline, but...she really didn’t seem interested in any long conversations the last time we met.” Honestly, she’s still surprised the Queen seems to like Madeline so much -- grateful, yes, it means Maddie is that much safer in Wonderland, but still. It’s weird.

She smiles weakly as Madeline points out that they have very similar brains -- though it fades rapidly as Madeline admits to having similar nightmares as well. She really doesn’t like the thought of her daughter having the same kind of dreams she has -- with fire, and burning, and screaming that just echoes around her skull as she sees everything and everyone she has loved ripped away from her yet again --

She shakes her head, pushing away the images to try and focus on Madeline’s words. “We are, and we would,” she confirms with a small nod. “I don’t -- goodness, leaving you an orphan, especially in that manner, is another of my biggest fears. And I know you and Victor are smart, and would know what to do and how to escape in case of a fire, but...” She sighs heavily. “Some nights are a lot harder than others.”

[offwithhxrhead]

" hi grandma . . . hi grandpa . . . and hi , aunt lizzie . "

the young woman kneels in front of the gravesite of her extended family -- her mother's family , that is . never got to meet them while they were living , but since this was part of their family trip to england , they all decided a trip to their final resting places would be a good stop .

it's hard , seeing her mother in such a vulnerable state . to see her struggling to get any words out between broken sobs , trying to give the family an update on how they're all doing . not that it would do any good , maddie thought . sure , if her father is right , and there is a land of the dead , they'd be happy living their undead lives below , but they still wouldn't hear her . better to keep that thought to herself , though .

after the tearful monologue from her mother and the good wishes from victor , madeline stayed by the graves , asking for a bit of privacy for her piece .

so here she is , unsure of how or even where to start . " i . . . god , i don't even know what i'm doing , " she admits , tucking a strand of hair behind her ear . " even if you could hear me , which i'm pretty sure you can't , i don't even know what to tell you guys . my life has been both amazing and a disaster , and i'm not even sure you want to stay that long to hear it .

" i dunno , i wish i could actually talk to you guys . to actually meet the people who gave mum such a good life before it was wrongly taken from her . i mean , if i could travel down there just like dad did , i'd probably have more to say . . . whatever , i hope you all are partying hard down there . "

madeline stands , and turns her back , but not before she hears a gentle whoosh , the coldness of the source pricking at her skin . her parents are back at the car by now , but she can't help but turn around to find-

a corpse standing behind her .

@thevalicemultiverse

[offwithhxrhead]

it took them a long time , but here they are .

towering above alice and her daughter is the dollmaker's lair , made from splintering wood and rusted nails . madeline just stares up at the entrance , then quickly glances down below at the bottomless pit . she shudders , looking to her mother for guidance .

" so . . . why are we here again ? " maddie asks , unable to hide the fear in her voice .

she does not want to be here , nor does she want to face the beast within those walls . sure , it's the right thing to do if she wants both her and her mother's sanity to remain intact , but god she's going to hate every second of it .

" seriously , mum , i . . . i don't know if i can face him . i-i'm not like you , i can't just waltz up to something twenty times my size and scold it like a child !! and then i have to fight him ?? hell no , absolutely the fuck not . "

@thevalicemultiverse

[offwithhxrhead]

" again! "

madeline rises to her feet , brushing off the dust from her dress . she takes a deep breath as alice demands to give the fight another go . readying herself , maddie rushes forward , wielding the playing cards , and quickly throws a few at her mother .

they've been at it for the past hour , with alice being very adamant on teaching her daughter to fight , though madeline's not too sure why . she's never really talked to her about what wonderland put her through in the past ; all she's ever really said was she " faced her demons . "

as she's lost in thought , her mother is already on her next move , knocking maddie back with her attack . she growls in frustration , and summons the jacks , tossing them at alice's feet . " okay , seriously ? this is so not fair ! "

@thevalicemultiverse

[liddellvxndort-a]

the two exit the queen's court, rapidly approaching the labyrinth made of rose bushes. madeline shoots charlie a rather nasty look after their comment, eye twitching in annoyance.

" okay this has ꜱ ᴇ ʀ ɪ ᴏ ᴜ ꜱ ʟ ʏ got to 𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖕 !! i don't know if i can take anymore of running from ᴛʜᴇ ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛɪᴏɴᴇʀ !! "

❝ㅤㅤ do  i  regret  it?  𝗬 𝗘 𝗔 𝗛 ( ... )  now, would  i  do  it  again?  .....𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮.ㅤㅤ❞

sc  (  x  )  ft.  @liddellvxndort

[offwithhxrhead]

@thevalicemultiverse continued from here !!

the kiss back catches maddie by surprise as well as the compliment about her hair . she's still not used to such a caring partner , given all the previous ones being one-night-stands . a red tint slowly makes its way to her cheeks as she nods in response . " y-yeah , that would be lovely ! "

both sitting on her bed , madeline crawls her way to the front of jean and makes herself comfortable in a criss-cross position . she glances over her shoulder , giving her girlfriend a smile . " you know , the only people i allow to touch my hair is mum , dad , and you . these curls take a lot of caring , and not just anyone can feel them . "

the comment about her hair makes maddie think . she hasn't met jean's family yet !! " speaking of mum and dad , what are yours like ? " maddie asks .

[offwithhxrhead]

“did you do this just for me?” (Victor to Madeline, regarding hopefully something a little more wholesome than what happened with Maddie and Alice!)

" i absolutely did do this for you ! "

madeline holds a canvas , on which is an oil painting of emily . " i know how much she meant to you , and it is the anniversary of when you met her . i'm sorry if she's not exactly like you remembered her , but this is why i was asking all of those questions . "

[liddellvxndort-a]

god this show is INSANE !!

madeline makes her way through the crowd, the guitar sending 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑠 up her spine and the drums practically thumping twice the speed of her heart. she'd been watching from the pit, seeing those around her mosh, punch, kick, scream, 𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖔�� 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖛𝖊 !! it's enough to send her adrenaline into overdrive.

@bnchee

pushing through, she 🇫‌🇮‌🇳‌🇦‌🇱‌🇱‌🇾‌ finds the restrooms, looking for a moment's peace in the chaos of this concert. maddie opens the door, then stands before the mirror, using this time to touch up her makeup. there are a few other girls in the room, some washing their hands, others throwing up from their alcohol consumption. but one specifically caught maddie's eye.

" i'm so sorry to bother you, but your outfit ?? absolutely stunning !! "

[liddellvxndort-a]

those memories... oh god those memories...

madeline opens her eyes, finding herself deep within the dollhouses. she's just coming back from finding one of her mother's memories, a simple pair of silver glasses floating just above the ground. maddie remembers her mother telling her what memory is for and who it is from, so she quickly recognized the spectacles.

this memory was from him.

the further they travel into the godforsaken domain, the more memories of his pop up. they all disgust maddie, leaving a terrible taste in her mouth as soon as she's free from their grasps.

" god, i still can't believe you lived with that man for a year. how on earth did you not kill him sooner?? " madeline asks, her face scrunched up in disdain.

@thevalicemultiverse

[offwithhxrhead]

☂ Favorite weather (I am curious)

" shockingly , " she starts , " i love a good storm . one with heavy rain and distant thunder . best time to nap the day away ! "

[offwithhxrhead]

"Drabble" -- weapon! :)

she now realizes just why her father hates the darkness so much.

emerald orbs gaze at their surroundings, unable to make out much of anything given the lack of light. pale, shaking hands begin to feel around, desperate to find anything to grab hold of, just in case something or someone decides to get the jump on her. maddie is stranded, that much is sure. but where?

her eyes glance over at a tiny sliver of light, illuminating a nearby wall. she rushes over to it, hands feeling around for a doorway out of this hellhole.

it's then she hears thumping, getting louder and louder.

thump.

Thump.

ThumpThumpTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP!

a loud SCREECH fills the air, almost bursting madeline's eardrums as a huge porcelain doll comes barreling towards her. in its hands, two sharpened scissor blades. she can't help but scream as she scrambles back into the darkness, summoning her hobby horse-

wait.

where's my hobby horse? she thinks, squeezing her eyes shut and trying once again to summon it. and yet, nothing.

panic begins to set in as she realizes she can't summon her weapon. maddie whimpers as she tries again, and again, and again, with no results.

fuck! mum where the hell are you?

retreating back to the light, maddie tries to calm herself. deep breaths in and out, trying to focus on summoning like alice taught her.

but before she can try once more, an earth-shattering scream hits her ears again, breaking her concentration. the doll spots her again, rushing to her and slicing her arm. maddie shouts in pain, the gash bleeding profusely. another slice, but this time, she butterflies away from the attack, back into the darkness. the doll tauntingly sings a song, skipping its way over to maddie.

the damned thing can see in the dark?!

maddie tries to run, but to no avail. it's much bigger than she is, meaning it can cover more ground in a shorter amount of time. the doll brings the blade up with a shing! as it cuts into maddie's back.

she falls to the ground, crying out in agony. this fucking monster is just cutting away at her, and wonderland refuses to give her any aid whatsoever. there's no weapons, no metaessence, nothing. what the fuck is she supposed to do? why would wonderland do this to her?

she desperately tries to crawl away, backing herself up against a wall. she looks up, and sees nothing but black before her. that is, until a glimmer of light shines off the blade raised in front of her, before it's plunged into her stomach.

she can't see it, but she can feel the blood pouring out of her, even more so as the doll rips the blade from her torso. she coughs, and feels wetness on her cheeks and lips. with what strength she has left, she breathes in, and lets out a final scream.

"MOM!"

maddie shoots up from her bed, still screaming for her mother. it's not long before alice is rushing into her bedroom, a worried look on her face. she asks what's wrong, sitting next to her daughter, but all maddie can do is cry.

[offwithhxrhead]

"sender  has  just  died ,  receiver  finds  out" from the "nonverbal prompts" as requested -- feel like this would most likely be a "Alice has died, Victor is informing Madeline" situation? (going to bed in a little bit, but I wanted to get this out there after queuing up all our other stuff)

no .

no , no , no , no , no , no , this can't be , this can't be real .

madeline stands frozen in place before her father , his words drowning in the ringing of her ears . all she can make out is , " she didn't make it , " and , " take care of wonderland for her . "

" t-this isn't . . . this isn't happening , the doctors said she'd be okay , why isn't she okay ?! "

she starts to pace through the waiting room of the hospital , anger , rage , grief , all of it building up inside her . it's not until she lets out a hysteric scream , terrifying those around her , that she finally breaks . before she can catch her breath , she feels herself enveloped in a tight hug . victor has her wrapped up in his arms , unable to keep from crying . his voice in a low whisper , he repeats to his daughter , " i know . it's okay . we'll get through this , " over and over again .

madeline finally dissolves into tears , sobbing into her father's chest . she knows it will be okay eventually , but right now it fucking hurts . her whole body aches with grief , and as much as she loves her father , she just wants her mom .

[offwithhxrhead]

madeline shakes her head , sighing . " stupid social media . i take a break for one hour , and i come back to posts ' calling me out ' for supposedly taking someone's partner from them . . . which is not true , i didn't even know the girl had a boyfriend when we slept- uh . . . kissed . " she's not sure whether or not kissing is better or worse than sleeping with the girl , but hopefully alice doesn't catch her slip-up .

" If ignorance is bliss, I must be ecstatic. " . maddie to alice :)

"People say that, and they never actually look blissful when they do,"l Alice observes. "What are you feeling ignorant about today?"

[offwithhxrhead]

" no , i shouldn't have compared you to them in the first place . that was awful of me . . . i guess i was just looking to push buttons , and when i did , i didn't fully grasp how it would make you feel , " she admits , stealing a kleenex from the box nearby .

madeline nods , glancing at her father who agrees with her mother's statement . " honestly, i'm not even sure i wanted to be reached . i understand taking the drastic measures , you're not at fault for that . i'm the one who should've talked to you about everything , but i was scared of hurting you both . you shouldn't have to hear your daughter going through similar pain that you used to experience . "

maddie laughs a little harder at alice's joke , sniffing her tears back . " yeah , i think it's about time to stop lying to my therapist that ' everything's fine ' and ' i dont need a session . '"

she pulls away from alice , looking into her father's eyes . god , even he looks so sad . maddie truly didn't mean any harm by her actions ( sneaking out , making irresponsible decisions , etc . ) , but she now sees the repercussions of them . " once again , i'm so sorry for putting you through this pain . i swear , if i want to go out , i will let you both know , and call for a ride . but i don't think i'm going to be going out any time soon . "

Alice wipes her eyes with a hand, shaking her head. “I -- still feel like turning the Rutledge comparison around on you was unfair,” she mumbles, squeezing Maddie a little tighter. “Ugh, this was such a mess. . .”

Part of her can’t help but go Oh? Do you really mean that? at Madeline’s promise never to sneak out again, but Alice squashes it down. She’s done with being angry, at least for the moment. She just wants to get past this whole stupid horrific argument. “We don’t want to be mad at you either,” she says, glancing at Victor, who nods in support. “Or disappointed. It’s just -- been so hard to reach you these days, and -- I felt I had to take some drastic measures. Just to try and keep you safe at home for a little while.” Didn’t work out quite how she hoped it would, but if Madeline is serious in her pledge not to sneak out anymore. . .

She sniffs hard as Madeline assures her that she knows Alice loves her, and that she’s been a dick. Though she can’t help a chuckle herself. “You probably do -- and that’s coming from ME and my history with psychiatrists, so, you KNOW it’s serious,” she weakly jokes.

[offwithhxrhead]

" and that ' doctor ' is more of a quack , in my opinion , " madeline murmurs . a small smirk pulls at her lips as her mother tells off the two men , and throwing in that last bit makes maddie want to teasingly stick out her tongue at them .

ciel's polite smile drops , his face quickly growing quite serious . " i'm here to protect you all . you see , your beloved doctor has been released from prison , and has begun his operation once again here , in new york . "

madeline tries to hide the shock from ciel and his butler , but fails . " w-what , so you're like a cop or something ? "

" or something sounds about right , " sebastian answers , looking to his young master for agreement . " but , if you'd really like us to go , we will leave- "

" wait . " madeline sighs deeply , looking at her parents , who most likely are also just as horrified at the news as she is . her gaze returns to the pair before her , as she continues . " fine , you can come in . i'm guessing you want to stop him before he gets to us . but , wait , shouldn't we call the nypd ? shouldn't they be the ones handling this ? "

ciel shakes his head . " he's an englishman , meaning he'll eventually answer to parliament once more for his crimes . besides , we prefer to keep the police out of our investigations . it just makes it that much more fun for us , right , sebastian ? "

sebastian bows politely before his master . " yes , my lord . "

Victor shoots Madeline a thankful look as she comes to stand with him -- it helps, to have his family close. Or, at least, it does until this “Ciel Phantomhive” starts talking about one Angus Bumby and wanting to know more about him. And until Madeline starts asking why he wants to know, and -- well. That whole back and forth probably could have gone worse, but it could have gone better too. Better as in Ciel could have avoided winding Madeline up and thus getting them off immediately on the wrong foot. Better in that Madeline could then have been more cordial, instead of trying to go in to teach him a lesson and getting grabbed, however briefly, by that creepy butler (his breath catches in his throat the minute the guy touches her, and releases as he lets her go just as quickly -- a lucky break, he’s sure of it, given the intensely intimidating vibes the man is giving off) --

And better in that Alice would still be just curious and maybe mildly concerned about what was going on, instead of regarding their visitors with the kind of cold stare he recognizes as a sign that she’s on the verge of letting the Queen of Hearts give her advice on how to deal with a problem. “You seem to know everything pertinent about Dr. Bumby already,” she says, folding her arms across her chest. “I really don’t know how I can help you further. So I recommend you tell me right now why you’re here and bringing that up, or I kick you off my property by any means possible.” Her eyes narrow. “Oh, and you are never to touch my daughter again.”