Chapter 144: The Shattering

CHRONABELA -

The moment Erina's hand pressed against Maddy, Bella watched his body relax.

She breathed a sigh of relief. The roaring was rough on her sensitive ears, but it was his madness that pressed against his Soul that ate at her the most.

He turned his massive head towards Bella, and she watched his eyes go soft and a beast-like smile draw across his face.

"You didn't leave?"

"How could I?" She reached through the bars and cupped his cheek with her palm; his face nearly dwarfing her small hand.

He turned to Kai but stayed as still as he could so that he wouldn't step away from Erina's touch.

"You came back. Were you successful?" The hope in his voice made Bella's heart ache and she was nearly giddy to see his response to Kai's next words.

"We were." Kai nodded. "The Spirit Goddess waits for the curse to drop, and you will be given a new life. But..." Kai paused, looking between her and Maddy.

"But?" Maddy asked, his tone filling with worry.

"You have to understand that if you break the Cheshire laws, you'll be erased. No second life. Not Soul Spin."

"I already told you that I would agree to that." He said in a hurried rush.

"I know, but I had to make sure before we continued. Now that you know it's possible. I need you to really think about it. There are many things that we can do, but we have to be cautious. Using the Cheshire abilities without caution can easily break a number of our laws. Will you study them and promise to follow them, no matter what they are?"

Kai's voice was tinged with prudence.

Maddy took a moment to stare into Kai's eyes before he answered with a solemn, "Yes."

Kai nodded and then turned to Bella. "Go ahead then."

He turned back to her and she smiled, almost too giddy to stand still. Her heart pounded hard against her breast and she could hardly breathe past the butterflies.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little bat…”

The words came slow and halting, as the jitters caused her voice to waver.

Maddy's eyes grew larger and his mouth opened in awe.

She continued anyway, “How I wonder what you’re at…”

Bella's breath caught, and tears burned in her eyes as and she took another step closer to the cage so that she could press up against it.

“Up above the world you’ll fly,” Maddy picked it up, voice gaining strength even as it trembled, “like my goddess in the sky.”

Tears slipped down Bella’s cheeks, carving clean tracks through the soot as she lifted her chin.

“Twinkle, twinkle, never fade,” she answered, voice soft but clear. “In my teacup you’ve been made.”

She could remember the day he'd sung this song to her, and the moment had torn open a hole inside her that she thought would never mend.

Maddy blinked slowly and leaned into her palm, more smoke trailing from his nose.

“Though the clock runs mad and fast,” his rough voice sang, “I’ll hold your hand until the last.”

His words and tone were strong compared to Bella's voice. It was breaking and full of emotion as she fought to sing past the lump in her throat.

She closed her eyes and began to unweave the curse. Like a box that had been taped up and forgotten, she opened it and carefully examined the fear that had been stashed there.

She pulled out each worry and heartache and let time remove them from existence.

“Forever ’round this table we,” Bella joined, stepping closer still, “sip eternity, you and me.”

Eyes still closed, she then pushed her love into the now empty box within her. Her love, admiration, and fierce determination to be with Maddy. Whether he was a man, a Jabberwocky or a Cheshire Cat.

The air seemed to shiver as broken tables and forgotten chairs stood upright and mended themselves.

“Twinkle, twinkle, break the night,” the Hatter sang louder now. His tone filled with promise, possession and love, "even if the stars take flight.”

“I’ll die mad, with a grin so wide,” Bella answered, tears falling freely now as her voice grew stronger, only breaking on the edges, “listening to every tick with pride.”

The rest of the courtyard and the people in it seemed to disappear, so that it was just her and Maddy standing within it.

“Time may stop or run away,” he continued, “but my love for you will never stray.”

“You can never stop how I feel,” Bella finished, the last word cracking. “Forever long I shall forget the wheel.”

The last note hung between them, fragile and perfect, and she found that she couldn't take her eyes from his. Their brown shade seeming to deepen as the silence grew between them.

She finally closed her eyes again as she let go of the threads that held the curse together.

When she opened them again, he was smiling at her, and her heart filled with love.

"I love you, Maddy. I was so scared when you first sang that song to me. Scared of what it meant, scared of how you felt, and most of all, scared for how I felt for you." She pulled in a shaky breath.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and let the remaining tears fall from her lashes before she swiped them away.

She blew out a steadying breath and finished with, "But I'm not scared anymore. It's not every day that the Goddess of Time falls in love, but I can tell you that my love is stronger now than it ever was. I release you from holding it all on your own."

His brown eyes watched her as she spoke, his smile never leaving. He lifted his hand to cover hers as it lay against his cheek.

"Bella, I've never stopped loving you and I'll never stop loving you. It may have taken a while to trust in that, but I do now. I know that no matter what, no matter what body I'm in or how fractured my mind might become one day, that love will live and grow because it resides in a heart that you own." He pulled in a raspy breath. "I love you, Chronabel. My Bella. And I always will."

She expected the cage to vanish, or for a light to shine, but as the seconds ticked away, nothing happened.

"Don't fear." Maddy said, knowing her better than she knew herself. "Give it time, Timekeeper."

Bella lifted her other hand up to his other cheek and pressed her lips against his mouth. She felt the cold hardness of his extended teeth and just as he asked; she did not fear.

Then, in the silence, a single crack broke the air, then another, and another, and before long no other sound could be heard over it.

Until finally, something shattered.