After that, Catara took care of baby Crim and raised him as her own. Because Catara had just given birth to her own child a week earlier - a baby girl who she named Katrina - Catara was able to nurse the two babies at the same time. Crim and Katrina were raised like siblings, and played together as they grew up.

Although, Catara treated Crim like her own son it was obvious to all of the other Cheshire Cat slaves that Crim was not Catara’s real son due to his lack of cat ears, tail, tanned skin, or ability to shift into a cat. The other slaves that worked inside the castle were curious about Crim’s origins, but were prudent enough to never actually bring it up.

Crim was a sweet, kind boy, and he quickly won all of the Cheshire Cat slaves over. The slaves came to dote upon Crim whenever they could escape their responsibilities.

They only ever showed Crim kindness and love, and he considered them to be his family, even if they were from different races.

Crim’s ‘childhood memories’ from his time living among the Cheshire Cat slaves would become the happiest memories of his life. During his time living as Catara’s son, he’d felt truly loved, and he’d come to love his adopted mother as a true son would. Unfortunately, not all good things last forever.

When Crim turned ten-years-old, he was assigned to work in the royal stables as a stable boy. His responsibilities were taking care of the horses, and mucking out their stalls. In the beginning, Crim actually enjoyed the work, and grew fond of the horses since they were such gentle creatures. Things changed when Cordelia’s three sons became old enough to ride, however, and Crim was forced to obey their every whim.

As it turned out, Queen Cordelia had three more sons after Crim, and each one of them was born with magic. Their names were: Diamond, Spade and Clover. Diamond was a natural at practicing dark magic, and outshone his two brothers in this field. Spade was more interested in intellectual pursuits such as potion making and the history behind rare magical items. Clover was the most athletic of the three brothers, and spent most of his time practicing swordplay or riding.

Diamond and Spade were both mean-spirited children, and had fun bullying the stable boy Crim, who they saw as being beneath them. Diamond would oftentimes shove Crim into a pile of manure when he was in the middle of mucking out the stalls. Also, in order to make more work for Crim, Diamond and Spade would purposefully ride their horses through mud puddles so that when they returned the horses to the stables later Crim would be forced to hose the horses down.

Clover didn’t participate in the bullying of Crim, but he never tried to stop it either. This was something that Crim would hold against Clover in the future.

Crim was able to handle their bullying for the most part, but when Queen Cordelia’s magic lessons began Diamond and Spade’s bullying grew much worse, and much more dangerous.

One day, as Crim was busy mucking out the stalls as usual, Diamond, Spade and Clover entered the stables. That day Diamond was dressed in a slick, black, Victorian-style suit with the pattern of red diamonds on it, which complimented his short, spiky blood-red hair.

Spade tended to wear all black, and was wearing a wrinkled black suit with the faded pattern of silver spades on it. Spade’s shoulder-length, shaggy, black hair was shadowing half of his face lending to his overall gloomy appearance. Usually, the only part of Spade’s face that could be seen clearly was the creepy smile that seemed to be permanently plastered to his face. He always appeared to be inwardly laughing at some inside joke.

Clover looked out of place standing next to his two brothers in his bright, white suit with the pattern of green, three-leaf clovers on it. Clover had snow-white hair and pale green eyes while Diamond and Spade both had coal-black eyes like their mother.

Crim caught himself staring at the three royal brothers, and quickly looked away. He envied their fine clothes. Crim was currently dressed in hand-me-downs consisting of a simple, white cotton shirt, a pair of brown leather pants, and a pair of boots that were one size too small. “Your Highnesses, I wasn’t expecting you today. I’m sorry, but I’ll have your horses ready for you all immediately.” Crim’s voice was apologetic.

With a twisted sneer on his face that was the only way he smiled, Diamond stalked forward. “Oh, we’re not here to go riding.”

Crim looked up to meet Diamond’s gaze and gave the other boy a questioning look. There was an odd glint in Diamond’s dark eyes. He noticed that Spade was snickering evilly, and Clover was looking nervous. And that was never a good sign.

Doing his best to appear unruffled, Crim dusted himself off, and raised his chin. “Then…why are you here?” He narrowed his eyes warily at the three brothers. He didn’t really have time for their bullying. He had work to do.

“Our mother - the Queen - has finally started to teach us how to do magic,” Diamond bragged in a haughty manner. “Recently, she taught us something rather interesting, but alas we don’t have someone to practice with. That’s where you come in, Crim. Today is your lucky day! You’re going to help us to improve our magic skills.” Diamond’s twisted smile widened.

“I am?” Crim questioned skeptically. “But, I can’t do magic.”

Diamond threw his head back and started to laugh loudly. A minute later, he lowered his head and glared at Crim condescendingly. “Of course you can’t, peasant. All you need to do is just stand there…while I do this!” Diamond’s hand shot out and passed right through Crim’s chest.

Crim gaped down at the hand inside of his chest in mixture of awe and fear. When he felt Diamond’s hand wrap around his heart, a chill crawled up his spine, and for the first time in his life he felt truly afraid.

Diamond’s smile took on a cruel edge. “Now, if I do this properly you won’t die. However, if I screw up…well…” He shrugged carelessly. “I’m afraid you’ll be as dead as a doornail!”

Spade snickered darkly. “As dead as a doornail!”

Crim’s eyes widened in horror. “Wait! Don’t!”

Diamond ignored Crim’s plea and yanked his hand back. Clutched in Diamond’s hand was a glowing, red heart that was beating. Crim gaped at his heart in shock. Diamond grew triumphant. “I did it! I’m amazing, aren’t I?” He directed this question to his brothers with an expectant look on his face.

Spade was nodding vigorously. “Oh, yes, that was excellent, Brother.”

Meanwhile, Clover was looking extremely uncomfortable with this turn of events. “Yes. You’re very skilled, Diamond,” Clover said in a dull, disinterested tone.

Diamond puffed up his chest with pride, suitably pleased with his brothers’ compliments. He swiftly returned his attention back to his victim. “I wonder what will happen when I do this?” Diamond clenched his fingers around Crim’s heart while watching Crim closely.

“Ugh!” Crim let out a grunt of pain and staggered forward a step. He put his hand over his chest that felt hollow and at the same time felt like it was burning. “No. Please.” Crim gave Diamond a beseeching look.

Diamond chuckled in dark amusement at Crim’s pain and suffering. “How pathetic. He’s already begging.” Diamond continued to squeeze Crim’s heart. Crim dropped to his knees in pain and started to wheeze for breath.

Clover grew alarmed at the state Crim was in. “Stop! If you squeeze his heart any more it’ll turn to dust, and there is no magic that can bring back the dead!”

Diamond tossed Clover an irritated look and reluctantly loosened his grip on Crim’s heart. Crim gasped and panted for breath once he was able to properly breath again. A thoughtful expression settled over Diamond’s face. “Mother did say something about that, didn’t she? Although, I wonder if there’s a way around that rule.” Diamond’s full attention suddenly shifted to Clover and Clover gulped nervously. “Clover, you sounded almost concerned for a mere stable boy, just now. Why is that?”

Clover flinched guiltily. “If he dies…we’ll have to muck out these stalls ourselves.”

Diamond barked out a laugh. “What an absurd idea! If Crim died…we’d just have the Cheshire Cat slaves do it, of course. Although, I do prefer having good ol’ Crim around to do all of our work for us.” A cruel smile spread across his face again. “And who would we have to practice our magic on?”

“I don’t think we should-” Clover was saying tentatively.

Diamond’s face started to turn red out of anger. “Are you contradicting me, Clover?” He demanded hotly. “Me! Your older brother!”

Clover swallowed when he noticed that steam was starting to leave Diamond’s ears, he was so angry. “No. Of course not, Brother. You are…right. As always.” Clover’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

Diamond’s anger seemed to deflate at Clover’s soothing words, and he nodded knowingly to himself. “Yes. Exactly so. I am always right.” Diamond crouched down in front of Crim and roughly shoved his heart back inside of his chest. Crim gasped in shock at having his heart back, and somehow it felt heavier than usual. Diamond stood up and dusted his hands off. “Now, why don’t you have a go, Clover?” He gave his youngest brother an expectant look.

Clover’s attention went to Crim and he could barely keep the concern out of his expression. “You want me to…?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you, Clover.” Diamond let out an irritated huff. “Rip his heart out! Now. Or would you rather I practice on you instead?”

Spade snickered in amusement as Clover started to pale. “Oh dear, whatever shall you do, Clover?”

Clover swallowed a lump of fear, and shook his head. “No…I…I’ll do it.” He walked over to Crim and crouched down in front of him.

Crim looked up at Clover with glassy, red-rimmed eyes. “Please, don’t do this.”

Clover gave Crim an apologetic look. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, right before his hand shot out and passed through Crim’s chest. Clover gripped Crim’s heart and in one fluid move ripped it out of his chest. Then, Clover held the red, glowing and beating heart carefully in the palm of his hand.

Both of Diamond’s eyebrows were raised in an impressed expression. “Well done, Clover. You see, you could do it. Nothing to worry about. You should have more faith in your own power!” Diamond slapped Clover amicably on the back, causing Clover to stumble forward a step. “After all, you are the son of Queen Cordelia - the most powerful sorcereress in all of Wonderland! No one will ever be more powerful than us!” Diamond raised his nose high in a haughty manner.

“Yes, Brother,” Clover murmured and waited for further instructions. He knew that if he were foolish enough to try and return Crim’s heart without Diamond’s permission that Crim would be the one to suffer for it.

A minute later, Diamond waved his hand impatiently at Clover. “Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and put that back in so that Spade can have a go. He needs to practice his magic just as much as you do.”

Clover merely nodded and returned Crim’s heart to his chest in as gentle a way as possible. Crim gasped and shuddered, a cold sweat had broken out over his skin.

Rubbing his hands together gleefully, Spade approached next. “Oh, goodie, my turn.” There was an eager, sadistic glint in his dark eyes. Spade crouched in front of Crim and reached into his chest to yank his heart out. As soon as Spade had Crim’s heart in his hand he started to squeeze it.

Crim cried out in pain and agony, and toppled over onto his side. His body started to twitch and convulse, and Crim tried to curl himself up into a ball in a futile effort to protect himself.

Spade snickered at the sight. “Ohhh that looks painful! It sucks to be you, doesn’t it? It’s a shame you don’t have magic, Crim. Then maybe you could defend yourself from us.”

“M-Magic…?” Crim murmured through the blinding pain.

“Enough!” Diamond waved his hand to stop Spade’s torture. Spade reluctantly stopped squeezing Crim’s heart. “Return it. I want to have another go,” Diamond declared with a crooked smile.

Crim’s eyes flared in panic and alarm. “No…not again…please…”

Clover had folded his arms in front of his chest and was digging his fingers into his upper arms as he struggled with looking unaffected by what was happening. “Again? Haven’t you had enough?”

“Enough?” Diamond scoffed. “I could never get enough of this! In fact, I could do this all day. And perhaps, I shall!”

Crim whimpered at Diamond’s declaration. Spade roughly shoved Crim’s heart back inside of his chest and Crim gasped softly.

Diamond cracked his knuckles and approached Crim. “Let’s continue our fun, shall we?”

Five hours later…

“I’m bored,” Diamond announced after Crim had finally stopped screaming. “He’s boring now. We’ll have to let him rest up a bit before he’ll become more fun again.”

Spade giggled evilly.

“Let’s go, boys.” Diamond started to head for the exit to the stables with Spade following close behind. It only took a minute for Diamond to notice that Clover wasn’t following him and he shot a questioning look over his shoulder. “Coming, Clover?”

“I want to go for a ride,” Clover said simply.

“You’re going to put poor Crim to work so soon?” Diamond smiled delightedly. “Wonderful! See you at dinner, Brother.” Diamond and Spade exited the stables together and shut the door behind them.

As soon as the door had closed behind his brothers, Clover rushed over to the fallen Crim’s side. “Crim, are you alright?” he asked, concern now etched into his features.

Crim blinked up at Clover weakly. “How can you even ask me that…after what you did to me?” His voice was hoarse, and as rough as sandpaper.

Noticing his discomfort, Clover rushed off to fetch a canteen of water and brought it over to Crim. He unscrewed the cap and held the canteen to Crim’s lips. “Here. Drink.”

Crim tried to gather enough strength to turn his head away. “I don’t want anything from you, you hypocrite! You think you’re better than them…that you’re some kind of noble hero. But, you’re not. You may not participate willingly in their bullying, but you don’t try to stop Diamond or Spade either. You just stand there and watch. When one has the power to help someone and yet does nothing…they’re guilty of whatever befalls that person. You’re just as guilty as they are, Clover!”

Clover nodded grimly. “You’re right. I am guilty. I’m sorry to admit this, but I’m afraid of Diamond and what he’ll do to me if I disobey him. His skill with dark magic is unbelievable. I’m a coward, Crim.”