Hello! Happy NaLu day, all! I have come with a new oneshot, and it isn't angst! Hip hip hooray! Anyway, this is based on Lewis Caroll's Alice In Wonderland, it's not my idea! I don't own Fairy Tail or Alice in Wonderland.
Tea For Two
Stop dreaming.
That was all they ever said to me when I was small.
Stop thinking you're in the other world.
That's what they all thought.
Stop wishing to live in your perfect wonderland; it's all fake.
Oh please, it was everything but perfect. Which is where I am right now.
;;
It all started with the kettle.
Mother always had the kettle on. She and Father loved tea. I was somewhat entertained by the kettle's calm bubbling noises, it was the most exciting thing in the huge mansion we lived in. Other than books, of course, but that's another story. Since I practically couldn't move, for my parents had banned me from going to specific rooms with the fear of me breaking something, I found joy in simple things.
One morning, I sat by the kettle as usual, my tiny legs kicking the table leg. Mrs Spetto told me off lightly, but I wasn't afraid. I was adventurous back then; since the mansion seemed like another world for a seven year old.
Then suddenly, like a firework, the lid popped off.
It startled me so much that I skidded the chair back, and gave a little squeak when a small mouse-like creature jumped out. I remember giggling, and prodding the rather fat rodent.
To my surprise, it pouted.
"Don't poke me, small girl! Being oversized is nothing to laugh at!"
And with that stubborn statement from the mouse, I started to believe in magic.
;;
The very next day, I ran into a cat. It was quite large, the top of its head reaching my knee. But what was surprising was its blue fur. Bright blue, like the sea at midday.
Me being young, and innocent, asked the cat a question.
"Are you related to the mouse thing in my kettle?"
"Of course not. Sunny is a dormouse. I, however, am Happy, a Cheshire Cat."
"Oh. I never knew there were more cats than the usual tabbies and the occasional Siamese cat. Tell me, why are you happy on this day?"
"No, I am Happy, the Cheshire Cat."
It's voice was high pitched, not like how I excepted from the regal-looking feline. I sat down on the wall, expecting it to talk more, but it plodded away.
"Wait, you still haven't told me why you're happy!"
"I told you already, I'm Happy the Cheshire Cat. Don't laugh, you idiotic girl. Mock the Mad Hatter for creating such a stupid name."
I stare at the cat, confused. He lifts his head knowingly and smirks.
"You should come to Wonderland one day. You would like it."
Those were the last words I heard from him as he disappeared into the air. But his large toothy smirk was left hovering for a few seconds, before fading away.
;;
After that encounter with the Cheshire Cat, I saw no more unusual sights until I was fifteen. Before then, I had regarded my meetings with the creatures a form of my wild imagination.
I was walking home from school, headphones on my head, when a small girl ran into my side.
It was a girl of around eight or nine, and she was wearing bunny ears and a little white jacket. But as I looked closer, it seemed as thought there was no hairband to hold the ears in place, and I stepped back suspiciously. She had dark midnight blue hair, too, and I wondered how on earth her parents let her do all these things. The girl turned bright red, and started bowing, anxiously looking at her watch at the same time.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please forgive me, ma'am! I'm just late!"
"For what, can I ask?"
But the unusual child had already ran away.
She had left a piece of paper in the ground. I squinted at the small cursive writing on it.
'To Wendy,
Tea at three on Wednesday? Don't be late!
-Mad Hatter'
;;
Mad Hatter. He was from Alice in Wonderland, wasn't he? That made sense now. Those sights I saw when I was younger…the Cheshire Cat and the Dormouse, and the little girl must've been the White Rabbit! I frowned. Didn't they belong in Wonderland? Then again, the Cheshire Cat had said that I would like Wonderland.
I would make my mission to find Wonderland.
;;
Turning the corner, I saw two girls with two pots of paint. They both wore long white straightjackets, with symbols of a heart and a spade on the shoulder. I had time, I would watch this unusual spectacle.
"Paint the tree, quick, before the Red Queen sees us!"
"Juvia-san thinks we should use spray paint. And Juvia-san knows that we have to call the Queen the 'Queen of Hearts', not 'the Red Queen'."
"Oh shush, Juvia! Just use these brushes!"
"Lisanna, Juvia-san will help you up!"
"No, no, no! Not the yellow paint! The red paint! The Queen will murder us if she sees this yellow!"
"Lisanna, Juvia-san is going to fall!"
"Don't fall, Juvia!"
With that, they both collapsed in a heap. And so the tree remained a natural green with a splodge of yellow paint at the top.
;;
Were those girls supposed to be the card soldiers? I tried to piece everything out in my head.
"Oh, who do we have here?"
I had accidentally walked into a bar, in all my thoughts. The woman talking to me was tall, curvy, and was smoking a cigarette. Her long brown hair twisted and curled all around her, making me feel surprisingly drowsy. In one hand was a large mug of beer, filling the room with an alcoholic smell.
I backed away uncomfortably, accidentally stumbling over a chair as I realised even though her legs were still the exact same shape and size as they were as I walked in, her body had elongated over the counter, making her seem monstrous in size, and her face was still inches away from mine. Her breath smelt of alcohol and drugs, her eyes screamed madness, and they were pools of never ending circles.
Pinching myself quickly, I ran out of the door.
"Tell the Mad Hatter to screw his tea and go for beer!" she slurred, laughing as her body tried to lengthen again, but I quickly slammed the door again.
Nope. I didn't even know who she was, let alone the Mad Hatter. Then it hit me.
I had just met the hookah-smoking caterpillar.
;;
I refused to walk anywhere near that street after my encounter with the crazy caterpillar-like brunette in the bar. My school uniform now stank of smoke and alcohol, and I quickly ran to a nearby shop to get new clothes, for I didn't want my parents thinking I was mixing with the bad crowd.
The shop was completely empty, except for two shadows at the back. I grabbed the right clothes, and searched for the counter. But there was none. I decided to find the women at the back and ask. The two women were bickering, the taller one had bright scarlet hair, and her eyes were fierce, whilst the slightly shorter one had pure white hair, and her face was calm as the wind.
I hid silently behind a pile of clothes as the red haired beauty spat angrily at the white haired woman.
"Surely if I buy this I can get you to sew on some red hearts on, right? I want hearts everywhere! Covering every single stitch on this magnificent gown."
"Say 'please', Erza. You never learn, do you?"
"Mira! I told you to call me 'the Queen of Hearts', didn't I?"
"And I told you to call me 'the White Queen'."
"Oh, you are hopeless, Mira."
"You are too, Erza. Don't deny it."
"I am denying it!"
"Ah, Erza, you've been so stubborn since the Mad Hatter held that tea party where you almost got poisoned."
"It was merely a fault. I am the great Queen of Hearts, I shall not fall without a fight! Besides, I have banished that hooligan from my castle of cards."
The woman who I assumed was Mira glanced outside, frowning.
"Are the trees still painted red at your castle?"
"Yes, of course. My card soldiers never let me down."
Screw my school uniform. I was getting out of here. These crazy Wonderland people were stalking me everywhere.
;;
For some reason, it started to snow, even though it was early March, and the previous winter had been good to us. First the snow came light, and it melted easily, but soon it was a huge storm, making me pull every corner of my coat towards me for warmth. It was getting dark too, and I shivered violently.
"I am one with the ice. I am one with the snow. I am one with the cold."
A droning voice came from behind, and I glanced back, seeing a tall man with black hair, marching steadily through the snow. He did not appear to be cold, and I frowned as I realised it he was not normal, like many of the other people I had encountered recently.
"I am merely a figure who only appears at the tea parties the Mad Hatter holds."
Was he talking to me? I was the only person still out in the streets, but he looked forward, passing by me quickly. I recognised the name of the Mad Hatter from the conversation of the Queens, and I wanted to know more about this exciting man who caused drama and chaos.
"The Mad Hatter? Tell me about him." I question, I wanted an answer to this craziness.
"He's the crazy one. Delusional, out of his mind. But I sometimes wonder whether he is the smartest out of all of us, hiding it inside. Behind his maddening grin, I sometimes wonder whether he is actually sane, unlike the rest of us, the ones who keep Wonderland anything but perfect, a land of drunken bastards and arguing Queens."
He stops suddenly, and looks up at the full moon.
"Oh, it looks like spring."
And suddenly, with his last sentence, the ice and snow stopped, the temperature rose, and the man started skipping into the distance, leaving me dumbfounded.
;;
Seventeen was when I met him.
I had been waiting for a date with a boy named Loke. But he stood me up, and I was left at the door of the small café looking rather lost. Feeling rather hurt, I stayed for a while, even as it rained, hoping that he would turn up.
A tall man, his face hidden by shadows, took me by the arm, and led me inside. I wanted to shout for help, in case the man was trying to kidnap me, but one look at his eyes and I knew he didn't mean harm. They were black as night, yet held so much warmth I couldn't bear look away.
He shrugged off his coat, and I was astonished to see that his hair was pink.
"Did you dye your hair pink?"
The question comes out before I can control it, but he doesn't mind my nosiness.
"It's naturally salmon. Tea?"
"Sure, Mr…"
"Natsu Dragneel."
"Thank you, Mr Dragneel."
"Just Natsu will do."
He brings out a kettle from his coat, and I'm shocked to see it's the one from home; the one that had the dormouse, Sunny, all those years ago.
"Are you one of them? The Wonderland people?"
"Whatever you'd like to think, Lucy."
I realise then that I never told him my name.
"Take me to Wonderland! I want to see it!"
Natsu leans over the table, and taps my nose playfully.
"That needs the power of imagination, and believing, my dear Lucy."
"I don't get it. You are the one they call 'The Mad Hatter', right? Where is Wonderland?"
Natsu smiles, something that makes his face brighten up into a ball of sunshine. He's delusional, I think. He definitely is the Mad Hatter I've been looking for all these years.
"Wonderland is where you want it to be. It seems that you've put yours right in front of you the whole time."
He leans over once more, and he kisses me gently, his lips tasting like tea, but I feel magic between us, even though we've only just met.
"You're crazy. I'm crazy. I'm hallucinating, aren't I? I'm hallucinating that this super hot dude who so happens to be the guy I've been looking for just kissed me and told me all my dreams are real. Please, help me!"
He smiles once more, but his smile this time resembles the one the Cheshire Cat showed me all those years ago so much that I feel dizzy and my breath is caught in my throat. Slowly, he uses his index finger to push up my chin so I'm looking him in the eye. He moves closer, and whispers the four words that I've been needing to hear all my life.
"We're all mad here."
;;
A/N: I hope you guys like that! I've currently had this huge faze with Alice in Wonderland, it's just such a beautiful story plot, so unique and mystical!
I had to do this in two days, since all my older oneshots weren't working out for me, so I started with what I knew best. I have three other unfinished NaLu oneshots, help me pls.
Also, sorry for the characters being OC, it was quite hard to fit them all in. And ignore the scene with Gray. I don't even know whether I was sane whilst writing it.
Just a quick cast list:
Dormouse: Sunny (from the Mulan Rouge episode)
Cheshire Cat: Happy
White Rabbit: Wendy (it was once Juvia, but I was like screw that, Wendy is better at this)
Card soldiers: Juvia and Lisanna
Caterpillar: Cana (omg it's so perfect ahh)
Red Queen: Erza
White Queen: Mira
March Hare: Gray
Mad Hatter: Natsu
See you guys soon! Review and favourite!
Cat xx