Working Title: Been There Before
Summary: Alice is shipwrecked on a deserted island, and goes tumbling down another rabbit-hole. Once back in Underland, it is up to her friends to find her and tell her who she is before a darker force takes hold of her.
Chapter One
It was the worst storm twenty-year-old Alice Kingsley had seen since she'd been sailing with the Company. And after half a dozen round-trip voyages from Europe to China, that was saying something.
The fair-haired Englishwoman wished she could do something other than wait under the deck, but the Captain had absolutely insisted she stay under. She could hear the crack of lightning, and then the splintering of wood. That's not good. The last thing she felt was a sharp blow to her forehead, and then the world faded to blackness as she crumpled to the cabin floor.
When Alice awoke, she was stranded in the middle of ocean, floating atop a small bit of wood, no ship in sight. She did a quick check of her faculties, found herself all in one piece, and decided to see what was around. Sure enough, just like in the storybooks, there was an island, seemingly uninhabited, and from her best guess (which, admittedly, wasn't very good), it was less than a quarter-mile's swim away.
"There don't seem to be any sharks up and about," she said to herself, searching the waters for the telltale fins. "I suppose I shall have to swim for it." And so she did. It was very liberating, after months on a stuffy ship, to be able to stretch her muscles in the cooling saltwater, and she cut swiftly through the waves. Soon she had reached solid ground, and boy did it feel good after all that time at sea! Not far from the sands she stood atop was a dense forest, with trees she could not recognize and no sign of snakes or bears.
"Well, it seems to be mid-day, so I can't risk staying and burning alive on the beach," she reasoned with herself. "I should go into the wood and see what water can be found." And with that happy prospect, the brave young lady entered the wood. It felt cool and comfortable under the shade after being in the sun for so long, and Alice was pleasantly surprised to find a small brook with freshwater not four hundred meters away. She stooped to drink from it, and a small creature caught her eye.
"Curious! I didn't think rabbits lived on islands. Are you a strange, ancient species of rabbit, perhaps? You're not altogether white, you know…" She mused, standing again and unconsciously stepping toward it. "I've followed a rabbit twice before, but he looked so much different from you. For one thing, you've got tiny spectacle-markings around your eyes, and he had none. For another, your ears are a bit shorter and you've got a considerably fluffier coat. I suppose you haven't anyone to groom it for you out in these wild lands, have you?" The rabbit paused, as though listening to her chatter, and then hopped away, as though bored. She followed it to a tree that was taller that all the others around it. It was something like a pine tree, but its needles smelled of like chamomile tea. Alice was beginning to feel quite drowsy as she knelt to see where the rabbit had run off to. The dim shadows under the tree began to sway before her eyes, and she felt herself falling, falling, falling - - .
"Now, this is an odd feeling!" she exclaimed. "I'm falling, but the roots just seem to go on, and on, so that I might fall out of the Earth altogether and come out at the bottom! But since I'm so close to Asia, I wonder if that would put me back in England again? Or, oh dear, what if I should end up somewhere they speak Dutch, or German, or some other language I don't know? I should be terribly lost indeed." And with that unhappy thought, Alice looked to each side for some distraction. She spied a bookshelf and grabbed a book. "Ugh, it's a book of geometric principles. I've always abhorred mathematics." She quickly deposited it on a nearby table. "I wonder if there's anything to eat – " As if to answer her, a small tray quickly surfaced and she caught hold of it. "Fresh raspberries! And blackberries, and even strawberries, oh my!" For someone who'd been on ship's rations for more than two months, this was heaven. She started to eat, and in a trice, they were gone. "I wonder if I died in the shipwreck, and this is heaven… But I daresay there is no geometry in heaven, or I shan't want to go there. And I would hope heaven is a bit more sturdy than this, which keeps tumbling forever and ever—" As if to prove her wrong, the tunnel suddenly came to a halt, and Alice landed in a soft, squishy bed.
"Oh, I could just take a nap right here!" She remarked. "But this might belong to someone, and how rude it would be of me to sleep in another's bed, particularly without their permission!" And with that, she leapt up and looked about her. There wasn't much in the tiny room, but there were oh-so-many doors leading out of it! Some were very tall and wide, and some were ordinary, and one seemed to be fit for a mouse, it was so small, but they were all oak with the same iron doorknob and a keyhole that was somehow the same size. Alice had the strangest feeling, as though she'd been here before.
"But that's ridiculous," she chided herself. "I've never been to this island before, and I certainly haven't fallen down such a long tunnel before!" She caught herself. "Or have I? Maybe in one of my dreams…" She shook her head as if to chase away these thoughts. "Stay in the present, Alice! What to do in the here and now? Where might I find the key?" She looked about quickly for some sign of it, and spied a glass table that held the tiniest golden key. "Perfect! I wonder to which door it belongs." And soon enough she had tried it in almost all of the doors, even the biggest one she had to stand on a chair to get to. "Well, that just leaves the mouse-door, and what good does that do me?" She was about to throw it back on the table when she saw something that hadn't been there previously: a small bottle marked "Drink Me".
"Well, that's odd," she said, startled. "I wonder what's to be had here… and if its owner would mind if I tasted a small bit…" She did so, and the most bizarre thing happened – Alice shrunk! She was soon no taller than the chair!
"But still not enough to get through the door," she scowled. "I'll have just a smidge more." And then she was just the right size to get through it. Congratulating herself, she strode to it and put the key in the keyhole. "It has to work!" It did. Pleased, Alice turned around for one last look at the room and noticed another thing that had not previously been there: a small box lying on the floor.
"Perhaps it was so tiny I couldn't see it from my former size," she guessed, going back to retrieve it. It was a pretty little box that contained a delicious looking cake marked "Eat me".
"Well, I can guess what you do!" She cried. "If the drink marked "Drink me" makes one grow smaller, I expect your job is to make one grow taller!" And with that, she pocketed it and left the room through the tiny door.
When Alice shut the door behind her, a cold wind swept over her bare arms, chilling her to the bone. "Oh goodness, it's frightfully cold here," she said, her teeth chattering.
"That's a matter of opinion," a strangely familiar voice replied. She looked all 'round her, but could not find its owner. Finally, a cat popped out of midair. "For you see, if you had fur like me, you'd feel nice and breezy. With just your skin, of course it's cold!"
"I see," she said hesitantly. "And who, might I ask, are you?"
The Cat stared at her blankly. "I'm disappointed in you, Alice. I thought for sure you'd remember meeeeee…" He trailed off. "But if you've lost it again, I won't help you find it! That is something you've got to do for yourself…"
"How do you know my name?"
"We've met before," he answered. "And that's all I'll say on the subject. Oh, but how Underland has changed since then! Those were the happiest of times. And now, a new threat to our peace has emerged – but I guess you'll find out about that sooner than later." Her head absolutely swimming, Alice laid a hand on the Cat, partly to make sure he was real, and partly to steady herself.
"Come now, Alice, let's be off. We'll get you someplace safe and warm. Come, young hero, it is time to return to court!"