Verona in Wonderland

by JulietVargas

The city of Verona has been dropped into a strange place called Wonderland, in the middle of a reign of terror. Now, the Spade Monarchy believes that she is the one destined to save the land from the Bloody Red Queen's tyranny. But just how is one small girl who doesn't belong supposed to do that! And why does she feel so drawn to the portrait of the former King and Queen of Hearts

1. Chapter 1

Sleep and Dream

Sleep and Dream

Find your home

Find where you belong

They are waiting for you

Find them

Your parents

Your family

Sleep and Dream

Sleep and Dream

~Chapter 1. The Gateway to Your Future~

Verona had been wandering in this strange place for hours. It was a house; an enormous house with several hallways and even more doors. She had already tried several of these doors to no avail, but through these disappointments she had become more determined than ever to find the right door. She was certain that behind the right door would be her family; the answers she had been seeking for a week now. The rhyme placed into her head when she had appeared into the world was the only comfort she had been able to cling to. That at some point in her dreams, she would go through the right door and find some clues that should point her to her parents back in the wakeful world. She knew that at least one of her parents was Italy, she was the personification of the city of Verona after all, but she had no idea how to find him/her, nor had she any idea who her other parent country might be. It was only through a dream that she would be able to find all of these answers out. She was certain of that.

Her footsteps echoed all around her as she walked down yet another empty corridor and the flickering candles that lined the walls caused her shadow to go dancing ahead, behind, to the sides, really there was no rhyme nor reason to this peculiar house. It seemed to have a mind of its own. No sooner had that thought crossed her mind than the floor beneath her opened up and she was falling. Down and down into a black pit of nothingness. She tried to scream but no sound escaped her lips, instead the rhyme began to swirl about her in visible notes of music. She reached out to touch particular words and that particular word rang out.

Sleep! Find! Dream! Parents! Belong!

Verona tried to blink back tears as the realization hit her. This was it. This dream would give her the answers. She was finally going to know. Finally going to know how to find her parents.

The music notes of the rhyme carried her around in the darkness till they deposited her on something soft. She reached a hand out to try and find any other solid object and her hand came in contact with a pull cord. A lamp. Light.

Gratefully she tugged at the string and the lamp burst into life, shedding brilliant light into the world. Verona was now aware that the surface upon which she sat was a single sofa cushion not attached to anything. The lamp too was floating in midair. She tried not to let this bother her as she gazed about her surroundings to try and find anything that might be a clue. Several objects floated past her as the couch cushion continued its descent through the hole. One object in particular caught her eye. It was of a group of four. Two men with two children on their shoulders. The picture was in black and white so she couldn't figure out hair or eye color, but she made note of the other features; slicked back hair on the taller man and a strange hair curl on the other one; both children also sported curls similar to his. She didn't know how she could be certain but something just told her that the picture was of a family. Given what she knew about typical families, which wasn't much, the fact that both parents were men was an unusual situation indeed. But still, the warm feeling she got from looking at the picture made her certain that it was a happy family.

"Could this be mine? My family?" she whispered aloud.

As if annoyed by her comment the cushion suddenly tipped her forward so she was falling fast once more. She let out a cry hoping that the music notes would come rescue her like before, but nothing came and she could not see the floor beneath her as the lamp had remained higher above her. Still Verona tried not to worry about her imminent landing, her thoughts kept straying back to that portrait. She longed with all her heart to know the colors of the figures, did one of them have blondish hair or bright auburn brown eyes. She carefully ran a finger over both spiral curls that fell down either side of her face; she had to touch them carefully because it usually caused a strange reaction in her chest area, she didn't have much of a bust as yet, but what she did have tended to tingle when she touched her curls.

Suddenly she was broken out her thoughts in a slightly painful and quite shocking way...

Crashing through the floor and landing on hard tile.

(Author: Hello! So this is another story which plays around with the concept of how the capitals and cities come into the world. In this one, they just appear like the countries did, but they have a challenge before them...to find who they belong to. Each capital and important city knows who their main parent is [DC=America, Paris=France, Verona=Italy, Tokyo=Japan,...you get the gist] but they don't know what they look like or where to find them, and they don't know who their other parent is. It's an interesting idea to me and if people like this story then I would be more than happy to make others about any other capitals or cities you request [so long as they're main ones...please don't get mad if you request a city and I say they're not one the ones that I consider. It's my personal preference and you should respect that.] Anyways I hope people enjoy these short chapters about Verona's Adventures in Wonderland! {Oh and don't worry...I am trying to work on my other stories as well...but you know how it goes...you get an idea and it won't leave you alone until you write it down! ;D})