Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or settings.
Author's Note: So yeah I'm back to writing fanfiction after many years and like I usually deal with most of my ideas I did a quick eenie-meenie-miney-moe between my games to see what game I would write a fanfic for and Alice: Madness Returns won the vote. :D The setting takes place before American McGee's Alice, before Alice knew her Wonderland was ruined but after the death of her family.
" This Is Not My Wonderland ~ Prologue "
Alice... Oh, Alice...
The youth's mind was engulfed in nothing but darkness. Soon her vision shortly began returning but in a faint blur. Her eyes gave sly hints of gray and white in her surroundings but she couldn't exactly hint out where exactly she was. Her senses were failing her and she soon lost the ability to hear momentarily, a sharp ringing sound erupting her ears.
Oh, finally you're awake. There's no time to being resting... if... take... remember...
The confused girl couldn't exactly make out the last few words in whoever was speaking to her. Her eyes tried to focus on a specific darker shade of gray as she placed a hand over her head, trying her best to ignore the stinging pain she was enduring.
Are you listening to me, Alice?...
Alice's mouth opened as she tried to speak but no words came out. As she tried focusing in on her surroundings she eventually came across the darkest shade of gray she can make out, almost a very light black figure, and certain whiteness grinning towards her direction, some red mixed in. She crawled towards that direction.
Alice for goodness sake, the voice said almost humorously casual. You look as if you're a dying tot.
"C-cat..."
Alice knew the voice anywhere. She began regaining both the ability to speak and to see as her vision soon cleared up and focused in on the grinning animal. The dark gray fur of the Cheshire Cat seemed somewhat vibrant to Alice at the time. He sat seemingly unbothered atop a very dirtied shelf. Alice took the time to regain her posture as she observed the room she was in.
"That's more like it, Alice. If you take the time to remember you might figure where exactly you might be," the cat pointed out matter-of-factly.
The room was in no way familiar to Alice at all, or at least from what she might recall. It was a very tiny, dark room. There was only one door and no windows, except for the tiny, barred window that was implanted on the door. The whole room stenched of something rotten, there were flees flying about and rotted corpses of what seems to be a rodent in the corner next to the broken down bench.
It was terrifyingly dark and hard to see. Above the bench was the shelf that Cheshire Cat was sitting down upon, and right next to the cat was what seemed a smaller rotten corpse of a mouse.
"Oh... Oh my. This... where is this?!" Alice exclaimed confusedly.
"I somehow figured you wouldn't be aware. Yet this isn't necessarily the first time you've been down here, I can assure you," Cheshire Cat remarked.
"This can't be Wonderland. This is... I, I remembered seeing Wonderland be so bright and beautiful," Alice faintly whispered. "There was... there was no prison. There was no such filth scattered around."
"You may be right in one thing, Alice. There might not be Wonderland, but then again this possibly can be the truth behind Wonderland. Bright and beautiful for you for it's been in your imagination for as long as you remember, yet Wonderland is connected to your real world whether you may know it or not. The real truth behind this world has possibly been hidden from your younger, more innocent years. Yet, what do I know, I'm just a cat," the Cheshire Cat smartly remarked.
"You're a cat but with more smarts than most I know, save for Caterpillar, of course." Alice said as she ambled towards the door.
A peek through the barred door she can make out some card-like figures standing guard outside. The hall continued down into a deep, dark corridor which led to several other prisons. To her left she can make out a slight alcove that had no use, and to her right continued another hall. The girl took time to digest the situation and looked back at the Cat.
"What have I done to be brought to a chamber? How does one leave here, Cat?" Alice worriedly asked.
"Take a good look around, Alice. Surely, you can figure a certain way better than anyone I know. Hopefully you're just not claustrophobic," the Cat cleverly advised as he disappeared leaving remnants of a grin before that soon disappeared itself.
Alice scoffed, "Hopefully I'm not claustrophobic."
She looked up and saw a covered vent that seemed almost fragile. An idea struck her head as she used all her remaining strength to pull the broken-up bench just under the shelf, allowing her efficient assistance in working her way up the vent. She climbed onto the dirty and old, yet sturdy shelf that Cat once sat on and felt the vent thud on her head.
"They could've stand to make these rooms a tad bit larger, don't you think?" Alice said to herself as she rubbed on her head. She saw the vent cover was hanging on weakly only by one screw, yet kept most of the vent covered by the positioning. Alice firmed her grasp on the cover and tugged lightly at the cover. Most of her strength has been long gone since she found herself in this predicament.
"Come on..." Alice whispered trying not to make much of a ruckus. She kept tugging yet it wasn't giving in.
"Come on...!" Alice said a little louder, tugging more and more trying to break loose the last screw keeping the cover from falling. She was growing impatient.
"Come... ON!" She finally shouted as with all her force left she ripped off the vent cover as it fell towards the metallic floor, making quite a loud sound.
"Oops..."
With little to no energy left, she remained atop the shelf with her mouth covered by her hands. Her focused gaze rested upon the barred door as she could see a shadow wandering around trying to find the source of the noise. It passed by Alice's cell several times, and soon Alice figured it was one of the card guards. The card guard focused in on her cell but saw nothing but dimness and could really only make out the broken bench. Looking up he could see Alice whom feigned sleep atop the large shelf, yet did not seem to notice the opened vent on the ceiling.
He shrugged and kept on walking by, as Alice soon peeked one eye open and saw the figure was no longer standing out there. Her eyes went back towards the vent and saw it was finally opened and climbable. Using her very little force left, she managed to struggle her way up the vent and as soon as she was in she breathed in a deep sigh, letting her body take time to regain some energy.
Her green eyes focused in on the possible passageways she can make and found a total of three. One that went further down the vent and made a right, and one the other side one that made a right and a left. She took in one last, deep sigh and struggled, moving her body from side to side in order to get her through the very tight fit of the vent she was venturing through. One left, two rights, another left, and she already began feeling unconsciousness taking over her.
She breathed rapidly, soon finding that she was losing breath as her whole body was covered in sweat.
This can't be my Wonderland...
She thought over and over in her head.
This can't be my Wonderland...
This can't be my Wonderland...
This can't be my...
She felt her head begin to spin and her stomach aching. She was starving and surely feeling nauseous somehow. Her vision began to blur again and soon felt the excrutiating inclination to vomit whatever she had left in her system. The pathway continued to fade into darkness and she soon realized she was indeed claustrophobic.
She began freaking out. Her hands had a mind of their own as they involuntarily banged on the vent walls. She banged and banged until her wrist started to hurt, to which then she switched over to kicking. She kicked the inside of the vent and didn't stop.
"Get me... out of here," she cried. "Get me out! Get me out! Get me out!"
She whined and banged and kicked. There was no end until her hearing also temporarily became impaired for a moment. She didn't know the direction she was facing all of a sudden and felt her body struggling back into the path she's already struggled through.
She began to scream.
"This is not my Wonderland! This is not my Wonderland! This is not my Wonderland!"
She was so sure for certain this couldn't be her Wonderland, yet how did she find the Cat in it.
Hallucination kicked in.
She felt the vent moving on its own.
She saw the face of her mother, crying, on the other side of the vent through blurred vision. Her mother disappeared and soon it was the face of her father looking sternly at her, somewhat depressed and then finally letting out an upset sigh. Then her lovely older sister, her face burnt and her lip dry and quivering, her face looked as if she's sobbed for over an hour.
"Mama... P-Papa... Lizzie!"
This was all the motivation she needed to struggle on forth. She struggled and struggled until she found a bright light, signalling a possible escape from this tragic chamber. The light seemed friendly, yet at the same time it seemed quaint somewhat. She felt attracted towards this light, and as soon as she knew what it meant, she strived to make it there.
Hallucination kicked back in.
She heard the noise of something foul. To her it sounded like some monstrosity or even a gremlin, crawling the space right behind her. She hurriedly struggled all her little arms can muster until she reached the light and finally crawled out of the vent. Her vision was still blurred but she can make out a stone resting upon a bed of green leaves. She was weak but managed to roll this average-sized rock towards the entrance she just came out of and blocked whatever was following her... if there was something following her.
Her vision soon returned as well as most of her other senses, and soon found herself in the infamous Wonderland Woods. Trees, leaves, mushrooms, and the like surrounded the girl's environment. For the first time since she awoke in the cell, she felt her lips bring about a relieved smile. For the first time since she awoke as well, she was finally able to pay attention to what she wore.
Her usual, simple blue girlish dress with a white layer over it. She had on a horseshoe adornment her Papa has made for her as a necklace, and two front pockets with familiar symbols. She had on knee-high black boots strapped on tightly. From the corner of her eye she found a broken, glass mirror resting on a tree. She approached it to observe her appearance more.
Her hair was finely straightened up to the top of her bosom, parted down the middle of her forehead, and a beautiful, chocolately color of dark brown. She had makeup on; a very light black eyeliner around her green eyes, a bit of gray, almost blue eyeshadow, blush on her cheeks, and that was all. Her lips were naturally a light pink that seemed as if she had put gloss on, but she never found the necessity to apply anything on her lip.
...
She was so busy focusing on her appearance, she did not notice whatever was behind her...
Author's Note: So yeah, this is my first shot at a Fanfic in a loooong time. Hopefully all goes good and I plan on making this one a chapter fic so expect more updates and stuff :3 This is just the Prologue, btw. R&R will help motivate me for more chapters also.