Wally is six when his father starts getting angry. No, not just the occasional burst of fury when he trips over a toy Wally left on the ground. He starts getting really angry.
(Wally has never seen Daddy this mad before)
And he starts to yell at Wally too. The red haired boy can feel the tears prick and his vision begin to blur but he makes sure that absolutely no tears escape, because-
"DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING CRY, WALLACE WEST. DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING CRY. ONLY WEAK PEOPLE CRY, AND I WILL NOT HAVE A DAMN WEAKLING FOR MY SON."
(he doesn't cry because Daddy told him not to, and he always does what Daddy tells him to do)
But then Daddy starts hitting him and Wally doesn't know why-he doesn't think he did anything wrong-did he?
He sniffles as Daddy's hands close around his throat and lets out a choked whimper-
(but he doesn't cry, no, he doesn't cry because Daddy told him not to)
He does not cry.
Mommy scoops him up from the ground later that night where he lays with his eyes halfway shut, his knees drawn up to his chest with his arms wrapped around securely, tightly.
She lifts his small figure into her arms and looks away from the harsh, rainbow bruises that her husband left on Wally's neck, a mad whirl of hues and shades that might have been whimsical on a canvas, but no, not on her son, not marring his soft skin. She sets him down gently on his bed and strokes his forehead, fingers skating over the pale, pale skin, leaving trails of butterfly kisses in their wake.
"Dream a little dream," she sings as sweetly as a jeweled nightingale, forever trapped in a dismal, dingy cage. "Dream a little dream for me tonight...dream a little dream and close your eyes, and when they again open, the sun shall rise..."
The last note hangs in the air as she gently traces over the finger-shaped bruises on his neck, rubbing them softly, like they are stray pencil marks and she can smudge them and erase them until they disappear.
Mary leans over her son, her long hair tickling Wally's face as the red strands glitter in the faint crack of moonlight that shines weakly through the window. "I love you," she whispers, and uses the pad of her thumb to wipe away the silent tears that are falling thick and fast down Wally's hollow cheeks, no longer plump and flushed-
(innocent)
-with the baby fat he had before. Wally, unaware of her motions, sighs breathily, the sound gauzy and incandescent.
"Dream of a place where you are happy," she says to him, presses her lips fleetingly against his forehead, and steals away out of the room.
That night is the first night he dreams of Wonderland.
He follows the wise, but harried, rabbit, with his clever demeanor and odd-looking, ticking timepiece, with the gears whirring and the hands winding.
The rabbit leads him to a large hole near a solemn oak tree.
The rabbit looks at Wally. Wally looks at the rabbit.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" the rabbit taps his foot impatiently, compulsively checking his gold watch again. "Go."
Wally looks at the hole hesitantly. Daddy wouldn't want him to follow the White rabbit, or go into the hole. He would yell at Wally and slap him and yell about how stupid Wally is, how he can't do anything right.
Wally looks down and falls.
Artemis hugs her teddy bear closer to her chest, eyes closed as she tries to ignore the sound of Mommy and Daddy fighting.
(they always fight)
She burrows herself into the corner of her room, twisting a loose thread on her worn overalls around her finger, winding it tightly until it hurts.
She looks up for a second as she hears a scream and the musical tinkle of glass shattering onto the floor, but then looks back down at her Teddy bear when she hears her parents start screaming at each-other again, trying to block out Mommy's screechy voice flying over Daddy's deep, low voice that warbles in the undertone. Her eyes search her room for something she can distract herself with, and they fall upon the Alice in Wonderland poster Jade had gotten her-
(before Mommy and Daddy started fighting)
And she's fixated on Alice, in her pretty blue dress with her pretty blue eyes and her pretty blond hair that doesn't frizz like hers does, but curls so beautifully, like blond princess curls.
(she glares, deeply envious)
Artemis bets that Alice doesn't have to listen to her parents fight. She bets that Alice doesn't have a sister that runs away every other week. Alice doesn't have to take Daddy's stupid tests. Alice doesn't have to worry about anything, because Alice is in Wonderland.
Artemis isn't Alice.
"GO TO BED, ARTEMIS!" Mommy shouts, and Artemis obediently climbs under the rough, itchy covers, pulling them up to her chin and holding her teddy bear close. She stares at the poster from across the room as Daddy and Mommy's fight rages on in the background.
Artemis wishes she was Alice.
Artemis panics when she hears the ticking and starts clawing at the nonexistent covers-
(has to be another one of Daddy's tests, another game)
But is startled when a gold pocketwatch suspended on a thin chain is thrust into her face, swinging like a pendulum.
"Get away!" Artemis yells, tripping over her own feet-
(Daddy would yell at her and tell her she's clumsy)
-and backs away as quick as she can. She tries to remember something Daddy taught her, something, anything, but her mind draws to a blank.
The rabbit huffs contemptuously and gives a little sniff. "Fine, have it your way, but you'll be horrendously late, and no one in Wonderland likes being-"
"Did you just say Wonderland?" Artemis interrupts, looking at him curiously with a gleam in her eye that just might be hope.
"Yes, I did, but you mustn't ask such stupid questions," the rabbit snaps irritably.
"I'm sorry." Artemis shrinks back, and the rabbit's expression softens marginally.
"You're like the other one," the animal murmurs under his breath.
"What other one?" Artemis ventures cautiously.
"Never mind, I haven't any time to explain it," the rabbit says with a dismissive wave of his paw. "We're almost certainly off schedule."
"I'm sor-" Artemis starts.
"There is absolutely no time for apologies," the rabbit shakes his head furiously. "Now, come along, Ali-Artemis, you shouldn't dawdle."
"How do you know my name?" Artemis asks, as he leads her to a large, open clearing with a towering oak tree sitting stoutly in the middle.
"My dear," says the rabbit, taken aback, but eyes still twinkling. "This is Wonderland. Anything and Everything can happen."
Artemis smiles.
(there are no limits, no rules, no games and stupid tests)
When the rabbit leads her to the hole at the base of the tree, she doesn't hesitate before she leaps.
Wally lands roughly, landing on his bottom with a painful smack. It really hurt, and he felt like he was going to-
(don't cry, Daddy said not to)
He just has himself composed when there's another thump! and a girl around his age with long, blond hair falls to the ground. They gape at each other for a moment before quickly scrambling away, untrustworthy and cautious.
"Who're you?" Wally finally asks in a brusque tone that quivers just a little too much. The girl eyes him and waits a bit before answering.
"I'm Alice," the girl says, but there's just a little too much uncertainty peppering her tone for Wally's taste.
"Liar!" he shouts, pointing an accusatory finger at the girl, who looks like she's going to cry. "Alice has blue eyes, 'n yours are gray!"
"I can be Alice if I want to!" Artemis whines desperately.
"But you're not, and that's lying," Wally says petulantly, crossing his arms.
"You're right. Alice is pretty and has pretty blue eyes, and I just have stupid old gray eyes," Artemis sniffles.
Wally looks curiously at the girl. She looks nice enough. He moves towards her and helps her onto her feet, hand locking around hers. "Well, I think gray eyes are prettier than blue eyes."
Artemis wipes the tears that formed at the corners of her eyes away with her hand. "You really think so?" she asks.
"I do. I promise," Wally says, and smiles when Artemis grins at him. "I'm Wally."
"My name is Artemis," she answers.
They turn towards the large garden, eyes widening in delight when they smell the gorgeous fragrances and see the bright blooms.
Wally takes Artemis' hand and they stumble around the garden, faces expressions of pure joy.
(it is Wonderland, after all)
Wallace is completely enthralled with Wonderland, with its nonsensical foliage and bright blue sky and interesting people who ask you questions like, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
(he loves Wonderland)
He loves spending time with Artemis, too. She's funny, and bright, and lively, and he adores her delicate, wind-chime laugh and her mysterious, stormy eyes, as temperamental as the March Hare. He loves the feeling of her hand closed fast around his as they twirl with sick glee around and around. He loves the feel of her hair as he ties a black ribbon around it-
(just like Alice)
the soft strands tickling the palms of his hands. He loves when she tells him stories all about this land, Wonderland, stories he hasn't heard of, because Daddy doesn't let him read fairy tales.
(he loves Artemis)
"What're you doing?" Rudy slurs drunkenly as he stumbles into the room. Wally looks up fearfully from his drawing of him and Artemis walking through Wonderland. "Fucking answer me! What the hell are you doing?"
"Drawing," Wally sniffles, his eyes starting to burn.
"I'm not a fucking idiot, you brat. I know that," Rudy hisses, red veins crisscrossing across his eyes like bloody lightning. "What are you drawing?"
Wally tries to answer but he can't, he just can't,and Daddy snatches the paper out of his hand, peering at it through unfocused eyes.
"What is this bullshit, Wallace?" Daddy yells. "What is this crap?"
"Wonderland," Wally answers quietly, barely above a whisper, and the word fills him up with a wonderful feeling, something delicate and shy, something a bit like hope.
"Wonderland doesn't exist, you fucking dumbass," Daddy snarls and pulls Wally roughly by his arm and throws him into his room. Wally refuses to cry, but he lets out a choked sob as Daddy rips up his drawing and flings the pieces all over his room. They float down like snowflakes. Daddy slams the door shut and Wally looks numbly at the floor.
(maybe Daddy is right)
Artemis waits, scuffing her foot against the large stem of the red and white polka-dotted mushroom she's sitting on. She waits for Wally, who she has grown to love. Wally is new and whimsical and bright-and his eyes sparkle with life; so different from the faded, bitter, worn out stares of her family.
When he finally trudges towards her, she's almost shaking with impatience, so she quickly runs up to him.
"Where were you?" she asks, smiling.
"Not here," he snaps, glaring at her.
"Are you okay?" she ventures cautiously.
"Shut up!" Wally roars, and slams his hands into her chest, sending her tumbling down. "I hate you! You're so stupid! Wonderland is stupid!"
"Wally..." Artemis whispers brokenly, and bursts into tears.
Wally walks away, but he starts to cry too.
(Daddy is wrong)
They make up. It's quick and effortless and painless. Wally hugs her and gives her a kiss on the cheek and murmurs, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I love you and I love Wonderland" over and over again until they both believe it.
Their visits to Wonderland grow farther apart and fewer in number. Just a walk through the bright forest here, tea time with the Mad Hatter there...they tire of Wonderland and all of its mysteries, of its impossible ideas and ludicrous limits.
(eventually they stop visiting Wonderland, and they forget, just as all the others did)
Artemis dreams that night. She visits Wonderland, which is silly, because she hasn't visited it for close to seven years. But she dreams of it nonetheless, and falls susceptible to all of the absurdity again.
But then she hears a scream and sees-
(Wally, Wally, nononononono, not Wally)
She wakes up screaming bloody murder.
Wally dreams of Wonderland. He dreams of the place he hasn't set foot in for almost seven years. He feels an ache in his heart that he didn't know was there, and he allows himself to slip back into the world he spent so many nights in during childhood.
And then a scream and-
(Artemis, no, ohgodohgod, not her, please)
He wakes up screaming.
"Artemis!" Wally cries, sobs, screams. "Artemis, where are you? Where are you? Artemis! ALICE!"
"Wally! Where are you? Are you okay? Wally? WALLY!"
They run towards the sound of the other's voice, branches scratching their arms and smacking their face and birds trilling death songs and poisonous flowers blooming until they at last reach each-other, and they tumble into the other's arms. The two embrace, shaking and quivering, tears falling gently and hands clutching and bodies being embraced.
"Oh God-"
"-I thought you were-"
"-heard a scream-"
"-heard you cry out-"
"-I thought you were-"
"-I thought you were-"
"Dead."
They embrace again, Wally's tears dripping onto Artemis' face as her tears stain his shirt. They break apart only to catch their breath, but they finally take a look around and stare in shock at the monstrosity, the nightmare.
Wally falls to his knees and Artemis gasps and pales.
All they can see is the cracked, checkerboard floor for miles and miles, reflecting the blood-red sky that's filled with acrid smoke.
Blood. Everywhere. Staining the ground, the plants, the sky, their hands-
(this isn't Wonderland anymore)
A/N: I see Alice in Wonderland everywhere, especially in the YJ fandom. (ADAM STRANGE) Speaking of that, I don't own Alice in Wonderland or Young Justice.
So...yeah. I'm trying to write more. :3
Dedicated to all Spitfire lovers/Alice in Wonderland fans/Young Justice fans.
Reviews would be awesome :) I'd love to hear some feedback.
~lilmissf