Hello all. This story is written for a manga/otome game called "Alice in the Country of Hearts" or "Heart no Kuni no Alice". I noticed there was no category for this series which makes me a bit sad. If someone knows how to make a category and could share with me, I would greatly apreciate it. Thanks! in the meantime, please enjoy! and reviews are always welcome!
It was a bright and sunny day. Small rays of light filtered through the fresh green leaves of the towering oak tree. Its shadow lay strewn over the soft springy grass of the vast garden. The tree was one of many ringing the garden as if to shelter and protect the land within it. The area was secluded and isolated from the rest of the world, as if it were in actuality a world of its own. The only sound in the orchard was the light tinkling laughter of the small stream that ran through it, creating the only opening in the ring of trees. A cobblestone pathway wound its way throughout the clearing, giving direction to those meandering through. The paths led to vibrantly colorful patches of flowers: roses, chrysanthemums, daffodils, peonies, marigolds, hydrangeas, and any number of countless buds blooming and opening their petals to welcome the kiss of golden sunlight.
The garden was a peaceful haven for anyone wishing to escape the chaos around them and just find a moment to relax. Chelle was in need of such a refuge at the moment. She sat nestled between two thick winding roots that lay sprawled over the lush green grass just under the giant oak tree. With her skirts flared out around her and a book in her lap, Chelle was transported to a whole new world of fantasy, romance, danger, and mystery. It was all she could ever even dream of happening in her dull life. Books were an escape from the monotony of the real life.
Engrossed in the book though she was, she eventually found herself dozing off. The insects buzzed lazily with a quiet, mind-numbing drone. The breeze played through the air, teasing the lighter branches on the endless amount of trees to shake and give off their own music. The creek babbled to itself, water bubbling over pebbles and stones. Chelle felt her eyelids drooping over clear green eyes and finally allowed them to close completely. Her head lolled back to rest against the trunk of her tree. The book slipped through her long fingers to come to rest on her lap, the breeze rifling the pages away from her bookmarked spot.
Eventually, the teenaged girl felt a more than slightly heavy pressure on her lap and she forced one eyelid open to glance sleepily at the new intrusion on her nap. It slid back shut to go back to sleep before her brain had fully registered what she had seen. A rabbit. A large white rabbit clothed in a red gingham jacket and tie. Tiny glasses framed his bright, shining eyes. Chelle's eyes snapped back open and with a strangled yelp, she tumbled awkwardly over the exposed tree root. The rabbit was flung backwards in her moment of fear, but apparently the strange little creature was unfazed by her reaction because he hopped right back up and made his way back over to the girl,, who now lay splayed out over the tree root, gasping for air and clutching her hand over her heart in a futile effort to calm herself.
She forced herself to turn her head and look at the seemingly innocent bunny. When it didn't move, Chelle let out a breath of air in the form of strained, nervous giggles. How could she be so afraid of a rabbit? "I'm sorry little guy, are you okay?" she cooed soothingly, moving slowly so as not to startle the animal any further.
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head when it actually replied. "I am quite alright. I'm sorry if I was a fright. No need to worry, though you moved in quite a flurry, my dear Michelle," the rabbit dusted himself with a white paw, mumbling something about the bacteria in the dirt. The girl simply sat there, gaping at the rabbit. What kind of rabbit talked? Then it clicked: Chelle had fallen asleep while reading, and the fantasy within the pages of her book had conjured up a strange talking rabbit in her subconscious!
"Um, I am sorry that I threw you," she ventured when it became clear that the rabbit had focused completely on the state of his clothes. She wondered how he could possibly know her name, but in the end attributed it to the fact that he was part of her dream.
"Ah! I apologize! I did not mean to antagonize! This is not the time to worry about coats! We must leave now or I shall be most morose!" with that said, the rabbit trotted away. Chelle wasn't sure if he wanted her to follow or if he had simply disappeared. She decided not to question the way all of his sentences rhymed, although, she had to admit, it was rather adorable. Well, rather he wanted her to follow or not, he was completely out of sight. Chelle shrugged, and righted herself, settling her body back into her little niche in the tree.
Suddenly, a pair of long white ears appeared over a nearby bush, just ahead of the girl. "Why do you not move? I must admit, I do not approve!" Chelle sighed; her dream was rather persistent; all she wanted was a nice relaxing nap. Still, it was only a dream; it couldn't hurt to follow the fluffy little thing. She stood and quickly brushed her skirts for any dirt that might have clung to the fabric. Satisfied that Chelle was now trailing after him, the rabbit took off once more, apparently headed for the opposite end of the garden. Chelle bit back a huff of exasperation.; the tree ring was too thick for her to be able to pass through the way the rabbit was leading her.
"Excuse me? Is our destination in the garden? We can't get out this way!" she called to the creature bounding ahead of her. For as little as he was, Chelle was struggling to keep up. They were headed towards another clearing, but it was not exactly part of the garden; no flowers grew over her, only grass that was growing uncut and uncontrolled and the tree ring. Chelle wondered what on earth could be so important to see all the way out there.
"It is here, we are almost there!" came the quick reply. Chelle noted with amusement that it came as an answer other than a rhyme.
When Chelle finally stumbled to a halt at the edge of the garden and the beginning of the clearing, she noted with some horror that a giant chasm had opened up in the ground, just at the base of the largest tree on the property. She skidded to a stop with a gasp, picking her way through the now wild hip high weeds and blades of grass to inspect the hole more closely. The rabbit sat calmly at the mouth of it, waiting for the girl.
"What on earth happened here?" she exclaimed, peering into the chasm. How did such a thing appear with no one knowing? Chelle had completely forgotten her discovery of being in a dream; to her, this was now a very real issue.
"It is the entrance," replied the rabbit. "Wonderland desires your attendance, Michelle. Drop down below, to Wonderland we go!" Chelle staggered back at his words, her eyes widening in fear.
"Jump down that? I don't think so! You must be mad if you think that I'd kill myself jumping into-?" the rest of her tirade was cut off into a yelp when two strong arms hoisted her clean off the ground, one knocking the backs of her knees and holding her there, the other securing her in its placement on her back. Chelle found herself looking into piercing red eyes framed by well-groomed white hair. The eyes were shielded by wire rimmed glasses. The next features the terrified girl took in were a pair of pure white rabbit ears.
The man carrying her leapt onto the lip of the hole, balancing precariously between safe ground and the gaping yawn of the void. Disoriented by the man's sudden appearance and the loss of the use of her legs, Chelle was given no time to protest before the crazy white haired man hopped into the black abyss, her in tow.
The air roared in her ears as the hole swallowed her up. Dirt walls surrounded her on all sides, blurred by the speed at which she hurtled down the tunnel. All she could let out was a short, wordless scream before clutching the man holding her closer, as if that would somehow keep her safe and unharmed. The psycho simply sat there humming to himself as the two plummeted to a sure death, as if he hadn't a care in the world! Chelle didn't want to see the ground as it rose up to meet her (and kill her), so she buried her face into the strange man's coat, muttering a mantra to herself that she didn't want to die yet. The impact never came and when Chelle lifted her face from the man's chest, she realized he was standing. Standing on solid ground. "We- we're alive?" she gasped, her eyes wide. The man looked down at her, a goofy grin plastered on his face as he nodded in affirmation. He set the girl down, but her legs were not functioning after the shock of her near death experience. She sank to the ground, thanking her lucky stars and whatever god out there that might be watching over her for keeping her alive.
Calmer now, Chelle looked up to take in her surroundings. She'd expected to be kneeling on dirt in the dark and surprisingly deep hole; she was surprised to see that it was actually quite bright, and not hole-like at all- she found herself on top of a very tall building, with a bright and cheerful sun shining down on her. Forests sprawled out all around the tower she stood on and it seemed that a particular building dominated a large area of the wooded land in each direction. To the west was a large, glimmering castle, to the south, what looked to be an enormous Victorianesque mansion, and to the east lay an amusement park, which seemed just a bit out of place in comparison to the other two territories.
Footsteps rang on the bricks behind Chelle, swiftly drawing nearer. Chelle spun around just in time to realize that it was the rabbit man who'd kidnapped her that approached, a devilish gleam in his impenetrable red eyes, before he grabbed her by the chin and drawing ing her near to crash his lips over hers. His free arm snaked around her waist, pinning her body to his and her arms at her sides. Liquid was pushed from his lips down her throat and Chelle couldn't repress a shudder of revulsion at the action. What is this creep making me drink? She screamed inwardly. She attempted to yell, but all that came out was a garbled whimper.
Her eyes flew open wide in shock, too surprised to even react immediately, but when she did, she bit hard on the invasive rabbit's lower lip. He stumbled back, wiping away a smear of red on his crisp white gloves. The tiny glass phial that had held the liquid fell from his grip and shattered on the ground. Chelle glared at the man in a mix of alarm, distress, and disgust while his eyes lingered on the shards of the remains of the vial. "Why on earth would you kiss me? You creep! How dare you! I swear I—are you even listening?" Chelle all but shrieked, not even close to recovered from such a violation. The man's eyes remained fixated on the shards, not even sparing a glance at the raging female.
"The medicine…" he whispered, his eyes growing wide. Chelle finally gave the mess on the ground a cursory glance. Her eyes narrowed in pure anger, stalking over to the taller man and jerking his face down to her level with a viselike grip on his necktie.
"Tell me what is going on," she growled, lips curling into a snarl. "Why would you make me drink whatever was in that glass, why would you choose to make me drinkit through mouth to mouth of all things, and for the love of God, who are you? I'm really not in the mood for these games anymore, so you'd best start explaining. Now," her voice sounded disturbingly calm, especially with the look of cold fury that now dominated her features. Gone were the large, innocent eyes of a naïve teenaged girl; this new persona was icy and ferocious. She let him go and stepped back to give him some space to answer.
The man shook his head at her, frustrated that she didn't understand the consequences the breaking of her phial would bring. "You must understand, Michelle. That phial was the only way you would ever be able to return to your world!"
Chelle stared at him. "How would that glass allow me to go home? Where are we?"
"Wonderland," his answer came immediately, but did nothing to lessen the girl's confusion.
"Excuse me?" he finally looked at her, squinting just a little, as if trying to analyze something on her face. Suddenly, his whole demeanor brightened.
"This is wonderful, Chelle! Now I need never worry that you will leave!" he exclaimed joyfully, his eyes sparkling in pure glee. He cavorted over to her side, his face falling for just a fraction of a moment when she stepped away from him. The girl looked impatient and her temper was skyrocketing.
"You crazy Rabbit Man, what are you even talking about? Who are you?" she demanded as she glared up at him.
"Oh how rude of me! I am Peter White, the White Rabbit of Wonderland! I am pleased to meet you!" he announced proudly. "And this is Wonderland, a place of fantasy and wonder of the likes of which you could never even dream!" He completely overlooked the deadpan expression that now crossed the girl's expression before continuing. "I brought you here to take part in the game! And now you cannot go, for I have made it so! That medicine was Medicine of the Heart, which is needed to play the Game!" his explanation did very little to help Chelle's understanding. She did however manage to grasp the fact that since he had made her drink whatever it was he shoved down her throat prevented her from leaving.
"So if that medicine forces me to stay, why did you make me drink it?" she exclaimed. "I want to go home!"
Even as she spoke, Peter was shaking his head. "The Medicine makes you a participant. To win the Game, you would have to fill the phial by interacting with the inhabitants of this land,"
Comprehension dawned on Chelle. Her mouth dropped and her eyes widened in a blank shock. "b-but if it's broken… then… how will I get home?" her voice had dropped to nothing more than a pained whisper.
Peter didn't take notice of her distress and replied "Now you will never have to worry about going home! You can stay forever!" he pulled her into a brief, yet crushing hug before releasing her and walking away. "I must go now, my dear Michelle, but never fear. I shall return soon, to your love, I am not immune!" he sauntered away, not aware that the girl had been rendered completely speechless and dangerously close to tears. As soon as he was out of sight, Chelle once again sunk to the ground, cradling her head in her hands.
Stuck here, forever?