Disclaimer: .dnalrednoW ni ecilA nwo t'nod I

A/N: Yes, I'm back and I've brought more Malice with me. This was originally put up on my DA (Das-Demonica) and is ongoing.

Full Summary: Alice is blasted into the past and must find a way home; madness ensues as she finds herself blazing a future in the past, and Mirana finds herself reliving the past in the present. Will include Malice, most likely very mild, very much an angst tinted story.

Warning: AU, contains Malice, flashbacks and flashforwards, minor/OC character death, much with the angst, the possibility of getting 'boring', forbidden romance, and one extremely sad White Queen.

Chapter One: Waking

aXm Marmoreal: one month after the Frabjous Day aXm

The smoke and dust slowly cleared, leaving the mostly intact room in various shades of off white and gray. Parts of the ceiling fell, the dust settling over the shattered remains of a burnt table. Much of the room was in disarray, having been burned and thrown but moments before, some of the objects held an odd shine and seemed to shimmer as though they weren't really there.

Mirana groaned, finding herself across the room and on the floor, her back pressed flesh against the wall. The queen's dress was in tatters, her hair a mess and her crown rolling on the floor beside her. Her eyes flickered open, her jaw dropped as she took in the damage to the room and saw one very important thing missing. Guards, and friends, arrived at the door to investigate an explosion, which had racked that wing of the castle, just as Mirana regained her voice though her ears were still ringing.

"Alice?"

aXm

Alice Kingsleigh gazed about at the areas surrounding her. If it were that she was still in Underland, then it was not the Underland she knew, the Underland she'd been in but moments before.

Far from it. It's woods were too tame, too quiet and similar to her own world's woods, and yet, something more. It was that something more which made her wonder if it was indeed her Underland and merely a part she'd previously never encountered. Her eyes went skyward and the act of lifting her head sent the tipsy young woman reeling, she soon fell backwards onto her rump. The fact that there were two moons in the sky helped to settle her inner musings, and as she recovered from her short fall, she decided that it had to be Underland, even if it was not her Underland.

Her head cast low, the young woman shuffled along through the forest, making her way down a well traveled path and swaying side to side as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. She recalled much of the accident, which had left her standing in the middle of a strange forest, but understood little of it.

Alice was soon broken from her thoughts as she came upon a child, sitting beside a tree. Their face was hidden from her view as they were contorted and folded up in such a way as she could not see them fully. She knew them to be pale, and their hair a shade just off of the purest white. Alice could not help but feel that she knew the child, and surmised that perhaps she'd met them in Mirana's court-after all, there were many aristocrats with pale face and pale hair there. She shook thoughts of Mirana, and her court, from her head as she heard the child sniffle. Alice took to their side.

"Are you lost?" she asked, stopping before them, not wanting to frighten them with a touch.

"What?" the girl asked, turning her face up to see Alice, showing herself to be a youth of perhaps fourteen, the area around her eyes a pinkish hue from crying.

The girl wiped her eyes, never looking directly at Alice. Alice nearly stumbled back, surprised by the similarities between the youth and her dearest Mirana.

"Why are you asking me? It's not like you care about me," the youth replied.

"Perhaps I do care, and perhaps I'm more familiar than I appear," Alice responded, she took in the youth, looking her over again; yes, she definitely looked like Mirana, "you aren't lost then?"

"No, no, I am," the girl replied, finished drying her eyes, she stood-showing herself to be nearly Alice's height, "but I'll find my own way back, thank you."

"Alright, may I join you then-in going back to where ever back is? I am lost myself, though I am not lost," Alice continued.

"You're welcome to accompany me, should you so wish to," the youth responded, glancing about before heading down the path, leaves crackled beneath her feet.

"Thank you, I should like to know where we are headed then," Alice replied, following along and keeping pace with the young woman.

"Marmoreal, we head for Marmoreal," the youth responded.

"You live there then? You're a noble?" Alice inquired, gaining the confusion of the young woman.

The girl stopped, brow furrowed, the light of disbelief tinting her eyes.

"Yes, I am of noble birth," the girl responded, looking rather like she wanted to check Alice for fever. "I do not currently reside at Marmoreal, it is my place of birth yes, but I am merely visiting."

"Ah, where then do you live?" Alice inquired as the girl continued walking.

"The castle Daphne of course," the youth replied, a smile creeping onto her face, her head tilted to the side. "You aren't from around here, are you?"

"No," Alice replied, looking for anything familiar to tell her where they were exactly. "I'm from the Abovelands, up top."

"That explains it," the girl muttered to herself, returning her attentions, her dark eyes, to Alice, "you speak with an uncommon accent."

"Oh," Alice muttered, wondering if it was true. "That's not a bad thing, is it?"

"No, I would not think it a bad thing," she replied after a moments thought and a light laugh.

An uncomfortable silence passed between the two, with the youth biting her tongue against any further words, and Alice edging from them-a strong sense of wrongness (the idea that she was trespassing) coming over her as her current situation stirred something deep within her.

"We're nearing Marmoreal," Alice muttered, looking past the ground before her and spying the towers of the castle through the trees.

"Thank you," the youth said, turning to her.

"For what? Helping you find your way back?" Alice inquired.

"No, for treating me like a person," the girl replied with a smirk, her tone striking Alice with the hidden melancholy behind it.

The older blonde's brow furrowed as she pondered the statement, if the girl was a noble and not treated as human, then was she placed on a pedestal? As she thought, the girl watched her, and they approached the back gates of the garden, and the trees about them seemed to twitch and shake.

"What's your name?" the girl inquired, looking ahead.

"Alice Kingsleigh," Alice responded. "I've been wondering of yours', please tell."

"Mirana of Marmoreal," she responded nonchalantly.

Alice stiffened, jerking slightly, an action noticed by the young Mirana.

"What's wrong?" the girl asked, dark eyes full of concern.

"Nothing, I was merely wondering how one can be of Marmoreal when one does not live there," Alice lied, trying to reassure the youth.

"It's simple really: I was born in Marmoreal, I lived there to the age of five, I visit here several times a year, and I fully intend on living out my life here," Mirana replied, softening, "though that shan't happen for some time."

Silence once more passed between the two, their reaching the back gate marking the end of their conversation. Alice, her brow knit, and Mirana passed through the gate and soon after Alice was tackled to the ground by a gardener, the shrill sound of a whistle and shouting meeting her ears before everything faded to darkness as her head hit the ground.

A/N: Thoughts, comments, concerns? This one does have a fleshed out plot (I had to figure out how to make it all fit into place) and will be a nail-biter if you're into subtext, reasonable suspicion and the politics of Underland. It will be updated again next friday (on here) and wednesday (on DeviantART).