So this story ignores the end of "Who's Alice" and the preview for "Bad Blood".
Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
They were having tea in the small parlor when there was a knocking on the door.
"Millie," Sarah told her daughter. "Go and see who is at the door."
Millie eagerly rushed off, happy to be away from the boring adult conversation. Edwin and Sarah continued to sip at their tea, until Millie rushed back into the room, breathless with excitement.
"Father! Father!" she exclaimed, tugging insistently on his sleeve. "You have to come quick!"
Edwin hurried after her, leaving Sarah to follow after him. He supposed it was some man selling something Millie wanted, or an old beggar lady, or –
He stopped suddenly. Because the person standing there, hovering just outside the doorway, was not a beggar or a salesman. The person standing there was someone he hadn't expected to see here again.
"Alice," he breathed. He hastened the remaining steps to the door, and grabbed her in a tight embrace. "My dear, sweet Alice."
He pushed her back so he could look at her appraisingly. She was wearing clothes similar to the ones she had arrived in a year ago. A short, lacy tunic over dark pants and boots that reached to her knees. His eyes widened at the sight of the sword strapped to her back, but he chose to ignore it, "Alice, we have been so worried about you, ever since we heard…"
"Ever since we heard that you had decided to escape Bethlem," Sarah stated coldly from behind him. "You were the one who made the choice to stay there, agreed that it was the best place for your happiness. So why the sudden change of heart?"
The happiness in Alice's face dropped a little, replaced for a second with a look of hurt and a tinge of loneliness. Just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, and Alice looked happy once again.
"I had to do something important," she explained. "Do you remember me telling you about Cyrus? I learned that he wasn't dead, but had taken prisoner by Jafar in Wonderland, so I had to go back and – "
"Alice!" Edwin was shocked. After all this time, hadn't she learnt that that was exactly the sort of nonsense that had sent her to Bethlem in the first place?
"I told you that I would not allow you to talk of such silly fantasies while under my roof!" he continued.
"But it's true!" Alice argued. "All of it! You just never believed me because you were too concerned with keeping your new family happy. You never cared about what I thought." She shot a look of disgust at Sarah over his shoulder, a look that he was certain his wife was mirroring on her own face.
"Alice…" he began, but was interrupted by another, unfamiliar voice exclaiming, "Alice!"
A man hurried to join them by the door, a foreigner by the looks of his strange clothes and tanned skin. Two others followed at a more sedate pace, a man dressed in clothes of strange material, and a blonde who was wearing a ball gown in a shocking red.
"Alice," the first man repeated. "You rushed off quite fast. You had us worried."
"I'm fine," she replied, and Edwin didn't miss the way she squeezed his hand, or the emotion in her eyes when she looked at him. Edwin was reminded, with a pang in his chest, of the way his first wife had used to look at him. Alice turned back to him.
"Father, may I introduce Cyrus, my betrothed. And these two," she indicated the man and the woman who had finally made it to the door, "are Will, a friend, and Anastasia, the former Red Queen of Wonderland."
Edwin was so shocked to hear that Alice – his little Alice, with the overactive imagination – was betrothed, that he didn't hear anything beyond the first statement. Judging by Sarah's sharp intake of breath, she was not suffering from the same problem.
"This is ridiculous!" she burst out. "Millie does not need to be hearing these foolish fantasies of yours." She directed her attention to the three people with Alice. "How much did she pay you to play along with her little story so that she wouldn't return home a complete disgrace?"
The foreigner, her betrothed - Cyrus, she had called him – seemed upset, but he didn't say anything. The other man – Will – appeared to have no qualms, shooting back, "It's not a ridiculous story! You're just an old had who can't – "
"Enough!" Edwin shouted, not wanting to hear how that insult would end. "Alice, I know that I may have been too harsh last time, but sooner or later you'll have to accept that Wonderland isn't real, no matter how much you my think it is. Inventing a story to avoid the scandal of getting engaged so suddenly won't help you."
This time, it actually looked like the Cyrus fellow was about to say something, but before he could open his mouth, the women in red interrupted.
"Oh for goodness' sake," she said. "Hearing you all argue around in circles in making my head hurt. You want proof? Here you go."
She snapped her fingers together, and Edwin wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't all the objects in the foyer – the flowers, the umbrellas, even the small table – leaving their spots on the ground to float in the air before his very eyes. He could feel himself paling, and he had to grab the doorframe before he fell. Sarah was silent, eyes wide and knuckles white as she clasped her hands together to stop them from trembling. Only Millie seemed unfazed, bouncing with excitement and saying, as soon as the objects returned to their rightful places, "That was amazing! What else can you do?"
Anastasia simply smiled triumphantly and focused on Alice, who simply asked, "Do you believe me now?"
Edwin nodded, and tried to steady his breathing. "I think you had all best come inside," he said at last. "It appears as if there is some explaining to be done."
They all went to the parlor, except for Sarah who escaped to the kitchen to make some tea and calm her nerves. Once they were all settled, Alice started.
"I suppose I should begin at the beginning, and go on till I come to the end," Alice said. "But that would take too long. It all really began when I stumbled upon a genie's bottle in Wonderland…"
"Begin at the beginning," the King said very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end; then stop." (Alice in Wonderland) That quote was adapted for the last line.
Tell me what you think!