It had been a long while since Alice had ventured into Underland and within that time she had travelled to China and back again, married and had two beautiful children of her own. Her husband was a rich man, who went by the name of Fredrickson and her children, a boy and a girl, were named Fredrickson Jr, who was a sophisticated, teenage boy, and Ellice who was growing into another Alice.
It was at Ellice' 17th Birthday that events occurred, they happened, almost, exactly thusly;
Ellice' P.O.V
I was clothed in a violet dress, the skirt of which only just showed my violet, heeled shoes. A sash in a darker shade of purple, wrapped around my waist in a, how do I describe it? It was tightly loose, if you get what I mean. You probably don't, never mind. My blonde – almost white – hair was up in a loose bun with two curled strands falling from either side.
I looked at my reflection through the looking glass that was set upon my vanity table, I was almost unbelieving that I could look so gorgeous. Usually I wore limp dresses and flat shoes, suitable for my usual activities of playing through the garden and such other 'un-lady-like' activities. My father was constantly telling me off, whilst my mother was praising me for staying true to what I wanted to do.
"Ellice! Come on, mother wants you!" I heard my younger brother, Freddie, shout from outside my door. I smiled in a silent laugh and opened the door to reveal Freddie dressed in a dark blue suit with his hair slicked to one side. A large yellow flower stuck out of his button hole and he wore a violet tie.
"Freddie, you look all grown up! Well, apart from, you know…" I took out his flower and threw it to my in-room bin. "There! All better,"
"You're dress is gorgeous," He complimented as we ventured down the long staircase. "Oh, guests are here! Stay out of sight." He stopped me before we got into view of the ground floor, where the chatter of other 16-18 year-old boys and girls. "Come when the music starts playing."
He ran down the stairs, still looking sophisticated and in control. I had no idea how he managed to be such a gentleman at the age of 14, whereas I were still a child. I waited, smoothing my skirt and positioning my hands in the right place. I remembered what my father had told me the night before, after my mother had retired to her chambers.
"Remember, most girls at your age already have a suitor. There will be a few possible suitors so make a good impression!"
I hated, no loathed, the idea of having a fiancé. But I guess finding one on my own, was much better than having an arranged marriage.
I practised my smile with the last few seconds of my time when the music began to play. It was my favourite song, written by my mother's sister called; Curiouser and Curiouser. My smile relaxed and I began to walk down the long staircase. I could see a few guys that I might have considered as possible suitors, a few girls from the village who I hated – but they were rich so my father had invited them – and a few of my friends, Jane, Brooklyn and James – who was Jane's twin and Brooklyn's fiancé.
I sent them a warm smile and in that moment of distraction, my foot slipped on the marble of the staircase and I tumbled down the remainder of the stairs. I heard the laughs from my peers and a groan from my father, who was stood in the kitchenette. I landed at the foot of the stairs in a sitting position and I avoided the eyes of my parents.
"What an idiot!" I heard one of the snobby girls say. I at least expected my friends to stick up for me but they just avoided my eyes as I was with my parents. I hadn't even danced yet and I had already messed up. God obviously hates me!
I kicked off my shoes and ran, barefoot, through the house until I reached the gardens. I turned towards the labyrinth that Mother had grown when I was born. Apparently in the centre was a bench with a plaque for me, but in seventeen years, I had never found it.
After a couple of minutes of running through the labyrinth I saw a white rabbit, in a blue waistcoat looking at a pocket watch.
"Ah! Alice, you're here! Well, are you ready? You don't look it, come on, we're late!" He said, in a high twitchy voice. Now I know I should have been shocked that he talked, but I wasn't. It was the calling me Alice that shocked me.
"What- What? I'm not–" I began before he interrupted me.
"We have to go immediately! Underland doesn't wait for you, young lady! Go, go on!" He ushered me away and I ran back to the gardens, quite unsure of what had happened only moments ago. I managed to sneak up to my room, unnoticed and thought about what he said.
'Underland' I had heard that word before, but I couldn't quite recall it. I tore off my dress, wearing only my undergarments as I rifled through my wardrobe. I wasn't even sure why I was listening to a talking rabbit!
I let my hair down, it cascading down my back like a silvery waterfall. My eyes wavered over a top hat with a red/pink sash around the base. Underneath it was a long, back tailed coat, some brown trousers, and a white, shirt with three buttons at the neck. Suddenly it all made sense. Mother had told me tales of her 'Adventures in Wonderland', she had told me of a Mad Hatter and a talking rabbit, even a feisty little door-mouse.
I put on the clothes she would when she re-enacted the tales in my room and dug around for the sword she would also use. I felt a sharp prick on my finger and moved the clothes out of the way. The forbidden sword that had been piled under all my old clothes so I wouldn't hurt myself using it; was now in my reach.
I smiled and gripped the handle before sheathing it in the sheath that was hooked around my waist. I tugged on the knee-high boots that Mother had gotten me the year previously and prepared myself mentally. I knew how to get into Wonderland, or should I call the magical place by its proper name? I suppose so, okay. I knew how to get into Underland, and I knew about the wondrous and dangerous creatures that lived there.
I left my room again, noticing that Mother had entered the labyrinth in search of me. Cautiously, I wandered around the labyrinth, hoping to find the rabbit and not Mother. But, it seemed Luck was not in my favour today as I found the latter.
"Ellice, what are doing? And wearing?" She asked, taking a step back from me when we collided.
"I'm sorry mother, but, you see, the White Rabbit had instructed me to venture into Underland so I changed into something more appropriate." I explained, turning my head which resulted in my hair falling over my left shoulder. I heard a rustling coming from the bushes next to us and turned to the sound, my hand poised over the hilt of my sword.
"Ah!" The rabbit himself tumbled out and bumped his head on the ground. He straightened himself, brushing of and remnants of dirt. He looked at us both with confusion, trying to decide which girl was the one he had spoken to earlier, I guessed.
"Hello White Rabbit." Mother and I said together, laughing when we noticed this. I imagine from his eyes I would have looked more suitable to go venturing into lands of terrible but amazing things, whilst Mother reminded him of the Alice he had met quite some time ago.
It seemed that this was all too much for him as he promptly passed out after whimpering like a wounded dog for a second. I gasped and lifted his limp body, cradling him with one arm whilst the other was checking for injuries.
"If it was you who was chosen, then it is you who must go." Mother said when I turned back to her. "But here, take some help with you. That sword alone cannot protect you from all the dangers of Wonderland." And with that she whistled a high, long whistle that was followed by a distant barking, slowly getting louder. Mother had trained all the dogs to navigate their way through the labyrinth and help a lost 'adventurer' if needed, but they would never guide a person to the centre.
A white, fluffy dog bounded round the corner, and I instantly recognised him as Theo, he had always been around, yet seemed to be still full of life. Once, when I asked Mother about Theo's origins she simply answered:
"A faraway place that is not too far. Where things are not always as they seem." I think she was going through a mysterious phase or something.
"Theo will protect you with his life, but expect surprises along the way." Mother warned before sending me off, with Theo leading me through the labyrinth and to the entrance to Underland. Surprisingly, it took little time at all and when Theo stopped we were at the centre.
I gasped at the beautiful sight; a large Willow tree covered almost the entire centre, with the sunlight filtering through the leaves. At the roots was a bench and at the other side was a large hole. Out of my curiosity, I read the plaque that was set upon the bench. It read:
To my dear Ellice, a life that awaits you is upon the opposite side. But know this, if you go, you must never return. So that was why she didn't reveal the centre to me, because one day I would have to live out the rest of my life in Underland. I wonder why she hadn't stopped me earlier, then. I guess she had accepted the fact that fate had its own way of fulfilling itself.
I walked to the other side of the large thick trunk and gestured for Theo to go first. An ordeal he did happily. I followed him and clutched on to Nivens, whose name I remembered from the stories. I passed various unusual items, such as a bed, a few books, a wardrobe, and maybe an owl clock? After what felt like forever I hit the bottom. Somehow, Theo had managed just fine with tumbling down a hole that seemed to never end, going at an unmeasurable speed.
I scratched his head and gave him Nivens. We walked out into a circular room with many doors. A table was positioned in the centre holding a key, a bottle labelled 'Drink me' and, at the foot of the table was a cake with the words 'Eat me' scrawled across.
I took the key and pocketed it, also picking up the cake. As I was about to drink a little of the greenish liquid Nivens made a noise. Theo put him down and he looked around.
"Ah! I'm not meant to be here!" And with that he scurried off where we had come from. I chuckled and shook my head, not bothering to follow him. I followed what mother told me she had done, except I had thought out the simpler way.
I uncorked the bottle and let a drop land onto my tongue. It tasted like peppermint and strawberries, not a pleasant mix but it seemed to taste nice, however. I felt a jerking at my stomach and pocketed the drink. The room seemed to grow around me, but I did not grow with it. I looked down at myself and saw that I was the one that was growing, but I was growing down rather than up.
Theo barked a deafeningly loud bark and I looked at the dog. From below him, I could see he had two sections to his collar where things could be placed. One was shaped like a small bottle and the other like a small box. I reached up to his neck and gripped on to the collar, pulling myself up. I swung my body onto his back, fitting comfortably between his shoulder blades.
I pushed the collar round, so the small leather compartments were facing me, and placed the bottle and cake in their respective pouches.
"Theo, go!" I commanded as he bounded off towards the smallest door. The door was the perfect size for Theo to get through but left almost no space above for me. I pressed myself flat against his fur as he slipped through, landing in a beautiful garden, with a white-yellowing path cutting through it.
I dismounted Theo and looked out onto the path, eating a crumb from the cake. Not too far away, creatures were stood in a group. There was a Dodo Bird, a small door-mouse, a hare, Nivens, and two small, round boys dressed in stripes – these two were obviously twins of sorts since they looked identical. From where I was, I could hear their conversations.
"She looks so, what's the word?" A high voice said.
"Different?" Another said this one was a little lower.
"And the same!" A third said, almost identical to the second.
"I think you brought the wrong Alice again." The first one said.
"No! She was living in the Alice household! Therefore she must be Alice!" I recognised the fourth voice as Nivens. I walked to them, realising I was smaller than the boys, who were roughly 4 foot. I calculated my own size to be 3 foot. I was good two foot from my proper size!
I matched each creature to the names that I was told. The mouse, Mallymkin; the boys, Tweedledee and Tweedledum; the Dodo, Uilleam; and the hare, Thackery. I smiled as an inward laugh to myself.
"What, may I ask, am I doing here?" I asked, pushing away Theo as he pushed his nose into my hand. He whined, tugging on my coat.
"Mirana wants to see you!" Nivens said, as if I already knew this. I thought about the name 'Mirana' I remembered that Mother had told me about the White Queen, but was she Mirana? Well, if the Red Queen was banished, she wouldn't be sending for Alice. It had to be the White Queen.
"Okay, if you say so." I said, finally shouting at Theo. "Theo! Would you stop that?"
He stopped and gave me the 'puppy eyes'. Behind him a tree was lowering a branch towards me. At the end of the branch were a small white flower and a green apple.
I plucked the apple and thanked the tree. I turned back to the group who were looking at me in confusion and amazement.
"See!" Mallymkin shouted, waving her hand towards me. "No one, not even Alice can get fruit from that tree! She can't be the real Alice!"
I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Tweedledee and Tweedledum came up to me and linked their arms through mine.
"No, I want to take her, you got to take her before!" One of them said.
"You both took Alice last time," Nivens muttered.
"Oh yeah!" The other said, and they began to drag me along the path.
"Stop it!" I shouted, yanking my arms from theirs. I stepped back from them and whistled to Theo. He barked and ran under my legs. I gripped with my knees and steadied myself.
"Shall we?" I said, taking a bite from my apple. It was tangy but sweet, like a Granny Smith, my favourite apple. The walk to Mirana's castle at Marmoreal was quiet, with Mallymkin and Nivens arguing over whether or not I was 'Alice' I felt bad for not telling them but I was waiting until I met Mirana to say.
We reached the courtyard and stopped. I got off Theo and stroked his ear. A beautiful woman with white hair, a white dress with a bloodhound at her side, walked out.
Theo ran to the bloodhound, his tail going like crazy. I shouted Theo back but he didn't even look at me. Mirana, I at least presume it was her, walked over and smiled.
"Welcome to Underland, Ellice." She said, whispering my name. I nodded and smiled politely. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nivens ear twitch towards us.
"Your majesty, did you call her Ellice? But she is the champion, Alice. Or has your memory become unclear after that many years?" Nivens asked, turning towards us. I sighed and said:
"I'm not Alice." To this everyone turned towards us, "I'm Ellice, her daughter!"
"Alice has a daughter?" A new voice asked from behind us. I turned and saw a man with a top hat, big orange hair and large green eyes. This I knew to be the Mad Hatter.
"Hello Tarrant." Mirana said.
"Hello, I am Ellice." I introduced myself, lifting my chin slightly and smiling. His eyes were mesmerising.
"Nice hat. May I ask who you were hatted by?" He asked, taking my hat off.
"A friend of my Mother's." I answered taking it back and putting it on my head. At the mention of my Mother his eyes dropped and he looked sad before he straightened himself up again.
"Why am I here?" I asked Mirana, who seemed to be constantly smiling.
Tarrant's P.O.V
So she had a daughter? That means she has a husband. I wonder if she's forgotten about us. No, she wouldn't, would she? Ellice was just like her, but was still her. Her hat and coat made her look like a magician, but at her waist she had a sword.
Suddenly I recognised her hat as one of my own; I was instructed to make a hat for Alice when she was with the Red Queen. Her coat had been made by a seamstress in the Red Court yet was loyal to the White Queen. Each item had a magical quality, in her pockets she could summon cards – in the suit of Spades and Clubs – each suit had their own quality, Clubs could stun and Spades could create an explosion of dust that would allow one to escape.
The hat she sported held drawing pins in the sash, like ones I used as my own, preferred weapons – as good as any bow or sword in Underland. Her eyes were a brilliant blue – like Alice' – and her hair, silvery blonde – also like Alice' – but her stance, her hands turned towards her body yet poised to grab her sword – the Vorpal Sword – was almost regal. She looked like our Champion and Queen all rolled into one being.
She was untrusting of us, as her eyes would flicker to each of our faces and then to her dog, who sat with Bayard. The dog, as I recognised, was the pup of one of Bayard's friends and the Bandersnatch – a weirder pairing as I was mad. She obviously knew of us, presuming her mother had told her of us, but she had never met us so it was normal for her to not trust us.
"We have gained knowledge of the Knave of Hearts' movements towards Marmoreal. We needed our Champion to help us but she has grown older now, and her body is not fit for battle. You are our next best choice, as kin of a Champion, only you can take her place." Mirana said to Ellice as we walked back into the castle.
Ellice' name was oh-so similar to Alice, it was almost as if she was a mirror image of Alice. There were such places through the looking glass; it would make sense for her to be from there. No, that theory was ridiculous – if she was from such a place she would be the opposite of Alice, not the same.
I did not want to admit that Alice had moved on from Underland, from us, from me. Though she had spent little time here, I could not help but yearn for her. After years of suppressing the emotions that writhed in my heart, Ellice had brought them back to the surface.
"So you want me to help you get him back to Snud?" Ellice asked, once we arrived in the central room, Mirana nodded, her permanent smile helping to confirm Ellice' question. "Sounds simple enough."
I laughed at her naivety. She looked over; her expression could almost kill it made me step back a little.
"You got a problem, Hat Boy?" She asked, snarling at me. Somehow she was still a beautiful sight when she was angry.
"You think you're just going to walk up to him and ask him politely? Do you know what sort of man he is?" I asked, my harsher accent sneaking into my usual fun sounding voice.
"Yes, he is a vile, dreadful, despicable, abhorrent, revolting, awful, contemptible, abominable, hateful," She would have continued her rant but Mirana stopped her.
"Ellice!"
"Thank you," Ellice said in a strained whisper. I knew I couldn't be the only person to do that! "As I was saying, I'm going to walk up to him, and give him a choice, to go quietly, or die. It is as simple as that."
I smiled slightly, her plan was one that would either fail horribly or succeed greatly. A plan that Alice would make if she was here. Oh, how I wished she was here! I missed her greatly and though the sight of Ellice was enough from me making outburst vocally, she was not enough for my inner voice.
The group, I noticed, had begun to walk towards the halls of the chambers. I ran to keep up with them but it was unnoticed that I had been deep in thought. Thackery pulled on his ear whilst talking to the spoon that he kept like it was his life source, which he probably believed it to be. Nivens was muttering about how late he was to bed, and how we must depart now if we are to get to our dreams in time – strange little rabbit. The Tweedles argued back and forth who was to sleep on the top bunk of their beds.
We are all mad here, so this was normally strange. Even the queen is mad, as a representative of all things good in the world – which is what she believed herself to be, though she would not say it too often, just when she was argued with. The Queen had enough muchness about her to be noble about the whole ordeal of representing good.
We continued to walk through the halls, only I and the two women remained as the others had retired to their chambers. We reached Alice' chambers, across the hall from mine – in case of nightmares I had argued when we debated where to put her. Alice, it seemed, was plagued by nightmares – though I did not know why.
"This is where you shall sleep, and there is a maid ready for you with the pull of a bell." Mirana said, gesturing out to the door.
"What? In Alice' chambers?" I asked in a sudden outburst, my hands flew to my lips as I said it.
"Yes, naturally as she is her daughter. Tarrant, what has gotten into you?" Mirana asked. I shook my head and just left them, entering my own chambers – refusing to say goodnight to Ellice.