Okay it is official I am obsessed with the movie 'Alice' now. I loved it but wish it was longer.
Plot: At the end of the Syfy movie 'Alice' when she is about to leave a thought came to my mind. What would happen if the looking glass malfunctioned for whatever reason and they (the oysters/humans) were stuck there in Wonderland, including Alice?
This idea came to me when I was re-watching the movie and saw the part about Alice telling Hatter that she was afraid of being stuck in Wonderland. Hatter's reply was that he would make sure she was alright. Well let's see if he lives up to what he says.
Chapter 1: Looking Glass Break Down
"What? What is it?" Alice asked when the scientist suddenly pulled her back from the looking glass. She had half-expected him to push her through. That expectation ceased to exist when she saw the sparks that flew from the glass causing a few shrieks to fill the air.
Alice knew not needing anyone to tell her that it would be a while before she could return home. She would have to remain in Wonderland for the time being.
"There is something wrong with the looking glass. It's only a temporary setback, but we'll get it back up and running in no time," the scientist told her and all the others who were waiting to go through. Smiling a little too much for their recurrence, because the fact is nothing like this had ever happened prior at least none that they knew of. They might not be able to fix it or even when they could it might not be soon.
Where would they all stay? There was so many of them. That consumed everyone's thoughts and the shrieks turned into whispers. Everyone was wondering the same thing. Well almost everyone.
For Hatter it was a different story. He was happy that Alice was staying the concern over placements for the oysters far from his mind. He hadn't finished telling Alice goodbye when she was dragged off, away from him. Although the truth of the matter was that he would never really finish telling her goodbye because he never wanted her to leave. Not Wonderland but him. And there was the catch, the conflicting interests. He wanted her out to be back home and not trapped here. He also wanted her to be with him, near him. After all the hours they spent together it changed perspectives on everything.
There he stood alone with conflicting emotions. He hoped it didn't show on his face. It only did if you looked hard enough. There he remained standing even when Jack walked up to Alice. Relief swelled over him when Duchess soon followed Jack and clutched his arm tightly.
"Alice I'm terribly sorry for this…mishap," Jack apologized for Alice even though it wasn't his fault. He couldn't control the looking glass. He didn't even understand its very existence. Only the knights did too bad they were all but one wiped out by his mother.
She saw how the Duchess was clutching onto Jack's arm and internally Alice smiled. Jack deserved someone other than herself. She was glad that Duchess might just be that someone.
Tearing her gaze away from the linked arms she looked up at Jack with a small smile still set in place. "Jack, it's okay. You have as much control over this as I do," Alice replied not wanting him to feel guilty.
Jack nodded and took a look at all the people who were now homeless. Who had nowhere to go and he, the present king, had no idea where to place them—how to help them.
Duchess was thinking the same thing except she voiced her thoughts. "What are we going to do Jack? They have nowhere to go and we surely don't have enough room to place them all with us." The 'we' had slipped so easily off the tongue she didn't even realize it until after it was said. And, well, she liked the sound of it.
"I know Duchess. We'll have to make do with what we have. Place as many as we can and…" His voice trailed off in thought for a moment. "And I guess we'll have to ask the citizens of Wonderland to house the rest." It was the best idea he could come up with for the moment. Duchess nodded in agreement. "Alice, you are more than welcome to stay with us," he offered graciously to her.
Hatter listening in—well let's face it eaves-dropping—heard every word spoken. He couldn't blame Jack for offering her a place to stay. Something he couldn't provide. Something she deserved. Knowing that even though she didn't chose Jack she was better off with him for the moment. Jack could provide a roof over her head, a soft bed to lie on. What could he, the Hatter, provide? A roof maybe, but a comfortable bed certainly not, a mattress was the best he could do. Then there was the problem with food. She would be better off with Jack.
Slowly and graciously he backed away and went out the door. He knew when he was outplayed. It wasn't worth a fight over. It was what Alice deserved, bottom line, and he wasn't going to stand in the way.
Curiously Charlie watched on the unfolding situation, seeing his friend leave so suddenly. After what had happened he expected Hatter to go talk to Alice to see how she was doing now that she could no longer go home. His gaze switched over to Alice and he saw Jack and the Duchess talking to her. He mind started to wonder.
Alice was surprised by the offer even though she knew she shouldn't be. It was a nice, considerate offer exactly what Jack would do except there was something about it that wasn't satisfying to her. Almost like she wanted an offer, at the very least, from another person, but from whom else would that be. Charlie, the white knight, certainly not and the only other person she trusted here was Hatter.
The hatter he didn't have much of a home anymore since he had lost much of his business, she remembered that. As he told her before he was homeless. Although thinking back on it she hadn't had much of a home herself these past couple of days. Yet she, the hatter, and even Charlie all made do with what they had even when on the run.
"Thank you Jack that's very kind," she replied to him. Jack nodded expecting to hear all of that and was ready right then to provide Alice, now his good friend, a temporary living space. It was the least he could do after all the help she had already provided. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline," she continued.
This shocked Jack and the Duchess as well. She had been willing to help Alice with living conditions. After all if it hadn't been for her the queen would still be in power and she might not be here hanging on to Jack's arm with a chance, however small, to have something with him.
"You're declining?" Jack asked not sure he heard it right. His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. "But Alice you have no other place to stay."
Alice nodded knowing that fact already. "Yes and have for the past couple of days here, but I've made do. These other people, several others, don't have a place to stay either." She looked towards the young girls, the ones who had given her the strength to turn back from the mirror the first time. They deserved Jack's offer more than she. "And they have been trapped at the casino, standing day in and day out. At least I have had a chance to lie no matter how comfortable it was. They deserve that chance to and so indeed I'm declining. I will find another place to stay." (A/N: That might not be true, I'm not sure. Thinking it over now they might have gotten some rest somehow that wasn't shown.)
He looked at her not sure how to respond. What she said was true but still it got to him. He had thought he was doing a generous thing by offering Alice a place to stay while he still had a place for himself. Alice was offering the same thing for people she didn't know when she herself had no place of her own.
Nodding he said, "If you're certain." Alice nodded in response no doubt in her mind.
"But where will you stay?" the duchess asked her. Concerned over Alice's well-being even more after Alice had generously gave up this option for a place to stay. "With the white knight or the hatter, perhaps?"
The hatter, Jack thought, he would certainly let her stay with him. Only he doesn't even have a place of his own. A flash of envy came across Jack's face.
"I'm not sure yet," Alice responded thinking it over. "Maybe the knight or the hatter, I'll figure it out." She searched for the hatter but to her surprise he wasn't in the crowd anymore. He had…left?
Jack recaptured Alice's attention stating, "You can always come to us if you can't find another place, Alice. We'll take you in."
Duchess smiled at Jack's word choice and added, "Yes Alice, we would take you back in a heartbeat."
"Thank you both. I'll keep that in mind," she said backing away from the two of them.
Seeing Charlie standing in the corner rambling on over how the knights could solve this problem by now she walked over to him. "Have you seen where Hatter went off to?" she asked him when she reached him.
Charlie nodded standing up straighter. "Why indeed I have New Legendary Alice. He left, walked right out the doors." He pointed straight to the doors. "Seemed almost a distraught young lad, to me."
Alice nodded and thanked Charlie. She had to find her friend and so she fled out onto the very narrowed streets looking for him.
Jack watched Alice running out of the building. Knowing exactly where she was running to or, well, more like to whom.
Duchess turned to him and softly said, "Jack?" He turned to her. She was about to stay something crucial to him, but lost the nerve. Instead she said, "She'll find a place. I'm sure the hatter or knight will take her in."
"Oh, I have no doubt about that. It's what they've been doing this whole time. The thing is neither of them have a true place of their own," he said and Duchess nodded solemnly. "Something we both agree on that she deserves after everything that has happened." He smiled at Duchess and placed his hand over hers sending a distinct signal. She smiled back, happier than she ever thought possible.
Even when one of the suits, the eight of clubs to be exact, walked over to them to discuss what would be in order for the new found residents of the Wonderland they both remained to have smiles on their face. Duchess remained close to his side still clutching onto his arm.
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Reviews are much appreciated otherwise I might not continue on with the story.
