This is a oneshot I thought of after reading Scorpiofreak's "Winter Wonderland." The idea of Alice and Jack watching the Disney movie with the kids really struck a vibe in me. I wrote this with Scorpiofreak's blessing, and with her help as betareader. I really recommend her when it comes to proofreading. Anyway, here's the mini-sequel to "Winter Wonderland!"
Movie Night
"I cannot believe that I let you talk me into this, Jack."
It was two months into the new year, and if you believed in them, you would have seen Alice Liddell and Jack Frost walking down the streets of Burgess, Pennsylvania. They were having one of their now-famous arguments/conversations, which was interspaced with Jack explaining the objects and concepts of the modern world that caught Alice's attention and curiosity. They were currently on their way to watch the Disney movie "Alice in Wonderland" with Jamie and his friends. Jamie's mother would be out of town until later that night, so it was a good time for Jack and Alice to visit, especially considering that Jamie's mom would have wondered why Jamie and his friends were talking to thin air.
Jack regarded his friend with a slight smirk. Ever since Alice had finished her copies of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass," Jack had been trying to get her to watch one of the movies that had been made about her and Wonderland. She was hesitant and wary towards the entire idea about "movies". To a Victorian, the idea of sitting in front of a screen and watching the story play out on them was both strange and exciting. However, that wasn't really the problem with Alice. She seemed more bothered by the attention that had been paid her in the books and in the movies, something which Jack didn't really understand. Maybe it was just because Alice was an introvert by nature.
"Oh come on Alice," Jack replied nonchalantly as he balanced himself on a fence railing. "You've read the books. I thought you'd be more excited about the movie."
"I'm only doing this for the little girl's, Sophie's, sake," she replied, frowning at him disapprovingly. "And I am a little curious about these 'movie nights,'" she admitted.
Jack hopped down from the fence and walked around a turned-over garbage can. "Just wondering, what did you think of the books? I only saw part of Wonderland, so I don't really know how accurate Carroll was."
Alice stopped studying a passing Volkswagen bug to think. "He was somewhat accurate with the first book. After the fire, the King of Hearts disappeared, along with the Royal Children and court, except for the White Rabbit. I suspect the Queen had something to do with that."
"That's one of the few things that wouldn't surprise me," Jack quipped. "What about 'Through the Looking-Glass'? Not as accurate as the first?"
"The first thing he did wrong was to make the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen different people," Alice started. "I used the terms interchangeably when I told them to the other orphans."
"So she's the Queen of Hearts in a deck of cards, and the Queen in a chess game." Jack mulled over that before asking, "You had an interest in queens or games when you were a kid?"
"I liked games, yes, and as a child, I was interested in queens as well. Not so much anymore," Alice replied, almost shuddering. The Red Queen would spoil a princess of wanting to be a queen.
"Furthermore," she continued, "there was never a shop-keeping sheep that took me on a riverboat ride before returning instantaneously to her shop. There were quite a few other inconsistencies between the real Wonderland and the 'Looking-Glass.' All in all, I think that either Mr. Dodgson's sources were warped over time, or that he made parts of the second book up."
"Or he was under the influence," chimed in Jack.
Alice gave him an odd look at that. "Under the influence? Whose?"
"More like 'what,' actually. Rumor is he was taking opium while he was writing your books," he explained. At Alice's look of disgust and indignation, he grinned. "It's pretty bad when your biographer likes to smoke a 'dream stick' while writing your books."
Alice fixed him with an acid-green glare. "If Mr. Dodgson had a fancy of opium, I shudder to think what assortment of drugs your biographer will be ingesting when he writes your story. He most likely will do it to forget any traumatic memories associated with you."
Jack raised both his eyebrows and tried to think up a comeback that wouldn't cause Alice to go storming back to Wonderland. "Since Jamie will probably be the one to write my adventures, I don't think there's any danger of that," he finally said.
Alice simply smirked and shook her head. "Let's hope so, Jack, for your sake."
Jack just rolled his eyes, but Alice noticed a spark of worry that showed in his blue eyes. She didn't think that Jamie would do anything like that when he was older, but she still "got a kick" out of tormenting Jack sometimes. It was just so easy to do it. Then again, he knew how to "push her buttons" just as she could his. Interesting conversations ensued when a rapier's wit met a jokester's sense of humor.
They continued on their way to Jamie's house.
ROTG:AMR-ROTG:AMR-ROTG:AMR
Jamie Bennet groaned inwardly.
Ever since Jack had brought Alice, to her birthday, Sophie's interest in the books and movie had skyrocketed. These days she was pushing him to read the books nonstop and to choose the Disney movie whenever it was his turn to pick for movie night. He could understand her excitement from meeting the real Alice Liddell, but it was getting old, not to mention mind-numbingly annoying. At least, as his mom had put it, she was "obsessing over a classic, and not one of those silly cartoons that are so popular these days." Jamie took a moment to picture Sophie thinking and talking constantly about one of those little-kid cartoons and literally shuddered. Yes, it could be worse.
He had to admit, the real Alice was pretty cool, and cute. When he and Cupcake had come across that website about "Alice Liddell," he had dismissed the site as the work of a couple of conspiracy theorists. He had expected Alice to look something like the little girl in the book illustrations and movies, maybe a little older and kickbutt. He really shouldn't have been surprised by the real Alice. After all, the Easter Bunny was nothing like how everyone pictured him. The only real problem with this was that Cupcake wouldn't let him forget that he, Jamie Bennett, knowledgeable in all things paranormal and supernatural, had been wrong about that website.
Speaking of the website, Jack had returned shortly after Halloween and pulled him and Cupcake off to one side. He had told them not to tell the others about the website. Apparently Alice had found the papers that Cupcake had printed off about her. She hadn't appreciated the indirect intrusion of her privacy. The Victorians didn't have the access to information that people did today, and she had had no idea that her story was on a website for anyone with an Internet connection to see.
Jamie couldn't blame her that much for being upset; the real story of Alice Liddell was incredibly sad and depressing. It was amazing that Lewis Carroll had managed to take her story and create something so positive and fanciful from it. From what he had heard from Jack, Alice had never even read her books, let alone seen the movies about herself. What would it be like, to live through all that, and then find out that someone had sugarcoated your story to make a children's book? He knew Jack would have been thrilled, but Alice had seemed peeved about the whole thing.
Which lead up to the current argument he was having with his friends. His mother was at of town and would return later that night. She had told him he could invite his friends over as long they didn't get too rowdy or stayed up too long. It was Sophie's turn to pick the movie and Jamie had planned with Jack beforehand to bring Alice to see the Disney movie. It was supposed to be a surprise for both Sophie and his friends. The problem was that the others, besides Sophie and Cupcake, weren't so keen on watching Alice in Wonderland. All he had to do was to stall them until Jack and Alice arrived. They would all want Alice to see her own movie.
"Come on Jamie," pleaded Claude. "We've got the house and the TV all to ourselves and you want to watch Alice in Wonderland?" He and his twin were leading the charge against Alice in Wonderland.
"Yeah," added Caleb. "We brought Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Terminator Salvation, two of the coolest movies ever made. Not to mention they're PG-13."
"You guys want to be on Santa's nice list or not?" countered Jamie.
"Guys," Pippa called from the kitchen, "we could always watch Tron: Legacy. That's a good middle ground." She was setting up the stuff for making popcorn.
"What about Titan: A.E.?" Monty asked as he walked out of the bathroom. "We've never watched that one before." The bespectacled kid had a thing for obscure sci-fi movies.
"Alice in Wonderland," cried out Sophie. She was sitting in front of the TV, hugging said movie to her chest and glaring at Claude and Caleb.
"I'm with the kid on this one," Cupcake said absently as she poured out soda into plastic cups. Sophie smiled in glee at her and then returned to glaring at the twins.
Jamie found it extremely helpful that Cupcake didn't mind reading the books to Sophie whenever she came over. She had basically taken Alice as her hero the same way he had taken Jack. He could see why; Cupcake's upbringing hadn't been the smoothest, though it was a picnic compared to Alice's if the articles were to be believed. Alice had lost her entire family to a fire and had afterwards been sent to a mental asylum for ten years, only to become a spirit and now a Guardian. She was definitely a good role model for anyone who had it a bit rough, or very rough.
"You're always with Sophie. She's always picks Alice in Wonderland," argued Caleb. "I watched that movie as much as anyone did after meeting the real Alice, but I'm not that into her."
"You and your brother ARE into her," Pippa snorted as she fished a bottle of popcorn kernels out of the pantry. "You'd watch both the movies as much as Sophie does if the movie versions looked like her."
Caleb and Claude both blushed before Claude said, "Jack definitely would watch the movies if she was in them."
Jamie smirked as everyone enjoyed a short laugh at the Winter Sprite's expense. His response to one of Pippa's comments the first time Alice visited had pretty much exposed his attraction to his fellow spirit, though he was adamant that he didn't like her that way. No could blame him; Alice was very pretty, though Jamie wasn't about to paint a target on his own back by saying so. The fact she was a spirit also didn't hurt his white-haired friend's chances.
Well, speak of the devil, Jamie thought as he peered out a window to see Jack and Alice strolling up his driveway. He started walking towards the front door. No point in letting one of his favorite people in the world wait at the door. He liked Alice but she wasn't on his favorite people list, not like she was on Sophie's and Cupcake's anyway.
"Who's that?" called out Monty as the doorbell rang and everyone paused in surprise.
"A surprise, maybe," answered Jamie as he opened the door.
ROTG:AMR-ROTG:AMR-ROTG:AMR
"We're going in through the front door this time?" Alice asked as Jack walked up the steps to the door.
"I usually use the windows," Jack replied. "This makes it more of a surprise." He tapped the doorbell button and Alice cocked her head to the side to listen to the chiming sound. "Doorbell, modern replacement to the door-knocker," Jack explained.
Alice was wondering to herself if the differences between the "doorbell" and the door-knocker were really worth the transition when Jamie opened the door. He smiled and held a finger to his lips as he held it open. Jack grinned back and gestured to Alice to enter first. "Tip-toe," he mouthed to her. Alice rolled her eyes and then entered, making sure to tip-toe as Jack was doing behind her. Those two made sure that they had fun all the time. Which is practically a requirement for a Guardian of Fun, she admitted to herself.
"Hey Jamie," called out a familiar voice. "Who's at the door?" It only took Alice a moment to place the voice as Cupcake's.
"Nobody," answered Jamie as he hurried by her. "Probably just a prankster." Alice smiled inwardly at that. Jack did fit the bill for being a "prankster."
Jamie stopped in a doorway, blocking Alice and Jack from entering and keeping those in the room from seeing them. "Now," he said, "how about we settle what the movie's going to be before it gets too late to watch one? Everyone call out your show."
"The Winter Soldier!"
"Tron: Legacy!"
"Titan: A.E.!"
"Alice in Wonderland!"
The sudden flurry of titles made Alice's eyebrows rise, much to Jack's amusement. Just how many of these "movies" were out there, and what did those odd titles mean? Tron?
"I'm voting for Alice in Wonderland tonight," Jamie announced. He then went into a very-affected English accent. "But let's see what her ladyship has to say first?" He moved out of the way of the door, allowing Alice to enter. She strode in, giving him a raised eyebrow for the accent.
"Alice!" cried a young voice. The next thing Alice knew a small pair of arms were wrapped around her waist and a pair of bright, innocent, green eyes were looking up into her face. "You came to see your movie?" Sophie's voice was filled with hope.
Alice managed to smile for Sophie (she honestly needed to work on those if she was going to be a Guardian). "Yes," she answered the little girl. "I'm here to see my movie for the first time."
Sophie looked perfectly scandalized. "You've never seen your movie before?" she gasped. Her reaction made Alice's smile more genuine.
"I'm afraid not."
"We need to watch it then," the little girl proclaimed.
Claude and Caleb put down their movies in surrender.
"Alright, Alice in Wonderland it is," crowed Cupcake, nearly spilling a glass of soda.
"Alice, would you like to help me with the popcorn?" Pippa asked shyly. Alice remembered eating popcorn with her sister and parents on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day. It was one of the things that she enjoyed doing with them as a family, something that she hadn't done in nearly a century. A part of her balked at the idea of enjoying the treat without her family, and with people that were just acquaintances. She was a Guardian now though, and would have to swallow those old feelings if she wanted to get on with her new life.
She managed a small smile for the red-headed girl. "It's one of my favorite treats, so of course." She walked into the kitchen while Jack helped Cupcake with the sodas. This consisted mainly of cooling the drinks down and moving them to a table in front of the "TV".
"So, how are things going with you?" Pippa asked as she showed Alice how to work the popcorn popper.
"I've been well, thank you," answered Alice as she studied the device, which oddly reminded her of a teapot. She couldn't see how it could heat the little kernels into popping; there was no flame involved at all. "How does this device operate?" she inquired.
"You just plug it in," Pippa replied as she stuck the popper's cord into a light socket. "Put the kernels in." She poured a cup of the unpopped corn into the appliance and put a lid on over the top. "And turn it on." She flicked a switch on the popper, causing it to whir to life. Alice jumped back, startled, and then came closer to study it. She held her hand under the spout and hurriedly pulled it back. So that was the source of heat. She watched the kernels dance in the heated air before exploding into the familiar treat. Alice watched the popcorn with interest while Jack helped the kids move furniture around.
"So, she's never seen her own movies before?" Jamie asked as he, Jack, and the twins moved the couch back a few feet, creating more space.
"Nope," Jack replied. "And she just finished reading the books a little while ago."
"What was she doin' for a hundred years?" wondered Caleb.
"Fixing up Wonderland. It was a mess before she became a spirit," answered Jack. He stood up with the aid of his staff and looked around. "Movie, check. Space, check. Drinks, check. Now we just need the popcorn."
"Right here." Alice and Pippa walked out of the kitchen each with a good-sized bowl of popcorn. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't refer to Wonderland as a mess, even if it was. It's not polite."
"Very well, oh mistress of manners," Jack retorted, grinning. "Let's get this historical movie night on the road." He ignored the look she sent his way and sat down on the floor as Jamie opened the DVD player and put the disc in. Everyone grabbed a cup of soda, except for Sophie, who got milk, and took a seat close to one of the popcorn bowls. Alice sat with her legs curled underneath her. Sophie did her best to imitate the British spirit.
The images of the TV screen drew Alice's attention. She watched entranced as figures moved and talked in it, something she had never even dreamed of. Noticing something, she frowned. "I thought we were watching my movie, not…whatever this is."
"These are the previews. Basically, they're advertising for other movies," Cupcake told her.
Alice frowned in thought. "It seems a waste of people's time, to advertise other movies while they're waiting to watch just one."
Jamie shrugged. "If you like, we can just go straight to the menu and start the movie." Alice nodded rather hurriedly and he clicked a button on the "remote". The previews paused, then the screen went black before bringing up a colorful "menu". Jamie pressed another button and the screen went black again for a moment. Alice jumped when it lit up again with music playing. On the screen, the words "Walt Disney presents" gave way to "Alice in Wonderland, an adaption of Lewis Carroll's The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, Color by Technicolor."
Alice listened to the music and found it…rather sweet and sappy. Then again, that was much better than what would be playing if Carroll had wrote the truth about her and Wonderland. Alice absently picked up her cup and took a drink of the liquid. The sweet and bubbly taste made her start. "What is this drink?"
"It's called Coca-Cola," Monty answered. "It's one of a number of soft drinks, which are commonly referred around the US as soda, pop, or just coke."
"Don't let Sophie have any," warned Jamie before Monty could continue. "It's full of sugar and caffeine, and she's bad enough with just sugar."
"I am not!" protested the little girl. She shushed herself as the movie started.
Alice took in the sight of her young, blond version being taught history by her older sister. This Alice looked anywhere from eight to ten, and the age-gap between her and her sister couldn't be greater than that of the real Liddell sisters. And she couldn't remember when Dinah was a kitten. After she had left Rutledge, she had been forced to sell the aging Dinah to a good family. She had been low on money before she got her place at Bumby's, and before her job at her nanny's bar. At least her cat had had a good life.
She watched the representation of the White Rabbit and movie Alice's urge to follow him, so much like she had. The fall into Wonderland had been much faster than this one, and she had landed on her feet, barely. The talking door was certainly new; Mr. Disney must have put that in since he didn't have a voice for her thoughts. She didn't really care for when movie Alice cried, though she had to admit to herself, she had cried sometimes in Wonderland in frustration due to the place and its inhabitants when she was younger.
When her movie version shrunk and fell into the "Drink Me" bottle, Jack turned to her. "That ever happen to you?" he asked with an impish grin.
"No," she said simply. "Though I was in that bottle that you saw in Wonderland. Mock Turtle kept his ship there before the bottle broke. And I was normal-sized for that occasion."
"Sure you were." Alice turned her acidic green eyes on him and glared. "Shutting up now."
They all watched as Alice made it to shore in the bottle and met the Dodo. The bird had vanished during the time of the Red Queen's reign. Alice sighed to herself as her movie version came across Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They had been something like their movie versions once before. They had had a little stage and a play featuring the Walrus and the Carpenter, but they had become minions of the Mad Hatter after the fire. The brothers now kept to themselves in the secluded parts of Wonderland, always on the move, whether out of fear for her or the monstrous crow, she didn't know.
Before the fire, the Walrus and the Carpenter had been employed by the Tweedle brothers, who paid their wages with the oysters they swindled into joining the little show. Now the Carpenter was in charge, though Alice had to wonder what benefits he received in his partnership with the Walrus. Maybe it was that he always had a captive audience for the terrible plays he created? If only the inhabitants of Barrel Bottom weren't absolute idiots that came to every one of his plays, the Walrus would go elsewhere for food.
She recalled when the White Rabbit had ordered her into his house to find his gloves and fan as the movie version did the same. He had always apologized profusely for that. She was surprised at how different the movie version of Bill the Lizard was. The real one looked more like a frog than a lizard, while this one was made to look the name.
"They used him for another movie, The Great Mouse Detective," offered Caleb. At Alice's curious glance, he added, "It's an animated version of Sherlock Holmes with mice instead of people." Alice had to wonder at the strange and bizarre things that people came up with these days to entertain themselves.
Jack jumped a few minutes later when Alice gave a short but loud laugh. She had done so because the movie White Rabbit thought that the giant-sized Alice in his house had bitten off his arm. He had to admit, that was one of the funniest parts of the whole movie. "I do not recall that, but I honestly wish that it had occurred," She said in response to the look he gave her.
She absently reached into the popcorn bowl next to her and brushed someone else's hand. She looked towards the person to find Jack's ice blue eyes looking back at her. Their hands reflexively shot back to their owners without any popcorn. All the kids, except for Sophie who was too engrossed in the movie to notice, saw the reflex and unsuccessfully tried to hold back their snickers. A pointed look from Jack and the blue flare of his staff quieted them real quick.
Alice smiled as the flowers sang their song and as her double sang with them. "There were talking flowers in Wonderland a long time ago, but I'm not sure if they sang or not," Alice mused quietly. "But I could change that."
A few minutes later, the flowers drove movie Alice away, crying that she was a weed. "They most certainly did not do that," Alice scoffed.
They watched as movie Alice conversed with the Caterpillar, who became a Butterfly just to spite the girl for saying three inches high "was such a wretched height". He yelled at her and then left in a huff. "What is the real Caterpillar like?" asked Monty, curiously.
"Nothing like that," Alice answered promptly. "He's more understanding and wise. He's actually helpful compared to most of the inhabitants of Wonderland. And he's a butterfly now."
"Is he pretty?" asked Sophie as movie Alice ate too much of the right mushroom and zipped up through the tree branches.
Alice thought for a moment. "Yes, he is. But please don't tell him I said that. He does his absolute best to be dignified at all times." The Oriental insect did his best to keep up the image of "wise sage."
Sophie giggled and then grimaced. "I need to use the bathroom."
"Bathroom and snack break," announced Jamie as he clicked pause right in the middle of Alice's return to normal size. Sophie jumped up and hurried off to the bathroom, along with Claude and Monty. Everyone took the opportunity to stretch their legs and grab more soda. Pippa went back into the kitchen to pop more corn. They had all managed to put a dent in the puffy, white snack.
"I'll be outside," Alice said. "I need some fresh air." She walked out the backdoor and sat down on the steps. The movie reminded her greatly of what Wonderland had been before the fire, before the Dollmaker. So much had changed in Wonderland, so much that it was almost unrecognizable. The worst part had been watching her cherished friends die. At first, she had been glad that they had come back with the Red Queen's fall. Then the Dollmaker began his siege.
So many had been affected by that. The Gryphon, feeling invincible from his resurrection after the Red Queen's fall, had attempted to take on the Infernal Train, only to die again under its wheels. The Mock Turtle had named his ship the Gryphon in honor of his friend. Death at the hands of the Dollmaker was far more damaging than the Red Queen's axe. Thankfully, the Gryphon, the White Rabbit, and everyone else who had perished had regenerated after the Dollmaker's first defeat, but they were never truly the same. The Gryphon flinched at the sound of any kind of whistle and the White Rabbit hated rivers and boats now, just like she couldn't stand the smell of smoke and burning meat. Alice began to lose herself in her thoughts, not noticing the faces in the window.
"What do you think she's thinking about?" Cupcake asked.
"She's probably agonizing over who she's going to choose, me or Caleb," cracked Claude, doubling over from his own joke. Caleb joined him in guffawing.
"You two got so gross when you turned twelve," Pippa informed them. "Besides, we all know who she likes, don't we Jack?"
"What's that?" Jack looked up from his position by the door. At their grins, he scowled. "Not this again, guys. We are just friends, period." Ever since Sophie's last birthday, they had been teasing him about a "crush" he apparently had on Alice. He admitted to himself that he found the girl attractive, but it didn't extend beyond that. Just because he liked her acid green eyes, her black hair, her peach skin, and even her cute run…. He mentally shook himself back to the present moment. "Plus, she's a Guardian now and that makes her my coworker, so there."
"What difference does that make?" Jamie shook his head at Jack. "You two are going to wind up together sooner or later." He grinned and began to sing, "Jack and Alice, up in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
At that the others joined in. "First comes love, than comes marriage, than comes Jack with a-."
Fearing that Alice was going to overhear, Jack brought his staff up and sent a blast of cold at Jamie's pants. The burst of blue energy covered the boy's pants in a thin layer of frost almost instantly. The light from the staff and Jamie's shocked yell brought the song to a screeching halt.
"Jack, that's cold!" yelled Jamie. "And these were new pants!"
"Wash with warm to hot water right after application of freeze ray," Jack imitated a salesman's pitch while blowing off the tip of his staff like a gunslinger. Jamie scowled at him and began to stiffly walk towards his room for a change of pants.
Alice walked in, giving them all an odd look. "What is going on in here?" she asked.
"Just a friendly disagreement," Jack replied.
She looked at the retreating form of Jamie, who was now starting to leave a trail of water behind him. She raised an eyebrow at Jack's idea of a friendly disagreement and called out to Jamie, "We'll wait for you to change before we resume." No one questioned that.
Everyone had their drinks and the popcorn bowls refilled by the time Jamie got back. Jack handed him a cup of coke. "All in good fun, kiddo," he quipped.
Jamie tried to scowl but it turned into a smile. He took the cup and answered, "Sure thing, Father Frost."
Jack made a face. "Anything but that, please."
"Ahem," Alice fake-coughed, signaling that they were about to unpause the show. Jack and Jamie took their seats and Monty hit the pause button.
Movie Alice wandered through a forest with signs pointing everywhere. She had no idea where to go until the Cheshire Cat came along. Alice nearly choked on her soda when she saw how Walt Disney had envisioned Cheshire. He hadn't always been as thin or mangy as he was now, but he had never been that fat, let alone purple and pink.
This one was also far more casual than the real one. "He's right about everyone in that place being mad," Jack commented. Than he remembered who was in the room with him. "Except for Alice."
Alice silently disagreed with him. She had been mad in the asylum, in the orphanage, and she had lost it again in North's workshop after Bunny had been taken by the Dollmaker. Hysteria was her madness personified. It was the unhinged part of her. She was a destructive packet, wrapped up in a white, blood-stained dress and stockings, ready to claw and bite her way to freedom if the threat of pain and suffering dogged on her heels.
She watched silently as movie Alice came upon the tea party of the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse. She couldn't help but smile when the Dormouse recited Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat. That tune was as familiar to her as the Red Kingdom's twists and turns. When was the last time she had heard it?
Her internal questioning was put aside when the Hare and the Hatter twisted the riddle about the raven and the writing desk into calling her "mad." It wasn't much but it reminded her of when she had actually been mad. It didn't help when the Hatter took the White Rabbit's pocketwatch, tore out the gears, and put butter, tea, jam, and lemon juice into the workings. That just brought up images of what he had done to Rabbit, to the Hare, and to the Dormouse. He had squashed Rabbit underfoot and had imprisoned the last two, vivisected them, and then put them back together in a horrific manner, all the while obsessing about time in his demented factory.
As movie Alice left, real Alice remembered the last time she had heard the Dormouse sing that song while having tea with the trio. It had been the night of the fire. She had seen someone out in the corridor and had gone back to sleep, entering into Wonderland right in the middle of one of the Hatter's tea parties. She had been thinking over the raven and writing desk riddle when the Hatter had started crying that there was a fire in her house and that she needed to get out. She felt the heat and heard the flames crackling at her door. The last she had seen of the three before she left was their worry and fear for her safety, along with the White Rabbit calling out for her to wake up. They had been innocent then, friends, before the Red Queen's reign and the Dollmaker's Siege twisted them all into nightmares.
'I hope there's a special place for Bumby in the afterlife.'
Alice jumped when someone, Jack she realized, addressed her. "Sorry, I didn't catch that," she answered.
"Do you think you and Walt Disney could have gotten along?" he repeated, "with your imaginations and all."
Alice redirected her focus to the screen and saw the very interesting creatures that Disney had come up with to populate Tulgey Wood. "I wouldn't rule it out," she replied, "if we had lived in the same century that is."
Cupcake gave her a close look. "Are you alright?" she whispered.
Alice nodded and watched as movie Alice cried out her woes to the forest creatures. A small part of her wanted to join the animated girl, but she had shed enough tears all those years ago. The Chesire Cat appeared to the girl and directed her to the shortcut to the Queen's palace.
"Too bad the real Cat isn't as helpful," Jack quipped. Alice snorted her agreement. The most he did was spout out strange warnings and odd riddles, most of which seemed solely created to drive one mad.
The Queen of Hearts really surprised Alice. Jack surveyed the expression on her face and smirked. He wondered what the tentacled freak would think of this depiction of herself. Jack remembered something right then. When he and Alice had gone after the Red Queen, the monster had accused him of being Alice's White Knight, sent to kill her because….
"She can't do it herself, not as long as I share her loved one's likeness…."
Jack looked at Alice for a moment. The Red Queen had similar facial features, especially the eyes. Just who had Alice made her to resemble and why?
Alice frowned at the Queen's minions purposefully making the game harder for movie Alice. At least this Queen didn't have tentacles and her cards didn't look like mindless zombies, though they were certainly mindless. As the Cheshire Cat engineered the Queen's fall onto her face and the exposure of her huge, white, heart-spotted knickers, Alice remembered when her mother had reminded Lizzie of the time a burst of steam had blown her dress up. The thought made her smile as everyone else laughed.
The trial in the movie reminded her a bit of the one she had attended; only she was the defendant.
'The White Rabbit would have a fit if he saw himself reading the list of my accusations in a trial.'
It wasn't as long the one she had witnessed, but it was even more ridiculous, especially with the unbirthday celebration and the resulting chaos. Besides, the unbirthdays had been one of Carroll's inventions for the Looking-Glass.
The Queen blamed Alice for the hammered noggin and the faceful of jam. Movie Alice found the pieces of mushroom in her pockets and ate both of them, turning her into a giantess.
"Does all food in Wonderland make you shrink or grow when you eat it?" Sophie inquired sleepily. She was leaning against Alice by now.
"Just toadstools and anything that says 'Eat Me' or 'Drink Me,' Alice replied. She put an arm around the little girl and let her snuggle against her, just like how Lizzie had once done for her. She watched as the Cheshire Cat once again put Alice in danger and laughed a derisive laugh. "I renounce my earlier statement, Jack. The Cheshire Cat would never do something like that. The real one is difficult, but he is more loyal to me than any other Wonderland inhabitant."
"No argument here," Jack agreed. They watched as movie Alice fled through Wonderland as chaos settled in. Every single character seemed bent upon following the Queen's order: "Off with her head!" The painful memory of a Wonderland river turned to black tar surfaced in Alice's head as movie Alice swam in a black ocean of tea. Finally, movie Alice realized that she was asleep and woke up to her old sister asking her to recite her lesson. The real Alice smiled as the two sisters went off to tea and the words "The End" played across the screen.
Alice attempted to move her arm just to realize that Sophie was latched on. Jack chuckled. "Good luck getting her off," he whispered. Alice gave him a quick look before managing to pick the small girl up and take her to her room as quietly as possible. It took Alice a few moments to dislodge Sophie onto her bed and tuck the little girl in. She remembered both her mother and sister when they had tucked her in. She leaned down and gently kissed the slumbering girl on her forehead. She tip-toed out the door and silently closed it.
"What do we have to do to earn that?" Alice whirled around to face Claude and Caleb right behind her, both of them grinning.
She crossed her arms and gave them both a stern look. "Learn some manners. That would be a good start." They both scuttled back down the stairs. Alice sighed to herself as she followed them. Why did males have to become so obnoxious at that age?
Jack was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. "The kids are going to watch another movie," he told her. "You want to stay or head back home?"
"I'm going back to Wonderland. This night has been emotionally draining."
Jack gave her a weird look but didn't comment. She told the kids goodbye and goodnight, much to Caleb's, Claude's, and Cupcake's disappointment. "Did you have a good time?" Jamie asked.
Alice smiled. "It was excellent, Jamie. Thanks for hosting the movie. Good night."
"See ya, kiddo," Jack said as he opened the door for Alice and followed behind her.
"Good night," called out Jamie as he closed the door behind them.
Alice and Jack walked down the driveway before Jack broke the silence. "Well, what did you think of your movie?"
"It was favorable as entertainment for children," Alice answered as she thought about it. "I see how Mr. Disney mixed elements from both of the books. He did a good job with it. I'm impressed that he was able to take the tea party and the trial and make them even more chaotic than they really were." She stopped for a moment then continued. "I was hesitant in reading the books and watching the movie. It hurt, in a way, that my real story was forgotten in favor of a more…ideal version. I am glad though, that Mr. Dodgson and Mr. Disney made that ideal version. Children have happiness associated with me, and that's all that matters."
Jack smirked at her. "Told you that you'd enjoy your stories." Alice just rolled her eyes and prepared to use one of North's snow globes. She always stopped at the workshop to grab one, just in case she needed a quick getaway. "Wait. Alice, I, uh…."
"Yes, Frostbite?"
Jack pointedly ignored the use of Bunny's nickname for him. "May I ask you a question?"
"You just did," Alice deadpanned. "But proceed, just as long as it isn't one of those annoying questions you already know the answer to."
Jack winced. "I think I know part of the answer. When the Red Queen caught me, she said that you couldn't bring yourself to kill her because she looked like a loved one. She does resemble you, at least her face does," he quickly added. "Who does she look like, Alice?"
Alice stared him in the face for a long moment, than sighed. "It'll do no good to avoid the question. You won't stop until you get an answer."
"I won't stop asking you," corrected Jack. "Believe me, I've learned my lesson from last time."
Alice shrugged. "Very well then. When I was a little girl, I couldn't help but resent my older sister Lizzie for being older than me, and being able to tell me what to do. When I created Wonderland, I dreamt up the Queen of Hearts or the Red Queen, whichever you prefer, as an exaggeration of her 'tyranny' over me. The Red Queen was originally just a queen that looked like Lizzie with a habit of sentencing people to beheading, though the sentence was never carried out."
Alice paused, and then continued. "After I went mad from my family's deaths, the Red Queen stopped being just a tyrannical version of Lizzie and became something utterly horrible. After I defeated her while I was in Rutledge Asylum, she became the thing that you saw in Wonderland, not as potent as she once was, but every bit as evil and monstrous." Alice stopped and gauged Jack's reaction.
He was uncharacteristically quiet and then he said, "Thanks for telling me, Alice." He stretched and looked at the stars. "I would walk you home, except you can teleport there. Well, goodnight Alice. See you at the next meeting."
"Goodnight, Jack. Do try to avoid flying into anything solid."
Jack snorted. "I'll try. See ya, Pleasance!" He rocketed into the sky before Alice could get the chance to call him out on using her middle name. She whispered to the snow globe and then tossed it, opening a portal to her guest room at Santoff Claussen. She could use Lizzie's key to open a closet portal to Wonderland from there. As she stepped through the temporary door through space, she couldn't help but smile crookedly. What would the Cheshire Cat would think of his pink-and-purple striped counterpart?
THE END
What did you guys think? Feel free to leave a review if you want, and if you liked it, be sure to check out "Winter Wonderland" by Scorpiofreak. Happy reading and writing!