Greetings fellow FF readers and writers. This is just a quickie about a tender moment between the two main characters of the game series. AMR version. Enjoy!
The sound of the stream running nearby brought a sense of peace to Alice, one that made her feel much calmer than she had been for some time now. Even though it was good being back in her Wonderland after having saved it from the clutches of that … that barbaric monster she still felt on edge. Oh, his name made her shudder with disgust and fear, as if he was still there! His voice still cut into her with a calming, yet icily dangerous tone.
"Come now Alice, you're floating! Go to Wonderland."
"There, that's better. Forget it, Alice. Forget everything!"
With a light exhale, she consoled herself with the previous meeting she had with him, their last to be exact. She wondered if they would be cleaning his remains off of the tracks by now, if people were wondering where he had gone. Either way, she did not care. Fact was he was gone. Gone and no longer torturing and brainwashing children; no longer turning them into a mindless servile for the pleasure of those predators out there. Not the kind that one would expect, dear readers, to affiliate with the jungle or the Congo or anywhere else. These moved within the shadows and the streets of London, its dark alleys, its cellars and, most commonly, in broad daylight, engaging with the activities the common man or woman engaged with. That was their one strength. They were never easy to find or suspect. Even Alice herself had had to admit that she would express much demur over one if he/she were standing in front of her right now.
And to think that she would have been another from him, another one of the multitude of innocent youth made to serve these … these, people. Or perhaps Bumby (she had to force herself to mentally recall that name and it earned her a shudder) had aimed to make her a mere acolyte for himself. He had, after all, taken a bit of a fancy to her.
"Forget everything, Alice."
Forget. Ha! That word was something she had been repeating to herself a lot and had tried implementing it more times than she could count. Yet, it just never seemed to work. It was not that she was experiencing anything cliché here, dear readers. If I told you that she was seeing him around every corner or looking at her from every window or from every carriage or train or even hearing his voice with every person she spoke to or heard speaking I would be committing perjury. Rather, it was just the effect. Yes, he was gone but his damage, however much she had repaired it, was still there. Sometimes she just inadvertently remembered his words and their conversations together, his acts and his intentions.
None of that would ever really let her go. Even if she was able to suppress it as she often did, it still lingered like a virus, waiting to make a comeback whenever it pleased. As much as he hated to admit it, this sort of thing would stick with her for the rest of her life.
Shifting her body slightly on the grass, Alice crossed her outstretched legs under her so that they disappeared under her blue dress and bloodied white apron tied around her waist; her green eyes gazing at the small canyon she was sitting in. The stream was running fast, yet was peaceful in its soothing noise. The grass swayed like blades, though none would cut her or injure her for they felt soft against her fingertips. And ahead of her, about twenty or so feet, was the edge of a cliff that showed a blue sky and the sun beaming down brightly towards them. Completely cloudless. She smiled at herself, knowing that this kind of weather was one she adored. Not the smoggy, polluted, filthy and crowded environment of London.
Damaged or not, she had to tell herself that this was Wonderland, her Wonderland. And it was perfect.
Speaking of this Wonderland-
"Observing the wonders of nature are we, Alice?"
With a roll of her eyes, she turned her head and saw his wide smile accompanied by his pointy ears, his literal skin and bones and furless physique and practically string sized tail protruding from his bottom.
"A personal hobby of mind I will admit to, Cat." She replied as he sat beside her.
Normally, most people would take one look at this creature and immediately flee with a scream that he was some kind of demon or devil or whatever. But to Alice, he was something to be held dear. Truth was he, or they even were a kind of novelty or peculiarity. For one, she was a young woman and he was a cat and often they mocked each other for their personalities and views on things. Yet, regardless of them being at variance with one another on many things she could never imagine Wonderland without him. Nor he her for that matter. After all, it was not just down to the logical reason that without her he would never even exist but it was just … just her. She was the very reason he really enjoyed it in Wonderland, even if it meant he would casually but innocently annoy her for his own amusement.
"Very well, if I must submit to this action I will do so."
With another roll of her eyes she looked into his golden coloured ones. "In other words, you just want to find an excuse to sit next to me," she told him with a smug look on her face. "After all, you digress from the natural habit of other cats."
With a disgusted groan, he laid down on the ground next to her. "Oh yes, chasing after rodents, licking myself to death and sitting around aimlessly with no sense of purpose, what a joyous thing to do!" he muttered sarcastically, though Alice could hear him clearly.
With a light chuckle, she extended her arm and gave him a light scratch behind the ear, watching his eyes flicker a moment and feeling his body relax as a result. However much it amused her that he would insist he was not like other felines, she found it sweet that he would act like one whenever she did this to him. And by the look on his face as he let out a light purr, she could see and hear he was enjoying it too.
After a moment, she withdrew her hand and he stretched out his front paws and arched his back slightly, the feeling of letting out all of his tension from his body filling him with a relaxing sensation. When he was done, he sat up and observed the blue sky and the grass before him.
"I must admit, when one really observes he can see why you would enjoy it," he told her with a mocking tone to it.
"And why you would be repelled by it, Cat," she retorted with a smile to meet his enormous grin. "Besides," she paused, looking on at the blue sky ahead of her again. "It presents before me a binary manifestation."
Cheshire Cat looked at her with an expression of interest. "Care to elaborate?" he asked her with an equal tone evident in his voice.
She pondered for a moment, trying to find the exact words for which to describe the scene in front of her and its meaning to her.
"Well, I feel as if I am on a straight path here. Behind me-" she paused and emphasised her words to look behind her to see the path lead further on into the canyon which twisted and turned yet was covered by the darkness of the rocks blocking out the light and the trees overhead. "-Is the past and is filled with darkness and pain as you can see."
Cheshire Cat nodded at the sight, his smile fading a little as he too remembered the pain and anguish that Alice had recently gone through, how close she had come to being destroyed and made a servile for Bumby. It had been a miracle that she had pulled through. That they had pulled through.
"And here in front of me-" she looked on ahead of her back at the blue sky and the sun ahead of her, both hanging over the immense expanse beyond the cliff. "Is the future, open and left up to me to decide what I wish to do with it. A rather strange combination in the same place."
Cheshire Cat nodded. He could see her point of view; after all it was not like him to ever think like that or that his future was ever something he could willingly create or destroy. But it was not as if he was at the mercy of it either, it was just a case of him being left to get on with it providing he did not go outside the conscious boundary of Wonderland.
Though, he did disagree (there was a surprise he mentally told himself) on one thing.
"You have overlooked one thing, Alice," he spoke up after a moment's silence between them and she looked at him with a curious expression.
"What exactly?" she asked him.
"That stream next to you," he pointed out, nodding over to it.
Alice turned to look at it and saw once again the rapidity of the water rushing past her and continuing on over the edge of the cliff to … goodness knows where. As confused as she was, somewhere she knew that what Cheshire was saying was making sense.
"It goes back into the canyon, meets you here and continues on to the future you decide, my dear girl." The cat told her, walking up to her and settling next to her, his voice now right next to her ears. "You still have that connection with your past that holds some light, and, judging by the expressions I saw you give earlier when you were listening to it, you see my point."
Alice nodded lightly, a small smile coming onto her face. It was true; hearing it made her much more at peace. Plus, it got her thinking of her past when she was just a young child. Before her family were taken by the fire she used to play in the fields with her sister. They would also play in the woods or go for picnics in the fields, taking in the sights of nature with her mother whilst her father and sister discussed the hot topics of the day. Sometimes their aunt would be with them and she would bring her a small cake, much to the annoyance of her older sister and the amusement of her parents as they would bicker over who got what when they cut it in half. To be concise, it was those times when she felt truly happy. Not to say that she was not happy now after all of the darkness of recent months had been destroyed, but it was then she actually felt like a happy young girl.
Speaking of her past and her aunt … Alice looked over at the sun and saw it was beginning to set with an array of gold, red, orange and purple filling the sky as dark blue gave way to them. Night would soon be approaching.
"Another beautiful sight?" Cheshire Cat asked her rhetorically as she turned her head to look at the sight.
"Of course, cat," she replied in a manner one would expect when asked that way. "In fact, it reminds me of something when I was young." She added, her tone becoming a little more quiet and full of reminiscence.
Cheshire raised an eyebrow in interest. "Do tell."
Alice cleared her throat and spoke up. "When I was younger, my aunt would teach me how to sing. I remember once I made up my own song that I would sing to myself whenever I was wide awake and in bed. Given our current position, it's very fitting for it."
Cheshire smiled at her, now really interested in her as he had never heard her sing before. It would be intriguing to hear her voice this way.
Seeing his interest, no, direct want for her to sing, she cleared her throat and began to recite her song clearly from memory.
Sing me to sleep, sing me to sleep,
I'm tired and I want to go to bed.
For the first time before her eyes, she saw Cheshire's jaw drop a few inches in … well, just pure amazement. Her singing voice, it was … so beautiful, like a voice of nature, an angel even. She giggled at his face and continued.
Sing me to sleep, sing me to sleep,
And then leave me alone.
One might think that immediately she was saw with her childhood, with her life and family. This is not entirely true. Yes there were sad times, when did anyone not have any like that, but she just always had this urge to go on and find her own world, her own Wonderland. Sometimes she would dream of it, her running through the grass or having another party with Mad Hatter and March Hare and the Door mouse or talking to the Caterpillar's monotonous, yet very enticing voice. Sometimes, though, that was all it felt like to her.
Just a dream.
Don't try to wake me in the morning
Because I will be gone.
Yes. Back then, when she really did have bad times with her family or life she would just wish she could retreat into her Wonderland, where she could become happy and carefree and have a happy time again. She had even wished for it just months ago when she had been under Bumby's care.
Don't feel bad for me, I want you to know,
Deep in the cell of my heart, I will feel so glad to go.
Every time she came to Wonderland, leaving behind the real world, it was always a pleasure being here. She always wondered what her family would think if one day she was to remain here indefinitely. There was no doubt they would be upset and wanting for her to return but if she could talk to them, she would have let them know she was happy here. If they had the same mind as her, she would have wanted them to come and be with her in her perfect world.
There is another World, a better world.
There must be, hmm, there must be.
And it was true, there was. Wonderland. It was always here for her, even when she had nearly lost it. Whenever she had felt sad, happy, angry or at a complete loss it had been here. It was always here for her, always had been and always would be.
And there was especially one who she would always be glad to see here.
There is a better world.
As she finished, she noticed her lap feeling heavier and looked down. At once, a smile crept across her lips.
Cheshire Cat had curled up into her lap and was sound asleep, breathing gently as he tucked his head up against her knee; his tail wrapping itself around his leg.
Well, I didn't think it would have that affect Alice told herself amusingly, but impressed that she knew she still had the knack.
And here she was glad of one thing; Cheshire himself was here for her. He had always been there for her and she was so grateful for it. It made her smile whenever she saw him and spoke with him, and of course bickered with him. But all of that was minute compared to this. He felt and looked so peaceful sleeping on her lap, much like her old cat Dinah had been when she would sleep by the fire all curled up. It just made her heart warm knowing that there was still someone here who truly cared about her.
For the first time, whether knowingly or not, Alice had genuinely forgotten about the recent horror she had faced and, for all it was worth, she was glad she did.
Just as a note, the song 'Asleep' is by The Smiths and was covered by Emily Browning for the Punch Soundtrack.
(Thank you to the reviewer who pointed this out) :)