This is based off an old RP I did with someone, but we stopped and I totally messed it up. lD" So I decided to write a fanfics based off it to correct my mistakes and because it was a cool plot. XD
And, I'm sorry, I'll work on Yes, Mr. Tutor again soon, but Alice in the Country of Hearts made me want to write this. _
Be warned, creepy Russia and cross dressing ahead!
I do not own the characters, but I'm American and that's as close as I'll get! :P
Chapter one: Welcome to Wonderland!
"Whiskey, come!" a voice echoed through the mountain woods.
Alfred F. Jones, 19, came to a stop, panting as he tried to catch his breath. "Stupid dog," he grumbled and leaned against the tree. He only got to rest for a moment when he heard a dog barking not too far ahead and took off running.
He leapt over a small tree, calling out his dogs name over and over. It wasn't like him to leave Alfred's side and it was making the boy nervous. He ran and ran, following the dog's persistent barks until he finally found the black and white border collie standing at the top of a hill. The dog whined and wagged his tail upon seeing his owner.
"Damnit, Whiskey, why do you have to run off like that? Don't make me put a leash on you," he huffed but crouched down to stroke his head. "What are ya looking it, boy?"
The dog barked and looked down the hill, whining again.
"What's down there?" Alfred leaned forward a bit to see down the steep hill, but Whiskey chose that moment to shoot up and bark again.
Alfred cried out as he tumbled down the hill from the dog's sudden movement. His body rolled and crashed into trees, rocks, making him pinball down the hill that could lead to a lava pit for all he knew! Everything happened so fast, yet not fast enough. His body ached from the abuse and he could hear Whiskey barking erratically. Suddenly, the ground was gone and he was falling, surrounded by darkness and his dog's cries growing quieter and quieter as the opening fell away to nothing.
He didn't know how long he was asleep, but when he awoke his head spun as if he were trampled by a stamped of animals.
"Damnit," he cursed and held his head as the dizzy spell and nausea slowly subsided. When he could see and think clearly, his eyes traveled across the room. "What the hell?"
He adjusted his glasses and stood up slowly. The room was small but furnished with a soft rug - which he had been laying on - and a couple of tables, but not much else. Heavy, thick curtains covered the windows to block out any light, which Alfred drew back to get his Barings. The forest around him was unlike anything he's ever seen. Strange trees with trunk that different from grey, to blue, to purple, with even more bizarre colors on the leaves. What made it even worse was how dark and gloomy it looked, like the beginning to a really trippy slasher movie.
"Where the fuck am I?" he whispered to himself.
Just at that moment the door to the room flew open to reveal a small boy who was panting heavily. "You must," he mumbled between gasps for breath, "come with me!"
"Who the hell are you?" Alfred demanded, taking a step back from the boy. His clothing was red and elegant, not something he expected to pop up from the creepy woods.
"Ravis," he replied and pulled out a pock watch, gasping at what he saw. "Oh no, we'll be late! We have to go, now!"
"Go where?" he demanded stubbornly.
"The Red King demands your presence immediately!" Ravis explained quickly as he pulled Alfred out of the small room.
They ran down the path and into the woods, much to Alfred's displeasure. It didn't help that the boy, who was practically a foot or two shorter than him, was running like they had a murderer on their heals. Yeah, that totally calmed Alfred's nerves.
"Who is the Red King?" he asked the boy named Ravis.
"Lord Ivan, of the family of Hearts, King of Wonderland!" he replied. From the way he shook, panicked, and how his voice quivered, Alfred could only see him as a frightened rabbit.
"Why does he want to see me?"
"Because you're the Alice!"
By that time Alfred had lost his grip on the boy who was running at practically inhuman speeds. "My name is Alfred, not Alice!" he huffed.
"You're the Alice!" he repeated. "Now hurry up, we can't be late! This is a very important date for the king!"
But Alfred just couldn't keep up and soon he was left far behind in the middle of the dark, foreign, scary forest. Alfred stopped and rubbed his arms as he looked around. Now, without the company and noise of the strange boy in red, he could hear them; the whispers.
"Who's there?" he called out, voice quivering a bit. He could only think of the worst, ghost lurking in the shadows, waiting to steal his soul, or whatever the hell they did for fun!
The whispered persisted with no reply, growing louder and louder. Alfred couldn't take it anymore and took off running in no real direction, hoping to get away from the voices. Unfortunately, they followed him over ever small stream, through ever bush he barreled through, until they finally stopped. When he noticed that the whispers had died down, he stopped to catch his breath in front of a worn down gate. Thick vines covered parts of the gates that were attached to brick walls, hiding whatever was inside. Curious, Alfred ventured forward to see what they led to.
"More tea!" a man yelled from inside the gate and walls.
Alfred creaked it open and took a peak inside. There were two men sitting at a table covered in tea pots and cups, yelling and throwing them about. One of them had bunny ear popping out of his long, blond hair, while the other wore a ridiculous looking hat.
"Um, excuse me," he called out, taking a couple steps in through the gate.
The both look up, but the bunny-eared man was the first to react. "Oh hon hon! We have a guest, Arthur!" he cried happily, in what sounded like a French accent, and ran up to Alfred. "My, my, aren't you a handsome one! Tell me, what's your name, beau?"
"Stop sexually harassing our guest, frog!" the other shout after hitting the bunny man over the head. "Please ignore this idiot. I'm Arthur, Mad Hatter of the Kingdom of Wonderland. And this is Francis, the March Hare."
Alfred glanced between the two, completely at a loss. He must have hit his head really hard… "Uh, my name's Alfred Jones…"
"Alfred Jones? Hmm, such a strange name, but it sounds familiar…" Francis murmured as he stood up and rubbed the spot where Arthur hit him.
"Never mind that. Come, come, join us for tea!"
Arthur all but dragged him to the table and sat him down in one of the chairs. Francis sat across from him, happily accepting the cup of tea Arthur poured and then did the same for Alfred. He sniffed the cup wearily as he noticed something odd about the tea. It was black and thick, with random chunk floating around in it.
"Uh, dude… what the hell is this stuff?"
"Why, my own personal brew of tea!" Arthur replied, beaming proudly.
Francis sipped the liquid, choked, and spit it out a second later. "What is this garbage? I've been poisoned, poisoned! It feels like my organs are burning through my skin! Arthur, how could you? I thought what we had was special!" Francis cried as he cough and choked.
"You bloody frog, how dare you insult my tea like that! It is the most delicious thing in the world! You wouldn't know good tea if it stabbed you in the throat!" Arthur yelled back, smacking the rabbit man on the head over and over.
Alfred sat their awkwardly for a while until he finally spoke up, "Yeah, well, this has been fun, but I'm going to be late. This guy named Ravis said I had a meeting with the king or whatever, but I lost him in the forest…"
Francis and Arthur stopped dead in their tracks, staring at Alfred with wide eyes.
"Oh no!" Arthur cried.
"I knew I heard his name before! You're the king's Alice!" Francis exclaimed, both jumping up and grabbing things off the table as if their life depended on it.
"What the hell is an Alice?" Alfred demanded. They were calling him that two, whatever the hell it meant.
"No time, you must leave immediately! Hurry, go to the king, and you never saw us!" Arthur yelled, pointing in a direction - which Alfred assumed was where the king was - as he and Francis ran off into the garden beyond the gate.
Alfred sighed and stood up. "This place is weird…" he mumbled as he started walking away again.
He didn't make it long into the forest before the whispers started again. Alfred stopped dead in his tracks and looked around. The whispers came from everywhere, but he could see no one.
"Stop following me, ya stalkers!" he yelled before running again.
As he ran everything blurred together until he didn't even know how long he ran for. But, when the whispers stopped again he took a break to catch his breath. He stopped in a small clearing, but a small table sat in the center of it.
"The hell?" he mumbled as he approached it.
On the table was a ball of foil with a sticker on it that read "eat me". Curious as to what it was, he opened the foil to find a fresh hamburger, extra greasy, just how he liked it.
"Alright, what the hell is going on here?" His question was cut off by his stomach grumbling angrily. "Well, it does say eat me…"
He was hungry and he was beginning to just assume he was dead or something. How else could he get stuck in place that was clearly designed by someone on LSD. Thinking that he really had nothing left to lose, he picked up the burger and took a bite, sighing happily. But, just as he finished his first bite, the world started to sway and grow.
"What… the hell…?" he mumbled as the table and trees grew far above his head. "What's going on?"
Finally, when everything stopped he noticed that it wasn't the world growing, but him shrinking. Yeah, things definitely got a lot weirder.
"My, my, he actually ate it!" came a soft voice from behind him.
"Who's there?" he demanded, but all he saw was the towers grass and even larger flowers.
There was a soft giggle around him. "Oh, look at the adorable boy! He must be lost."
"Show yourself!" he growled, getting tired of the little games of this world.
Suddenly, the flowers leaned down and he swore he could almost see a face within the petals. "Now, now, calm down little one. You were the one who ate the burger.
"Why the hell did I shrink? What's wrong with this world?"
"Ooh, poor thing pretty feisty. The king will have his hands full with him!" another flower laughed.
"He's the King's Alice, though, he will be just fine there with him!" said another flower.
"What is an Alice? What is Wonderland? And what does the king of this weird ass place want with me?" Alfred demanded in frustration.
The first flower, a rose, chuckled and shrugged with the leaves on her stem. "Well, alright, I'll explain. Wonderland is the name of our strange country which is known to have weird things happen, as you can tell. The Alice is the rightful Queen of Wonderland, the true ruler alongside the true king. Lord Ivan has been proven to be the true king, which means you are his Alice. He has been waiting his whole life for your arrival, dear."
"Hopefully he'll be treated better than the mistresses have," the third flower, a tulip, snickered.
"What?" Alfred asked. Mistresses?
"Ah, yes, Lord Ivan is known as a cruel man. He often has his subjects beheaded for making simple mistakes. He also has had many mistresses in his life, but you will be treated better than those boys. You see, the king already loves you, as do all the rulers when their Alice finally arrives," the rose explained.
"Oh my, speaking of which, he better hurry back to the castle or that poor little page will be killed," the second flower, a lily, mumbled.
"I don't know what kind of sick man this king guy is, but there's no way I'll rule anything with him! I'll show up, save the boy, and return home!" he declared.
The flowers all shared a look before the rose replied, "You may try, if you wish. Go towards the cat nip field down this path. The guide will be apple to show you back to the white rabbits cabin, and the boy can take you to the castle."
"Thanks!" Alfred called as he hurried off in the direction of the field.
When the field came into view, he stopped and looked around. No one was in sight anywhere along the field, so he decided to climb a nearby tree, which, in reality, was just a small log on the ground, to get a better vantage point. As he looked out over the field, he still couldn't see any sign of life.
"What were those crazy flowers talking about?" he mumbled to himself then sighed. "Yeah, that question made me sound totally sane…"
"What are you doing?" a voice laughed loudly, scaring Alfred so much that he fell off the log. Luckily, before he hit the ground, someone grabbed his arm and safely lowered him down. "Man, you're lucky you had the awesome me here to save you, otherwise you'd be toast!"
Alfred looked at the newcomer and resisted the urge to smack himself in the face. The man who stood before him had white hair and red eyes. Nothing too abnormal, he'd heard of albinos before. However… the purple and black stripped cat ears and tail were far from normal.
"What the hell are you, exactly?" he asked dryly.
"Me? My name's Gilbert, Cheshire Cat of the forest here!" he laughed again, a loud, cocky, and obnoxious sound. And people criticized Alfred's laughter…
"Well, someone told me to come down here so you could shoe me how to get to the, uh… white rabbit's house?"
The cat man stopped laughing and peered at him questionly. "If your looking for that guy's place, you must be the Alice. Good, everyone's been waiting for you!" he laughed again. Alfred was starting to wonder if the guy knew how to talk without laughing.
"Yeah, whatever. Can you just show me where it is?" Alfred sighed. He was done with all this crap. Dream or no dream, he would save the kid like a real hero then find some way to wake up.
"That way," Gilbert replied, pointing down the path.
"Thanks," Alfred replied and turned to leave.
"Or maybe that way." He pointed in the opposite direction with his free hand.
"Huh?"
"Oh, or maybe it's this way!" his right arm curled around his entire body until it pointed above his head.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
"Or maybe this-" before he finished, Alfred cut him off.
"Will you just show me the damn way already? If you waste any more of my time, that kid will be killed!" he yelled angrily.
Gilbert sighed and placed his hands on his hips. "Well alright. Go north until you come across the first house on your left. The white rabbit boy will be there and he can get you back to you regular size!"
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" questioned Alfred as he stared at Gilbert suspiciously.
The cat man shrugged and gracefully started floating into the air. "If you don't show up, Lord Ivan will kill all who spoke to you until he finds you. So, run along and please the king!"
Without another word, Gilbert disappeared with another obnoxious laugh fading along with him. Alfred just sighed and hurried down the path, knowing that they were seriously running out of time.
Eventually he came to a small cottage right where Gilbert described and walked up to the door. It towered over him like a mountain, but, ironically, there was a smaller door built into it. Without question he opened the door and found Ravis pacing back and forth in his kitchen.
"I'm dead, I'm dead, he'll behead me for sure!" he cried, practically shaking in fear.
"Ravis!" Alfred yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping the towering boy would hear him.
Ravis froze and looked down, eyes widening when he saw him. "Alfred! Oh, thank god! We have to hurry!"
Alfred watched the boy run to a cabinet and pull out a small box. He then knelt down and offered the content, a piece of cake, to him. Alfred took a chunk and ate it, the familiar feeling of dizziness and nausea over took him. Then, he was back to his normal size and being pulled out of the house and down the path.
It didn't take long for them to exit the forest, and then they could clearly see the castle. Is was massive and grey, with and ominous hint to it. The over all feeling of the place made Alfred shiver in apprehension. They ran across the bridge and through the gate into castle. He had no idea where they were going, but soon enough they burst into what looked like the thrown room.
"My Lord Ivan, I've brought the Alice to you!" Ravis called out as they hurried down the isle.
Alfred ignored the man on the thrown and looked around the room. It was dark like the rest of the castle, with red upholstery all over the room. The country flags decorated the walls with a darker colored heart and a gold sickle and hammer crossed on top of it.
"You're late," a deep voice replied, echoing throughout the large room.
"I know, you majesty, but we got lost in the woods. Please forgive my blunder!" Ravis begged.
"You know the penalty for making mistakes," the voice replied, which Alfred now noticed was this Lord Ivan guy.
Ivan motioned towards the boy and armed guards started making their way over. Without thinking of the consequences, he shoved them away, standing protectively in front of Ravis.
"Back off!" he growled to the guards, who looked stunned.
"Halt," Ivan commanded dryly, standing up from his thrown and making his way down to Ivan and Ravis. "You must be my Alice."
"So I've been told," he mumbled and glared at him.
Ivan tapped his chin and walked around him in a circle, eyes raking over his body and appearance. "Not bad. But you're out of line. It is the law and the law is just."
"No, it is your word that was made a law. What kind of monster kills a child?" he growled.
Ivan's gaze hardened and he stood a little taller. "Who are you to question my actions?"
"You Alice, apparently. I wont let you kill him."
"What could you possibly do to stop me?" Ivan challenged with a bark of laughter that lacked any amusement.
"Anything I can possibly think of. At all costs," he warned.
Ivan looked him over for a minute before asking, "Why do you care so much?"
"No one deserves to die for something like a little mistake."
Ivan stared at him for a moment longer before walking back to his thrown. "Please escort him to his room. As for you, Ravis, do not mess up again."
Ravis' eyes widened in amazement and the room fell silent. "I… y-yes your majesty! I promise that I wont!"
Alfred glared at the guards, pulled his arms free, and walked along with them. Before he was led out of the room he shot Ravis a small reassuring smile. He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do yet, but he was glad that he at least saved the poor kid.
And that's the first chapter! :D I hope ya guys like it so far!
Please comment and tell me what ya think. :3