The White Guards dragged the Red Queen away, they were about to handcuff her, when the Mirana gestured them to stop. She took three steps forward and stared into the giant orbs belonging to her sister. There was one last question to ask, and she was dead set on getting an answer.
One day, in the prime time of Underland, a guard patrolling in the Tulgey Woods found a girl, battered and beaten. She was lying on rocks and dirt that made the up the mysterious forest's ground, seemingly passed out. The guard picked her up and carried her the whole way back to Marmoreal, to tell the Queen of the little girl. He ran the whole way, for he could see that the bruises and cuts on the surface of her skin were covered in dirt and mud, and he was afraid that the wounds might be infected.
He finally arrived at Marmoreal and requested an immediate audience with the Queen. When Mirana saw the state of the poor little girl, her heart broke into a million tiny pieces. She took the little girl of the guard's hands. He saluted her and then walked to the guard's barracks.
She excused herself and hurried away, as fast as she could while still walking gracefully, like a queen. When she was out of sight, she broke into a run and got to her room as fast as possible. She laid the girl down on the queen's personal bed and looked at her. She was a beautiful little girl with pale skin and a tangled mess of golden hair that strangely suited her. Her dress was tattered and covered something the queen sincerely hoped was just mud.
The Queen tended to the little girl and after three days, the girl started groaning, tossing and tumbling until she finally opened her eyes and looked up at the White Queen whose smile was so big, it looked like it was reaching beyond her pair of ears.
"W-where am I?" the little girl stuttered, with a slightly scared expression painted across her face.
"You're in the White Queen's castle, Marmoreal, dear. Do you remember anything?"
"N-no. I don't even remember my n-name. I'm s-scared."
And so Mirana's heart broke once again. The little girl has amnesia. An uncommon thing in Underland, but she knew it was something Upperland people were prone to. She felt something inside her bubble up, something that made her want to harm anyone who dared touching this dear little girl. She reached for the hair that was covering the girl's face and brushed it to the side so she could get a look at her eyes. They were bluer than the bluest ocean in Underland (she silently complimented herself for the perfect analogy).
She swept the little girl into a hug and knew that some kind of maternal instinct was taking over. She let go of her and the little girl stared at Mirana confused.
"Are you my mother?"
"No, but I wish I was."
The little girl smiled at the Queen and Mirana felt her insides melt.
"Then I want to be your daughter."
Mirana named the little girl Grace. She loved the little girl as if she was her own blood and vowed to never let anyone harm her. She got one of Underland's finest painters to paint a tiny portrait of the two that was so small; Mirana could carry it with her everywhere.
They shared a lot of memories the next few weeks and for a short amount of time, Mirana didn't care about anything other than this little girl whom a guard had by chance stumbled upon. She cherished every second she was with Grace and had even decided that when the time came, she would pass the crown on to her.
But of course, all good things must come to an end at some time. Grace walked around in the great gardens of Marmoreal one day, and one guard walked over to here and greeted her. She didn't mind him, as she had grown accustomed to her mother's overprotectiveness and knew she had sent the guard to watch her.
She skipped across the ground, around a small pond, picking flowers with colors she had never seen before. The guard simply stood nearby a tree and watched her, making sure no one was around to see what he was about to do. He stepped behind her and threw his hand in front of her mouth to stop her from screaming. He picked her up and got ran over to the stables where there was void of anything but horses. He stole the nearest horse and rode all the to Salazen Grum with Grace.
And that night, Mirana cried with anger in her room. She knew that her heinous sister had taken her daughter.
Mirana shook her head sadly at the flashback and looked up at her sister.
"Iracebeth, dear, I'll only ask you one time, and you better come with a proper answer. Where is my daughter? Where is Grace?"
The Red Queen stared at Mirana and deviously smiled.
"You mean that little monster I kidnapped? She got out on her own. Picked the lock or something, and then she ran away."
Mirana was about to blow up with anger and scream 'liar' at the Red Queen, when she once again looked into her eyes and saw that she was not lying. Mirana's shoulders instantly dropped and it felt like they were touching the ground.
"Take her away."
The guards who were restraining the Red Queen and Stayne told the two to move it and they went away. Mirana fished something out of her pocket. It was the little portrait she had made to remember Grace. She stared at it sadly and sighed with discontent. The Hatter walked over to here and looked over her shoulder at the portrait and suddenly gasped. She spun around in an instant and looked at him.
"Goodness, my Queen! Why do you have a picture of Alice as a child?"
Mirana's eyes widened and she looked deadpan at the Hatter.
"What?"
"That's Alice, when she was a child! That is definetly Alice, I'd know him anywhere!"
The Cheshire cat materialized at the Queen's side. He started talking with that voice that signified unsurprised boredom.
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise, isn't it?"
Alice stood with her back to them, some yards away. Too far away to hear what they were talking about. She simply stared at the ruins where she had slain the Jabberwocky. Her eyes then shifted to look at the Jabberwocky's head. Behind her, Mirana and all her friends from Wonderland came walking towards her. She turned around to greet them.
"Well, looks like we won, didn't we? Things can only go upwards from now on."
She smiled at them, and let out a surprised gasp as Mirana suddenly enveloped her in a hug.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Mirana suddenly said.
"Tell you what?"
Mirana let go of her and held her hands as she looked into her blue eyes. She could definitely remember those blue orbs.
"Don't you remember, dear? Tell me, what do you remember from last time you were here."
"Well, I remember stumbling into Underland, and then having a tea party with the Hatter and the others. Then I grew tired of listening to them talk and walked into the Tulgey forest, I thought I heard something and started running through the forest. I tripped over something and passed out when my head hit a rock. When I woke up, I was in my world again."
"Don't you remember waking up in my castle?"
With those words, Alice's eyes suddenly looked dead. Mirana could see that her brain was overloading with thoughts. Alice ransacked the deepest pockets of her mind and suddenly remembered all that had happened between her passing out and returning to her world. It was, as they say, like something said 'click' in her brain.
"Y-yes… yes I remember now! But honestly, you don't have to call me Grace anymore."
Mirana felt tears trying to get out, but she did her best to hold them back. She hugged Alice once more, and the tears started trickling down cheeks and down onto Alice's armor. She whispered something into her ears.
"Does that mean you're going to stay with us?"
Alice pulled out of the hug and stared at her closest friends around her. She pondered for a moment before coming with an answer.
"No… Sorry, but I can't stay. I have so many things to do in my world, so many questions to answer. If I leave those questions unanswered, then I'll never forgive myself. But I swear to you all, I'll come back once that's done. I'll be back before you all know it."
Strangely enough, this didn't hurt Mirana to hear. She knew that Alice had things to do, but she also knew that she wasn't lying and that she would come back. She walked over to the Jabberwocky's head and saw the blood trickling from its mouth. She captured some of it in a little vial and went back to Alice with it.
"The blood of a Jabberwocky." She said as she held it out for Alice to take.
Alice grabbed it and gazed at it for a moment before looking up again.
"This'll take me back?"
She didn't dare say 'This'll take me home?', because she knew she was not going home. Wonderland was here home, and these people were not only her friends but her family. She was speaking the truth earlier about coming back, but first she would have to make her father's dream a reality.
"If that is what you wish."
She looked at all of the people she loved and prepared herself to say goodbye. She went over to the Cheshire cat.
"Goodbye Chess. I'm not sure what to say other than I hope you'll do well and I'll miss you… and scratching you behind the ear."
Mallyumkin suddenly spoke up.
"Why Chess, I didn't know you were a lap cat!"
Chess glared at Mally before turning back to Alice and giving her one of his patented Cheshire smiles.
"Goodbye, dear Alice. You're the only one I'd ever allow to scratch me behind the ear. I'll miss you as well."
She lowered her hand so Mally could climb up in it.
"Bye Mally. I hope you show those other 'warriors' that they're horrible fighters in comparison to you."
"Haha, sure! Goodbye Alice, I'm sorry for not believing you were the Alice at first. I'm gonn' miss you terribly much."
She put Mally down on the ground and then got down on her knees to talk to McTwisp.
"Goodbye Nivens, one day you could probably help my find my way back to the rabbit hole."
"Goodbye Alice. I'll be there to help you find the hole again, be sure of it!"
She got up again and looked over at Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
"Goodbye, you two! I hope you take care, you're the funniest persons I've ever had the pleasure to meet."
Tweedledee suddenly hugged her legs and started crying.
"DON'T LEAVE ALICE! PLEASE, I'M GOING TO MISS YOU TOO MUCH."
Alice giggled at him and reminded him that she would be back before he knew it. She then turned to the Hatter who simply stood there, too dumbstruck to say anything.
"Goodbye, Hatter. You were the first friend I made here in Underland… with the possible exception of Chess."
"Bye Alice, I want you to have this."
He took off his hat and handed it to Alice who stared baffled at it.
"But… that's your hat! I can't take your hat."
"I can always make a new one. You however, will need something to remind you Wonderland isn't unreal." He smiled at her.
She slowly took it off his hands and then smiled back at him. Partly because of him calling it Wonderland, but also because smiling stopped her from crying of joy.
"I'll be back, and then I can give it back to you. Until then, I promise to take good care of it."
"And when you come back, I'll have a wardrobe… no, I'll have a whole room filled to the brim with the finest hats and dresses and clothes I can make. Crochet, cotton, mesh, moire, satin, sailcloth, silk, tartan, velour, velvet, fleece-…"
"Hatter!" Alice grinned at him at pulled him into a hug.
"… Fez. Sorry." He smiled again.
Alice let go of him and then went over to Mirana.
"I never did tell you that my mother never really did like me, did I? She always favored my older sister, Margaret. But that doesn't matter; you're as good as a real mother to me. Goodbye."
Mirana pulled Alice close to her and hugged her so hard, that even with the armor on, it was hard to breathe.
"I'll miss you terribly much, dear. But I know you'll come back, and that's good enough for me."
Suddenly, the Hatter walked over and hugged them both from the side, McTwisp and Mally climbed up Alice's shoulder and and hugged her neck. Chess materialized on her other shoulder and settled down. Tweedledee and Tweedledum hugged her legs and she could feel Tweedledee wetting her legs with his tears.
"I'm going to miss you all so terribly much, but this isn't a permanent goodbye. It's goodbye, for now."
Cheshire evaporated, McTwisp and Mally slid off her, Tweedledee and Tweedledum let go of her, the Hatter took a step backwards and Alice pulled out of the hug. Mirana smiled at her as she downed the vial of Jabberwocky blood and slowly disappeared into the thin air. At least she knew where her dearly loved adopted daughter was, and the thought of her coming back soon kept her from shedding tears.
May or may not continue this some day, if people show any interest at all.