Title: Wonderland I: Through the Looking Glass
Rating: K+
Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Summary: "Welcome to Underland." The child gazed at the mystical lands below them, watching as it came to life with a spectacular array of color. Red, Blue, Green, even foreign colors the youth had never before been able to imagine sprung to life in a dizzying spiral of breathtaking wonder. "Wonderland…" An Alice in Wonderland adaption. Future starshipping.
All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretense
Our wanderings to guide.
Ah, cruel Three! In such an hour,
Beneath such dreamy weather,
To beg a tale of breath too weak
To stir the tiniest feather!
Yet what can one poor voice avail
Against three tongues together?
Imperious Prima flashes forth
Her edict 'to begin it'—
In gentler tone Secunda hopes
'There will be nonsense in it!'—
While Tertia interrupts the tale
Not more than once a minute.
Anon, to sudden silence won,
In fancy they pursue
The dream-child moving through a land
Of wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast—
And half believe it true.
And ever, as the story drained
The wells of fancy dry,
And faintly strove that weary one
To put the subject by,
"The rest next time—" "It is next time!"
The happy voices cry.
Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:
Thus slowly, one by one,
Its quaint events were hammered out—
And now the tale is done,
And home we steer, a merry crew,
Beneath the setting sun.
Alice! a childish story take,
And with a gentle hand
Lay it where Childhood's dreams are twined
In Memory's mystic band,
Like pilgrim's withered wreath of flowers
Plucked in a far-off land.
-Lewis Carroll
"Judai. Judai, are you listening?" The child looked up from the book in his lap, meeting his father's stern gaze as a tiny hand remained pressed against the inked pictures hidden within. The elder male glanced down at the book in question, reaching out to rip it from his son's grip.
"You're reading children's books again." He stated in a tone that bordered upon expectancy and irritation. Gloved fingers smacked the book closed with a sudden clap before haphazardly throwing it aside onto the table beside the chaise.
"But I am a child." The youth defended, short legs dangling off from the skirt of the cushions as he reached over to retrieve the novel once more.
A cane reached out just short of the boy's hand, using it to slide the object in question out of his son's reach. "Not today you're not. Have you any idea what today marks?"
Judai's shoulders slumped, the young male retracting his hand before leaning back against the upholstery with an immature pout. He knew very well what day it was, though he was not nearly as joyous as any child ought to be on such an occasion.
"It's my birthday." He answered in a solemn tone, nothing left to do but idly kick his legs to and fro as he looked down at the wooden panels below. There was a time when he looked forward to the day's events, receiving presents of toys and the like that would make any young boy's eyes sparkle with the excitement of youth. But alas, as each year crept on his tidings grew more mundane and dull, receiving gifts such as dictionaries and text books for study.
"Precisely." His father answered with a proud smile before clapping a hand on the young male's shoulder. "Twelve years old. How does it feel to have officially become a young man?"
Judai simply crossed both arms above his chest in a childish manner, glancing off to the looking glass above the mantel. "It's boring, I don't like to read—that's why I like picture books, they tell the story for you and you don't have to waste all that time trying to figure out what all those big words mean."
The elder simply frowned, clearly displeased by his son's lack of interest. "If you want to read books they aught to have words in them, and knowledge—knowledge is key to a successful career."
He removed the hand from his son's shoulder, grasping his cane once more before holding out a hand for the boy to take as he spoke in a much softer tone. "Come, allow me to show you something, Judai."
Judai looked hesitantly at his father's outstretched hand. He doubted very much there was anything his father could show him that he hadn't already seen. In his dreams, animals could talk and wore extravagant clothing. In his dreams, people sometimes stretched all the way to ten feet tall and when they cried, they would make rivers that swept everyone away. In his dreams, anything he wanted to happen could and would.
Alas, he took his father's hand before sliding off the edge of the chaise and allowing the elder to pull him into the middle of the study. They stopped in front of the looking glass, feeling his father bend down behind him before placing both hands on each of his shoulders.
"Now, I want you to look into that glass and tell me what it is you see." The brunet did as the elder requested, gazing up at his reflection with a curious expression. What was it his father could possibly want him to see that was so important in a looking glass? After all, there couldn't have possibly been anything he hadn't seen before in his own reflection. Perhaps it was his father who had gone mad.
The child gazed into the glass for a moment, silently beginning to wonder if this was some sort of test. His private doctor preformed similar trials, asking him questions that pertained to both his dreams and reality, and how they could somehow incidentally become intermingled. Judai quite liked the idea of that; he would much rather live in a world full of wonders and madness than a world where a looking glass was simply a looking glass.
He glanced over his shoulder, watching as his father began to grow impatient. Suddenly nervous, the brunet regarded the glass once more as his mind bubbled furiously. He disliked tests, in fact he often received low marks for those assigned by his personal tutor. Why must he have such a test on his own birthday?
Just then, something off to the corner of the glass seemed to catch the child's eye, scampering from one end of the room to the other in a rather frenzied manner.
"It's a rabbit, in a waist coat!" He exclaimed in a sudden excitement, watching as the creature frantically hopped about the room in a mess of jittery mumbling. He could feel the elder tense behind him, though the younger couldn't help but remain captivated by the wondrous spectacle.
"It's really nervous…I think it's going to be late!" Indeed, the rabbit seemed to be holding some sort of device the child assumed to be a pocket watch. But whatever could a rabbit be doing with a watch? He supposed the better question may have been just what business could such an animal have at all?
"Judai, no more games—stop this nonsense!" He shook the boy firmly, placing both hands on either side of his son's face in efforts to redirect his attention back toward their reflection. "What do you see?"
The child blinked, gaze being torn from the scampering rabbit and back to the center of the looking glass where he came face to face with own image. He didn't quite understand the question, though judging by his father's angry expression Judai figured he must have failed the test.
"I see…me." The brunet answered truthfully, though he spared a glance off to the side of their reflection once more only to see the rabbit had vanished from whence it came. 'Odd' he thought with a slight frown. Then again, what wasn't odd about a rabbit in a waist coat in a looking glass? It all sounded very silly and exciting.
The grip on his shoulder's softened, as did his father's countenance as a pleased smile crossed his lips once more.
"You see you as you are now." He corrected, pushing himself up off the ground to stand beside his son as a hand lingered on the younger's shoulders. Judai felt the elder pat one gently, pulling the child closer to his side as he spoke with a sudden pride.
"Do you want to know what I see?" Judai tore his gaze away from the image above, regarding his father with a suddenly spellbound demeanor as childish eyes grew wide. The elder merely chuckled, glancing down to meet with his son's naïve gaze.
"I see the future," He began, only causing the brunet's fascination to grow as he listened in more closely, "I see a boy who will one day become a man and take over his father's company; a man who will lead the railroad industry into its most prosperous debut."
His father paused, seeming to envision this begotten fantasy as he spoke with a fondness all its own. "You will help bring forth the legacy of our family, just as my father before me envisioned the foundations of our livelihood, you will someday carry out that same dream."
A troubled frown emerged as the younger's captivation quickly grew dim. Was his father ill? Surely his powers must not have been functioning properly; no dream he'd ever had was quite so uninteresting.
Before Judai could respond however a series of knocks echoed through the study as the elder removed his hand from the younger's shoulder. "You may enter."
At his father's request, the door was gently swayed open to reveal a woman dressed in a maid's garments. She muttered a silent apology, stepping into the room as she looked to the pair with a reluctant expression. "I'm very sorry to have interrupted you sir, but it appears that Mr. Manjoume has come to discuss important business matters."
The elder of the pair frowned, annoyance evident as he turned away from his son to address the female with a pointed expression. "On my son's birthday?"
The maid gave a nervous nod, prompting his father to let loose an exasperated sigh before reluctantly retreating to his desk to fetch a rather large, leather brief case. He turned back to his son, giving the youth a gentle pat on the head. "Stay put. What I get back, I'll have an important gift for the occasion."
Caught between excitement and dread at the prospect of another gift, Judai nodded as he watched the maid step aside in anticipation for his father's swift departure.
"Will you be alright alone here, Mr. Yuki?" The woman offered a polite smile, lingering at the doorway as she turned her gaze to the child who nodded contently in response. She regarded the youth once more with yet another apologetic nod.
"Happy birthday, Mr. Yuki." He watched as the door softly closed behind her, the subtle click of its hinges leaving behind a heavy silence broken only by the jabbering of the clock above.
Judai didn't terribly mind being alone, after all such a time allowed his imagination to run rampant without the promise of castigation or scolding. In fact, he hardly considered himself to be alone when there was much company to be had in the endless pages of a story book, particularly the pictures of which fascinated him to no end. The tiny print of words on a paper provided him only with a dull ache in his skull where images such as pictures and photographs replaced this ache with the spirits of adventure and delight.
Retrieving the forgotten book from the tea table, Judai plopped down into one of the many ornate chairs before flipping through the pages once more. One day, he'd hoped to make his own picture book—one with fish who swam on land or trees that grew upside down, perhaps even a rabbit in a waist coat.
Judai chuckled at the recollection. 'A rabbit in a waist coat', he thought with a large grin, 'what a crazy, wonderful idea.'
As he mused silently, something bright and flashy caught his eye once again. The child's first instinct was to frantically survey the study from where he sat, eyes scanning for anything out of the ordinary as he clutched firmly to the arms of the chair. He wasn't quite sure what he expected as he was simply met with a deafening silence, the clock above him becoming hushed as each tick almost seemed to grow slower with each passing second.
He thought for a moment if perhaps he should he call out to the strange intruder, though these thoughts were soon interrupted by a frenzied outcry.
"I'm late! I'm late! Oh my, I'm terribly late!"
The brunet blinked, hearing the furniture begin to rattle and the floor beneath him to shake. Though, as he looked around, his surroundings remained firm and motionless much to the youth's bemusement.
"The duchess will have my head! Oh dear, oh my, how the time flies!" A loud crash soon followed, prompting the child to practically jump ten feet in the air from the chair in which he remained glued. Despite his immense confusion, Judai cautiously removed himself from his seat as he called out with an anxious tone.
"Hello, is anyone there?" He was met with the same irrational gibberish, occasionally flinching at a particularly loud racket here or there. Vaguely the boy began to wonder if he was in fact mad, for these sounds seemed to hold no source to them as he took a cautious yet brave step forward.
"Please come out, I'm not going to hurt you." The child attempted once more, taking a gradual step toward the center of the study with each word as eyes persisted to roam about the area in a mixture of caution and anticipation.
Stopping when he reached the center of the room, Judai felt himself tense as the noises grew louder. He could practically feel the vibrations of the trembling voice around him, frantically looking about as all fear was swept away within the rush of his own adrenaline.
"Oh dear, I'm so very, dreadfully late!"
The youth's eyes almost appeared to bulge out of his skull as he turned around to face the looking glass once more, wherein he watched as the rabbit scampered about in what seemed as though to have been an altered reflection of his father's study.
"Mr. Rabbit!" He shouted once more to the creature, though to avail as he simply proceeded to crash into various objects within the precincts of the glass. "Mr. Rabbit, what are you late to? Maybe I can help you find your way!"
The child reached up, grasping at the edge of the mantle as he struggled to lift himself up onto the brick laden ledge. He wriggled furiously, feet dangling from above the fireplace below as he proceeded to scratch and claw his way up until he was perched above the concrete shelf.
Pressing his palms against the surface of the glass, the child struggled to catch the troubled creature's attention once more.
"Mr. Rabbit, can you hear me?" He knocked against the glass, hoping to make a sound that would alert the animal of his presence. Alas, it was clear the estranged rabbit was not yet aware that he was trapped within the looking glass, nor did he seem to hear the child's calls of distress.
Judai's lips fell into a troubled frown, glancing behind his shoulder as he inwardly wondered whether or not he should notify an adult of the situation. However, given his father's previous reaction to the rabbit in the waist coat, he reluctantly decided that perhaps this was a task for himself.
He pressed against the surface of the glass, hoping to somehow reach out to the creature on the other side. However, much to the youth's surprise, he felt the flesh of his palms gradually begin to dissolve through the solid barrier.
Gasping, the child reeled back, teetering over the ledge as he struggled to grasp onto something solid. Unfortunately, gravity did not appear to agree with the boy's efforts as he felt himself begin to lose his footing.
In a last ditch effort to save himself from the inevitable fall, the brunet pushed himself forward, colliding with the surface of the glass. His eyes clamped shut, awaiting the inevitable impact before feeling a cool darkness sweep over him.
"I'm late! I'm late! I'm l-a…"
A/N: It's been quite a while since I've written a fanfic, so I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Wonderland! Please remember to leave some feedback.