Authors note: I own nothing except my own character Ellie. See my profile for updates. Can't guarantee swift updates, but they'll come eventually. Sorry for the inconvenience. I appreciate any critiques as long as they're done professionally and courteously, that being said, I hope you enjoy!
I don't remember how long I've been in Wonderland. I want to say it's been around six years; I was 16 when I came through the glass looking for my brother, but time is different here.
Everything is different in Wonderland: the air, the people, everything. If caught, I'll be forced to stand mindless in the Hearts casino, while suits harvest emotions out of me. At least that's what the rumors are, but I've managed to stay under the radar so far.
My first mistake was following my brother here. The second was being branded an Oyster by the stamp on my right hand. I didn't know what was going on when I first got here, there was a sudden bright light in the sky that forced my hand to shield my face and the next thing I knew there was something on my skin that wouldn't come off.
At the time, I didn't know that the bright light was a scarab, or that the light would brand the symbol on me. When it touched my skin, it didn't burn or sting, but my palm left a leaf branded there. The green marks stretch from the tip of my middle finger down to my wrist, wrapping around the palm of my hand.
I've tried washing and scrubbing it off, but as far as I can tell it's here forever. So I'm forced to cover it up with a glove I found, and if anyone saw the symbol, I'd be dead. And I probably would be dead if it wasn't for Dodo; when he found me wandering the streets he told me he's with the Resistance and took me in.
Since then, I've been working for him. It hasn't been all bad; he shelters and protects me while everyone else would have let me be captured and sent to hell. The first person I asked for help called me an Oyster and left me for dead.
That doesn't mean I like it here though. I'm grateful he's kept me alive and given me shelter, but he can be a cruel man. I've seen him take more rations than he should, and over the years, he's stopped caring about the people he swore he'd protect.
But as I said, I'm thankful to be alive. I've been in the Great Library for a while now, helping refugees and serving the Resistance. It's been a struggle, keeping everyone alive and hopeful, but it's the least I can do to help.
"Thanks Ellie," coughs one of the dying men after I tilt his head back and give him some water.
"Don't worry about it." Smiling reassuringly, I lay his head back down. "I'm going to walk around a bit, I'll be back later." Squeezing his shoulder for support, I walk away to survey the rest of the refugees.
There are coughs coming from behind stacks of books and somewhere a kid is crying, or maybe that's an adult—it's hard to tell anymore. I hear someone call for water, but we're almost out of it again, and there's no knowing when we'll get more.
The one thing that sucks about hiding down here is not getting fresh supplies and not being able to see the sun. I've been down here for so long, I'm not sure I even remember what it looks like. When I was younger, my brother would tell me not to look at the sun or I'd go blind, but when he wasn't looking, I would look at it anyway.
Sighing, I walk towards the big staircase that leads up to Dodo's office, ready to tell him about the low water supplies. Wiping my hands on my charcoal jumper, I step over the books and around the other refugees, occasionally stopping to say hello to a few volunteers.
But the sound of Duck's bus-elevator goes off, causing me to stop and look up to see who's arrived.
Who would be visiting now? Could it be more supplies from up there? I hope it's water, or food, and if it is, I hope Dodo doesn't get to it first.
I hear Duck and Owl talk to whoever arrived for a bit before they start walking towards Dodo's office. Looking up, I can see Owl walk by with two strangers trailing behind, but they both stop to look over the railing at us in the library.
I stand there for a second, trying to picture the view they must see; books everywhere, the sickly dying and the pale lamps used for light. There's a stab in my stomach, and I'm a little jealous of them. To be able to see the outside, look healthy and be able to pity those who hide in libraries.
I make eye contact with the man for a moment, his eyes scanning the library before landing on mine. He stares at me and I stare back, wondering what his business is here. It's not like we get visitors a lot, and I'm not complaining, but they must've come for a reason.
He breaks our stare as they both turn back to their visit for Dodo, which reminds me of my original plan to go to his office anyway.
I make my way up the stairs and walk inside his office, entering in behind the two strangers. Walking in, I hear Duck and Owl whisper about the people in front of us, harshly saying the name Hatter while looking at the man in the hat.
So this is Hatter? I keep an eye on him as I walk inside to stand next to Dodo and his desk. I've heard a little about Hatter; Owl and Duck mentioned him last week when we received a little food and water. But I've also heard Dodo complain about this Hatter and how he's playing both sides of the field, feeding information to the Queen and the Resistance.
Staring at him from my side of the desk, the room goes silent. Hatter stands stoically, staring down Dodo while the girl cautiously looks around the room, her eyes sweeping over me before landing firmly on Dodo.
"She's looking for her boyfriend, a Jack Chance." Hatter finally speaks, eyes firmly locked with Dodo's.
"Chase," The woman interrupts. "His name is Jack Chase."
"She needs help. I thought of you, Dodo."
I look at Dodo, who stares back at Hatter with annoyance.
"Really?" Dodo asks, standing up and walking in front of the desk. "And why would I want to help your Oyster, when you know that bringing her here puts us all at risk." When he says Oyster, I look down at my feet in habit; calling people Oysters is something I've never agreed with. We're the same as everyone else here, but luck just isn't on our side.
"Oh please. I've spent years smugglin more dangerous stuff than this down here." Hatter replies.
But this is a person, not like these illegal books. And she needs help. Looking towards the woman, I realize still don't know her name. She fidgets a little, her eyes staring down Dodo as well.
"You know what rankles me most, about blood-sucking, carpet-baggers like you, Hatter?" Dodo's voice turns into a low growl as he walks closer to Hatter, stopping in front of me to stand by Owl. "Your gal. While we risk our lives trying to bring freedom to ungrateful leeches like you, you swim about, living the good life."
"Stop your crowin'. You know I'm on your side."
"I'm sure you say that to all your enemies."
"I do what's necessary. I kiss what butts need kissing so your machine stays oiled." Hatter argues while Dodo walks back behind his desk.
Since when are we enemies with other Resistance members? God, I hate how there's so much politics here. Since being under Dodo's "care" I've been in the Resistance for a few years, and while they act like they want to overthrow politics and the Queen, they're just as political in their own agendas. We all want the same thing, we all have the same goal, yet they argue over who has what.
Scowling, I look away from Dodo and face the girl instead.
"Look, if you can't help me, I'll just leave." She says, speaking for the first time here, her voice more confident than I thought.
"Hah, headstrong, isn't she?" Dodo asks with a laugh.
"Can you help me get Jack out of the Casino?" She asks, fed up with the back-and-forth between Dodo and Hatter.
"I don't see how." Dodo replies and my head snaps to face him, glaring at the side of his head until he turns to acknowledge me. He narrows his eyes at me before turning back to Hatter and the girl.
"The resistance has contacts inside the casino, right?" Hatter asks, missing the exchange between us.
There's a pause before Dodo speaks. "No comment." I want to tell them yes there are, and that we'll do what we can to help. But instead, I stand there by his desk looking down at the carpet, angry with myself for not speaking and angry at Dodo for not helping his own kind. It's not my place to get involved.
"Use them to find her guy. She can pay you. But I want my usual cut upfront."
"Pay me? Pay me with what?" Dodo asks, knowing we don't take the useless money from the other side of the mirror.
Hatter slowly walks around the woman, stopping on her other side. "Show 'em the rock, Alice." He says quietly, looking at her as he speaks.
She turns around, shocked. "What?" Dodo gets out of his chair slowly to get a better look at this ring and I do the same, following behind him a little.
Hatter looks impatient. "The ring. On your finger."
"No that is off-limits." She argues, not noticing that Dodo is nearly in front of her with me right behind.
"It's all you have, Alice." Hatter urgently whispers back.
"No!"
Dodo quickly grabs her hand in his, turning her hand and examining the ring. "It's not possible." He whispers hungrily as Alice jerks her hand away. "Where did you get it?"
"Dodo, calm down." I say, suddenly standing in between Dodo and Alice. I've never seen that look in his eyes before, and with the way he's been acting lately I don't want him to do something radical.
Alice glances at me, as if noticing me for the first time before turning back to Dodo. "It's none of your business, it's not for sale."
Dodo pushes me to the side and I stumble for a second before catching myself. "WHERE DID YOU GET IT!?" He yells, getting closer to her face.
"Dodo!" I yell, getting closer as well, prepared to throw myself in the middle if he takes things too far.
"What-What is it?" Hatter asks, looking at Dodo, then Alice, then me and back to Dodo again.
Dodo takes a breath. "Your Oyster, is wearing the stone of Wonderland."
Everything in the room stops. I've read about the stone of Wonderland in some of the books here, it was originally owned by the Knights before the Queen wiped them out and stole it. If the Resistance had it, we would actually stand a chance to overthrow the Queen.
"That's impossible." Hatter whispers, looking back towards Alice.
"I don't believe it." I whisper at the same time, staring at her, confusion sweeps across her face.
"I'm never wrong." He says, answering anyone's doubts that this really is the ring.
"Where did you get it, Alice?" Hatter asks, ganging up on her as she takes a couple steps back.
She backs up a little more, looking for a way out. "J-Jack gave it to me."
I step closer, trying to see the ring for myself. "Jack?" Dodo asks.
"Jack Chase, the guy we're looking for." She says defiantly.
"Well where did he get it?" I look towards Dodo and see the greedy look in his eyes return. They look menacing and angry, making me uncomfortable with the way he's staring at her.
"Does that matter, Dodo?" I ask. "She said no. Maybe you should back off a little." I say testily to him, putting myself in front of Alice. She doesn't know what the ring is; she came to us asking for help not to be thrown into war.
"Ellie, step away." He says to me, glaring at me now.
"I don't know." Alice stutters from behind me.
"Give it to me!" Dodo lunges, attempting move closer to her, but I shove him back, surprised with myself as his face is now in front of mine.
"No!" Alice yells, stepping closer to me.
"Dodo, you need to calm down. We're all on the same team here!" I yell in his face as he looks between me, Alice and Hatter, who has come to stand beside me defensively. I can see Hatter looking at me from the corners of my eyes as I stand up to the man who picked me up off the street. I just met Alice and Hatter, but already I feel protective of them—maybe it's that there's finally something, someone I can relate to, or maybe I'm just fed up with the way Dodo has been running things around here.
Dodo stares at me for a few seconds, his face masking the confusion in his eyes before turning around to face Owl. "Take her out."
"Are you crazy?" Alice yells and I watch Owl pull out her gun, looking at me unsurely as I block the path towards Alice.
"Dodo, you can't!" I yell at his back and he turns around to look at me, no remorse in his face.
"Stop, just wait." Hatter tries to reason with him, looking between Dodo and me as he moves to stand in front of us.
"You're in way over your head, Hatter." Dodo says slowly, and looks at me next. "You too Ellie. You don't know what you're dealing with."
"Just gimme one second to talk to her, ok?" Hatter says, turning to face Alice and me. When our eyes meet, he looks at me confused, as if questioning why I'm helping them. I give him a shrug, looking away to avoid his eyes. I have my own reasons for helping, I guess I just understand where she's coming from.
"It controls the Looking Glass, you know that." Dodo says to Hatter, but looks at me again. "Are you going to throw everything you've worked for away, Ellie? After all I've done for you?"
Hatter turns back around to face Dodo. "Calm down. Put the gun away, I'm sure we can all get what we want here."
"Look no one is getting this ring." Alice says from behind us.
"We've been waiting for years for a break like this, and now it falls into our laps." Dodo explains, as if it's just simple to kill another Resistance member, our ranks all ready small and outnumbered.
Putting my hands on my hips, I look at Dodo in the eyes. "The girl said no."
"Oh, she doesn't even care what it's for!" He says, throwing his hands in the air while stepping closer to me.
Hatter moves in front of me again, pleading with Dodo. "Quit waving that thing around, you're scaring everyone."
"If we can return the Oysters back to their world, maybe we can save ours." Dodo reasons. "You of all people should understand, Ellie." I understand his intentions, but this? Killing the people we're supposed to be helping? I don't agree with that.
"Not like this." I tell him, shaking my head at the same time.
"Just put the gun down." Hatter says.
"We're all on the same side. No one has to get hurt." I move to stand next to Hatter and he turns to look at me before looking back at Dodo.
"Think about it, the Queen reduced to mopping the floors. It'll be just like the old days. Justice. Reason. And the rule of law." Dodo says, his voice rising with anger and his gun pointing back up.
"Stop this!" Hatter yells, lunging forward to grab the gun as it goes off, sending Hatter flying backwards before hitting a wall.
"No!" Alice yells from behind, everyone standing still in shock.
"You've shot Hatter," Owl says, clutching her own gun.
"We don't need him anymore, the ring is our ticket out of here." Dodo grins.
Before I can act, Alice rushes forward and knocks the gun from his hands. She kicks Dodo to the floor when I grab her arm to turn her to face me. "Alice, you need to run. I'll hold off these two but go! Get out of here!" I push her towards the exit, leaving me with Owl, Duck, a grumbling Dodo and Hatter in the corner.
Alice stumbles out of the room and takes a quick look back at me. I give her a nod, showing it'll be all right, and she turns to run towards the bus.
I back up towards the doors as Owl comes towards me with the gun, but before she pulls the trigger I kick it out of her hands. She pulls back, startled, but I give her a quick punch in the face to knock her out.
I hear Duck coming up from behind me and his arm reaches around to grab my neck, but I pull his arm forward and bend over, using my body weight to flip him over. He lands on the floor with a thud as Dodo starts to get up in front of me.
The gun goes off again, but this time it's Hatter getting up from the pile of books, aiming the gun in the air. He backs up cautiously, changing the aim to Dodo. I stand behind Hatter, closer to the door than he his, with my foot on Duck to make sure he doesn't get up.
"Leave her alone, or believe me the next one will be aimed at your head!" Hatter shouts angrily, still aiming towards Dodo and I can hear Alice running down the hall behind us.
"Look, Hatter, this is a game changer. I'll give you three times your price, five! Ten, you name it!" Dodo gambles with him, stepping closer.
"Back! Off!" Hatter yells again, stepping closer to the doorway and me.
"If you let her leave with the ring, I'll have every member of the Resistance hunting you down. You'll both be dead before tea time." Dodo steps menacingly closer towards Hatter, who's inching closer to me. I kick Duck away and step aside a little so Hatter stands next to me, gun still pointing at Dodo.
"And that's the thanks I get, for keeping you bums fed and warm all these years-" Dodo knocks away Hatters arm, forcing him to let go of the gun and pushing him towards me. Hatter falls on top of me, causing me to fall against the door with him still on me. While we're down, Dodo takes off running towards Alice and the bus.
Shoving Hatter off, I stand up quickly looking him in the eyes when he gets to my level. We stare at each other for a second, trying to decide if we should fight each other or if we're on the same team.
"Come on, he's gaining on her!" I say to him, quickly taking off down the hall. Hatter doesn't waste any time and starts running beside me towards Dodo.
Hatter's a faster runner than I am and gets to Dodo first, tackling him to the ground. "Hatter!" I hear Alice yell.
"It's the blue button!" Hatter and I both yell, him on top of Dodo with me running up to them. Dodo quickly kicks Hatter off as I catch up and shove Dodo back down.
Hatter falls behind me as I try to hold Dodo down, but he quickly overpowers me and pushes me against the wall.
"Go Alice! Hurry up and push the blue button!" Hatter yells, standing up and pushing Dodo to the other wall that overlooks the library. Hatter takes a swing at Dodo's head, but misses and ends up hitting the wall. "Lucky."
Before he can recover, Dodo starts kneeing and punching Hatter all over his body. Standing up, I rush to tackle Dodo from the side, forcing him down on the ground again. Straddling him, I start punching his face while Hatter stumbles disoriented behind me.
Dodo grabs my fist as it comes down again, and shoves me off and into Hatter. We both fall to the ground and Dodo kicks me in the stomach twice before getting on top of Hatter and punching him in the head repeatedly.
I try to stand up, but I double over in pain from my ribs, forcing me back down on the ground. Dodo's pounding Hatters face in and all I can do is watch.
"Dodo, stop! You'll kill him!" I yell, begging for him to stop.
Dodo pulls his fist back again, but instead of landing a punch, Alice kicks him off, punches him in the face and throws him over her shoulder, Dodo landing on the floor with a thud.
"Come on, Hatter." Alice says, helping Hatter up from the ground.
When they leave, Dodo will kill me. If I'm lucky, he'll exile me out on the streets, where it's death for me anyway, but there's no going back from this. I disobeyed.
Alice helps Hatter up, one of her arms around his shoulders to help give him balance. I sit up from the floor, bleeding from the mouth and look down towards the books in the library where I've spent the past few years.
"Are you coming?" I look up at Alice, who's looking at me frantically. Sensing the urge to move quickly, I nod, push through the pain and get up, following the pair towards the bus.
"How'd you do that?" Hatter asks Alice before we get on the transport, marveling at her kickass fighting.
We quickly run into the bus and Alice throws Hatter to the floor as I stumble in. She hits the blue button and turns back to face Hatter while the vehicle starts moving. Holding on to a bar, I try to steady myself in the jerky vehicle.
We hear Dodo yelling, but it soon fades from the noise of the transport moving up.