Disclaimer: I do not own Alice in Wonderland and its affiliated characters.
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"Oh, I forgot to brush my teeth!" a shocked Alice Kingsley woke up from a nightmare on mirrors and toothpaste, beads of cold sweat rolling down her forehead. She rushed to the bathroom in her pyjamas and jammed the minty paste onto the bristles of her toothbrush. The moment her eyes met the mirror, mysterious gothic letters materialised.
"Alice! Wonderland needs your help. Our Queen has gone mental, and we hope you can help us find a cure! Your true friend, Tarrant."
Alice then found herself resisting a tugging force in vain. She looked up at the clock to see that the clock stood at eleven o'clock. Thinking that she would get through some passage, she shut her eyes tightly, expecting the customary 'thud' often experienced by children in storybooks, albeit not well-known ones.
Of course Alice came into contact with hard ground. Blinking her eyes open, she found herself face to face with a hare.
"Where am I?" a bemused and perplexed Alice inquired groggily.
"In the Rare Books Library of Wonderland," a vaguely familiar voice was heard.
Sitting up straight with a throbbing headache, she slowly turned her head, and old memories of Wonderland flooded back into her. There was the time when she had followed the White Rabbit with a pocketwatch down the rabbit-hole when that rich man's son, Hamish Ascot had prepared to her five years ago, the March Hare and his friend, the Mad Hatter, who had written that message just a few minutes before.
Attempting to reorganise herself, Alice realised that she was no longer in her nightclothes, but a black dress with leggings that had the four symbols of playing cards printed on them. Bewildered with this new discovery on Wonderland clothing, Alice questioned, "So what trouble is Wonderland facing?"
"Remember the younger sister of Iracebeth the Red Queen? That's the White Queen Mirana whom you helped on your last visit five years ago, according to the time in your world. She woke up one fine balmy morning and threw quite a tantrum! Ever since, she's not been right in her mind, and isn't altogether well.
"Now, as the Cheshire Cat here says, the answer to the cure may lie in here," the mercury-poisoned hatter finished.
"Eh? Cheshire Cat?" wondered Alice aloud.
"Hello, he can disappear and reappear! Have you forgotten?" the March Hare burst out rather rudely, but Alice did not mind; she was too busy looking for the Cheshire Cat to notice the Hare.
Alice found the Cat on the dusty floor of the Library, grinning up at her, then disappearing, his smile the last to vanish. Wow, what a nice shock. Having 'recovered', she announced, "Let's get cracking on it now, everyone."
"Try the Medicines section," suggested the cheeky Cat.
Alice saw runes carved into the top of the shelves and her brain clicked. She would have to depend on her luck; looking for the right book would be a tedious task. When she noticed a carving of a girl drinking from a flask, she ran her fingers along the spines of leatherback books and tugged at one.
Quite fortunately, this book was not written in runes. To Alice's surprise, the book was titled 'A Comprehensive Guide to Instant Cures for Anything'. She skimmed the pages and found a chapter on 'Cures that Can Heal Anyone'.
"I got it! Alice cried in a sudden transport of delight, not caring to keep her voice down. Regardless of the disapproving stares she got, she excitedly looked on, but the ingredients of about all of them were so difficult to source for. The word 'Jabberwock' then caught her attention.
"Get a bezoar from a goat and the heart of the Jabberwock. Crush the heart into a powdery substance, coat the bezoar with the powder and give to the patient," the author had written.
"Tarrant, come look," Alice whispered to the Mad Hatter, addressing him by his first name. Dragging the March Hare, White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat with him, the Hatter came to her side and the four listened intently as Alice read the passage aloud.
"Goats? Wonderland has no goats! And who knows what happened to the corpse of the Jabberwock?" they protested.
"Oh…" Alice's 'sudden transport of delight' vanished in an instant, and she muttered to herself, "How I wish I got a bezoar!" She was pointing to the picture as she said this, and whoosh! a bronze-coloured stone landed in her lap.
What? How? Alice could not comprehend this. Was that a real bezoar? She swiftly pocketed it before anyone could notice. Whoever asked the 'Wonder-Quartet', which consisted of her four 'friends' with her in the library, to be so pessimistic on her return?
"Why not we just take a look at that corpse? We haven't seen it in ages," Alice reasoned.
"Whatever," the March Hare said, and the five walked about looking for the grounds where the Jabberwock was last seen when the battle between the Queens Iracebeth and Mirana had ended.
Just as Alice was about to become as pessimistic as her four companions, they found the creature. Oh, how Alice shuddered to think of the jaws that bit and the claws that caught! The Jabberwock had remained intact, even after a long time of presumed 'decomposition'. Alice approached the body stealthily…
"Aieee!" "Arff!"
Oh, the fuming Jub-jub Bird and furious Bandersnatch were back, defending the Jabberwock! The frumious pair headed straight for the gang. Somehow, there was a flicker of recognition in the Bandersnatch's eyes…
Of course, it recognised Alice! She had saved it before!
The Bandersnatch stopped in its tracks and leaped up at its 'partner', which was going to sweep the White Rabbit off his feet! It managed to scratch at the Jub-jub Bird, leaving a crimson scar on it. The Jub-jub Bird was unaware of its own injury until it beat its wings at the Rabbit, suddenly shrieking and soaring into the blue sky, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
With the party and Bandersnatch watching ruefully, Alice harshly ripped at the chest of the Jabberwock and dug out something crimson and somewhat circular. Apparently, the circulatory system of that inferno did not work the same way as everybody else.
All of Alice's companions crowded around her. Some of them examined the Jabberwock's strange heart, while others enquired about the bezoar. Alice proudly showed off the latter but refused to divulge how she had obtained the little stone in the first place. "I'll explain another time," she muttered, leaving her friends feeling bewildered.
After the Bandersnatch left the gang, the jealous March Hare followed the others, sulking all the way to the White Queen's castle, where they were going to concoct the antidote. In the kitchens, they borrowed a mortar to put the heart in and a pestle to pound the heart with. As the Mad Hatter pounded, the heart was reduced to fine grains of powder. Alice helped to coat the prized bronze stone with the powder, and they brought it to the White Queen, who was muttering something about a 'Deplorable Word'.
"Oh yes, I forgot. Once Her Majesty finds out about this 'Word', we're dead. Wonderland will be destroyed…" the Mad Hatter whispered with a tinge of urgency in his voice. Alice was too terrified to ask him to elaborate.
"Your Majesty, open your mouth, please and thank you," the March Hare said. The White Queen did as told with no resistance whatsoever, and the now invisible Cheshire Cat took the antidote up in his paws and shoved the now crimson bezoar down the Queen's throat.
Upon swallowing the rather big object, the White Queen's eyelids fluttered to a close.
"Alice! What did the book say about what happens next?" the March Hare, having swallowed his pride, enquired.
"Thackery, after the Queen sleeps well, she will be well enough to do whatever she likes." As soon as Alice said that, she experienced the same tug that had 'pulled' her 'through the mirror'. She managed to holler, "I need to go now. Long live the White Queen!"
'Thud' went Alice on her bed. She glanced at the bedroom clock. Only an hour of her time had passed… She went into the bathroom and gazed at the mirror, completely forgetting about brushing her teeth. Much neater letters appeared.
"Alice, there's no trouble here in Wonderland. Just to tell you that the Queen will be having a procession tomorrow to celebrate her recovery. Your 'acquaintance', Thackery."
How badly Alice wanted to get to Wonderland and stay there for as long as she liked! As she went back to her comfy bed to reminiscence about her previous adventures in Wonderland, her maid appeared in the doorway.
"Oh Alice dear, where had you been? What happened? I heard a loud thud! And when I passed by your room earlier, you weren't there!"
"Nothing happened. Thanks for the concern." Alice looked at her bedroom clock.
Twelve midnight. I'm twenty-four now. And I'm back in pyjamas.