Hey Xajemm speaking. This is my first ever fanfic (at least that I remember writing). It may not be very good and I apologize but hey that's where any kind, sweet, beautiful people who wish to review come in and let me know just how bad it really is XD. Please don't spare any problems you have with the fiction I need to know what I do wrong to get better.

Disclaimer: Sadly, the lovely people of Alice in Wonderland aren't mine (although, if I could, I'd buy the Tweedles.)

Warnings: None for this chapter.

Alright on with the show...

---------

Vision without action is a daydreamer. Action without vision is a nightmare. Japanese Proverb

Remembering Wonderland

There was no doubt about it. Alice was bored.

She had travelled to China and struck up a deal which had left herself and Lord Ascot feeling extremely accomplished. Unfortunately they found that they wouldn't be the only company to trade in China for very long, however they had managed to keep their heads held above the stiff competition by other such businesses.

Yes, she was successful, she was still young and smart, still had that pretty face which caught the eyes of more than a few young men, although, for whatever reason, they held nothing of interest for her, something about their eyes she thought, and she was still incredibly bored.

She was sitting in a carriage returning to her home from yet another party. (One thing about success that really grated on Alice's nerves was the constant requirement to socialise.) The party itself had been incredibly dull, just tea and chatter and, of course, the dreaded Quadrille. Whilst sipping at her tea Alice had been struck by the familiar feeling that something wasn't right. The tea was too mild, the chatter not nearly... animated enough and the dancing, at this she had an image of a strange man with his head spinning and had snorted right in the middle of one of Aunt Imogene's tales of royalty (earning her a startled squawk from the poor delusional woman and a tut from one of the nearby 'Ladies' over her uncouth behaviour.)

Now, travelling home to her mother, for she would never dream of moving out of the house she had grown up in with her parents, she was finally able to relax. She pulled her hair out of the messy assortment her sister had tried so bravely to tame and let the long yellow waves flow in a wild mane around her head and shoulders. She let out a sigh and cringed at the pain in her feet from so long standing and 'chit-chatting', what she wouldn't do for something soft to rest her feet on, like a warm pig's belly she thought sleepily and then shook herself. She scolded herself mentally for such a ridiculous and uncivilised thought. What her mother would say if she knew that her second daughter was thinking such poppycock at her age, the thought of it made Alice shudder. She settled herself back into the soft cushioned back of the carriages seating, cursing the corset she was sporting as it dug into her ribs and hating the itching feel of the stockings she had been coerced into wearing, she closed her eyes, it was a long ride ahead of her and she might as well use the peace to her fullest.

It was like this that Alice fell asleep.

***

She opened her eyes in the midst of a swirling mass of foul smelling smoke, some kind of tobacco she presumed. Squinting she could just make out a tinge of blue before it was enveloped in the darkness she tried moving towards it but with every step she took she seemed to be getting nowhere.

"Hello? Is... Is anyone there?" she choked out, having inhaled a lungful of the disgusting air. She coughed forcing tears into her eyes. A noise, from behind startled her and she spun around, the noise moved with her, it was fast panicked breathing and the sound of it brought a dull spark of fear into Alice's chest. "Who is that? Where am I? Please somebody answer me." She shouted into the never ending cloud. The breathing grew louder along with the patter of feet, it sounded as though a small animal, a rabbit perhaps was sprinting towards her.

"Oh my ears and whiskers! I'm late!" a strange voice echoed weakly around Alice. She jumped, turning her head wildly, searching for the source of the voice. She could not speak for fear, only managing a strangled sob as the sound of crashing filled the air something whizzed past her head and she screamed. When she looked down she saw a shattered tea cup on the ground near her feet. Alice collapsed to the ground and clenched her eyes shut, tears were now pouring down her face.

"Oh god, please help me." She sobbed...

She was jolted awake as her carriage hit a bump. Alice could feel the tears on her face and reached up to wipe them away when something stopped her. She had dirt on her fingers, out of instinct she looked down and saw the same dark smudges on her dress around her knees. She felt fear slice through her like ice.

***

When Alice finally arrived at her London home she was ready to just go in and collapse on the nearest chair, unfortunately she knew that would have to wait. She still had a busy day ahead of her. She had a meeting to attend with Lord Ascot discussing the possibility of expanding their posts in Bangkok and Jakarta, something which Lord Ascot was certain her father would be very pleased with, her mother had invited Alice's sister Margaret and her husband Lowell to dinner with them at eight, and Alice still had a mountain of paperwork to look at. She sighed mournfully to herself, no rest for the wicked as they say.

A child ran past Alice, drawing her from her thoughts. She smiled as the child, a young girl of around five years of age, began to sing a nursery rhyme jollily to herself. Alice could just catch a few words of the song but they seemed to stir something familiar in her.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are"

Alice was suddenly struck by a memory of laughter and the smell of tea. She saw a flash of bright red in her mind and felt a fluttering in her stomach. Brushing it off as stress she stepped past the girl to the dark wood door of her home and stepped inside quickly.

"Alice? Is that you?" her mother called from the upstairs landing, Alice heard her charging down the staircase and looked up with a polite smile on her face.

"Hello, mother." She said amused as Helen Kingsleigh flustered around her muttering and tutting alternately "How are you today?"

Helen snapped her head up, lips pursed and hummed. "You should have been back from that party half an hour ago Alice. Lord Ascot is in the study waiting." She chided "Well, what are you waiting for? Don't leave the man waiting." With this she raised her arms shooing a bewildered Alice towards the study. Alice allowed herself a chuckle and a "Yes mother" before stepping out of her mother's reach and walking herself to the room in which the kindly old man was waiting.

When she stepped into the room her face instantly lit up into a warm smile at the kind man sitting in front of her.

"Alice, how nice it is to see you again. You look well." Lord Ascot nodded towards Alice and her mother.

"I could say the same to you sir." Alice said pleasantly. It was indeed true, China had done very well for the man as his skin had taken on a healthy brown colour which had only slightly faded, Alice herself had earned nothing but sunburn and so had kept wrapped up the entire trip to avoid further pain, his greying hair had also lightened but it was a look that suited him well. "I apologize for my lateness, dear old Aunt Imogene was quite lost in a rather interesting tale of her fiancé, he's the Tsar of Russia you know."

Lord Ascot chuckled at this and patted the seat next to him "Well, in that case you're forgiven." He smiled. Alice sat in the chair he had motioned to, happy to be in the presence of the grandfatherly old man. Sitting here like this she could put all other thoughts out of her head and simply talk business.

This is exactly what she did.