Title: Here and There
Pairing/Characters: Mirana/Alex (The rest in passing)
Rating: Unknown
Summary: Three times Alice has been in Wonderland.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Alice looked around the room, for the first time since the passing of her father when she was just a young girl, she felt calm, at peace in a place she could be herself, surrounded by her friends. Unlike times she shared with her mother or when she had business to deal with. It always felt like she was being watched, judge but here she felt as though she could fully relax. She sent another silent thought of gratitude towards Absolem for leading her back here. When her trip to China had ended, she had thought she would be suck right back at the manor.
Once more trapped by her mother throwing her towards suitor after suitor, most of them being men she knew wanted no business with her expect the money she had gained from her trades. Her reputation for being odd paled in comparison to her growing wealth. It had been on the night of a small party that she had slipped away from one man whom made it clear that his intentions were within the bedroom as well as her pockets. When she had spotted a certain blue butterfly fluttering nearby, at first she had thought it had been her imagination but soon found that she was right with her assumptions that her old friend there.
After all what kind of normal bug had smoke blowing up from it?
Without a second thought she had darted after her friend not even giving the flirting fool a chance to make another comment that he clearly thought had some type of affect on women. She had followed the flying insect through the crowd, thankfully avoiding her watchful mother before darting through bushes and past trees. Unlike the rabbit hole, the woods only seemed to blur as if a fog rolled in.
Almost as soon as the fog came in, it vanished and she found herself outside of the White Castle, a few guards waiting along with a few of her friends as they had apparently seen someone approaching in a mist. She had barely had time to laugh in glee before she was whisked away into the castle filled with cheers and welcomes.
Now, she found herself sitting in the great hall where a party had been immediately thrown together, if she hadn't seen their surprised faces she would have assumed they knew of her arrival ahead of time. She grinned as the Twiddles chanted her name while Tarrant retold the story of her adventures from the her last visit. Apparently while time had passed quickly for her, it hadn't been that long for this land as the stories of her heroics were still told as if the battle happened yesterday. But then again, the White Queen had warned her that her tales would continue to thrive for times to come.
Speaking of said woman, almost against her will, Alice found her eyes wondering towards the beautiful woman whom she never would have expected to have been in her dreams upon the last departure from this world. It had caught her off guard when she found herself dreaming of pale skin and dark lips. At first, it had been innocent enough that she had simply knowledge a bit of admiration toward the woman whom fought for her kingdom, even with her vows. But soon the mere thought of it just being a bit of teen worship turned when the woman began to feature in more of her less then innocent dreams.
Dreams that she knew she should have been having about men, at the time she didn't dare mention them, after all whom would believe her to have such thoughts about a woman, even more so a phantom woman. So she had thrown herself to the affairs of her work, putting all her effort into the business. It had only been when she had realized her trip was ending during a late night in which she had ventured out to a local pub, she thought about what those dreams meant. She was attracted to women; over more, she was attracted to the Mirana of Marmoreal, the White Queen herself.
She had mostly put that thought on hold, forcing herself to believe she would never see the woman again. Even if her attraction to women had been unchanged, she had at least quelled the desire to feel those black painted lips upon her own. But now that she is back, she could feel the attraction she had come to knowledge erupt like a previous dormant volcano. As if it had been binding its time until the perfect moment to represent itself, several times already she had pictured what it would be like to throw caution to the wind and given into the yearning she was feeling.
But the fear of what would happen stopped her? She'd kiss the Queen and then what? Be slapped followed by chased out of Underland by the friends she secretly counted as family and thrown into the dungeons because of her actions. Or would she find the woman's eyes darken with longing and passion as she was lead up to private quarters where they would both give into their desires.
All the thoughts were too much to bare, Alice shook her head standing up from her seat and unintentionally halting the show, she waved for them to continue. Thankfully, they did but as she made her way towards the door she felt eyes still upon her. With a quick glance around she met the same eyes that she often wished where filled with desire when upon her but at the moment they only showed concern as Mirana titled her head in an unspoken question.
Alice forced herself to smile, but from the responding frown, she figured it turned out to be more of a grimace then anything. Alice quickly mouthed the word 'air', and mentally hoped it would be a good enough answer. When the woman nodded, Alice walked out of the room and into the hall, she followed the turns until she came to glass doors blocking a balcony, the same one she had caught a glimpse of when they had all passed by before on the way to the tea room.
She unlocked the doors and pushed them both open as she welcomed the night air. A tingle passing through her at the slight chilly breeze greeted her. For a moment her thoughts faded as she stared out at the view, surprised by how beautiful how enchanting it looked. Back home it would have been a view that an artist would have given anything to paint, famous or not. But even the most talented of hands wouldn't be able to capture the almost surrealistic beauty of it all.
So transfixed with the sight, she failed to hear the tall tale sounds of footsteps behind her. So as she took a deep breath calming her thoughts and taking in the scent of the fresh clear earth laced with flowery scents instead of the musky smoke she was used to inhaling she nearly choked as a soft melody voice spoke from behind her.
"Beautiful isn't it?"
Startled, Alice whirled around so fast her hair flew around to hit her in the face. Her view was momentarily shielded but as the strands fell back in place she was met with the sight of the White Queen as she stood in the doorway as radiant as ever. Still caught off guard, she couldn't seem to muster any words to say which the woman seemed to understand and take pity on her as she stepped forward while she spoke.
"I needed some air as well," She smiled softly, "Would I be troubling you to keep your company?"
The question was asked even as Alice moved a bit to make from for the woman though there was a wide space for her to stand. As the Queen gracefully glided towards the spot the blonde created for her, Alice tried to rein in her thoughts that had flooded her mind once more. Most of them consisted of the beautiful woman beside her and the feelings the woman seemed to insinuate within her.
"It's beautiful isn't it?"
The voice being so close to her didn't help any, Alice fought against the desire that seemed to ripple through her. She forced herself to think of the question and only of it, as not to make a fool of herself. She had already declared this place her home, she didn't want to lose it before she could even settle in.
"Yes, your Majesty," Alice replied after a while, she felt those piercing eyes upon her. She knew she needed to say something else, even to her own ears she sounded almost robotic. "I...um...I didn't notice it the last time I was here. Is it new?"
"One would think," Mirana mused, "but no, when you had last arrived the land had been in the middle of my sister's rein and I'm afraid that she had affected more then just the people."
"She destroyed all of this?" Alice asked surprised, she knew when she had arrived things hadn't appeared the best. Most of the area had been gloomy, dark almost the things nightmares where made of. But to think that all of this had been affected by the war it was really astonishing. Wars caused damages from where she was from but not like that.
"Not directly no, but here the land is as important as the people that live on it. It feels as much as we do, although maybe not the same as us." Mirana explained, "But drastic changes does have there affects, I am sure you noticed the difference between your arrivals here."
Alice nodded.
"Time has passed and we have healed, slowly but surely we have moved forward." Mirana smiled sadly, "I am sure there are parts that are still the same as you had seen before just like there are people that are still heavily affected by the events. My sister might done a lot of evils but some good can still come from it." Her low tone radiated sadness.
Silence fell between them for a moment as both seemed lost in their thoughts. Alice briefly wondered what happened to the woman's sister but decided not to bring it up. Even though she couldn't stand her own blood at times, she still cared for them which had been on of the reasons she was glad to leave the money from her home land in the hands of her sister and mother in cases that she would disappear.
It had been wishful thinking at the time but the moment she had decided where she would stay. She had been thankful for having thought ahead of time. For Mirana, Alice couldn't even begin to think about how her sister's actions had affected her. While the woman had taken the oath, and loved her land the blonde champion had wondered if one of the reasons she hadn't raised against her sister had been because of their blood relations.
But Alice knew the moment the White Queen had asked about the hateful woman while crafting the potion to return her to proper size. That she still about her, even if sibling rivalry had trended into dangerous waters becoming a blinding red in the Red Queen's eyes. Alice took a breath as she pushed those thoughts out of her mind.
She looked upon the sight below her once again, her eyes dance around the garden that held so many different types of flowers it made her curious if they were ones that she would have seen back in the other world. The trees framed the edges that lead to the forest beyond, a few birdbaths were placed around the edges for any stray bird that flew by. But in the center of it all, was tall fountain with water surrounding the base that seemed to glow different colors as the light fell upon it.
"To this day, I wonder how I could have been so stubborn as to think it was all a dream." Alice breathed, "But then I see this, I see your people and think how could I not? How could this place, so strange, so wonderful truly be real? It can't be more then a dream."
"Is it really that different from your home?" Mirana asked curious about the land above. Alice nearly burst into laughter but didn't want to be rude to the woman.
"I have not been everywhere in my world, but I can safely say the places I have been are nothing like here. Most of the secrecy is dull and grey much like the people.
Never really any woods or flowers unless its trimmed and neatly planted by hand. There are people that are the same mostly only carrying for wealth or power, its rare that anyone just enjoys life or even takes a moment to look around at all the world have to offer. And if they do, they are nearly always called insane or mad." Alice finished in a near whisper, like herself and her father. Both of them had been subjected to those assumptions.
"Then why did you ever go back?"
"I had to take care of things, I would have never forgiven myself if I had left it all as it was." Not only for herself but for her father as well, they both needed it. This time when she had arrived it had felt like the world was finally off her shoulders, no more reaching expectations or dealing with guarding herself as she had before.
Well, she thought as she took a moment to take in the beauty of the strong figure before her. Maybe not anymore.
"Well you will find that here you are welcomed to be yourself," Mirana said paused for a moment. "You should also know we are much more accepting here."
"I know," Alice said,but at the mention of accepting, thoughts of her dream resurfaced into her mind. "But may I ask, how much is accepted here."
"What do you mean?"
"What of the matters of the heart? Are the people judged upon whom they love?"Alice braced herself, but at the slight questioning look on Mirana's face. She continued. "Do you care about age, race or even gender?" She asked, Mirana looked at her in the eyes softly as if she could hear Alice's heart pounding with in her chest.
"Love is love, Alice." Her voice sounded a sweet as honey, "We do not care."
Alice started to ask more but found her tongue become tangled around her words. Normally she wouldn't have even thought to voice her thoughts, let alone to the woman who unknowingly was the root of the matter. She figured it must be this place, or maybe being out here with the Queen that felt so right. And thankfully, her thoughts of being ran back into her birth place was silenced, just the cold fear of rejection lingered.
"I'm surprised you don't remember." Mirana said her smile turn in a way that made Alice remember the dreams more vividly. She swallowed hard and forced back her arousal as she spoke, trying to keep her voice light.
"Remember what?" She asked, wincing slight at the slight quiver.
"We met before when you were here, as children I believe. It was before the birthright had been passed to me." Mirana turned to face Alice, giving the woman her full attention. Alice shifted nervously causing the woman to smile brightly, "We met in the garden I believe, you had just finished painting the roses."
Alice's eyes widened, as she slowly remembered it had been a detail that she had overlooked. Most of her first time coming to this world had been viewed as just a dream for so long. She had forgotten the girl she met, since it had been so normal compared to everything else that happened before and after.
"You're the one that told me how to get home."
Mirana nodded. "My mother told me stories of other lands, I didn't know it would have helped you but I had hoped. You sounded like you really missed your home."
"My father." Alice corrected, "I wanted to return to my father, he had fallen ill not long before I left. He only got worse a few days after a came back. I used to tell him stories of here all the time. He was the only one to actually listen, my mother ruled it off as a nightmare that only got worse as I grew up. But before he passed on, he told me that he believed it was real to. That I had been there, and that I should have been proud to be on such an adventure at a young age."
"Is that why you fought?" Mirana asked.
Alice hesitated, it had been a part of the reason she had believed but not why she fought. Back then it had been because of a strange feeling, like she made a promise to an old friend. The feeling had been so strong and the thoughts of her father had only influenced it. And now, now that faceless person had a name. It was...
"You." Alice breathed, "You are the reason I fought."
Mirana looked at her surprised, a bit flustered actually. A redness came forth on the pale fair skin which caused Alice to grin.
"I made a promise to you." Alice moved closer Mirana, her grin grew into a smile as the Queen didn't retreat at all. "I remember now, when we met, we promised to be friends. I told you that if your sister made miserable as she had me, I would protect you become your knight but you said if I wanted to protect you and only you. I wouldn't be your knight but instead your -"
"Champion," Mirana cut in, her blush deepened if possible. "As you are."
"You also promised me something." Alice lowered her voice to a whisper. "At the time, I didn't understand and I doubt you did. By the second time, I had forgotten so much but now I remember."
"The question is do you still want it." Mirana asked her soft voice, almost like a whisper. They were now face to face, nothing between them but air while the world around them seemed to still. Neither noticed, a few faces looking out through the glass doors to the sight of the women standing there. All with grins, smiles and even a happy little jig of a dance. The only thing both of them cared for was the word that came out of Alice's mouth.
And the following action of lips pressed together.