Fully Summary: After being defeated by the heroes, Gothel makes one last ditch effort to win, kidnapping Alice and using both their untouched potential in order to recreate the world. And she succeeds. Gothel changes everything into her own perfect image with herself as Empress. Unfortunately, a side effect is that Alice is completely unaffected by her spell. When she manages to escape, Gothel realises that she could prove troublesome, but no matter; Alice will soon find that she doesn't have quite so many friends in Gothel's world as she did in her own.

Several things registered to Alice's groggy mind before she had fully woken up.

The first was the cold breeze that somehow managed to crawl its way up her shirt and leave a trail of goose bumps back down along both her arms. The next being the mumbling sound that echoed off the walls but at the same time, was still too distant for her to make out what was being said. Then there was the hard surface that she was currently lying on top of. The solid flooring was pressing against her to the point where she was sure it was going to leave bruises all along her side and face if she didn't shift herself soon. And finally, the last thing she took note of before she became fully awake, was the sickly feeling that filled her nose and the back of her throat; a feeling similar to as if she was coming down with a cold only she somehow knew that instead of the flu, this feeling was actually the reason for her unconscious state. It was the cold clammy and sickly feeling of magic.

God, Alice hated magic. It was quite literally the cause of all her misery in life. Magic was the reason she had been born in a witch's tower, and the reason that she was unable to leave for almost her entire childhood. It was also the reason she and her father had spent so many years separated from one another, with his heart cursed so that if she even tried to embrace him then she would cause him a great deal of pain and had the very likely chance of outright killing. And then, just as she found a small slither of happiness in her life with Robin, magic had forced its way in again and separated them with fake lives and false memories, so they didn't even recognise each other anymore. That curse was the loneliest that Alice had ever felt, even more than when she had been trapped in her tower, because at least then she knew there was someone out there for her. In Hyperion Heights, no one seemed to be there for her at all. She was completely alone.

And now, after all that, it had knocked her unconscious, and just when she finally thought this torment would be over. Just as she and her friends and family were cured of the dark curse, and just as she and Robin had finally found each other again, more magic had quite literally been thrown into her face. As in Alice's mother, Gothel, had been cornered until she had pulled out something that was eerily similar to dark fairy dust and had physically thrown it right into all of their faces, knocking everyone in the room unconscious. Alice had a single memory of seeing Robin fall out of reach – just for a second – before she too was hit with a sudden darkness and dropped to the floor.

She had expected to wake up in the exact same place – Roni's bar – surrounded by unconscious friends and family but missing one Mother Gothel, who she didn't doubt would use this as her chance to escape. Instead Alice found herself in a completely opposite and unexpected situation altogether.

When Alice finally managed to prise open her eyelids, slowly pushing her hands under her and sitting up despite her screaming muscles protesting the movement every second of the way, she found she didn't even recognise the area she was in. At best she would describe it as an underground boiler room. It was empty except for a series of pipes that were stretching throughout the room in every direction around her. They were pressed against the walls, hung up against the ceiling, twisted close to the floor and even criss-crossing over one another in a few odd places and sticking out slightly into the room. The floor was a cold grey concrete, and the walls and ceiling looked almost like they had some kind of metal panelling over the top with a temperature so low that her whole body began to shiver uncontrollably, and she had to resist the urge to wrap her arms around herself and curl into a ball for warmth.

The sound of movement made Alice whip her head around sharply, turning to find the only other person in the room; Mother Gothel herself, shuffling on the spot behind her. She currently had her back to Alice and seemed to be leaning over a soft red rug that had white chalk lines drawn over the surfaces fuzz. She was also the source of the mumbling, pausing only every few minutes to adjust something on the rug before she continued from where she had left off. Every now and then she would take something from a box sitting beside her and add it to the space in front of her, even lighting a set of very small and dull candles to put against each of the corners, lining them up with the white chalk carefully. Alice may not have magic of her own, but she easily recognised it when she saw it being handled so delicately.

Gothel didn't seem to have noticed that Alice was awake just yet. She was too busy with whatever it was she was attempting to sprinkle over the rug. It looked similar to the stuff that she had thrown in Alice's face, but she had no idea what it was exactly, only that Gothel seemed to have an ample supply of it on her person. So, if Alice didn't want another mouthful of knock out dust thrown in her face for a second time then she would need to be careful and – most importantly – quiet.

Slowly twisting around onto her hands and knees, Alice climbed shakily to her feet. She did her best to keep from breathing too loudly, as well as not letting her shoes scratch against the concrete, all the while never taking her eyes off the back of Gothel's head from where she still was hunched over the rug. She didn't even risk glancing around the room in hopes of spotting a door until she was completely standing and knew she could break into a sharp run if she needed to, though she hoped to avoid that since she wasn't going to kid herself into thinking there was any chance of her escaping Gothel simply by running for it.

The room was bigger than Alice had originally thought, with very little light that made it near impossible for her to see if it even had an exit against one of its many dark walls. And at this point Alice wouldn't have been surprised if this was some kind of a torture chamber that Gothel had personally created that had no escape without the helpful use of magic. She was definitely crazy enough for something like that.

Once Alice was on her feet, the faint dizziness she felt faded quickly and she began to take quiet steps backwards, barely lifting her feet on the ground but not letting them drag either. Still, she never took her eyes off Gothel's back, just waiting for the older woman to notice something was amiss and turn around to spot her back on the move. When Gothel didn't immediately spot her making her escape, Alice stretched a hand out behind her, letting her fingers brush through the air before they made contact with the wall. Then she pressed herself against it, hoping the dark shadows would cover most of her body so Gothel wouldn't catch her movement so obviously from the corner of her eyes. It wasn't very full proof, but Alice would take even the slightest advantage when it came to her psychotic mother.

Pressing as flat as she could make herself, Alice began to slide along the wall, feeling the way in hopes of stumbling upon the door, even knowing that her chances were slim at best. But she'd rather do that than stand around, waiting to be rescued by the others or, worse, caught by Gothel again. She was very conscious about accidentally moving into Gothel's line of sight or making a noise to draw her attention and momentarily entertained the idea of striking an attack on the witch while she was distracted with her back turned, but just as quickly she shook the thought away. Even if she did manage to catch Gothel off guard with a quick attack, she would easily recover and use magic to subdue Alice before she had a chance for anything more. And that was on the very off chance that she somehow managed to get a single hit on her to begin with. Which Alice highly doubted.

So instead of doing anything rash, she continued to ease around against the wall, shuffling carefully and quietly the whole time. She ran into a couple of pipes and a few solid objects that she couldn't identify but easily manoeuvred around after a momentary pause. It felt like forever of gliding her hand along the wall and shuffling her feet quietly over the pipes that were spread in her way before her fingers finally found something that resembled a crack. Alice immediately froze on the spot, barely daring to believe it. She swallowed down her nerves, trying to quench her dry mouth – the sickly feeling still clinging to the back of her throat – before Alice began to trace her hands up along the crack. It wasn't something created by accident, too wide and too straight. Slowly she began to stretch her hand passed the crack and feel up the wall until she felt the greatest thing a young woman trapped in a room with her psychotic sorceress of a mother could feel. A door handle.

Alice tried not to rush in her excitement, knowing that would only lead to her making a mistake, and instead kept her slow pace going as she reached up to grasp the handle firmly, twisting it as quietly as she could manage, holding her breath and watching Gothel closely the whole time. When she pulled the door open, there was the briefest groan from the old hinges rubbing against one another and Alice froze mid pull. But thankfully Gothel's mumbling seemed to have covered up the slight noise and the older woman didn't move from where she was now completely crouched over the rug, her shoulders shaking from the concentration of whatever it was she was working on. Taking a slow breath to steady her nerves, Alice threw open the door and dived inside, breaking into a sprint as fast as her legs could carry her...

Only to run straight into a wall. Or rather, not right into it but pretty damn close. She felt her foot kick something that was lying in her way and her hands reached out automatically to support her as she fell just in time to keep her from breaking her nose on the solid surface of the brick wall just inches from her face. Alice scrambled to get her legs back under her and spun around, looking at each of the walls, but it seemed the room she had run into for escape was a dead end. In a desperate last-ditch effort – knowing Gothel would have heard her banging into the room so there was no point trying to backtrack – Alice began to feel along the walls in hopes of finding some kind of secret trap door, or even a crawl space she could squeeze into. But there was nothing in the room with her besides some broken pieces of wood that were scattered around at her feet.

"There's no escape."

Alice liked to give herself credit for not shrieking aloud when she spun to find Gothel standing in the open doorway behind her. It was dark but Gothel had brought a single candle with her, though it didn't actually help. In fact, it did very little to light up the room and instead gave Gothel a threatening look with the help of dark shadows that flickered around the features on her face.

Pressing herself back against the wall again, Alice wanted to look for an escape plan, but she couldn't bring herself to look away from Gothel's smirking face. She did her best to put on a brave face and when Gothel didn't make an immediate move towards her, she let her eyes flicker away in search for a weapon she might be able to use to defend herself with. There really wasn't much within reach. And the things that were wouldn't exactly cause a witch like Gothel many issues. But at this point, all Alice was hoping for was a strong enough distraction that she could make one last break for it, even if she still wasn't sure where she would go if she could. The room was too large and too dark for her to find a door without a few minutes to search. But that didn't mean Alice was going to go down without a fight.

Gothel took that moment to step into the room, looking around the small area as casually as if she was making up her mind on whether or not she was going to bother decorating it. "Do you know what this room is?"

Alice hesitated, pretending to look around at the room in order to answer her question but really, she was still hoping for a weapon. "A broom closet?" She quipped.

Gothel ignored her. "This is the room that Victoria Belfrey attempted to lock me away in once she realised I was working with her daughter, Drizella. The same room that the chivalrous Detective Rogers found me in, rescuing me and releasing me back into the world."

Alice bristled at the mention of her father. She hated the idea of Gothel using him, of her tricking him into helping her in any way, whether it be to escape her tower or escape a small dark room underground. Even more so since that incident had also almost led to Killian completely turning on Alice because of her unknowing interference. If Alice had known what she knew now, she would have worked twice as hard to make sure that Killian never found where Gothel was locked away.

"Your father truly was a hero that day." Gothel chuckled, walking towards Alice.

Alice instinctively tried to walk around her, but with so many things in her way, she quickly found herself being cornered. "Why did you kidnap me?" She asked, hoping to keep Gothel talking until she thought of an escape.

"Is it really kidnapping?" Gothel smiled coldly. "You are my daughter after all."

"First time I've ever heard you call me that." Alice hissed, then spat on the floor. "If it's all the same, I'd rather not hear you say it again. We both know you are not my mother. Not really."

"No. Not really." Gothel shrugged. "But that doesn't mean I don't have use of you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Alice demanded.

"You may not have natural magical abilities, but that doesn't mean there isn't a spark inside you. One that I can make use of." Gothel said, walking closer towards her.

Alice felt a cold panic grip her and, without thinking about it, she dived to the side. She tried to duck away from Gothel and make a break for the door but before she could, a hand reached out and grabbed a fist full of her blonde hair, physically dragging her to the ground. Alice shouted in surprise more than pain and reached up, trying to knock Gothel's hand off her but the older woman was both stronger and faster. She waved a hand over Alice's face, her fingers sparking slightly along the tips, and Alice's body went rigid as stone. Just like that, she found she was suddenly unable to move even a little finger. It felt like her whole body was covered in a thick, quick drying layer of cement. The most she felt was a slight tingle along her arms and legs and a heavy pressure on her chest but otherwise, she was completely numb.

"There now. That's a good girl." Gothel said, stroking her hair mockingly out of the way of her face as Alice stared wide eyed up at her. Even her vocal cords were frozen, so she couldn't even manage a muffled cry against her sealed lips, instead screaming silently in her mind, and at this point, she wasn't even sure if it was in fear or fury.

Gothel grabbed Alice by her stiff shoulders and dragged her back into the other room. She pulled Alice across the floor all the way towards the rug, lying her down beside it and within her line of sight as easily as if she were pulling a plank of wood. Once she had Alice lying on a spot within view, she temporarily walked out of Alice's sight and came back a few seconds later with two pieces of rope that she magicked around Alice's ankles and wrist, tying her in place.

"That should keep you from taking any more walks." Gothel noted, turning back to the rug and continuing her spell where she left off.

The feeling was gradually coming back to Alice's body, starting with her head and face. It took her a few minutes but eventually she could move her lips and her tongue, even if it was still a bit of a struggle to form words properly enough to be understood. "What... Are... You... Doin...?"

"I'm fixing things." Gothel said coldly. "Now hush."

"Never." Alice growled stubbornly. "What… Are you… Doing?"

Gothel turned to glare down at her but Alice just glared right back. After a moment Gothel seemed impressed enough to give her an answer. "I'm going to change the world. To my own design."

"That's... Not... Possible..." Alice mumbled.

"It's hard. But not impossible." Gothel explained. "And it will drain almost all of my magic from me. Which is why I need a blood relative's magic to substitute my own, even if it's unreachable magic."

"Not... Possible..." Alice repeated.

"We'll see about that." Gothel replied shortly.

Alice had almost all her movement back now – Gothel must be saving her magical power for the spell – but she was still tied up and couldn't move very far before Gothel reached over to physically drag her back into place each time as easily as controlling a wandering toddler. In the end she gave up trying to squirm away and instead focussed on breaking free of her rope bindings around her wrists and ankles, wriggling and kicking, rocking back and forth like a worm burying deeper into the dirt. But no matter how much she struggled, the ropes didn't loosen.

"Nearly finished..." Gothel mumbled, and Alice wasn't sure if she was talking to her or just talking to herself.

By now Alice's body was completely back to normal, and she was past the point of being panicked. "HELP!" She screamed, rolling away from Gothel and shouting as loudly as she could at the walls closest to her. "PAPA! RUMPLESTILTSKIN! HELP!"

"No one is coming, now be quiet before you annoy me and I take away your tongue." Gothel said calmly.

Alice ignored her and kept screaming. "SOMEONE HELP!"

Gothel reached a hand over towards her face, no doubt to make good on her promise to remove her tongue, and Alice got out one last desperate scream. There was a heat coming from her hands and her fingers began to twitch just inches from her lips when they both heard something that made them pause. At first it was too quiet but and far off but then it grew drastically closer.

"Alice?" A distant voice called, one that Alice recognised immediately.

"PAPA!" Alice screamed in response.

"Alice!" It was Rumplestiltskin this time. They had all come for her.

"I'M HERE! I'M IN HERE!" Alice called, shouting until her throat felt like it was being torn with the effort.

"Damn it..." Gothel mumbled, ignoring Alice's screams and turning back to the rug, hands moving faster than before.

"HURRY!" Alice shouted, rolling onto her side, though she wasn't sure in what direction they were coming. All their voices were muffled with a slight echo like they were coming from every direction. "SHE'S CASTING A SPELL! HURRY!"

"Too late." Gothel whispered.

Alice rolled back to face her, looking up as Gothel stood up, looming over her with an unnervingly satisfied expression on her face. She turned to look at Alice and the unnerve turned into full on terror.

Gothel began to wave her hand over the rug like she had previously done to Alice. As the magic built up along her palm and fingers, Alice turned onto her side and continued to scream for help. But it was no good. Even as she heard the pound of footsteps to her right, it was clear that something was slowing them down, stalling them long enough for Gothel to complete her spell. Beside Alice's head, the chalk on the rug began to glow and the candle flames suddenly stretched out to one another until it had made an almost box shape over the rug, burning bright and hot close to Alice's face. She winced, shutting her eyes and trying to shuffle away from it as best as she could, but Gothel waved a hand and suddenly Alice was forced to stand by her side, ankles and wrist still tightly bound as well as Gothel's magic that was keeping her from moving.

"Time to recreate the world." Gothel whispered.

"You won't get away with this." Alice snarled. "Heroes always win!"

"We'll see about that." Gothel smirked.

With a final wave of her hand, just as Alice heard the crashing sound of her father and friends hitting whatever door was hidden from her sight, the flames around the rug suddenly reached up and wrapped tightly around both Gothel and Alice. The pain was instant, and not just for Alice. Gothel, too, let out a cry of agony as the fire burned their skin and reached through their bodies to something inside them, drawing power that made the white chalk glow to an almost blinding single light that filled the entire dark room.

Alice shut her eyes against the pain, screaming and trying to hunch over to protect herself but unable to even manage a slight lean. Something was keeping her upright and Alice didn't think it was Gothel anymore. It was the worst kind of pain that she had ever experienced in her life. She briefly thought she heard her father and Rumplestiltskin calling her name again, but the roaring of the flames was so close to her ears that it must have been her imagination. The whole room was lit up now, but Alice had to keep her eyes shut to avoid being blinded, wishing she could shuffle away from the flames that seemed to be forcing their way right down to her very soul. It was too much, she couldn't even breathe anymore and Alice felt her tears mix in with the sweat over her face, opening her mouth in a wordless scream as the flames completely covered her every part of her body – inside and out.

And then, just as quickly as it all started, it was over. For Alice, at least. Gothel probably lasted longer, and there was probably a lot more to the spell than a simple bit of flame work, but for Alice, it ended not long after it started when she mercifully fell unconscious at Gothel's feet.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Two: Gothel's Castle - Sneak Peek:
Alice froze but did her best not show it. "Excuse me? What do you mean, mother?"
Gothel shook her head, still smirking like she had just seen a toddler do something that was both clever and naughty. "You're going to have to try a lot harder than that to fool me, Alice."
"Mother..." Alice began.
"Word of advice, Alice, darling." Gothel took a step towards her. "Don't go for any acting auditions any time soon."
 Alice hesitated. The next move she made was crucial.

It's been a while since I posted a multi chapter fic but I've decided to get going again with this one because it's ending soon and I think now is as good a time as any.
This story is going to heavily focus on Alice's relationships with Robin, her father and Rumple. I don't know how long it's going to be just yet but I don't think it'll be too long.

Please comment, tell me what you think of the chapter, tell me what you think is going to happen in the next chapter, tell me what you wish would happen, tell me what you ate for lunch today, just tell me something!

Thank you! ;)