Well, this is the first thing i posted up here in a long time... I felt the urge to write some American McGee's Alice, and i figured, why not make my favorite villain the main character? I might change the rating for this story later on, depending whether or not anyone thinks i should. Also, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask, either here or my tumblr account ^^

Mekt watched as Garth dangled the new rattle in front of the baby as they sat in front of the fireplace. "Come on Ayla, keep your eyes on the rattle…" Despite his brother's pleas, she focused on the carpet beneath her tiny hands, running them over the pattern as she attempted crawling. He sighed and looked at Mekt. "Babies are so boring. I wish Dinah would come out of hiding so I could play with her instead."

"Imagine how me and Nura dealt with you when you were like that," Mekt joked before returning his attention back to his drawing, noticing that part of it didn't look right. "No, not good…" He grabbed the eraser and rubbed if furiously against the paper. He then redrew the part he erased, feeling a bit more satisfied with it.

"Can I see what you're drawing?"

"No, you'd get drool all over it."

"I'll leave Ayla on the floor!"

"I wasn't referring to Ayla when I said drool," Mekt replied while smirking and making Garth glare at him.

"Not funny."

"It's pretty funny actually." Garth grabbed one of Ayla's stuffed animals – a teddy bear – and hurled it at Mekt, who shielded himself from the soft projectile.

Mekt continued drawing some more before he heard footsteps enter the parlor. He looked at the doorway and saw his father entering the room.

"Dad!" Garth got up and hugged their father's legs. "You're back!"

"Yeah, sorry I'm home so late, I had to help some of my undergraduates with preparing for finals," Dad apologized before Garth released him. He then came over to Mekt to see what he was doing. Mekt rushed to cover the picture up, but instead it fell to the floor, the picture facing up.

Staring back at him was the Cheshire Cat, both as a cat and a boy, with his wide grin and funny circles on his forehead. His father bent down to pick up the drawing. "… These kinds of things again, from your dreams?" He faced Mekt disapprovingly. Most of his drawing related to the subject his father was referring to were… usually odd, and according to father, disturbing.

"… Sorry," Mekt apologized quietly, fidgeting with his hands.

There was an audible sigh from his father before he went to put the paper in the trash. "Please don't draw this stuff Mekt. Especially around your siblings."

"Whatever it is he's drawing, I doubt it will affect Ayla," Garth said as he shook the rattle again as he returned to Ayla. "And she's already named after my dead twin, so I doubt that a drawing can do much."

"GARTH!" Everyone, with the exception of Ayla, turned to see Mom there, staring disapprovingly at the youngest son at the mentioning of naming the new daughter after Garth's twin sister who died when they were both only a few months old. "Don't say that!"

"She is though!"

"She's still your sister though!"

"She doesn't care!" He gestured back to Ayla, who smiled as she was unaware of the current debate and tried to clap. "See?"

"Well your mother does," Dad stated firmly.

Garth sighed. "Sorry." He then began leaving the room. "I'm heading to bed."

Mekt looked at where Garth went, not sure if he should try talking to him about what he just said. Just because Ayla was named after Garth's late twin doesn't mean that he needed to bring it up as much as possible. "Mekt, you better head to bed too. It's getting late." His father nudged him as he said that while Mom picked Ayla up and began taking her upstairs to the nursery.

"… Alright."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

As soon as he changed into his pajama, he saw his older sister's room's light was on and peaked in, hoping she was awake. "Nura?"

She looked up from the book she was reading and saw him. "Hey Mekt. Heading to bed?"

"Yeah, Garth's already in bed, and so is Ayla… unless she wakes us up with her crying again."

"I'm sure she won't." She then frowned. "What's wrong? You look upset about something."

"… Dad caught me drawing someone from Wonderland again."

"Ah, I see…" She got up and went over to him, carefully moving some of his dark hair away from his eyes. "Don't worry, I'm sure he's just adjusting to it. I'm personally really glad to see you being an imaginative artist. It's hard to find kids with an amazing imagination."

Mekt shrugged, not sure if she was right about Dad…

And he wanted to say that the things he drew weren't imaginary… They were real. Maybe they were in his dreams, but they were real!

He decided against correcting her though. "Are you going with him tomorrow to the college?"

"Yeah, but I promise I'll bring you some cookies afterwards, okay?"

"Alright." He then hugged her. "Is Mom going to let you keep your hair dyed by the way?" He indicated her white hair, which she had dyed again a few days ago, and when their mom found out, she was really mad.

"Mmm, yeah, we came to a truce about it."

"What kind of truce?"

"I get to keep my hair this color if I go to that party at the college during the winter." She made a small shudder. "And spend all that time with the toadies. Wonderful."

"Ouch." Mekt grimaced when he heard that. He has heard horror stories of the boys that work with their father at the college from her, and felt a huge amount of sympathy towards her on the matter.

Nura patted his shoulder as she pulled away from the hug. "Welp, it could be worse I guess… By the way," She suddenly went over to her desk and pulled something out of the drawer. "Look at what I found when I was scavenging the attic!" She brought it over to him. "It's the rabbit I got you when you were born!"

Mekt blinked with surprise. "… Really? I thought all of my baby toys were lost when we moved."

"Apparently one managed to survive." She held up the stuffed toy to him so he could see it. "And it's in surprisingly good condition."

Mekt took a look at it, seeing that it's fur was still as white as it could be, and there were no signs of wear, which surprised him. "Huh… yeah, it is."

"… Well, go one, take it." She held the rabbit out for him.

Mekt stuttered, "N-no! If Garth see's me with that, I'll never hear the end of it!" His younger brother made fun of him for getting pink paint dumped on him at school, so there was no doubt in Mekt's mind that he would make fun of him if he saw the rabbit.

She shrugged. "Fine. Guess I'll keep it."

Nura was about to take it away when Mekt felt himself immediately regret what he said and grabbed the ribbon for her nightgown. "Uh… actually… can I have it?" He felt himself blush while asking. Nura was so nice to him… he didn't want to seem ungrateful to her kind acts towards him.

Nura faced him again and smiled. "Of course."

Mekt held the rabbit in his hands, feeling the softness of it. "… If Garth teases me about this, you are going to back me up that you dared me to hold this until we gave it to Ayla."

Nura laughed. "Alright." She patted his head before kissing him on the forehead. "Now, you better go to bed, before mom sees you're still up."

"Alright. Goodnight." He then went to his room, which was right across from hers and got into bed, holding his rabbit close.

… Little did he know that would be the last conversation he would have with his older sister.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Garth stirred in his bed, starting to smell something odd. Then he heard Ayla beginning to cry, officially waking him up. When he opened his eyes, he felt something sting them. "Ow!" He blinked several times until he saw light coming outside the door. Curious, he got out of his bed and opened the door.

He soon wished he hadn't.

Garth saw flames beginning to crawl up the walls, and smoke had begun filling up the hallway. He saw Mekt come out of his room and ran to the nursery, and Garth quickly followed. When he got inside the room, he saw Mekt get Ayla out of the crib before he turned to face Garth. "Garth!" He ran over to him and gave him the crying baby. "Climb out the window and get help! I'm going to get Nura, Mom and Dad!"

"No, I want to help!"

Ayla's shrieking got louder, making both brothers look at her. "Garth! Please! For Ayla!"

Hearing the desperate sound of Mekt's voice, Garth made his way to the window, and while holding Ayla carefully, reached over to the branch of the tree that had a half-built tree house in it. Somehow, he managed to make it without dropping her. As he made his way down the tree, he looked back at the window he just got out of. The fire's light was getting brighter.

In an attempt to soothe his crying sister, he tried to shush her and began running away from the house, going to get help like Mekt told him to. "Don't cry sis… Mekt's going to get out with everyone else, I promise…"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Mekt shielded his face as the heat began to increase as he made his way to his parents' bedroom. The fire was spreading faster than he thought it would. "Mom! Da – " He started coughing as some of the smoke went down his throat. He continued stumbling towards his parents' door while trying to breathe, and he saw that there was a orange light that had begun glowing under it, and it was not the lamp his parents kept in there. He finally reached it and began banging his fists against the door. "Cough – Mom – cough – Dad, can you hea –" Another coughing fit cut him off from finishing his sentence.

"Mekt?!" His father's voice rang out from the other side of the door, and Mekt felt his eyes water up.

"Dad, hurry! Get out!" Mekt grabbed the door handle and tried to open the door, feeling the hot knob burn his pals. "Dumb door!" As he said that, he heard the ceiling creak and looked up, seeing a chunk of burning wood fall from it. He barely managed to move away from the fallen debris… but when he looked back at the door, he saw that now it was blocked by the burning part of the ceiling. Mekt froze there for a moment. "No… NO NO NO!" He tried slamming himself against the fallen part of the ceiling in an attempt to move it from the door, but he didn't have enough strength to do anything, and began coughing again.

"FOR GOD'S SAKE MEKT! GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!"

"BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU GUYS AND NURA?!" He then froze. "Nura." He then looked back at his older sister's room, the door closed. "NURA, HELP ME!" He went over to he door and seized the doorknob, once again burning his hands against the hot metal. However, it refused to budge. It was locked. "NURA?! NURA WAKE UP!" He banged his fist against the door, yet there was no answer. "NURA!"

He then heard something above him again. Looking up, he saw that more of the ceiling had begun caving in. As it fell, he felt some of the flames land on him, making him yell out from the pain as he was burned and stumbled away from Nura's door just as another part fell in front of it, blocking Mekt. He looked back at his parents' door and saw more of the ceiling falling there. "MOM! DAD!"

"GO SAVE YOURSELF! NOW!"

Mekt shook his head. He told Garth that he would get them out, he told him! "No, no!" Some more burning debris fell on him. "AH!" He retreated into his room, and watched as the doorway became blocked as the ceiling collapsed in the hallway. He then heard a familiar meow and looked at the window, and saw Dinah on the windowsill before she jumped out. Knowing that there was no other way for him to get out, he grabbed the toy rabbit Nura gave him earlier, and went to the window. Then, to his horror, he heard his parents cry out in pain. He looked back into the room to see the fire… and slipped off the edge of the window, plummeting to the ground.

He didn't realize he fell to the ground until he felt his whole body ache. Not that he could care.

He failed. He couldn't save them. It was his fault.

All his fault.

He felt his head fall to the side, catching sight of something running in the forest nearby just before blacking out…

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Garth stood in silence as he watched three black bags with something inside each one being wheeled away from what he used to call home. He was… just gone for five minutes… and he managed to bring someone back and there was the fire department on the way as well. But when he got back, the house was fully enveloped in flames. Now… it was all ashes and charred remains, people shifting through it to see if there was anything that could be salvaged. Garth felt something rub against his leg, and looked down to see Dinah at his feet before one of his neighbors came over and grabbed her. "Wait, no!" His words went unnoticed by them though.

Holding Ayla close, he then saw something being wheeled over to the ambulance… something alive. "Mekt?!" He ran over to the people carrying the stretcher and looked at what was on it. Indeed, it was his brother… but then he realized something was wrong. He was burned all over, and staring blankly upwards, and didn't even seem to have noticed Garth had ran up to him. "Mekt? Mekt, can you hear me?!" Despite Garth had raised his voice, Mekt made no response. The medics then hurried carrying Mekt to the ambulance, passing by without offering an explanation to what happened to him.

Unable to help it, Garth began crying right there, with Ayla joining in with him as one of his mom's friends removed her from his hold while he collapsed.

After a few hours, Garth's aunt came and he and Ayla stayed with her the night, after retrieving Dinah from the neighbor that took her to make sure she was unharmed by the fire. Then, as soon as it was light out the next morning, they all headed to the hospital to see Mekt.

The doctor was an old man with a beard, wearing wide glasses, and he was standing outside of the room Mekt was suppose to be in. "Doctor Magnus?" Auntie asked while adjusting Ayla in her arms.

"Yes, are you all here for Mekt?"

Auntie was about to say something else when Garth started asking question. "Is he okay? What about the burns? How did he get out?"

Dr. Magnus rubbed his forehead. "… I will be answering the questions backward. He managed to escape by jumping out of his bedroom window… or falling rather. He had several broken bones, and he was rather close to the house when he was found. As for the burns… I personally think it's a miracle he survived them by the time he got here. We gave him some treatment in an effort to prevent the burns from scarring him too much. I believe will take up to a year for him to fully recover… physically."

Garth blinked in confusion before looking at Auntie. "Auntie, what does 'physically' mean?"

"… It means his body's condition."

"Well, so that's about it then, right? We just need to wait till then and then he's okay and out of the hospital!" Neither the doctor nor Auntie responded, worrying Garth. "… Right?"

"… No." Dr. Magnus took off his glasses. "It's his mind that took most of the damage."

"… What does that mean?"

The doctor sighed. "I believe the experience has left him rather traumatized, being nearly burned alive and witnessing the death of your parents. He's… he appears to be in a catatonic state right now."

Garth swallowed. "What… does that mean?"

"… He doesn't respond to anything. Sounds, visual things, any kind of simulations seem to go unnoticed, and he's completely immobile and mute… as of what we've seen so far."

"… So it's kind of like being asleep?"

"No, he's awake. If he was asleep, it would have made things much easier…" The doctor sighed before putting his glasses back on. "We'll probably have to move him to a mental asylum when he's healed enough."

Garth fidgeted in place before asking another question. "Can we still see him?"

Dr. Magnus gave a small nod. "For a few minutes. Just don't expect much out of him." He opened the door to Mekt's room up and stepped aside so Garth and Auntie could go in before him.

As he entered, he saw Mekt lying in bed, bandages covering most of his skin that wasn't beneath the clothes he was wearing. "Hey Mekt, it's Garth." He came closer to the bed and looked at his older brother's face. Mekt still had the blank stare from last night, looking into space, scaring Garth. He's never seen anyone remotely like this. Not even their parents when they were tired from work. "Me and Ayla are going to be with Auntie… She's also here." He looked over at his Aunt, hoping that maybe she could get a response. She slowly came over, but that didn't get anything from Mekt.

"… Dinah's okay too. One of our neighbors kind of kidnapped her for a while to make sure she was okay. She scratched his face when he tried to check her belly."

After a few minutes of Garth talking to a silent Mekt, he looked to the chair and saw something that he had only seen in pictures when Mekt was much younger. It was his white rabbit toy that Nura said she gave him. "Hey, haven't seen this in a while," He commented as he reached for it and then held it for Mekt. "Thought it was lost…" Still no response from him. After a few more minutes of talking, there was a silent cough from Auntie, and he saw her tilt her head to he door, indicating they had to leave now. Garth then tried to tuck the rabbit into Mekt's arms. "Well, I don't think I can stay, so I'll leave this with you."

Then, he watched as Mekt held the rabbit a little closer, slowly. Garth sighed in relief, glad to see his brother doing something, even though it was just a slight movement... He was then dragged out of the room, and watched as a nurse went inside after he left with Aunty.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The rest of the visits over the next year were much more depressing. Mekt usually remained in his unresponsive state while Garth tried to get him to say something by having one-sided conversations. And yet the worse visits were when Mekt actually did something besides staring off into space. He would start screaming and thrashing about, and would have to be restraint out of fear that he would hurt himself as he was still recovering from the fire. Aunty began limiting how often and how long Garth could visit him when she witnessed one of these fits herself. In response, Garth tried sneaking out several times to see his brother, and was caught several times.

The new behavior wasn't the only thing that changed over the course of one year. Mekt's hair, which was originally a dark color, like Nura's was before she dyed it, gradually turned pure white. The doctors said it was most likely a result of the mental trauma he experienced in that one night.

Several kids at school asked why Mekt wasn't back for classes yet, and Garth kept telling them because he wasn't fully recovered. Mekt never really had many friends at school, so aside from Garth, there were no visitors.

Eventually, the hospital deemed Mekt healed enough to be transferred to an asylum. Garth somehow had convinced his Aunt to let him accompany Mekt during the move. As he rode in the ambulance with Mekt, it was simply silence between the two of them as the white-haired boy continued holding the toy Nura gave him, while Aunty sat with the driver.

When they actually arrived at the asylum, Garth instantly understood one of the reasons why Aunty was so hesitant to let him come in the first place. The building seemed old and was surrounded by a huge iron fence and brick walls that seemed like it would be painful to fall off from.

He felt the vehicle stop and watched as several people dressed in white opened up the back of the ambulance and started taking Mekt out. However, as they were, a black cat appeared out of nowhere and jumped on top of the boy. There were surprised gasps from the people carrying the stretcher and they accidentally dropped Mekt to the ground. The cat continued sitting on Mekt, and Garth climbed out and went over to his brother. "Shoo, shoo!"

The cat in response hissed and swiped its claws at Garth until someone took a long stick and brandished at the cat, making it get off. It went under one of the bushes, eyes still fixed on Mekt. The stretcher was picked up again and was carried inside the building. Garth tried to follow, but one of the staff members blocked him. "I'm sorry, we can't let you go in."

"But Mekt-"

"No exceptions. But maybe next time." With that, the person went in and closed the door, Mekt now inside. By himself.

"Garth." He looked back at his Aunt. "We need to go."

Hesitantly, Garth got in the front, sitting on Aunty's lap, watching the building as they left, wondering what it would take to get inside just to visit Mekt.