-EDITOR'S NOTE-

This is my first fanfic in YEARS...! So apologies for any mistakes and errors, and yes- this DOES contain Canon x OC; I understand that a lot of people are not too keen on those ships but please can't we agree to disagree? Something as simple as a ship is not going to be the end of the world, okay? Okay. One more thing, I own nobody (but my character of course) as the story "Are you Alice" belongs to Ikumi Katagiri and Ai Ninomiya. Well, I think I've spoken enough so enjoy~. c:

Chapter 1

The sounds of crunching leaves and snapping twigs echo in the darkest depths of the forest that is almost in synced with what sounded like panted breaths, it sounded like as if it someone was running away from something, and you could be right; the source of it all belongs to what looked to be a young woman with a red hood that hides her face and her cape that looked to have been snagged on many times before.

She turned her head to see whether or not it was behind her, but consequently that action made her trip and fall face-first to the ground with an "oof!". In panic she scrambled herself up to her knees, looking around like a deer caught in a bear trap until her blood turned ice cold once she heard the thing growling; With a shriek she pounces onto her feet and makes her getaway. The woman held onto her hood as close as she could while she ran, although she began to feel herself wearing out- her aching body ready to give itself up until… a light, a light at the end of this tree-infested nightmare, ready to greet her

"Freedom!" she breathed happily as she used what was left of her strength to bust through it and into a grassy clearing, though trees are still about but thankfully not as much… she took a glance around, waiting to hear that noise once more… nothing, not even after some time passed. "Thank goodness…" she sighed, looking down at her ripped cape in anguish, "but…", she looked back at the path she was at just some time ago, "What, was that?"

Not wanting to wait another second to find out she began to proceed her way through the grassy path, taking off her hood to reveal that she has brunette hair with a blue bang and hinge, and green/brown eyes as she took the time to look down to barely catch glimpse of her shadow indicating the passing of time. She had gotten herself too distracted that she bumped into a tree to see that there is something behind it and decided to go around it to see a sign with a rabbit waving, a rainbow, star-like sparkle, and words that read "Welcome! Wonderland" (the latter being underneath the former) with a hand pointing over to the left.

" 'Wonderland'...?" she muttered to herself as her hand softly glided itself across the sign, "How far have I strayed?" It took her a moment to snap out of her trance, looking around as if she heard that familiar growling noise and began to make her way to where the hand pointed to. After some running later she finally made it out of the forest and into the entrance of a bustling town. Her eyes glistened in awe at the sight of so many people in one location, though thanks to the paranoia that had developed in the woods she pulled her hood over her head to avoid unwanted attention and proceeded to go headlong into it all.

The woman took it all in in awe as she sees people walking about and chatting over various things, children running and playing about without a parent supervising, and couples with arms linked together and focusing their attention on one-another; it was a friendly sight to see, at least in this crowd she is safe and sound from whatever it was that was stalking her down in the woods. She had gotten so focused on her surroundings that she bumped into someone and only uttered "Sorry" before continuing down the concrete path… although it made the person that was bumped into curious and decided to follow her in secret.

However the further she ventured into the town the more scared and confused she became, her breathing soon escalated as well until she stopped herself to get her mind back in order and to try and keep calm… It almost worked, if not for someone taking her hand and pulling her out of the crowd and into a quieter and secluded area. "Wh-What-?!" she nearly screamed as someone covered her mouth to avoid any sort of attention.

"Now now, let's not get too carried away Missy~." a male voice spoke, letting go of the girl and letting her get a good look at who the perpetrator is; A feminie-like man who is tall and pale, his hair the color of auburn adorned with cat-like ears and eyes that are the shade of brown with slits for pupils, and his clothes consisted of a black and a brown-lining suit with a loose shirt and brown vest underneath.

Her brows furrowed at the sight of him, obviously scared for her life as she eyed the strange man to make sure he doesn't do anything dumb. "um…", she hesitated, "A-are you the creature from the woods?"

The cat man pouted and just looked as if he was offended. "Well that was such a cruel assumption," he told her, "I am only a mere housepet who dares not go pass into such scary territory." The young man sighed to himself as he gave her a gentleman's bow, "You may call me Cheshire, it's an honor to meet you."

" 'Cheshire'..." she repeated to herself as her brows furrowed themselves in confusion; it was obvious she had never heard of anyone with such a strange name before. Although the look was very obvious to Cheshire as he smiled a bit at this.

"I assume you have never heard of me before." The comment made her look up at him, noticing the cat man chuckling to himself from the response, "I can understand if this setting is new to you, but do not fret- someday you'll get used to it." Cheshire gave her a soft smile before he bowed once again, "Welcome to Wonderland, Red Riding Hood."

She was amazed, all she could do was stare at him remaining silent for a moment… "W-Wait!" she shouted when she saw him turning around, "I- I have a name, it's not Red Riding Hood but I have a name! It's-" ...Odd, she knew she has a name but… why isn't it coming to her? Placing her hand to her head, she began to try and remember what name it was.

"Well don't stress yourself Red," Cheshire walked over and softly pets her head, "it'll come to you eventually." It was all he spoke out loud before he softly said something to himself, soft enough for "Red"to miss what was said.

"Well…" she finally spoke as she shooed his hand away hoping to change the topic to avoid any oncoming headaches, "I am in need of a place to stay for the time-being. I mean, I have been chased out of the woods by… I don't know, and I- I dare not wish to venture back there… you understand what I am trying to say right?"

He nods in understanding as he begins to tap his chin with an index finger… after a bit he gets an idea. "I think I know a place~."

"Really~?" Red asked in an excited tone that made Cheshire grin.

"Oh yes, but unfortunately I can't go too close or something bad would happen to me."

"Like what Mister Cheshire?"

"I can not say, it's pretty graphic- even for the innocent ears~." He gives her a pat on the head before taking her hand and leading her away through this strange town with Red holding onto her hood for dear life as she tries to keep up with his steps. It felt like it was taking forever until he stopped suddenly with the woman nearly bumping into him. "Here we are~." Cheshire turned and smiled at her.

Confused she walks around and took a look around, giant buildings… and nothing else. "Where are we Mister Cheshire?"

"A new place for you to stay at~." He replied as he ushers her to one of the doors, "Right here is your new home~."

"A-Are you sure about tha-" But as she turned around to face Cheshire once more he had disappeared. Odd, he was right behind her a second ago… where did he go? With a heavy sigh to get her mind off of him she turned to the door, hesitating for a second before she began to knock on it. Nothing… she hummed to herself for a second before knocking once more; nothing…. "Well," she sighed to herself, "it's not like I did not knock… I'm coming in!" She shouted the last sentence out as she walks inside.

Well, there's one of her reason; the interior looked like another room of sort, a "lobby" as a sign indicates nearby; quite an odd name for a place. As if her feet were acting out on their own she headed upstairs and onward through the halls, passing by door after door until they finally stopped at one certain door. Why this door? What's so important about it? With a gulp Red balled one of her hands to a fist as she used the back knuckles to knock on the door.

She didn't wait long until the door opened to reveal a grown man with dark brown hair that reached down to his shoulders and eyes as black as starless night with bags underneath that showed that he never sleeps. His attire is mostly a black suit with a stock and a magician-esque hat; The man eyed her down, as if inspecting her. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Oh, um…" she felt her voice attempting to escape as she placed her hand to her collar of her shirt, "I- I am in n-need of a- a place to stay… Please." The atmosphere became silent as she noticed him closing the door on her. "Wait, please hear me out," Red begged as she held the door "My- My name is Red Riding Hood and I am in need of a place to stay at for a bit- I have nowhere else to go! Please, I am begging you!"

This piqued his interest a bit; "What is the likes of you doing around here?"

"I-", she shook her head to get their thought alighned, "I don't know, all I did was followed a sign that lead me here! I- I was trying to get away from something that was hunting me down in the woods; I don't want to go back there, PLEASE!"

Just hearing her like that made him sigh in annoyance, it's either let her in and have her shut up or there would never be an end to it. Finally he said, "Wait here." and closes the door on her, taking his time over there for something that could only make Red grow more and more impatient that is until she started hearing what sounded like two men bickering among one-another over living arrangements.

She felt the tempting need of listening in to what they are saying due to how loud they were bickering that could only mean something bad, placing her hand to her chest as if trying to prepare herself for this man telling her to leave until…

"Sorry about that," the same scary man opened the door, "my acquaintance and I had a little disagreement." They can hear the other guy shouted 'A LITTLE?!' right behind him as the older gentleman turned his attention back to him, "Do you mind, you'll be scaring our new guest!" He let out a heavy sigh, knowing that this would be a long day, as he opened the door wide enough for her to walk inside.

Once she took a step inside she glanced about to see a very neat-looking room with a small kitchen attached to it. Upon looking about she noticed a young man with short blond hair and wearing a white suit with a blue long-sleeve blouse underneath though upset over what was said between the two before-hand as he had his arms crossed and his head turned away- obviously not wanting to do anything with the new person. "um… Excuse me…", she spoke and caught the blond's attention before taking off her hood, "um… My name's Red Riding Hood, it's nice to meet you."

Just seeing her about made his jaw drop, but managed to catch himself as he cleared his throat and stood up to greet her. "Greetings Red," he bowed, "My name is Alice, and it's nice to meet you as well."

" 'Alice'?", Red tilted her head to the side, "That, sounded like a girl's name."

"Don't remind me…" he tiredly sighs, but glanced back once he heard her letting out a chuckle.

"Well, it may be odd, but I think it's cute. Well, I guess I should take a look around more to get used to my new surroundings." With a small curtsy she left the baffled man to himself.

"And earlier, you said you didn't want to bring in a new person; now you're trying to act like a good guy when you see that it's a woman." The older man bluntly commented.

"H-Hey, I didn't know that this person was a girl! I mean after meeting the "queen" who's actually a GUY I figured that this person might be one as well!" He retorted, which was later followed by a murmur on how much of a sucker he is to a pretty girl.

"Well either way we need to decide on where this woman sleeps," The older man rubbed the back of his neck as if having a crick in it, "I don't have an extra bed for her to sleep on, but if you're that much of a gentleman you can give her yours."

"WHAT?! YEAH WHEN I'M DEAD HATTER!"

"Well it's either you or her sleeping on the couch, or you two get to share the bed. Which is it going to be?"

The blond could only scoff, seeing that Hatter did have a point there... But still, aside from him she is a guest but that doesn't mean she can have the entirety of his bed to herself.

With a scowl of impatience Hatter made up Alice's mind for him, "If you're not going to pick something, then by my jurisdiction you and her will share the same bed."

"HEH?! YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

"Should have said something before I helped." With a shrug he makes his way to look for Red, leaving Alice to sit back down on the couch and placing his hand to her bed; almost in shock that Hatter would do such a thing but Alice has more things to think over than a girl sharing his bed...well, that would be his third worry.