"Alice? Is that Alice?"
A voice brought me to my senses, and I woke with a jolt as sunlight burned into my eyes. A man with frizzy orange hair, a large tophat and makeup, a brown jacket and a white dress shirt. He wore a rainbow frill with white purple dots, and at the end of his shirt, underneath the jacket with the long frills like his collar. The brightness of his smile burned my eyes off my face, and I closed them again.
"Oh, now, a bad sport." The man grumbled. "You're not Alice, are ya?"
Idiotic Mad Hatter. I groaned, sitting up. "No, for your information, I am NOT Alice. I am Arabelle Evangeline Bristrow." I hesitated, glancing around. I'd heard that he asked that question to everyone, even grown men.
The sky was blue, turquoise, and the grass was green. The bushes were blue, with pink and red polka dot flowers spotting everywhere, and some of them grew high over my head, with the petals looming over like an umbrella.
I was under one, but the sunlight still sliced underneath the canopy as if it was a sunset.
"Well, both are As. You came through the Looking Glass?"
"No. The book." How was this even possible? I didn't WANT anything in Wonderland, and I've never wanted to visit the place, even if everyone says it's a 'wonderful' world to live in. I just thought this place was full of crazies and nut cases who didn't know reality, just like the Hatter over there. Wonderland was a world where the supposed regal, fantastical people go to, but the numbers have dwindled ever since the Red Queen started to rule. Just like the King, in Theroria...
"Book?" Mad Hatter looked at me quizzically, tilting his head like his sister, Ambeley. Was this Wonderland? I'd heard of it before...but, I've never heard of anyone going through on the other side of Wonderland except for Alice, and she came back frightened and traumatized.
Why was I thinking about this? How did I even get in Wonderland? Calm, composed, do not freak out. You can only think when you have a calm mind, Arabelle, I thought.
I took a deep breath. "Where am I? I know in Wonderland, but-"
"Don't worry. NO Queen of Hearts. You've never been, huh? The stories are out and about of this place in that other world..." Mad Hatter glanced at me, before holding out his hand. His nails were chipped, and painted black.
I grasped it, having no choice, and stood up. My legs gave out beneath me, and the Mad Hatter caught me, grinning. "First time traveling, I see, and first time I heard from a book! What a remarkable fantastical world-worlds-we live in. I thought you can only come through here through the Looking Glass, the most wonderful contraption one can muster."
Groaning with the effort of standing, I glanced up at the Hatter. I thought he was around eighteen, maybe nineteen, but it was in fact true that he was over one hundred, living in the one place, he was forever jailed in Wonderland. No wonder his sanity, or so people say, has disappeared into a void.
He was sane enough from what I could see, but I wouldn't judge that yet. A sudden gust of wind smelling like vanilla rose around me, and I jumped as the Mad Hatter clapped. "Arabelle, right? Can I call you Belle? Arabelle is SUCH a mouthful, you see. Nice to meet, hope I don't see you again," said the Mad Hatter. Don't see me again? Was I that repulsive? Suddenly, I realized the dangers of staying out myself in a different world, especially Wonderland when the threat of bandits were higher than anywhere else. And the Red Queen was in rule, with that lilting voice screaming out, "OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!" Every single time a man or woman committed a "horrendous" crime, as the Queen puts it, but the crimes are mostly just a voice that called out while she was listening to the Jester.
"Wait!" I called out, scrambling after the Hatter. He continued walking in that odd stroll of his, a jumping, confident step.
"You can't just leave me there," I growled, following the Hatter.
"Why can't I?"
"Because...it's inhumane, and it's the first time I've ever come here. It's difficult to process the...things in this world."
"Well, you aren't Alice, and we need her. But she is late, very very late as Mr. Rats puts."
"But she's here, isn't she?" I asked, incredulous. "She never came back to my world where she originated from!"
"Of course she did, that little girl-three years of age-went back through the glass. I saw it myself." The Hatter's voice was nonchalant.
"Then why-" I started, grimacing, trying to piece things together. "How old is Alice, right now?" I asked tentatively. I kept on following the Hatter, he really wasn't inviting me to actually walk with him, but merely follow. Like a merchant running after you-that was me, the merchant-when you ignored their goods at the market.
The Mad Hatter glanced at me. "Surely you know. Three years old."
No, she isn't, I wanted to say. She's forty years old, maybe a little younger.
"How long has the Queen been ruling?"
"One hundred, two hundred years. Quite recently, actually." The young man grimaced. "Ugh, I hate her. Everyone in this realm does."
I knew that already. I'd heard stories of their Queen, even worse than our King. "Has Mr. Rats...ever turn into a rabbit?" I'd heard stories that Alice fell down the rabbit hole because of Mr. Rats ability to be able to turn into a rabbit.
The Hatter glanced at me quizzically. "...He's a rabbit. SO I think you mean if he's ever turned human and my answer is no, except for once when I magicked him with special fairy dust and changed him into a bullfrog-and then a human after a few painful moments."
The book said that something was here that I most desired. What was that, though? The King's identity? Arabelle's death? Wonderland was a giant place, larger than even my realm...but I was sure of it, even if I didn't know how. I just knew that it was complex and I bet only witches, possibly the Hatter and fairies knew about it.
"I'm back in time, twenty nine years," I whispered.
The Mad Hatter stopped in his tracks. "Excuse me?"
He'd heard me? I blanched, and stopped. I expected the Hatter to walk on, but he stopped wth me, staring at me. "What did you say?" He asked, purple eyes narrowing.
I should say it. It was the Hatter in front of me. But I didn't get the chance to.
In that moment, I was drowned out by a cry, a shriek that riddled with air with spine tingling knives slicing through my ears. Clamping my hands over my ears, I glanced up.
A shadow loomed, swift over the plains and over to the Hatter and me.
"Run!" The Hatter hissed, grabbing my arm and pulling me along with him as he bolted into a run.
I tried to keep up. I really did. But the Hatter was a convict, a criminal and a thief. Me, a supposedly refined lady used to sittings with other noble families and chatting over a cup of tea. Never running, except for when I was three. I'd fought, then, ran with the boys in the fields, made dares and was reckless, until I was twelve. Then Grandmother, of Mother's side caught me. That was the end of my theivery.
I haven't ran like this since then, the aching of the legs, the dread that you can never run from the winged shadow swooping from behind. The Mad Hatter swore as men in metallic red armor strung down from the dragon above us, and jerked deadly looking spears at our faces. We abruptly stopped. The soldeir's had interesting armor, their hel almost like a crown melded to the top of it, and the armor had a desing of black, must like Hearts from a card.
I wasn't admiring their armor, or rather, I wasn't supposed to . It was their eyes that you could see, just empty black pits from their visor.
"Halt!" The first soldier said, stepping out. He didn't have a spear, but the others surrounding us did.
I felt like crying, hated getting in trouble, hated that feeling of getting caught. Especially by the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland.
"Name?" The Captain, I think, said.
He looked at me, while he gestured the other soldier next to him. The man went to the Hatter, grasping his arms and bound his wrists with silvery, clear circle, and slapped it on. Instantly, the circle morphed around the Hatter's wrists, biding them tightly together and the cuffs disappeared into his skin. The Hatter winced as it did.
"Arabelle-Arabelle Bristrow." I grimaced at the lifeless eyes glared at my face, the spears inches away from my neck.
There was a moment of pause as a soldier behind him ran his finger down some sort of odd circular tablet. It made a beep noise, and the man shook his head.
The spear didn't go away. "We hereby authorize you as a criminal, and must be faced under the Queen's scrutiny."
The Hatter looked at me darkly. "Now, you're gonna die. How wonderfully nostalgic." What did that mean?
I was wanting to cry again, but I was submissive to the soldiers as they clamped the circular cuff onto my wrists. My wrist screamed with pain as it went through my wrist, but surprisingly, there was no blood. Instead, the pain vanished, and the guards hand was still on my arm, and I glanced up at him, nose starting to burn at the thought of the things about to happen.
If I was in the past, how was I able to even interact with the people and die? What would happen if i died in the past?
If I died, then my life would still be...there, existing, right? I mean, my mom would still be alive, and then she would still give birth to me. If then, I would have the same thoughts, travel the same path as I did before? So my whole life would be a cycle of everything I've already done, until I choe a different path, and the variables would be almost impossible to lay out. What if I died before this? What if I talked to Henry before entering the Palace during the Gifting, and didn't say those rash words? My head ached.
"If you struggle from theses bonds, your wrist will be pulled apart. Just remember that, when we go to the Castle."
"Just walk? Or...something like a Looking Glass?"
There was immediate laughter and the spears dropped. "She's new," one of the men sounded like he was grinning.
The Captian wasn't moved. "A portal. The Castle is above ground, and the only was to it is a portal. You're new, aren't you? From what region?"
"She much prefers to answer the Queen about those questions," The Hatter growled, and I closed my mouth when I was about to speak. I would let the Hatter talk for me, would hate to upset anything in the past.
"Hatter, I haven't seen you in a long time. How do you fare?" The Captain switched his attention from me to the other man.
"Quite nicely, thank you. Hurry, though. The dragon is getting impatient."
"The dragon is going back to it's home, but thank you for your concern. Open up the portal."
"Yes, sir," The man who had the circular tablet whipped it out again and pressed something. Instantly, the wind kicked up. My hair whipped around my face, and I was uncertain. What was this portal like? The book, or a Looking Glass? Or possibly a rabbit hole?
But the prospect of meeting the Red Queen worried me. She was a spoiled Queen, did anything she wanted and whenever. She wasn't just whatsoever, from what I heard.
"Grab my arm," the Captain ordered. I hesitated, and he growled. "Hurry, before the portal collapses." Then I realized something: the Captain was the portal itself. How was that even possible?
I grabbed his arm, and everything was consumed in a blink of an eye.
Next thing I knew, I was frozen still, clutching on the Captain's arm, the Mad Hatter behind me and the soldiers around us gone.
"Oops. Your men brought up a wrong portal," the Hatter said darkly. He drew me away from the man in the crimson armor, while I muttered, "Where are we? Where's the castle?"
Not as if I was actually looking forward to going to the castle. I really wasn't. Maybe.
The Captain swore under his breath. "We're in the Furrows, leagues away from the Castle. How did Sir Sharp even manage to conjure such a portal...?"
Furrows? Leagues away? I stifled a groan. "You mean, you can't even get a portal that works to escort a few prisoners?"
"That's lame," added the Hatter.
"It's new technology!" The Captain snapped. "And don't eat that!"
The Hatter had picked up a pinkish berry from a blue bush around us, like a maze. There were flowers all around, in clusters of colors and butterflies riddled them. The sweet nectar scent of the wind blew in, and I realized my surroundings.
There was a diamond-like stream ahead of us, with a porcelain white bridge crossing over. On the other side of that bridge were rainbow leaved lush trees branching out with glistening fruits of all kinds. The flowers there were every color, things I couldn't name, with every shape I couldn't figure out. The grass under my feet was likt a woven tapestry, different shade so green and soft like a lamb's coat. The blue bushes had glistening berries on either side of us, and in the center of it all was a perfect, small tea table with plates and dishes for two, and two chairs with pink, purple and blue. The stream had no rocks or pebble-instead, there was gold, pearls, rubies in the water.
"You know better than to eat anything from the Furrows," the Captain growled. "You die."
I glanced at him for further explanation. Dying? From this beautiful garden-like scenery? I couldn't imagine it. I could stay here forever, smell sweet wind, eat those fruits. I could just imagine the different flavors, the aromas. The flowers...they were magnificent...I could just pick one for Mother's grave, I could give one to Elisia to comfort her. I was reaching to pick a purple lily, just screaming for me to pick it, when the Captain grabbed my hand.
"Don't you dare," he hissed.
"Why?" I demanded. "It's not like I'm going to-"
"The Furrows kills you, sucks you into it's world and leaves you to rot away. Imagine just staying here while you slowly go crazy every single day you stay, eating away at fruit that eats away your insides, but you don't know because your nerves are cut off. Notice that there are no animals. They're all dead."
I wrenched my hand away, because it seemed like he was holding onto my to long. But the truth of the garden...it was repulsive. How could such beauty do such harm, and why?
"Can't we get out of here?" I asked softly.
"No ways out," the Hatter was the one who spoke. "Only a portal from the outside can come here. I cam here before, you know, until this terrible stone of a man took me away and almost got my head chopped off."
"Yes, for good reason, too," the Captain growled. "I came to arrest you again today, but I was once again transported into another land where there's always something deadly. WHy does this always happen when I'm with you?"
"'Cause I have the charm. It's the hair, I think."
"Wait," I said. "SO what do we do? Do we cross?"
"I would think so. Would hate to stay in this spot any longer," the Hatter grumbled. He stalked toward the bridge, walking past it. In all honesty, I'd used him to cross, in case anything dangerous were there. I sighed in relief when there wasn't, and crossed over safely.
The idea of the fruit was even more appetizing up close, and my fingers itched to eat them all. "Terrible position to be in when you're hungry, isn't it?" The Hatter asked. He sat in one of the chairs.
"Yes. It is." My stomach was growling right now, and I glanced back at the man in the Red Queen's armor. He stayed where he was, and didn't cross the bridge, probably because the Hatter was there.
I sat down at the chair in front of the Hatter, and buried my head in my arms that I set on the table. What would my parents think? I was gone for hours now, and...how was everything going to fare without me? If anyone noticed that I was even missing, that is. What about the King? I wondered how he was doing, him being hurt and all, most likely still asleep. Stupid book. I shouldn't have listened to it, to be transported to Wonderland of all places.
I should cry. I wouldn't, though, because I didn't want to show weakness. What if I alter the course of the whole world, just by being in the past? I knew I was, knew it, already tested everything that I knew about Alice. The Hatter should be older, as well. If I hadn't been here, would the Captain and the Hatter even be here, or possibly in the Castle?
"Hey, think on the bright side. Someone could rescue us," the Hatter said softly.
"I don't think so," I mumbled. I peeked up from my arms. "How is that you're so happy?"
The Hatter didn't answer for a while. "I like it here, knew what it wa before...everything."
My voice was muffled.
"Before the Red Queen's reign. This is what happened, the world just go dark and poisoned. Imagine eating all this fruit, except squirrels and other animals here, unafraid? There were no consequences, and now there are."
I buried my head in my arms again, breathing deeply. "Yes, let's just hope I won't be forced to eat these stupid fruits when I get even more hungr than I am."
The Hatter looked at me seriously. I could feel it, even if I couldn't see it. "Don't jinx that, Lady Belle."