AN: I am most surprised at the number of reviews I've received so far for one chapter alone. Not sure I've had a story with that many people asking about it before! I'm also glad to see I'm not the only one who appreciates the chemistry between Will and Alice - normally I try to avoid shipping wars, but the writers of this show really seem to go out of their way to make Knalice seem like a viable relationship. Lots of tension there, which I hope to carry into my story. Now it is time to continue, and I hope you enjoy the new material!

But first, I wanted to feature a quote from last night's ep "Bad Blood," one that I liked a lot and actually inspired me to finalize the reason for Alice's broken arm. I will only reveal the basic circumstances of her injury here in this chapter, with more to follow because the broken arm is, in fact, very important to my story. But I'm getting WAY off topic here, so here's the quote!

"If she sees someone hurtin', she can't help but get rid of the pain. It's in her nature." -Will Scarlet

Chapter 2

Alice looked Will up and down, considering for a moment. "Lucky you, you're pretty much the same size as my brother," she said. "Some of his duds should fit you fine." She led him down a hallway to a bedroom, which Will surmised was that of Alice's brother. The walls were covered in posters for a strange-looking creature called "Spider-Man," who wore a skintight red and blue suit and mask with large, reflective triangular lenses over his eyes. At least, they were over the place where eyes would be on an ordinary human. Will didn't want to know what Spider-Man looked like underneath his mask. From the sound of it, he may well have been some kind of eight-eyed mutant with hair and pincers all over his face.

Will turned away from the posters and looked at Alice, who was busy trying to remove clothes from the closet. Because one of her arms wasn't working right, she was having considerable difficulty. "Here, let me help you," said Will, not wanting to see her struggle.

"Relax, I can handle it," said Alice. "I'm surprisingly good at doing things one-handed. Well, I should be, given that I've had this cast on for a month now."

"What happened, anyway?" asked Will. "To your arm, I mean."

Alice let out a quick, harsh laugh. "Some guy almost got himself hit by a car, and I pushed him out of the way. I got hit instead. Thankfully, the car was already slowing down, so I didn't get too badly hurt. Just this. Let me tell you, never let your arm smack into a glass window at even ten miles an hour. It will break and you will be pissed." She tossed a pair of midnight-blue pants, made of some coarse cloth, onto the bed, followed by a shirt with gray and purple stripes, and a plain black coat with a hood. She then bent down to grab a box marked "Converse," containing two black shoes with white toes and laces.

"That looks good," said Alice. "Okay, I'll just leave while you change. I'll get some food for you. Maybe pizza, I think there's still some left in the fridge." She left the room, and Will glanced down at the clothes Alice had lain out for him. None of them were particularly his style, but then again he wasn't exactly in Wonderland anymore. He got redressed quickly, leaving his old clothes piled on the floor in a not-so-neat way. (Alice's brother's closet was equally disorganized, so Will was sure she wouldn't mind seeing his own clothes that way.)

Despite what Alice had said, her brother's clothes did not fit Will very well at all. The shirt and jacket were reasonable, if a bit baggy, but the pants were very tight-fitting (and, being made of rough material, causing his legs to itch a lot) and sagged more than a bit at the waist. The shoes were the right size, but Will found it weird that they only reached the lower part of his ankle. They felt like incomplete boots, and he just wasn't used to the way they felt.

He told Alice as much, and she answered, "Well, these are actually the style here. You do wanna blend in as long as we're here, right?"

Will tried in vain to pull the pants completely up over his ass. "If you say so, I guess," he said.

"Well, sit down, the pizza's ready," said Alice. She handed Will a plate of pizza. He'd never heard of such a thing before, or seen anything remotely like it, but he was willing to give it a try because it smelled delicious. And sure enough, it was. Will wondered why in a land where everything was possible, they had yet to discover these pie-wedges of flatbread, covered in melted cheese, red sauce, thin-sliced tomatoes, small meatballs, and basil leaves.

"I take it you've never had this before?" asked Alice. "Guess there's not a lot of pizzerias in Wonderland. That sounds sucky."

"How do you know about Wonderland, anyway?" Will asked. "You've never been there, have you? Don't sound so excited. It's really not a very good place to go."

Alice raised her eyebrows. "But there's old stories about it from the 1800s. It's like an adventure-filled dream land, the way it's described."

"Old stories?" Will asked. "You mean, fictional stories?"

"So they'd have us think, I guess."

Will took another bite of pizza. "Who's they?"

"Just the generic group of people who think they have the right to run the world," said another voice. Will turned around and saw its owner, a thin brown-haired boy who looked a lot like Alice, and could only be her brother. "Hey, Raven," he said. "Who's this guy and why is he wearing my stuff?"

"Don't call me that, Jack," Alice said. "I don't do the Raven thing anymore."

"Don't dodge the question, Raven," said Jack, who clearly still wanted to press the issue. "Who is this guy?"

Will stood up and reached out to shake Jack's hand. "Name's Will Scarlet, former Knave of Hearts."

"Knave of Hearts?" Jack repeated, then burst out laughing. "Oh man, you finally get a boyfriend and he's got the same delusions as you? Well, lucky you, you got something in common with him."

Alice glared at her brother. "I can't believe I have to say this...he's not my boyfriend. And you shouldn't judge. If Mom and Dad knew about yours-"

"Like you'd really tell them anyway," Jack said in a horrible sneering voice that reminded Will strongly of the Red Queen. This thought caused Will's mind to drift back to the day when he'd first met the Red Queen, back when she was still a nice woman and not a power-grubbing witch...


Four years earlier, in Wonderland...

"Name?" asked the Red Queen. Her voice was polished and upper-class, but not nearly as grating and simpering as it would become when she got angry.

"Will Scarlet, Your Majesty."

"Previous occupation?"

"Merry Man in the Enchanted Forest."

"So you have cat-burglar skills." The Queen smiled. "That's perfect. I think I will need you."

"That's wonderful, Your Majesty." Will smiled back at her, politely. "Thank you very much."

The Queen turned to one of her underlings and beckoned him forward. "Take Mr. Scarlet to the vestry and suit him up. Then put him in the training camp." She turned back to Will. "Have you ever had to slay a dragon before, Mr. Scarlet?"

"No, Your Majesty."

"In that case, I think you will have a very thrilling experience indeed," said the Queen. "Good luck. Survive this and I might just make you my Knave of Hearts."

"Survive this?" Will asked.

"Didn't you hear? All the previous occupants were burned to death during their attempts to slay the dragon," said the Queen. "So, no pressure. Concentrate on attacking its weak point and you will certainly succeed."

"Thank you for the advice, Your Majesty," said Will. He turned to follow the underling to the vestry, all the while thinking, Oh bloody hell. What am I doing?