Chapter 2

Standing, mouth ajar, Caroline couldn't help but let the wonder she felt over take her fear completely. For a moment, if only that, she gave herself over to the small child inside of her. She was awed by the sights of wherever she was. Her eyes moved to see the sky sprawled out above her, presenting a lovely shade of light purple. The sight would have most definitely disturbed her had she not been in such a state. As she observed the sky, it's fluffy white clouds floating lackadaisically to the east with such grace and beauty it seemed as though it were a painting rather than a real sky, Caroline saw a flock of birds fly above her. Their crows were such that she had never heard the likes of. They were whistling a tune rather than mundane squawking, something she was not used to hearing.

There were small shrubs around her, each in perfect shapes. A cluster were perfect circles, another of cubes, and even a few dodecahedrons, each as green and lively as the last. There was no breeze at the time, and yet they all moved in sequence as if there was one. The rolling hills all around her held many a flowers, and something inside were was both relieved and a little disappointed that they seemed relatively normal.

As Caroline walked on, she head a rustling in the bushes. In an instant, her wonder was shoved down deep inside of her, and the fear boiled back to the top. She froze, stomach dropping a mile. Her adrenaline pumped through her harder and harder as whatever was in the bushes was coming closer to revealing itself. What on earth could it be? A giant lizard? An evil elf? A blood sucking bat? Each possibility poured into her thoughts, pushing Caroline further and further off of the edge until finally, the terrifying creature was revealed and she let out a shriek. Caroline shut her eyes. It's a horrible monster, she thought. It's going to kill me. It's going to eat me alive. It's going to tear me to bits and bring it back for its friends to share in a feast. Its...

It was a white bunny.

Caroline stood for a moment in silence. As if a volcano erupted, laughter burst from her mouth out of sheer relief. She fell to her knees and grabbed her gut in a fit of hysterics. The girl knew see was being a bit ridiculous in her reaction, but she couldn't help it. It was only a small rabbit. What harm could it do, really? She opened her eyes once more to look at the thing which had frightened her so much. It's pink nose twitched as it returned her gaze, it's giant pupils fixed upon hers. The little thing's ears perked up and it looked to it's left, sensing something. Caroline looked to her left as well and found a forest in pain view. It seemed to be only a hundred yards away. She looked back to the rabbit and saw that it had stiffened, as if it were a statue. Fear crept back into her heart. The rabbit sensed danger.

All at once, something jumped from the bushes, grabbing the rabbit and running with it. The white creature made the most horrible nose Caroline had ever heard. It's screams were worse than an injured baby. For whatever reason, she ran after the creature that had taken the rabbit, her heart pounding in rhythm with her footsteps. It was heading towards the forest. The blonde met the tree line without slowing down at all. Small branches whipped her in the face, leaving scratches that stung and begged for the attention that she was not in the position to give. She heard a horrible ripping coming from the bottom of her dress, but the screams of the innocent rabbit overpowered them by a landslide. And then, all at once, the shrieks subsided.

"Excuse me," A voice said whilst Caroline was in mid run. She managed to stop very ungracefully before it continued.
"What exactly were you planning on doing? This is my dinner and I have no intention of sharing."
Caroline was completely frozen. A bead of sweat slowly rolled down the side of her face. The voice was coming from her right, and she could barely bring herself to look at the person addressing her. Ever so slowly, she turned. To her horror, she saw a very large dark brown cat staring at her, a limp and lifeless white rabbit in it's grasp with a chunk missing from its neck, blood gently oozing from it. The cats mouth was clean save a solitary drop of blood in the corner of it's mouth which it quickly licked away. Caroline was filled with sadness.

"I must admit, I'm rather surprised that you would come chasing after me." The cat had thrown down the rabbit now, apparently finished with it's meal.
"Why, because I don't look like I could be brave?" Her voice faltered as she spoke, an unfortunate contradiction.
"No. Because I'm a Cheshire Cat who could kill you in your sleep." The cat flashed a smirk, exposing a brilliant set of razor sharp teeth. Caroline could hardly breathe, the fear almost cutting off her air supply. What had she gotten herself into? As the cat looked at her, and Caroline at it, she noticed a peculiar burst of purple within it's eyes that was gone in a matter of milliseconds.

"Can you stand on your head?" It asked her, cocking it's head the the side.
"Can I- I'm sorry?"
"I said, can you stand on your head?" The cat seemed to be growing impatient. "Because I can." Caroline's jaw dropped in horror as the cat reached up, grabbed the sides of it's head and ripped it right off of it's neck. Then, it threw it down on the floor and stood on it with only one paw. A chorus of laughter came from it's decapitated cranium, it's eyes looking at Caroline's shocked face. The girl screamed, tears running from her eyes. She couldn't take it anymore. Caroline ran for her life, continuing on through the forest, the echoing laughter of the cat followed her still. The poor girl ran on and on until she came to a clearing among the trees.

From where she was standing, she could see that the glen was filled with many brightly, beautifully colored flowers. It reminded her of the small meadow she once played in with her parents when she was much younger. Although it lacked the same vivid hues, it still stuck a chord within her. As Caroline slowly neared, she could see each and every individual gently dancing in the breeze. All at once, a beautiful melody erupted from within the blossoms, their petals moving in perfect harmony with the music which they were creating. Caroline twirled in wonder, her eyes falling upon each and every flora, her eyes widening in shock. Never in her life had she ever heard something so natural, and so beautiful. Even the surrounding trees were dancing with the melody, their leaves detaching from them and floating around Caroline, each changing color from green, to yellow, to orange, to red, and back again to green. A smile crept upon her face. She let out a laugh once more, her hand reaching up to her mouth in amazement. Her wounds had quieted now. She hardly knew they were there.

The flowers sang in a sweet melody for what seemed like an eternity. Caroline's eyes had shut long ago and she gently swayed back and forth, to and fro. Each blossom had a distinct note which it specialized in. When they joined together in a chorus, the harmony was unlike anything she had ever heard.

And then, all at once, it changed completely. The gorgeous song turned to horrible shrieks and cries for help. Her eyes opened in a flash. At first she saw nothing until she noticed a broad shadow darting across the grass in the meadow. Slowly, Caroline looked to the skies... I giant dragonfly was circling, a stream of fire erupting from it's mouth. The girl screamed and ran, the flowers urging her onward. She ran as fast as her feet could possibly travel, hoping that she would be able to escape from the fire breathing oddity. It goes without saying that she had never encountered anything quite like this in her entire lifetime. Every molecule in her body was pushing her further and further, running like the flowers desperately wished they could. She noticed that the sounds had stopped all together. They all must have been incinerated. Caroline refused to let this sit inside her, not yet. Not when she had to focus on staying at this speed.

As the thought passed through her mind, a fire ball went flying past her head, exploding against a tree stump. Did she dare turn her head to look at what she knew must be on her trail? No, she mustn't. Caroline could see the edge of the shadow slowly coming over her, she felt the sun blocked by when she knew would be her eminent death. But still she ran. The blonde girl could feel the air around her heat up and the dragonfly gathered the heat to let loose another fire ball, one that would surely end her life. Running was becoming pointless. Reluctantly, Caroline stopped dead in her tracks, closed her eyes tightly shut and covered her head protectively, although she knew it would do no good.

In the very moment she thought she was going to die, she felt the weight of another human collide against her, tackling Caroline into the nearby shrubbery.
"Ouch!" She yelled, her face in the dirt. She knew that she would not be safe here, and it was all that came to mind before she set her eyes on him. It was as if the world had all fallen into slow motion. A man sat staring at her, breathing heavily. His azure eyes blazed into her's, a brilliant shade that she had never seen before. He had a small amount of stubble surrounding his full lips which were slightly parted as he tried to catch his breath. She had no idea what his hair looked like, because perched atop his head was a soaking wet top hat that seemed three sized too large. The notion came to her that it was the very same hat that she had seen in the well, but she shoved it to the back of her mind, finding the idea ridiculous.

His eyes stayed locked on her's, as if he were in as much shock as she was, when finally they widened. He got to his feet in a flash, grabbing Caroline by the hand.
"Run." he said before turning his back to her and running deeper into the shrubs. Caroline was trying her hardest to run with the same speed and grace as he, but it seemed that it wasn't good enough because he let out a raspy sigh as he threw her onto his back in mere seconds.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" She yelled. Caroline was grateful in some ways that he had picked her up, but she could handle herself. She didn't need anyone's help. Yeah, you sure proved that, a voice whispered in her mind. Another fireball came whizzing past her head before she realized that she and the man with the hat were falling in mid air. The man let out a triumphantly amused whoop, whilst Caroline's scream was filled with terror. Below them was a waterfall filled pool, and they were coming in at high speed. She gripped the man tightly, resting her head against the back of his neck out of fear, her eyes once again clamped shut.

They had been flying, and then before she knew it, they were submerged in the cool water of the pool, plunging down into it's arms.


A/N; Welp! She met him alright. I know there wasn't much real interaction, but the next chapter will be filled!
I know it has been literally ages since I posted this, but I finally got into a good place to write again. I hope you enjoyed this enough to review!

Also, I'll give you three guesses as to who this Cheshire cat is meant to be. Hint- I've taken a quote from them and adjusted it in the Cat's dialogue.