Chapter two, yay! :D
Thank you to all of you who followed, I hope you like the story.
Whatever you may have heard, the fall down the rabbit hole was not a pleasant experience. There was no drifting through the air. In fact, after a few seconds of spinning through the pitch black passage, Arthur felt the back of his head collide painfully with the side of the tunnel. Stars flashed in front of his eyes and he tried his best to stay conscious. His efforts proved useless as the already dim tunnel grew even more faint and darkness edged in on the edge of his vision.
Arthur didn't even bother trying to sort out his new surrounds, he just accepted the new occurrence as his eyes flicked shut and he went limp.
That was when the tunnel decided to kick in with the gravity-slowing magic.
Arthur woke with a groan. His eyes shuttered open, though he quickly shut them again as bright sunlight assaulted his eyes. He tried to move, but gasped at a sharp pain in the back of his neck. He reached back to rub at it, but stopped as a headache washed over him in a giant wave.
Arthur decided maybe he'd lie there for a bit.
He cautiously opened one eye again, and found the sunlight wasn't as unbearable as it had been at first. He looked around. He was lying in the middle of a giant hollowed out tree trunk. At least, he assumed it was a tree- on a second look the 'tree' seemed to be made of some sort of mineral. He sat up slowly, rubbing a hand on the smooth surface he was sitting on. Maybe it was petrified wood? That seemed like a likely explanation. The inside walls of the 'tree' stretched up above him, ending at a definite, if faraway point.
Arthur squinted. Hadn't he fallen? But as hard as he looked, the 'tree' had a ceiling.
"How wonderful." Arthur mumbled, having given up at trying to give reason to his predicament. He glared at the light that fell on his face. Even though he was inside a structure, a large open entrance-way stood before him, allowing the light to alight the insides of the 'tree'. Quaintly enough, the light that was cast from the doorway ended neatly on Arthur, making sure to illuminate the ground around the young man.
He stood up shakily and winced at the pain on the back of his head. He walked to the opening to the outside and peered out. He blinked in surprise.
His first observation was that everything was so... blue. The trees, the flowers, the bushes- all different shades of blue. It didn't look very natural, in fact it looked like someone had up and decided to take all the shades of green in the world and cut them out, replacing them with blue.
Well, except for the grass- that was still green luckily.
Arthur stepped outside slowly, not sure where he was. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before, the trees and flowers were definitely not from England. He stopped and stared at a particular bush that was blue with white polka-dots speckling it's leaves.
Walking into a large clearing, Arthur stopped and pondered what exactly he should do. He was obviously lost and alone in a strange, unknown place. He bit his lip and crinkled his brow, he had no experience surviving in England's wilderness- how was he supposed to deal with this madness? He decided that since no one would be looking for him, he should keep moving. He knew that usually the best way to be found was to stand still, but who was searching for him here?
He wandered the woods for a good chunk of the afternoon, gawking at the sights he saw. He'd spotted butterflies with strange black and white patterns on their wings, flowers that opened into the semblance of a clock, and birds with neon colored feathers and sweet songs. He began to smile slightly, despite being aggravated at being quite literally pushed into this situation. The world was beautiful here, wherever here was.
Arthur made a face at the memory of arms shoving him. He hoped he ran into Peter again, just so he could give the kid a piece of his mind. Who did that sort of thing? And, more importantly, what was Peter? Either Arthur had hit his head a bit too hard, was going crazy, or Peter was the real deal. Arthur had no clue what that entailed, but obviously something was going on.
He had ruled out that maybe he was dreaming, his head ached far too much for that... but still, maybe hallucination was still an option.
He sighed and sat down at the base of a large, palm-like tree in the center of a clearing. He rubbed at his eyes, it was getting late and the sun was setting. He really didn't want to be left out in this forest at night.
"Are you seriously lost?" A voice called out from the trees, causing Arthur to jump and search frantically.
"Hello?" He called, looking for the source of the voice.
"'Hello', 'Farewell', whatever." The voice answered back before Arthur finally caught sight of a pair of red eyes in the forest just out of the reach of the already fading light. He ran towards the figure, but when he arrived at the spot no one was there.
"Hello?" He asked again hesitantly. "I actually am lost, could you help?"
"Why should I? I though 'Alice' knew 'Wonderland'." The voice snickered. Arthur spun again, and glared at a lone bright white smile at the other end of the clearing. He stood where he was and squinted, vaguely making out the faded man that surrounded the clear smile and eyes.
"I have no idea what this 'Alice' business you're talking about is." He said, moving forward slowly as if to not scare the man away. "I really could use some directions. Where am I?"
"Well I'd say 'Wonderland'," The man chuckled, winking at him. "But you seem like you're not all that fun." The man stepped into the clearing, suddenly becoming more solid looking. "Technically you're in Cards."
"Wonderland? Cards? What..." Arthur repeated, confused. "Are you pulling my leg or what?" He looked at the exotic looking flora around him and wondered briefly if 'Wonderland' was so far fetched.
"Wow you're kind of in over your head aren't you?" The man asked, tilting his head. Arthur just glared at the silver-haired man. "Well you'll learn fast, you'll have to."
Arthur was distracted as he noticed something. He leaned to the side slightly and gawked at what he saw. A tail waved around slowly behind the man, flicking suddenly this way or that every few seconds. The slender black tail even ended in an arrowhead-like point.
"Face is up here." The man said, snapping his fingers in front of Arthur's face, making him jump.
"Does everyone here have..." He trailed off, squinting at the odd tufts of hair on his head that seemingly resembled horns... or ears.
"No. Just Peter and I." The man sighed rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.
"Peter!" Arthur exclaimed, jumping. "He's the one who sent me down here! Why'd he do that?" Arthur seemingly flipped a switch from bemused curiosity to agitated anger. "Who are you?"
"Yes. Because. Gilbert." The man answered shortly. "Look didn't you need something?"
"Because is not a proper answer!" Arthur fumed, but his eyes widened as Gilbert began to fade. "Wait!" He cried, reaching forward to grab the man and finding his arms passing through thin air. "Come back! I need directions!"
"Well why didn't you say so?" A voice spoke near his ear, causing him to hiss and flinch away.
"I did! And quit doing that." He scowled, spinning to find the man standing behind him now. He crossed his arms. "...well?"
Gilbert leaned back on his heels and raised an eyebrow. "Well what?"
"Well can I have some damn directions already?" He yelled exasperatedly at the silver-haired man.
"Well where do you want to go? Duh." He rolled his eyes. "I can't just read your mind."
Arthur paused at this. "I don't know." He mused. "I have no idea where I am, so how am I supposed to know where I want to go. I want to go... I don't know somewhere." He muttered.
Gilbert sighed and held up a hand. "Well then you don't need directions. It doesn't matter where you go right? You'll get somewhere."
Arthur glared. "It most certainly does. I don't want to be wandering around here forever! I have to get home."
Gilbert's tail stopped mid-wag. He looked at Arthur for a second before shrugging. The man wasn't getting out of Cards that easily, but he didn't need to be the one to break that to him. "Well you can't wander forever. You'll get somewhere if you keep walking. And if you only want to get somewhere than my job is done."
Arthur pulled at his hair, this man was so frustrating. "Fine! Where should I go? You know about this place right?"
"What do you want to do." Gilbert asked, equally as frustrated. "I can't tell you where to go if you don't know what you want. Mein gott man, seriously."
"I want to talk to an actual sane person." Arthur said, rubbing at his temples. He jumped as the man in front of him burst out laughing.
"Oh, good luck with that buddy. I think your definition of sane and ours are two completely different things." He wiped at his watering eyes. "But anyway, you want people yes? I can point you towards people."
"Well of course I 'want people' as you so elegantly put it. I've been wandering the woods for a good few hours and it's getting dark." Arthur tapped his foot impatiently. At least they were starting to get somewhere in their conversation, even if they had talked in circles for a good few minutes.
"Well..." Gilbert lifted a hand to his chin. "Spades Castle is that way." He said, pointing. "That's where most the nobles for Spades live. You can bypass it and head to the Tea Party, but that's another good day's journey in-" He shifted his finger slightly. "-that direction, and it's almost all the way to Clubs."
Arthur sighed at the prospect of having to deal with 'nobles'. He never had been fond of high society, even if it was just because he was a bit bitter about his childhood.
"I do highly suggest going to Spades Castle though." Gilbert finished. "They'll fill you in on what you need to know even if they're a bit..." He trailed off. "Hmm. Actually, maybe you should trek to Hearts, you seem like a Hearts person to me. Did you fall into Hearts?"
Arthur felt his shoulders slump. "What?" He sighed exhaustively.
"Was everything red where you came out?" Gilbert responded, full of curiosity and somewhat skeptical.
"No, it was most definitely blue." Arthur replied. He made a circular motion with his hand. "Can you please hurry this up?"
"Fine, fine, sheesh. Just didn't peg you as a Blue is all." Gilbert waved his hand dismissively and rolled his eyes. "Though I guess it makes sense... kinda. Hearts actually has a full deck- well the top of it anyway."
"That's what Peter said." Arthur mumbled. "Could you stop talking nonsense and just tell me how to get to this castle."
Gilbert snorted and pointed again. "Just walk that way until you start seeing a small town. It'll get more and more populated until you reach the city center. That's where the castle will be. Ask for Yao. Trust me. You do not want to deal with Alfred right off the bat. I love the guy and all, he's one of the few that put up with Peter and I, but... he's a little- ah... much." Gilbert smirked at this, sending an almost evil look Arthur's way. Arthur shivered at the barely contained menacing glee in the man's smile.
"Okay." Arthur nodded, slowly inching away from the man who was now rubbing his hands together. "I'll just go do that then. Thank you."
"Oh this will be fun." Gilbert giggled as Arthur made a quick escape. He gave the very forest around him a thumbs up. "Nice choice there. I'm a little concerned on your judgment- BUT I will make an exception. Just cuz that will be entertaining to watch." His body started slowly fading out as he said these words. First the bottom of his feet disappeared, then his legs. The transparent force started eating away at his hand as it reached his mid-torso. It crawled up him until all that was left was his wide smile and red eyes. These too disappeared with a blink, leaving the clearing empty.
Arthur growled as a branch snapped back and hit him in the face. He shoved away at the foliage and stumbled his way through the forest.
He knew he shouldn't have listened to Gilbert, he was finding himself nowhere. Well, he supposed he was technically somewhere, but that wasn't the point. Maybe he should have gone the other way- to where the 'Tea Party' had been. It may have been farther according to Gilbert, but Arthur could really go for a cup of tea right now.
He gasped as he shoved his way through a particularly thick group of bushes and suddenly found no resistance. He stumbled forward before catching himself and looking around. The forest had ended abruptly, leaving Arthur standing on a small dirt road leading into what looked like a farm town.
"Finally!" He cried, actually jumping in joy. It was dark now, and he'd been walking through that dratted blue forest for another good hour. He ran down the dirt road towards the houses.
Luckily for Arthur's sanity, all the houses were normal brown or gray- no more blue.
He slowed as he entered the small town. He looked down at his clothes and suddenly became nervous. If Peter and Gilbert were anything to judge from, he would be highly out of place in this fanatic world. How would normal people react? Or were Peter and Gilbert considered normal? His head hurt, and he decided to play it safe.
Instead of knocking on any doors he simply continued forward on the road. Gilbert had told him to go to the castle and ask for Yao, and that was what he would do. Apparently Gilbert had given him correct directions. He wouldn't risk taking any chances, he better listen to a 'native' of this place strictly.
He walked down the road for a bit, watching as the population slowly grew around him. He ducked his head when he saw a few people watching him from inside a house. He felt stares on him, but nobody tried to jump him, so he assumed he was at least tolerated by these people.
As the town quickly grew into a city (in fact it almost abruptly changed into a city all at once) the streets still remained mostly empty. It must have been almost midnight at the least, so it made sense. Still, Arthur couldn't help the nervous feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.
As he reached the center, the few people who were out began looking at him. He frowned. It wasn't like the stares he'd received in London. They may have been staring at his clothes, but they weren't focusing on how shabby they might be, they were focusing on how different they were. These people were all dressed much more simply than Peter or Gilbert, but they were still a far cry from the clothes from England. Even their houses and architecture was something Arthur had never seen before.
He gulped as he spotted large open gates in the distance. How did he even know they'd let him in the castle? All he had to go on was Gilbert's words. He walked down the last stretch down the paved street to the gates and paused as the guards stationed there gave him a look.
"Ah- Can I..." He began before taking a deep breath and starting over. "May I request to see Yao?" He asked. He was aware that this was literally all he had to go on. He didn't even know who this 'Yao' was or why he needed to see him. "Gilbert sent me." He added, a bit weaker.
The two guards exchanged a look, then nodded. The one ran inside while the other gave Arthur a reassuring smile.
"Gilbert huh? Got caught up with the Jokers? Tough luck." He said, leaning back.
"So they're like that to everyone right?" He asked cautiously.
"Oh yes. It's practically their job to make things difficult for everyone else, especially the other Cards." He grinned slightly at this. "Our King houses them sometimes and it the job here gets pretty hard."
Arthur nodded, still not quite understanding. "So, this is... Spades?" He asked, trying desperately to clarify a few points with this reasonable sounding man before having to talk to the nobles.
He raised an eyebrow. "Yikes. When did you get here? Yeah, this is Spades- best kingdom around, no matter what those Clubs or Diamonds will tell you."
Arthur crinkled is nose in concentration. "It's all suits." He said. "Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts..."
"There you go! You've got the basics already! I'm sure you'll catch on quick." The man nodded.
Arthur just shook his head. Why did this man act like this all made perfect sense? It was madness! Though he did suppose it would make sense to someone who lived here.
He didn't know when he had just accepted this new world as reality, but if he hadn't before he found himself resigned to it now.
"Oh- they're back." The guard said as his fellow guard came back, followed by another man. Arthur smiled nervously as the second man, Yao he presumed, charged up to him.
"You!" He said, sleeves falling over his hands that he waved frantically waved at Arthur. "You."
Arthur simply remained quiet as the man dropped his chin to his hand and stared at him for a second. The man's outfit was a mixture of blues and creams, with the symbol of a spade printed on his coat and hat. Said hat was hanging at a precarious angle off his head, threatening to jump ship and the man's earlier erratic motions- Arthur recognized it as a vaguely Oriental style hat. Yao used his free hand to brush back the neon blue feather that had fallen into his face from his hat.
"Okay." Yao said finally, standing up straight and brushing down his clothes. "Okay. I can deal with this. I suppose I'll just postpone the trip to Diamonds. I'll need to push back the diplomats from Clubs... Oh-
and the council was supposed to meet in the morning. I'll have to let the court know we can't do that. Alfred will want know- Oh goodness Alfred he'll-" The calm demeanor that the man had built up slowly crumbled as he went on. He began tugging nervously on his ponytail. "And the Jokers! The Jokers will surely turn up without notice, meaning the castle will be in turmoil..." The man dropped his head to his hands, mumbling, "Why me?"
"Excuse me?" Arthur asked nervously. He leaned away from the growingly frantic man. "I don't mean to cause trouble, I just want to know what's going on."
Yao looked up as if suddenly realizing Arthur could talk too. "I apologize." He corrected himself quickly and bowed slightly. "I am Yao, Jack of Spades."
Arthur started at the man's sudden formalness. "Ah- Arthur Kirkland." He replied quickly.
Yao nodded and grabbed onto Arthur's arm, pulling him inside the gates. He heard a "Good luck" chuckled at him as the guard waved goodbye to him. He nodded before he was whisked away.
The castle was larger than Arthur had seen at first. As they entered the entrance-way, Arthur stared at the vaulting ceilings and extravagant blue tiles. He saw servants running around and chattering happily. They all stopped and stared as Yao dragged Arthur through the halls. Arthur felt his cheeks pinken slightly as maids giggled at him. He heard faint whispers, but he couldn't quite catch any.
They finally reached a large library and Yao dragged him over and forced him into a seat.
"What have you gotten so far?" He asked, pulling a chair over and leaning forward, examining Arthur.
"Uhm... well I got that there are four kingdoms and that there are Jokers... and something about cards and decks?" He trailed off, a bit embarrassed at his lack of knowledge.
Yao pursed his lips before standing up and running over to the door. Arthur began to stand up before Yao waved him back down. He stuck his head out the door and gestured at a maid. He quickly whispered something to her and she nodded. Arthur shifted as Yao walked over and sat back down.
"Okay." He sighed, getting comfortable. "This may take a while." Arthur nodded for the man to continue.
"You are in Cards. I don't know much about where you're from- but it's much different here. There are four kingdoms, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs." He pointed to himself. "I am Wang Yao, or Yao, and I am the Jack of Spades. Spades also has a King, Alfred Jones. The other kingdoms have a mixture of Kings, Queens and Jacks. You are from..."
"England." Arthur supplied helpfully.
Yao simply made a face. "I have no idea where or what that is." He said tiredly. "All I know is you are an 'Alice'."
"What's with this 'Alice' business?" Arthur snapped, he meant to be polite, he really did, but this whole concern was really starting to get to him. It wasn't just the fact that everyone was calling him by a woman's name either, it was also the fact that everyone knew something about him that apparently he didn't. It was like that terrible feeling when others are laughing about an inside joke they would never tell you about- except that this joke was about him.
"You are an 'Alice'." Yao replied simply. "You came to Cards from elsewhere, yes? That makes you an 'Alice'. Easy enough to understand."
Arthur furrowed his brow. "Okay, but what does that mean?"
Yao shrugged. "I don't quite know. It's different every time I suppose. I've never met one." He leveled his gaze on Arthur. "I'm afraid people will have... expectations... of you." He said cryptically, looking away from Arthur. "Being an 'Alice' you... will be expected to act a certain way."
"Yes?" Arthur prompted, not liking the sound of these 'expectations'.
Yao smiled brightly. "It's nothing to worry about. I'm sure you'll hear about it tomorrow. For now though, aren't you tired? It's past midnight. I had a servant prepare you a room and clothes."
Arthur realized what Yao had been doing when he had spoken to the maid. He didn't really like the idea of being left in the dark... Okay he didn't like the idea at all- but what could he really do. He was in a palace for goodness sake, having a room of his own prepared for him. He'd grown up in a cramped house for most of his life, this was a dream come true. He had been trudging through these people's odd wilderness for the majority of the day too, so perhaps it would be okay to be left in the dark for a night if it meant he could sleep in a luxurious bed- he was exhausted. He finally nodded slightly.
Yao nodded back and stood up, walking over to the door. He quickly grabbed a maid that was walking by and motioned to Arthur. She smiled brightly and started leading the way to Arthur's room. She chattered a bit, going on about how exciting things had just become because of him. Arthur simply nodded as they rounded corner after corner, and he quickly became disoriented.
"Diamonds will be so mad too!" She tittered as she pulled open a large door for Arthur. "After all you came to Spades! Luckily we're on decent terms with them though. The poor King will probably have to deal with their King's whining for a bit though. Oh-! Not that King Francis is bad or anything! He's quite nice... Maybe I should stop..."
Arthur just humored her, smiling. He honestly had no clue what was coming out of this girl's mouth.
"Oh, and please stay up here until someone comes to retrieve you." She said, her chatting immediately turning serious. "Not many people know you're here. Luckily you came in the night and not many commanders saw you. It's supposed to be a secret for a while so as not to cause chaos. Food will be brought up to you in the morning."
Arthur glanced over as the maid ducked out of the room and left him alone in the large empty room. He looked down at his dirty clothes and then over to the blue clothes laid out on the bed. He walked over and picked up a pair of silk nightclothes. Silk.
He saw that there was an attached bathroom, and peered in to see that there was even a bath drawn. Arthur sighed in contentment, thinking that maybe this place wasn't so bad after all.
After bathing and changing into the luxuriant garments that had been given to him,
Arthur laid down in the large bed. His eyes flickered shut immediately and he quickly began drifting off to sleep. Everything was so soft and plush, Arthur really didn't stand a chance.
As his mind wandered off, he wondered what he would face the next day. Everyone he met had acted kind of strange, but then again this was a different world after all.
Yao had seemed normal, maybe he wouldn't have to deal with anymore people like Gilbert or Peter.
Or maybe he'd have to deal with worse ones. He shivered and hoped not.
Arthur decided that he really couldn't keep the mental conversation up for another second. The pain on the back of his head that he had felt all day faded as he smiled lazily and fell asleep.
This is where I add interesting commentary right? :I
Okay- heads up. Not all of the countries have full King-Queen-Jack royalty. So that's a thing. I'll elaborate more on that next chapter.
Gilbert is the Cheshire Cat! I thought it was fitting for his character- and the fact that he's a Joker. However, the Kings-Queens-Jacks will not be characters from Alice in Wonderland, so Yao is no one. There is the Tea Party though, which will be fun eventually.
And 'Alice' is more of a title than anything. Anyone who comes from the 'real world' or Earth into Cards is considered an 'Alice'. There are not a lot of them, pretty much one every century or so, and what happens with them is different each time. Arthur is the first 'Alice' in a long time, and the definitely the first one for Spades in a long time. And yes, it does matter what Kingdom you fall into- if only a bit. Technically someone can get to Cards on their own, but it's much more common (and we're still talking decades here) for a Joker to invite/trick someone there. Lucky Arthur got pushed.
Comments? Thank you for reading- Dawn. :)
