Erin: So sorry for not updating this. Especially since I only ever updated one chapter of this...lol. It's sorta long, but I really hope you enjoy!

Also, remember that these characters do not have the same relations as in the anime or manga. I have taken liberties as to sibling relations and things like that. But I hope that it doesn't turn you off to the story! Not to toot my own horn, but I really like my plot line ;D

Disclaimer: Don't own shugo chara or alice in wonderland.

Chapter 2: Wonderland

Something sharp was stabbing Amu in the back. It's probably a broken bone, she thought calmly, remembering the incident moments before. She replayed the scene on a loop in her head. Ikuto's pleas, the hole...Amu supposed she was dead. But if this was death, then it was rather uncomfortable and really noisy. Something fuzzy was creeping across Amu...

Amu bolted up into a sitting position, her eyes flying open. On her arm was a fat caterpillar. With a shriek, she flung it off. It crawled away, grumbling about flaky girls. Amu froze where she sat. A caterpillar talking? She most definitely was dead. Knowing this somewhat calmed her. Looking around, she noticed that she was sitting in the middle of a clearing. Around her stood tall, but thin trees, suggesting that the wood she was in was fairly young. A cushion of green moss covered the patch of ground she was sitting on. "What?" Her voice sounded strange to her ear; a disembodied and distant version of herself. "Wow, death is sorta weird. I wonder if I'll always sound like this." Just then, her ears popped, as if she was in a high altitude. "Well, I guess I won't."

A rustle in the undergrowth caused Amu to freeze. "Hello?" She called out to the noise. No one answered. A bush to her right twitched. Amu grabbed a fallen branch nearby and clambered to her feet. "I'm warning you, whoever you are. I'm armed!" The bush moved more; it parted a little. Something was climbing out. Amu tried to scream, but her voice caught in her throat. Is this when the Devil comes to take me? Her mind cried. The source of the noise was coming into view. Oh man! Wait, I want to live! I-I...

A furry little rabbit climbed into sight, it's white fur spotted with leaves. The strange thing about the small creature was that it stood on its two hind legs and wore a red cotton vest with tiny brass buttons up the front. "You're kidding me? I was afraid of this?" Amu questioned herself. What was even more strange about the little rabbit was that Amu didn't find it strange at all. The not so strange rabbit hopped over to Amu and grabbed her hand. Then it quickly pulled a gold pocket watch from it's vest, glanced at it's hands and then put it away just as quickly as it had been taken out. "You're not dead, but there's no time for chit chat! Come on, Alice." He pulled Amu behind him through the trees. "We're late! No time to spare. The Hatter will have a fit! Oh come on, hurry it up."

Not dead? Amu let herself be tugged along. Where have I heard that bunny's voice? It was some time before he, the rabbit, led them to a small cottage. Only then did Amu connect with reality-or whatever was currently reality. "W-wait! You called me Alice. I'm Amu-

"Not time to talk, we're late, very late!"

Amu was dragged into the cottage. Inside, it consisted of only one room with a simple pine table placed directly in the center. Two glass bottles stood on the table. "Um, why are we here?" Amu asked the strange animal. Her thoughts were still bothered and the familiarity of the rabbit's voice, but it was impossible for her to have heard it before this meeting. After all, it's not every day that you meet a talking rabbit.

It hopped over to the bottles. Looking closely, Amu saw that they were filled with what looked like a clear watered down syrup. One was tossed to her and she clumsily caught it. "Well?" The bunny said. "Drink, Alice, drink!" He chugged down the other. When Amu opened hers, it began to froth and bubble, much like a soda can that's been shaken and then suddenly opened. She eyed it doubtfully and then swallowed, her throat dry. Bottoms up, she thought.

Immediately, a tingling coursed through her whole body. It started in her chest and then spread down her arms and legs and travelled all the way to the roots of her pink hair. And then she began to shrink. It was an odd sensation, looking down at yourself and seeing parts out of proportion with others. Soon she and the rabbit were no bigger than the bottles themselves. The rabbit pulled her towards a wall now very much larger than an average wall and to a door that Amu didn't notice before. It was a quite average looking door, proportioned to Amu as any normal door would be. The only issue was, Amu wasn't sure what was normal and what wasn't anymore. The rabbit knocked on the wood and stood back. "Door, open please. It's Rabbit. I've got to get to the Hatter. She's with me and we are very late!"

There was a loud creak and the door began to distort. The creak soon became a crescendo of groans and wood splinters flying in the air. And then suddenly, it stopped. On the door, made out of the knots in the grain, was a face. Amu froze. She had never seen a door with a face before. The eyes blinked twice before the mouth opened in a loud yawn. "Hello Rabbit! Didn't I already open for you today? The Hatter, you say? Why in the name of the White Queen would you want to visit that mad man? And who would this girl with you be?" His booming voice echoed off the cottages now giant walls, making Amu's ears hurt.

Rabbit huffed and checked his watch again. "It is she. Now come on, we're late, too late!"

"She? She! She as in Alice? She's Alice?"

"Yes, now let us pass!"

With a small click, Door unlocked itself and creaked open. "Alice, of all people! Why didn't you say so? Go! We don't want to be late, now do we?"

A squeal escaped from Amu's lips as Rabbit hopped through the doorway, all the while pulling her along. "It was an honor letting you through! Goodbye, Alice!" Door called as he swung shut with another chorus of creaks, leaving Amu staring at a door that now looked like any other ordinary door again. Rabbit yanked on her hand impatiently. "I'm sorry, Alice, but this is no time to dawdle. The Hatter awaits!" And off they went again.

A tunnel led from the Door, it's walls casting strange, fluid shadows across the two hurried traveller's path. Amu was sure that some of the creeping shapes belonged not to the walls, but to some grotesque creatures. "W-what is this place?" She stammered while trying to stay close to Rabbit.

"This place? Oh, we call it NO PLACE. When you're here, you're not there or here, nor hither or thither. You're NO PLACE! But what am I saying? There's no time for explanations. Have I mentioned we're late?" Towing a thoroughly confused young woman, Rabbit hurried through NO PLACE. "Oh, look! There's the exit. That door there. Yes, yes, good. But we're still late!"

The repetitive rabbit only continued to confuse Amu because, to her, there wasn't a "that door there." She looked, and squinted, and craned her neck, but she still couldn't find a door. Rabbit pulled her to the side (or what she thought was the side) of NO PLACE and then, suddenly, Amu could see a door. "I really hope this one doesn't talk," she whispered to herself. Lucky for her and her sanity, this door did not talk. Rabbit briskly opened the door and led Amu through after him. The door swung shut with a finalizing thud. But a door that closes by itself was given no attention because all of Amu's focus was on the scene before her.

A dense forest stretched out in all directions, thick with ancient trees whose branches seemed to scrape the very sky. For all Amu knew, they really did, towering over her as they did. She spun around and was surprised to see the door to NO PLACE. Except it had no walls, no room it was connected to as far as she could tell; it was just a lone door, standing erect on the mossy forest floor. Amu stepped forward to touch it, but jumped back when a small voice yelled at her. "Hey, watch it Lady! I'm walkin' here!"

Amu whipped her around, looking for the voice. "Where are you? Who just talked?"

The tiny voice was heard again. "Down here, dimwit! What, you part flower or somethin'?" The pink-haired girl looked down in shock. Right where her foot had almost landed a moment ago was a squirrel shaking his tiny fists at her. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there. Wait, you're a talking squirrel?"

Rabbit huffed at the squirrel. "Nut gatherer, that is no way to talk to a lady, much less Alice herself!"

Amu tried to interject. "But I'm not Al-"

"Oh, Alice is she?" The squirrel asked sarcastically. "Well, Alice of no, a giant like her should be lookin' where she steps. Almost got me tail, her foot did! Where does she get off, wearin' an outlandish get up like that anyhows? Amu shuffled her converse-clad toes self-consciously. She didn't think her clothes were weird. "And this girly is suppose to help Wonderland? Ha! I'd be me best pile o' nuts against that." With that, the grumpy squirrel skittered away, up a tree and was lost in the canopy of leaves overhead.

"Don't listen to a sour puss like him. His tail is always ruffled." Rabbit patted Amu's hand in a gesture of comfort, reminding her of someone that she couldn't quite figure out. The funny animal's watch started to vibrate until Rabbit pulled away to check it. "Oh no! We're late!" That repetitive declaration set them on their course again, with Rabbit leading Amu along swiftly.

Some time later, the two companions were still trudging through the forest undergrowth when Amu could hear a faint noise. "Do you hear that, Rabbit?"

"Leave it alone, Alice," Rabbit grumbled. "Pay no attention and he'll go away."

"I told you I'm not Alice!" Amu protested her new name. "What do you mean by he? Listen! There it is again. Sounds like...purring? It's almost like a-"

"No, Alice!" Rabbit jumped frantically to cover her mouth.

"-a cat."

A scream pierced the quiet forest air. Amu took a deep breath for another yell when she found herself in the arms of a teenage boy. "Aw, all I did was come when you called and this is what I get? Hardly a warm welcome, Alice."

"My-my name is A-Amu," she managed to stutter out.

"Hmm, Amu. I quite like that. More than Alice." The boy purred in her ear causing Amu to flush all shades of red and scramble out of his embrace to crouch next to Rabbit. From that distance, it was possible to see all of the boy. His hair was a deep blue, almost cobalt. He wore a purple tunic over black breeches with a fur lined, knee length overcoat. Most notable, though, were the blue ears and tail he sported, which twitched playfully. His face was completely obscured by an elaborately painted cat mask from which peared eyes of a deep blue that matched his hair, ears, and tail. Again, as was the case with Rabbit, this feline-featured young man seemed all too familiar, but Amu was still unable to place from where she knew him. "Who are you?" she demanded of him.

Rabbit waved his arms, his nose wrinkled dismissively. "No one, he's no one!"

The young man laughed and Amu had the distinct feeling, despite the mask in the way, that he was smirking. It cause her heart to ache slightly. She wondered why. Jumping into the air and landing close to Amu, bordering on invasion of personal space, the feline winked. "The name is Cheshire Cat, thought most people call me Cat. You, however, can call me Chesh, Miss Not -Alice." Amu turned red again.

"Enough! Cat, no one actually called you and you knot it!" Rabbit chittered angrily. "Besides, Alice does not need you as a distraction. We are late to see that Hatter!"

"What do you mean 'called him'?" Amu in quired of Rabbit, momentarily distracted from the little amount of space between Chesh and her.

"Oh, come off it, Rabbit. You're always late even when you're not. But the Hatter, you say? That mad man? Great! I have an appointment with him as well." Amu thought that he was definitely smirking this time, his eyes screaming mischief. "I'll take you two."

Rabbit hopped up and down, obviously distressed. "Oh, no you certainly will not! Don't trust a stray cat like him, Alice!"

"Too late." Chesh winked behind his mask. Plopping Rabbit into Amu's lap and then swinging the more than startled girl into his arms, the cat jumped into the air, kicking off branched as Amu's screams were carried away on the wind behind them.

Erin: Yea! Done with that chapter! Ok, so I'm sorry if my writing style noticeably changed throughout the chapter. I wrote the beginning (I think) almost a year ago and so I've changed the way I write (obviously, that's just called development.) But I really hope you enjoyed reading it! As always, I am open to any constructive criticism. You guys know the deal. Don't be mean, but if there were mistakes or something that bothered you, please tell me!

Remember to read and review! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated guys! Thanks again for reading. Wait for my next chapter of Lost Memories to come out soon!