Chapter Two.
The rain poured and Charlotte remained completely frozen. The boy on the mushroom continued speaking, but she couldn't really absorb what was being said. His yellow eyes glared, and finally he broke through.
"I said, are you Charlotte Alice?"
The girl shook her copper head, her eyes still glued to the young man. She somehow opened her mouth and answered.
"Um, yeah. I… yeah."
The boy nodded, dark indigo hair sticking to his face from the rain. A smile erupted suddenly onto his features and he leapt from the Toadstool, coming to stand directly before her.
"Hmm, you're very different from the last Alice. Different color hair, and eyes, and you've got these things sticking through your skin. Strange, strange…" He mused to himself, beginning to stalk around her, his eyes probing and eating away at her body. When he stood in front of her, he frowned at her pursed lips and knotted brows.
"That is definitely not an attractive expression, Charlotte Alice. And you're face is so attractive…" he quirked his head towards the bewildered teen, causing her to pull her head back. His smirk turned dangerous….
"You silly Cat, what are you doing?"
Both heads turned to the take in the appearance of a younger teen, his skin a rich brown and his hair a fine gold. His eyes held warmth in its purest form.
"Hmmm, Hare. You came too?" 'Cat' stepped towards the boy, tilting his head up in mock inquiry. The boy scowled.
"Of coarse I came here, dolt. We all did. What did you do?" Anger caused the boy's eyes to narrow and his hair to almost rise in agitation. The teen next to Charlotte seemed to purr.
"I didn't do anything." Cat strolled serenely away, inspecting a tall magenta rose the size of his head. "I believe you should ask her."
"What could this girl have to do with any of this, Cheshire Cat?" A new voice joined the conversation, and Charlotte's head whipped around as a young girl padding out from behind a giant palm frond. Her hair was a mess of short white-blonde curls, her skin the color of cream. Her head twitched from 'Hare' to Charlotte, her vermilion eyes scanning Charlotte like a wolf eyes its' prey.
"Hmm, well, Rabbit, it seems that she's the new Alice."
………
I collapsed to the ground, the cotton-made green dress pooling around my knees and melding with mud. My hands found my face and knotted into my hair.
"This, this is… ridiculous. I mean, I've seen weird shit. Lots and lots and lots of strange, weird things, but this… No. What is... who..." my sentence trailed off into babble. A lone vine trailed up my leg, patting me consolingly as the Cheshire Cat- Cheshire Cat?- chuckled. A rustling to my left signaled the movement of the brown boy, 'Hare'.
"Ah, m'dear, it's all right." He tapped my head awkwardly, and continued on in his British accent. "This can't really be true. It can't be because… because of you." He mumbled, more to himself than anyone else. He began pacing, tugging at his white dress shirt and brown corduroy trousers.
"Well, what else could this all be? I mean, the Queen doesn't have the sort of power to put us all in the Overworld. You know that, March." The pale girl stated, her eyes boring into The Hare's roving form.
"Well, whatever this is, I am not complaining. I was getting rather tired of moving about on four legs." Cat walked over and grabbed me by the arm, rousing me from thought.
"Now, get on, Charlotte Alice. I may like having two legs, but I don't like standing in the rain." He shoved me as gently as he could towards the house, gesturing for me to lead. My mouth still hanging open, and really not understanding at all what was going on, I stayed rooted.
"You'll explain to me about… you… and …. Why exactly you're… in my garden?" I stuttered out, fingers twitching, needing a cigarette. The young man sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Yes, yes, whatever you'd like, Miss Charlotte Alice. Just get me into some warmth, it's rightly chilly out here, girl. And you two, I suggest you come too. I'm sure you wouldn't want to catch cold." He smiled, that grin that means more that what it is, and can hold every secret in the world, and turned to nudge me again. I heard the other two newcomers grudgingly step forward.
"HEY, WAIT A RIGHT SECOND."
The motley procession stopped, turning back towards the center of the… new addition to the Dead Garden. My jaw dropped, and I could feel Cat grab my arm with a seething hiss. From behind the Toadstool popped a man in a top hat.
"Hatter. I see you also got dragged here to the Overworld." Hare stepped towards the gangly man with a small smile.
"Mmm, that's where this is… Peculiar. But intriguing. Somewhat. I guess…" He trailed off, his Kelly eyes wandering, reminding me fleetingly of a child entering a museum. The green orbs stopped momentarily on every member of the group before landing on me and narrowing significantly. He scoffed.
"Your hair needs cutting."
And with that, I let out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sigh, and, eyes rolling back into my head, fainted.
………
Mad Hatter looked incredulously from his old friend (who looked especially young for being an old friend) to the fallen girl.
"Oh, what did I say?" He breathed taking a tenuous step forward and then three staccato steps back. He didn't exactly know what to do. The snide voice of a certain feline perked up.
"I don't know, Hatter, I thought most women fainted at the sight of you." The Cheshire Cat's face reeked of loathing for the madman, his yellow eyes turning to slits. Hatter either didn't understand the comment or chose to ignore it. He tiptoed forward gingerly, holding his cane under his arm and nodding his famous top hat off. He squatted down next to the unconscious teen, his head quirked over her. Understanding hit him like a brick.
"This is… her. The new… the new…"
"Alice. The new Alice, yes, Hatter." White Rabbit stepped forward nodding. The Mad Hatter gave her a queer look before diverting his gaze back to Charlotte. His eyes poured over her as he spoke.
"She looks much like the old Alice, but not quite as small, and with different hair, and much more developed…" A smirk took over his features before flashing back to the normal, almost stoic and curious look. "And she has hooks and holes in her ears. And a jewel on her mouth. This girl must be mad." The Cheshire Cat rolled his eyes and rolled up the sleeves to his light pink dress shirt.
"That's all very nice, Hatter, but I'm done with all of this Overworld weather. Let's get her in the house."
………
I was walking. Or running, or skipping, or sprinting. Whatever it was, I was moving. Gliding towards oblivion. Hands grabbed at me but I kept on moving. Voices murmured and screamed to me, but one stuck out, telling me to just keep on moving. Keep on going, going, going.
The sky opened up and I dropped through, falling into a lake that was more smoke than water. Purple tendrils snaked around me and through me, filling me up. It was all rather peculiar.
The smoke snakes pushed me up so that I was standing, waist-deep in the lake. More than ten yards in front of me was a tree, so large and thrumming with life. Glorious life. Standing in front of the tree was a man, or a boy, his hair wild and his eyes hard and serious. Green eyes. Green like jealousy.
"Alice…"
I stepped forward tentatively. Began running.
"Charlotte, Alice, Alice, Charlotte…"
I leaped towards him, and the Life Tree…
Only to fall deep into the water, and drown.
A groan. I think it was mine.
"Charlotte, Charlotte, are you going to wake up?"
"…No, no, no…" I rolled over, away from the light that was threatening my sleep state. Small hands cupped my cheek, and then lightly slapped me. "Silly girl, you've slept long enough. Now come on. Time is… of the essence, as you Overworlians say."
I opened my eyes and came face to face with the tiny pale girl, her Candy Apple eyes staring openly into mine. I blinked, groaning, remembering.
"I am the White Rabbit."
I almost laughed. "That's nice. I've heard of you. Aren't you late for something?" My voice laced with sleep and sarcasm. I sat up and looked at the girl from the corner of my eye. We were sitting on my threadbare couch, in my 'Living Room'. The only thing living in my living room was a family of mice. Maybe even some spiders, if they were lucky enough. White Rabbit straightened out her white lace dress, and gave a small, mysterious smile.
"My dear, everyone is late for something."
………
Somewhere deep within the lungs of the city, a singular sound rang out above everything else. The sound was something that could make a hardened criminal cry, cause the most vicious animals to shudder and whine, and cause even the most healthy trees and flowers to wither slightly.
It was a laugh. A cackle. A cruel, sick, mindless chuckle. Coming from a dark, red mouth, it was more like a death sentence than a show of mirth. The woman issuing the offensive noise pointed her obsidian eyes to the tall, gruff man sitting opposite her. His square jaw looked to be made of steel, his eyes a muddy, greedy brown. He smirked at the beautiful Red Queen.
"Now, who is it you are looking for?"
………
The White Rabbit popped up, tittering through the kitchen, a much slower and calmer (albeit confuddled) Charlotte Alice Cidel following. The platinum blonde haired girl looked to be only 11, maybe 12, and was incredibly small, but she seemed much older. She poked her head into various cabinets and bags and boxes, finally stopping in the refrigerator. Charlotte leaned behind a counter, watching her with a somewhat placated expression, and Rabbit was fine with rooting and mumbling. She finally made an 'aha' noise, and pulled an armful of something out of the off-white, ancient fridge. She dropped the items in front of the bewildered teen with satisfaction.
"…Plums." Charlotte's gray eyes surveyed the inoffensive fruits, picking one up skeptically with a pale hand.
"I didn't have any plums." She dropped her gaze onto the strange little girl, who was smiling to herself.
"Apparently you did. Don't question it, just eat it, Mary Anne." She murmured, beginning to skip away. Charlotte's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Um, Rabbit, did you just call me…?"
But the girl was out of the room, and out of earshot. "I'm afraid I can't hear you, dear Charlotte Alice. You should come back in here."
Grabbing two of the ripe plums, she stepped out of the small kitchen and sat next to White Rabbit again. The young girl just stared easily at the older girl, her eyes curiously watching her devour the purple, sweet fruit. Charlotte closed her eyes and swallowed, almost moaning in contentment. She mumbled something along the lines of 'best goddamn plum I've ever tasted' before turning to the mysterious White Rabbit.
"So, you'll explain everything to me now?"
………
Time seemed to slow after I said that. I sat patiently as a flurry of emotions and conflictions passed over the pale face that was inches from my own. A few minutes and bites of sinfully delicious plum later, she turned her cherry eyes to mine, her face suddenly playfully spiteful.
"No." She hopped to her feet, standing above me with her arms crossed. My mouth opened incredulously.
"Really? Really? You explode from a fucking mushroom in the corner of my very dead garden and then you call me weird names and give me weird fruits and you won't tell me what's going on?!" The words flooded angrily from my mouth and my arms flew up into the air. This all seemed to just entertain the white rabbit that much more.
"Ah, ah, don't lose your temper with me, silly girl. You'll get your answers in due time. I just want wait for the others. I am not about to explain everything by myself," she almost whispered.
"And where in the world are they?" I growled out, surprised at my own anger. The White Rabbit just smiled wider, if possible. Her eyes looked everywhere but at me.
"Well, March Hare disappeared for a little bit. I'm guessing that will happen from time to time, seeing as we are not from this world. Cheshire Cat is probably in the attic, and Mad Hatter is most probably going through your things."
………
A/N: Okay, so there you go. Chapter two. It's a tad longer than the first, which was way harder than I thought it would be. I have a new respect for authors who write four thousand word chapters. You guys are amazing. And, thanks to mutantsrocktheworld, lovelyarisu, and especially ShyLikeThat for reviewing. (:
Also, check out ShyLikeThat's Cheshire Cat story. It's magically delicious. C;
Please tell me what you think. Reviewwwwww!