AN: Well, hope you like the story so far. Here's chapter two.
"So, what were those mice that attacked us?" Alex asked. It was about ten minutes later, and he, the rabbit, and the girl he now knew was the Hatter were in a hat shop.
"Dormice." The Hatter answered. "Servants of the Red King. Guess he already knew you were here."
"Red King?" Alex asked.
"The ruler of Wonderland." Hatter answered, arranging some hats on foam heads. "He used to rule alongside his wife, the White Queen. But one day he went insane and, well, I don't like to think about what happened to her." Alex shuddered, despite himself. He looked from the White Rabbit, who was looking at a cute little sunbonnet back to the Hatter and said
"So, um, Hatter, the Cheshire Cat told me that you could take me back home?"
"Ugh, that cat." Hatter said in contempt, and Alex noticed that there was an angry look on her face. "She always was a compulsive liar."
"Wait, so you can't do anything?!" Alex asked, trying to panic. Hatter opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say anything, a male voice from outside asked
"Hey, what's the noise in there, Hatter?" Alex and the two girls turned their heads as the door opened and a figure entered the shop. Alex could immediately tell upon first glance that it was a rabbit person like the White Rabbit, except older, and male. Also, his fur was brown instead of white. Sharp gray eyes narrowed at Alex.
"Who's the kid?" he asked.
"March Hare, that's Alex Hampton." Hatter introduced him. "Alex, that's my partner, the March Hare."
"Partner?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, that's right." the March Hare said, folding his arms. "Guy's gotta make a living, you know? So, I help her to make hats for the people of Wonderland."
"He's also a whiz at explosives." Hatter said nonchalantly, and the hare boy glared at her.
"Hatter, are you out of your gourd?!" March Hare demanded. "Don't tell him that, what if he's a spy for the Red King?!"
"He just got here a), and b)," the Hatter answered matter-of-factly, "I saved him from the king's dormice. I doubt 'his highness' has had a chance to get to him yet."
"Still though, you have to be careful!" March Hare scolded her. "Openly rebelling against the king; it's no wonder they've started calling you mad..."
"I could care less about what other people think about me." Hatter stated, though Alex noticed a flash of anger in her eyes. "Anyway, someone has to stop that madman."
Finally, Alex couldn't take it any longer.
"Hey, excuse me!" He shouted, and the Hatter and March Hare stared/glared at him.
"Yeah, what do you want?" the March Hare sneered.
"So you can't get me out of Wonderland?" Alex asked the Hatter, fearing the answer.
"No, but I know someone who might be able to help you. But first, you're going to have to change your clothes."
"Huh?" Alex asked.
"You stick out too much. You'll draw less attention if you dress like one of the locals." The Hatter explained.
"Well...okay then." Alex agreed.
Meanwhile, in another part of the magical land, a tall man sat in a throne. Along with being tall, he had a fairly muscular build, and, if one didn't know better, they would've thought that he was on fire. Pretty much everything about him was red, his long, wild hair, mustache, eyes, robes, and shoes. Pretty much the only thing one him that wasn't red was the golden crown on his head, though it did have a ruby in the center.
Footsteps coming from down the hall indicated the arrival of another person.
"I take it the mice were unsuccessful, then?" he asked.
"Your intuition is keen as always, my King." a woman said, walking up to him. She was of about average height, with a slender waist, large chest, long, flowing brown hair, and sky-blue eyes. She wore a long-sleeved, dark green dress with a white bodice, that complimented her figure, and black, flat shoes. The king frowned.
"I expected more from you, Duchess. Explain your failure." The Duchess bit her lip nervously.
"I-I am very sorry, my Lord. It-It was the Hatter, you see..."
"Of course." the Red King frowned. "Such a pain-but she'll grow out of it. They all do, eventually." An evil smile crossed his face at this, and the Duchess relaxed a little. "For now, let's just keep an eye on the boy, shall we?"
The Hatter and March Hare led the way through the colorful forest, with Alex and the White Rabbit behind them. Alex frowned down at the outfit he was wearing. At the Hatter's insistence, he had changed out of his yellow T-shirt and black jeans into a long-sleeved, buttoned white shirt, dark blue vest, and pants of the same color, with penny loafers on his feet.
"14 years old, and I look like somebody's great-great times 25 grandpa." He complained. He then looked down at the White Rabbit. "Why are you still following me?!" he demanded. The rabbit girl just stopped in her tracks and looked down at the ground sadly.
"You know, you don't have to be so hard on her." the Hatter said. "After all, up until a couple weeks ago, she was a slave of the Red King." Alex froze in his tracks.
"What?" he asked in surprise.
"Yeah." the Hatter said. "The king captured her one day and forced her to serve him. As you can imagine, he was always cruel to her, and made her go into your world to lure people here."
You mean like she did to me? Alex was tempted to ask, but thought better of it.
"But then one day, she came to us." the March Hare continued. "We took her in, and she's been helping us ever since."
"We have no idea what the king did to her, but whatever it was, it was so horrible that it rendered her unable to speak." the Hatter finished. Blue met pink as Alex locked eyes with the White Rabbit. It was only then that he saw the fear, the sadness, in her eyes.
Poor little thing. He thought. Maybe I have been too hard on her.
"We're here." the Hatter said suddenly. The group stopped all of a sudden, and Alex noticed that they were in a forest of overgrown mushrooms. A woman sat on top of the largest mushroom. Or, at least, the upper half of her body looked like a woman. The lower part looked like a caterpillar, with many legs. Unlike the other animal people Alex had seen in Wonderland, the caterpillar woman's hair was white, unlike the rest of her body, which was light blue. Her hair covered her breasts, and there was a sad look in her eyes. Alex almost found her beautiful.
"Hatter, March Hare." she said in a sad, melodic voice. "You bring a newcomer with you."
"This is Alex Hampton." the Hatter introduced him.
"Um, hey." Alex said, waving nervously.
"Such a handsome young face." the caterpillar said slowly. "Such a shame."
Huh? Alex asked. Out loud, he asked
"So um, do you know how I can get out of here?"
"Yes indeed." the caterpillar said. "But it won't be easy." She stared straight ahead, as if looking at something in the distance, then said "There is only one way out of Wonderland. Unfortunately, it is right behind the Red King's castle."
"What?!" Alex said in horror. Suddenly, something came to him. "Wait a second. When she-" he started, pointing to the White Rabbit, "made me fall down a hole and end up here, I wasn't anywhere near a castle! How come-"
"Rabbit holes open all over Wonderland for a little while, but they don't last long." The caterpillar explained. "Except for the one behind the palace. That one opened a long time ago, and it's the only surefire way back to your world."
"But how am I supposed to get there?" Alex asked. "From what I've heard, the king isn't the nicest guy around. I doubt he'd just let me in to get back home if I ask him politely." The Caterpillar smiled sadly.
"I wish I knew what to tell you, Alex Hampton. Unfortunately, not all answers come that easily." Alex sighed miserably. He was about to say something else, but then the caterpillar interrupted him.
"But know this, Alex. You have a great destiny before you." As soon as the caterpillar was done talking, a mysterious fog rolled in, and as soon as it cleared, the caterpillar was mysteriously gone.
"Just as cryptic as ever, I see." The sudden voice made Alex jump, but he was the only one who did so. The others just turned around, the Hatter with a look of annoyance on her face.
"What are you doing here, cat?" The Cheshire Cat grinned from the mushroom she was on top of.
"What can I say?" She teleported from the mushroom and reappeared next to Alex, locking her arms around him. "I just can't resist a handsome face." She was about to lick Alex's cheek, but suddenly, a loud stomp sounded through the forest. The White Rabbit ran and hid behind Alex again, and the Hatter pulled out her pistols while the March Hare tensed up for battle. Even the Cheshire Cat stopped acting frisky and stared ahead.
"Guys?" Alex asked. "What's that?" Nobody answered, but they didn't need to. Alex got his answer soon enough.
A pair of giant, monstrous dodos stormed right up to the gang. Unlike all the other animal people of Wonderland, the dodo beasts didn't look human at all, except for feather patterns on their heads, which looked like they might've once been hair.
"Hey, look Tweedledee, it's the rebels." the male one said.
"What do you say, Tweedledum? Wanna have some fun with these guys?!" the female one asked, sadism evident in her voice. Despite his having a beak, Alex could've sworn he saw the male, Tweedledum, grin evilly as he said
"Yeah, let's."
AN: Yes, a couple of the characters are going to be the same gender as in the original story, just for the sake of convenience. Not much else to say, except leave a review! Please?