Originally Posted on: May 30, 2014

Updated on: May 19, 2016

Author's Note: Like I said previously, readers who have read this story before don't need to read this chapter. If you need a refresher, I'll post it in the next chapter. You're welcome haha! :)

I

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

It was summer.

Haruka retreated to her backyard Friday, reading under the large oak tree for shade. The sky reminded her of Ringo's eyes, with the richness of the blue. She never looked up at the sky in Japan.

Not even once, she supposed.

The sun was high and bright, beating down. She would've been uncomfortable of the heat weren't it for the light breeze that she enjoyed. The weather was more than nice, but there weren't quite words to explain it. Some would say that Haruka was simply at peace.

Inhaling the sweet scent of flowers, Haruka marveled at the garden in her backyard. "Nii-san does well watering the plants," remarked Haruka. "They're very… beautiful."

And so she read with the sounds of nature around her – the wind swishing her hair not wildly but comfortably, the sound of the leaves of the tree rustling against each other, the creatures around moving about – and it was calming. It was tranquil, and quite pleasant, a break from her demanding life.

An hour had passed, and Haruka read off a fourth of the book. Within several more hours, she was finished. The sun was behind her, but not quite setting, sending faded shadows onto the pages of her open novel. Within a few minutes of thinking pensively, Haruka began speaking to herself, playing with the hem of her periwinkle skirt.

"It must be fun for the protagonist to be in such a silly world with talking rabbits and pretend tea parties. With a queen who likes to behead, and a silly cat that likes to speak in riddles," she mused. "The life Alice had. What about me?"

She paused. "My name is Alice, right? But it's Haruka. My parents gave me the name Nanami Haruka. But nii-san gave me the name Alice. In fact, I'm Alice Liddell. I…"

Quite suddenly, a cat frolicked up to her, causing her to jump. "Ah!" she exclaimed in surprise, her hands flying up to protect herself. Haruka realized that she could be a bit helpless at times.

And silly.

Not a moment after, she laughed while stroking his shiny fur. "It's you. Kuppuru."

The cat meowed while licking his paw. "Meow."

"What a cute kitten," cooed Haruka, tickling his face and ears.

Kuppuru was a stray cat Haruka liked to play with from time to time, adorned in fine black fur, sleek and shiny over light, eyes glowing a piercing green. She couldn't have him though because Ringo didn't like cats. He insisted that they brought bad luck – especially the black ones, despite the opposite tale in Japan.

He'd murdered several there. He was blamed.

Haruka peered over the cat. "I want you so much," she sighed, "but nii-san would never want to see a cat again. He's just feeling guilty over them because he thinks that he'll hurt them. But he's just very caring that way."

As she continued to babble nonsense to Kuppuru, she abruptly stopped when she heard rustling in the bushes. She glanced over, then slowly began to talk again. "Erm, um – maybe I should give you an English name, right? Would you like… Dinah? Oh, but that's a girl's name, isn't it? Well, how about—"

The sound interrupted Haruka again, giving her a jolt. "Who – who's there?" she called out with her best English.

"Why must you speak English when you can speak in rhyme?" asked a voice.

Haruka jolted. "Wha – huh?"

"I'm right here!" She slowly turned to the cat. It meowed at her.

"Kuppuru didn't talk… or did he…"

"Fact is, miss, I did. Would you prefer Japanese?" Haruka's eyes scanned the garden, standing up with a troubled look on her face.

She blinked at a small boy in front of her she didn't notice smiling up at her. "Ah – ah – what—" she stammered, swallowing thickly, "—who – who are you?"

The boy lightly scratched the side of his slightly curled salmon pink hair that matched his eye color, while his white rabbit ears perked up and wiggled. Haruka stared at the ears. Real? Haruka wondered, stupefied.

"I'm the White Rabbit – Mi-ka-do Na-gi," he pronounced. His head was tilted, his body bowing slightly, so he could see her eyes under her thick bangs. "Nice to meet you, Alice-chan."

"A-Alice-chan?" Haruka dumbly repeated. "How did you—"

"Ali-chan. I know a lot about you!" Nagi chirped. "You read a lot, play the piano, like to sing, have a brother, lived in Japan – all kinds of stuff. Your favorite color is a light teal, your favorite drink is citrus tea, and—"

"H-How do you know all of that?" interrupted Haruka in disbelief. "I – this is – wait!" The other facts he listed faded away like white noise when she heard that he knew about her past in Japan. How could he have known that? Who told him! Does Ringo-nii-san know this boy! And… w-what's with his ears?

Nagi started to laugh. "Ali-chan! Would you like to follow the white rabbit? We could play a game together."

Haruka snapped back into reality. People didn't have rabbit ears attached to their head that perfectly moved on their mental command. She didn't even know this clearly-irrational kid that stalked her somehow, without her knowing. And so she couldn't just say, "Of course," for that wouldn't make sense at all.

Or did it have to make sense? She herself questioned her sanity at times.

"Eh…" The rosette could barely form words in her mouth.

Nagi snugly wrapped his arms around her waist without warning. "Ah!" she squealed in surprise. "M-Mikado-san…"

"Please?" The White Rabbit shot her a pair of very persuasive pity eyes. "We'll just play a game, that's all!"

"Um, w-what kind of game?" asked Haruka, closing her eyes to shut out her vision. Her brows furrowed, uncertain.

"A very fun game!" he exclaimed while flinging his arms up. "You just need to follow me."

"I don't – well – where will we be going?"

Nagi gave her an innocent, toothy grin, saying, "To a wonderful wonder world."

Like many teens her age, Haruka had thought that the child in front of her meant something along the lines of, 'We're going to the world of imagination!' She tentatively smiled and, being kind as she was, nodded. "Oh, of course we could go, Mikado-san. But we shouldn't wander off too far—!"

The minute she gave him her consent, Nagi snatched Haruka's hand and practically dragged her into an unknown forest far from her house. "Let's go!" he cheered with a wide grin plastered on his face. His white blazer and pants were slightly smudged with dirt, his red scarf near undone. His pocket watch jingled at his side, but gave off a noise of ticking. Haruka thought of the time, knowing that the sun would set in less than two hours.

"Wait, we're going to be here, i-in this dark forest? Oh, I can't—!" Haruka bit her lip, regretting her decision.

"Are you scared, Ali-chan? There's no need to be afraid!" laughed Nagi. "I'm thirteen years old! I know what I'm doing."

"But I can't—"

"We're here!"

Yikes, I can't see my house from here, Haruka thought, worried sick to the stomach. "I um – I really think we should turn around—"

"Ali-chan!" interrupted Nagi with a disappointed look, as he continued to drag her. "We're already where we're supposed to be! We can't go back now. I'm going to be late!"

Haruka wore a befuddled expression. "Late? Late for what?"

Ignoring her, Nagi just took her hand and jumped into something Haruka couldn't see initially. Then, without realizing it at first, she found herself falling down a large hole. Her eyes bugged out beyond what she thought possible; her voice wished to scream but it was lacking. "Mi – Mi – M-Mikado-san! We're – we're—" she was petrified beyond proper words, her throat dry from the events, "—we're falling!"

Nagi glanced down while grinning and looking up at her. He let out a small laugh at her expression. "We are, aren't we?" he considered aloud, with such a relaxed voice that Haruka could only gape in horror like a fish out of water.

"But – we're going to die!"

She wondered how deep the hole was all of a sudden. She might've just reached the mantle at this rate, and she imagined the tragic death in tears.

"Alas, we cannot fall forever," sighed Nagi with a shrug. He checked his pocket watch. "Ah, it's six."

Haruka saw a light at the end of the rabbit hole, far from her. Her eyes widened in dread as she tried finding a branch that she could safely hold onto for dear life. But instead of seeing the normal things, she found floating teacups and saucers, open books large and small, lamps turning on and off on its own, water pitchers, candy apples, laced dresses, witch's brooms—and all were floating, defying gravity.

Realizing this, Haruka attempted to hold onto a large object that floated, scraping her nails onto a bookshelf to no avail. The top was slippery, and her nails were rather short, so she fell down, down, and down… deeper and deeper into the darkness…

Or light.

She closed her eyes and embraced her knees, waiting for the arriving impact of a painful death.

But it never came.

No one would've ever thought that the delightful child, Nanami Haruka "Alice Liddell," would die from falling into a strange rabbit hole. But she didn't die. She was simply dreaming under the tree, surely. Possibly? Of course.

Right?

The sound of a clock blared in Haruka's ears. Tick, tock, tick tock, went the clock, on and on, until the wheels couldn't turn – until it broke – and then it stopped.

Oh, how Haruka would grow to dislike the sound of the clock. Then, the sound grew louder like a grandfather's clock, ding, dong, ding, dong, on and on…

Was this the hour of… her death? Unpleasantly dramatic.

Her eyes shifted subtly, like an awakening angel. She slowly forced herself to sit up from the sweet-smelling grass that almost smelled like candy. As her golden eyes dilated from the dim light, she found herself alone, on a carpet of grass. 'Where am I?' she mouthed to herself.

Haruka started to grow worried. "… Nii-san? Mikado-san?" She stood up, leaving the lovely feeling of the grass tickling her pale skin. Now was definitely not the time to be slumbering peacefully, though she would've liked to.

Her breath hitched at the sudden cold draft. She shivered, rubbing her arms.

She looked down. Haruka wore a periwinkle dress with a white apron, laced at the hem of the skirt and on the edges of her puffed sleeves, knee-high socks striped in black and white, and red, strapped shoes with a small bit of heel. A thin ribbon was tied into her hair, serving as a headband.

Haruka stared up. There was the hole, or perhaps a tunnel, that she just fell down from. The floating objects still dwelled within the hole, sparking her curiosity for only a moment, before she let it go.

"I feel as if a part of me is gone," mumbled Haruka. The girl often talked to herself. She liked to play and to have "adventures" – typically fantasies in her mind – but usually knew when she was getting too far.

Haruka liked quiet and peaceful places, and was curious but never would go anywhere she sensed danger. She'd only ask questions and avoid risk.

Though, she couldn't help but wonder if by 'yes' to the White Rabbit, she meant that she'd let go of her past self, Haruka, and embrace her new self. Though, how silly.

Suddenly, she heard her name being called in a slight singing tone. "Alice," it serenaded. "Precious Alice."

Haruka felt a strange sensation. She mentally questioned herself at this. I don't know this person calling me – does he know me? Do – do I follow the voice? He could help me out, but…

She looked right, finding a long hall, almost like a corridor. It stretched across to what seemed like forever, the end dark and uninviting (and yet intriguing), with the floors and walls just a black and white checkered pattern. The sight of it could trip anyone's eyes, perhaps getting them to think that their feet were stuck on the walls and they're walking down a hole. There were no mirrors or tables, but there were paintings hanging on the walls, draped in heavy cloth. She had a feeling that it was an illusion, but her feet moved on its own, and paced forward.

She looked back for a moment as she walked, but sought to find answers. There was no way she could climb her way up that hole she'd been falling from for minutes when gravity seemed to favor her.

From time to time, Haruka could sense the calling voice elsewhere. The rosette glanced around, the sound sending chills down her spine. She had to take deep breaths to slow her heart down.

Haruka was tempted to pull off each cloth over the paintings. She came to the conclusion that it couldn't hurt to lift off each cloth but not tear it completely off. As she lifted the first one, she first noticed a small caption below the painting, and a shiver ran down her spine when she glanced up.

The face was shadowed but entirely ominous. She couldn't recognize him at all, not that she thought she could, even if she was able to view his face clearly.

'The Dealer.'

A strange sensation washed over Haruka, in a way that she could hardly fathom. Seizing the cloth in her hands, she yanked it away. The face on the painting smirked, nearly giving her a heart attack, but Haruka pretended she was seeing things. Unnerved, she yanked each and every painting.

The second one was a man in a beard with black-feathered wings, smirking at her: 'The Raven.'

The third one was someone that didn't smile; but its pale, youthful face made Haruka gape: 'The White Rabbit.'

The next painting was a stoic, young man with cyan hair, mostly tied up, but some locks fell in the front. His eyes were cyan as well, cold and icy: 'The Conscious.'

There was a smirking man with violet eyes and shaggy chestnut-colored hair, with a jester hat and jester-like clothes that were red and black: 'The Joker.'

Next revealed a silver-haired man with a scowl upon his face, with mismatching eyes silver and violet. His clothing was mostly of white leopard fur and other animal furs, with a chain on his neck that had a silver ring hanging from it: 'The Bandersnatch.'

The title was unfamiliar. But from then on, Haruka was aware that they assumed titles from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

A dream, she decided.

For once, there was a young woman with long, curly red hair and eyes the shade of a vibrant magenta, with a red, black, gold and white flowing dress, a gold crown, and a scepter with a ruby jewel. "Oh, it's 'The Red Queen,'" Haruka muttered. "Maybe she's the Queen of Hearts… ha – as, as if I'd…"

There was another redhead who was a man that looked genuinely cheerful despite no smile, with red eyes in silver armor. A sword lay at his side: 'The Red Knight.'

There was a blonde man dressed in white, a silver crown with diamond jewels adorning his head. His icy blue eyes were void of emotion, but in a different way from 'The Conscious.' A silver scepter was in his grip: 'The White King.'

The painting alongside had a navy-haired man in white armor, his eyes cold yet cool. His hair was spiky and flown out: 'The White Knight.' Haruka paused for a minute, staring at his eyes, and for a moment, it seemed to come across her that she's seen a man similar to him before.

His name was Hayato. Like Haruka, he moved to America from Japan, except he didn't change his name like she did. Hayato was a handsome, popular man at Haruka's school, and he was boisterous and energetic at times. He appeared like a Korean model or a member of an Asian boy band. Most of the time, Haruka and most other people saw him as an animated guy that came straight from a cartoon, who could do practically anything and nothing would bother him.

Haruka's eyes faltered. According to a friend of hers, Hayato liked her. Sure, he was sweet and kind, but he had this – this feel to him that not many people understood, including her.

Beside 'The White Knight' was a painting of a stern looking man with straight blue hair and blue eyes, with a faint mole on his face. He wore many layers of loose, almost traditional clothing: 'The Caterpillar.'

Another was a black-haired man who looked like the quiet type, with bright yellow eyes and feathery clothing similar to 'The Raven,' except paler: 'The Dodo.'

Ah… 'The Black Rabbit'?

He had orange hair and black rabbit ears, and he looked older than Ringo. The only men Haruka thought was older than Ringo were 'The Dealer' and 'The Raven.'

Then, she blinked and stared blankly at 'The Mad Hatter.' He had bright blue eyes and small smirk on his lips, adorning a top hat with red-and-white roses and shoulder-length strawberry-blonde hair.

How… handsome.

Well, she could admit that all of these men were handsome, but it felt embarrassing enough to let it cross her mind.

Just who are these people?

The next painting depicted a content young man (the corners of his mouth weren't up, but his eyes crinkled a bit) with blonde hair and green eyes, a pair of glasses resting on his nose. Brown hare ears were attached to his head: 'The March Hare.'

An annoyed-looking blonde with red clips on the side of his hair had small mouse ears on his head, his eyes a cerulean shade and his ears pierced: 'The Dormouse.'

There was a smiling man on the next one that would've been nice for a change if it weren't so off, as if the smile wasn't real. He had a deep brown hair color that reached his shoulders, his eyes a warm shade of grey. Haruka tried to smile at this: 'The Tweedles.'

Where's the other Tweedle… a-ah—

The smile was borderline unsettling, and then it stopped smiling. She thrust the cloth before it and swiped at the next one, only for it to be the last one.

He was someone that oddly resembled Kuppuru in Haruka's mind, which surprised her for a second. His skin was tanned, his hair dark, his eyes the same shade of green, and cat ears and a black tail on him. 'The Cheshire Cat' smiled at her, unlike the others, but what startled her was that she thought she saw a grin on him that flashed and disappeared.

Her breathing hitched unevenly, as she glanced around. "Who – who's there?"

"Come, Alice…"

"But I – I don't even know who you are. Can you please show yourself?" asked Haruka. The voice kept calling, however, ignoring her question. Haruka was growing desperate, as she started walking faster, faster, and eventually running. Sounds of maniacal laughing reached her sensitive ears, as she covered them, squeezed her eyes shut, and continued running. "Please – please. Stop!"

What happened to the calm strolling, examining paintings like window-shopping?

The laughing continued. If anyone else had heard it, they would've gone mad and would've found it unbearable. Haruka just kept running, completely terrified of it. "NII-SAN!" she screamed. "M-Mikado-san! Somebody! I need somebody – urgh!"

Haruka's face smacked something hard. Her eyes snapped open to the end of the checkered hallway to a large room with multiple doors. Tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. "Why… why did I fall down the rabbit hole?" she cried up to the ceiling. "I – must I fall, Mr. Rabbit?"

No, Haruka wasn't very fond of Wonderland, if this was what it really was. Maniacal laughter, dim lights, nonsensical scenery – it all couldn't be a dream. It felt way too real for that. But still, slipping away from all sanity suddenly seemed like a good option.

"Why must I… fall down the rabbit hole?" Haruka quietly whispered.

Nanami Haruka ~ Alice Liddell

Mikado Nagi ~ The White Rabbit