1st Place Entry by: ChaosMorning
Luna in Wonderland
In
Adventures of a World of Wonder…
May This Story Let You Follow
Luna
For Soon Is True
The New Day Begins With Her… and You
It looked to be another lazy afternoon; the sun filled the sky, hanging high in the blue far above Alan's Tree, where two sisters were sitting beneath the trees shade. Luna sighed as her sister Candace read the school lessons, while going over the family clothing store rules and guidelines.
"Now, a customer requests you
sew him a woollen sweater, it is the week of July 11th,
and you tell him the weekly cost of numbers with 1's in them is 3
dollars extra, and that he will have to-" Candace was reading from
the textbook, and Luna cut her off with disgust in her eyes.
"Why
would he even WANT a
wool sweater in July?" Luna snapped.
"It's only a
ques-"
"And, if
it's July," Luna said, hugging her stuffed black rabbit. "Why
would we be working? We should be at the beach," Luna
continued.
Candace sighed, brushing her blue hair out of her eyes.
"Luna, the shop works all Summer, all year round. You won't have
that time off anymore."
"That's Aw-Full!" Luna spat
crossing her arms.
"It's bad business to close just because
it's summer," Candace said, "Nonsense to close because of a
season," Candace said seriously.
"To YOU maybe," scoffed
the pink haired girl. "If it was up to me,
in MY world,I'd close for
holidays, weekends, and summer, even winter, too cold to sew then!
And oh, yes lots of candy, even flowers could sing!"
"N-Nonsense
Luna, nothing l-like that could happen."
"Nonsense,
just means you have
more fun. Reality is too DULL!" Luna laughed. Her sister sighed
once more. "If such a place existed, it would be in complete
chaos…W-well, I'll be right back, I-I'll get us something to
drink."
"Yeah, okay," Luna said watching her sister walk
away. She ran her hand down her red-Lolita dress,
and rested her
hands onto her knees, staring into the field.
"Rabbit?
Mr. Bunny? Where are you?" she asked looking for her stuffed toy,
the black rabbit with white button eyes, a corset, and stitched eyes.
She got up and looked around Alan's Tree, when she saw something
that amazed her. The rabbit was up walking, searching the back base
of the tree.
"What in the world? That rabbit's stuffed!" The
stuffed animal lifted a root, revealing a closed door, which it
opened and walked through, the door slamming behind him.
Not
without me you don't! Luna
thought, getting on her knees and crawling to the little door.
She began pulling the door, yanking the knob. "OH! So a Stuffed
Rabbit can open it, but I
can't?! I don't
think so!" she raised her red boot to the door, and back away a
bit, before letting the door have it!
Its hinges creaked open
finally and Luna grinned. "High about time," Luna said crawling
into the door.
"WHAAAA!" cried Luna, upon entering the
door, she began tumbling down a…for lack of better words,
rabbit
hole. A bit away, Luna spotted her rabbit sitting on a blue
chair.
"There you are!" Luna grabbed hold of the chair, and
the rabbit walked up and clutched onto Luna's red bandana, "Hey!
Careful!" she called as the two tumbled down.
"Sure is a
long drop, isn't it?"
The rabbit nodded.
"If I hadn't
seen you walking I'm sure I'd think I've gone mad. Then again,
I'm sure I've gone mad by now, I'm falling down a pit, to which
seems to have no end and-"
The rabbit jumped off and began free
falling down, it pointed down like an arrow, hurtling faster and
faster.
"Wait up!" Luna attempted the same, but caught a
downdraft that turned her dress into a parachute, safely bringing her
down…well, more-or-less, until she got near the end and was thrown
to the floor.
She landed in a red and black
tiled room, there was a table set for a picnic, and a chimney with a
fire in it. As well as a bed in one end of the room.
"Not a bad
place…Oh!" she remembered her bunny, and turned to see the shadow
of the rabbit running down the hall.
"Rabbit! Wait up! Luna chased
the rabbit far down the hall, until they reached a door. Once again,
the rabbit opened it and went through, closing the door behind it.
"Sorry, we'll talk later, I need to get somewhere!" the
rabbit called, leaving Luna's mouth wide open in a 'O.' The
door may have been a good size for the rabbit, but Luna was much
larger, and looked around the door in question of how to get through.
Lune reached for the handle, but the door was locked firm in place.
"Oh, it's one of those
days, I just know
it…"
"It seems to be the start of one, at any rate,"
someone said. "The bottle up there could help," said the person
dryly.
"Who's there?!" Luna snapped sharply.
"Right
here," said the doorknob.
"Oh, talking door's, that's
perfectly normal,"
Luna remarked.
"Doors don't talk," the knob said.
"And
I suppose Door-Knobs do?"
"Well aren't you talking to one
right now?" he said.
"Touché," Luna said reaching for the
bottle on the table, she read it, a label on it said: DRINK ME.
Luna
rolled her eyes as she shook the little bottle. "Well, drink it
really and
I was so looking forward to
tap-dancing on it…" she said
uncorking it and drank half of it, but couldn't finish because of
it odd taste.
"Oooff!" Luna cried as she hit the floor, the
drink had caused her to shrink, and now collapsed on the ground. She
was now the same size as the door, and ran up to it once more.
"Alright, now open
up!"
"Ok, got the key?" Asked the doorknob.
"Freaky
talking doorknob say whaaaaat?" Luna asked, crossing her arms.
"They key on the table, the one next to the bottle you
drank."
She looked up to the door, "Wow…even here I'm
too short!!!" Luna cried, she kicked the table leg, and fell
backwards onto a cookie with a note saying: EAT ME.
"Well don't
mind If I do," Luna smiled, biting the sweet.
"Mmm,
tasty, needs milk…that's a weird after
taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasste!" Luna cried as she grew enormously
tall, her head crashing to the ceiling, her legs out and smashing
into the walls, with a shaking around in the room. The pain sunk in,
and Luna began crying, not only from the pain, but from the confusion
of what was happening and she didn't understand any of it. Her
tears fell by the buckets, flooding the room, the doorknob gurgled in
fear: "The bottle! Drink the rest!"
Still in tears, Luna
reached out and picked the bottle up, though, now it was the size of
a pin next to her.
She drank every last drop, and was thrown in
the air, now the size of a thimble, and ended up falling into the
very bottle she just drank.
"Miss?" The doorknob opened its mouth, only to swallow in more of the ocean of tear's Luna created, even the very bottle where Luna now was trapped.
"Well, won't Takeru be
surprised when I tell him of this adventure," Luna said, speaking
of her best friend, Takeru Tranquil, the son of a farmer. "Not that
people will believe
me, strange as this place is."
Luna leaned her head against the
side of the bottle, as the waves of her tears rocked her to a nearby
shore.
The forests and beaches spanned out as far as Luna's eyes could see. (Albeit she was only three inches high) A world of emerald green leaves, trees and branches, the beaches were warm and sandy, shells stretched out before them. Nothing but sun was shining, except for one part, where the waves viciously shattered across the sand. Luna climbed out of the bottle, and as she did, the waves began to pour every which way; the world seemed to drown from her tears.
Luna ran down the path, seeing animals of all sorts and distortions of everything she knew. The water washed all around her, and Luna began running again, until she slipped over a root
"AHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Luna yelled, she kept falling and falling, the drop was even longer then when she first entered Wonderland.
SPLASH!!
"Hut! Hut! Haha! Come along
Charlie, move along!"
Luna looked through the waves for the
White Rabbit, though she saw nothing after a large wave crashed into
her. When she opened her eyes, she had been caught up in a game or
something.
"Oh. My. Gosh," Luna said. Starfish, pigeons and
herons, even turtles were racing around a tall rock, where on top,
and another bird was sitting. Another wave crashed, and hit
everyone…except the Dodo on the top of the rock.
"Why, my, oh you!" The Dodo
said. "Join the Cactus Race! Dry you right off!"
Luna ran in
the circle, and continuously was being splashed by the waves. "No
one can be dried in the race! Ridicules!"
"Why nonsense, I'm
dry as the White
Rabbit's humour!" laughed the Dodo.
"Well of course you're
dry, the waves aren't even-"
Luna paused as she saw a Rabbit
washed ashore, and he got up quickly dashing into the woods.
"You know, all these people are
only Half-Animal… White Rabbit only has the ears and tail…"
She
tried to follow him, but the huge sapphire waves washed around her,
the others pushing her in line, stopping her form running.
"Hey! Cut it out!" she yelled at…a starfish. Wow, you don't write that every day.
"Come now Charlie, just keep
with the flow and you'll be dry in no time!" called the Dodo.
"Who's Charlie?" Luna called.
"Why you of course,
Charlie," said a mouse.
Charlie?
Since when am I 'Charlie'?!
"Come
along now lad," said the Dodo, "Keep up you're running and
you'll work off those excess pounds like, well me," he laughed.
Luna clenched her fist. "Oh it is NO WONDER your species is
extinct!" she yelled leaping at the rock he stood on.
"Ah! He's gone mad!"
"I'm
wearing a dress! How could I be a Lad
or Charlie?"
"He's right,
we must help his sanity…Get the dress!" he called to the others.
Another waved washed over Luna, throwing her to the grass passed the beach, leaving (some of) the crazies behind her.
"Ah! Awful stuff this weather is!" someone cried out, Luna looked around, sitting under the shade of a tree, a young man wearing a white-tux, matching white slacks, ironed well. His hair was blonde, with a silver look to it, and his eyes sharp and slicing blue with glasses. But the most interesting feature the handsome figure bore was two white fluffy bunny ears, and a white rabbit tail.
"G-Gill?! Oh…YOU'RE SO CUTE
AS A BUNNY!!"
"Who's Gill?" said the White Rabbit
snottily.
"Y-You're not Gill?" Luna asked.
"Didn't
we just go
over this…"
"Oh, well you're certainly just as pleasant as
he is. Well…could you tell me what time it is? Seems like I've
been drifting in that bottle forever."
The White Rabbit pulled a
pocket watch from his white slacks and opened the cover. "Why
its…OH MY
SLICKED HAIR AND TUX! MY FUR AND WHISKERS! I'm
Late, I'm Late!" The White Gill Rabbit leapt from the stump he
sat on and ran as fast as his rabbit like self could.
"H-hey!
Don't just run out on me!!" Luna took after the rabbit.
The emerald green woods were calm
and peaceful, the stormy weather seemed to have subsided and birds
and creatures were coming out in the open. Including…The White
Rabbit.
"Mr. Rabbit! Oh Mister Rabbit!"
The White Rabbit
turned to her, waved and kept jogging in his fancy black dress shoes.
"I'm Late! I'm Late! For a very important date! No time to
say Hello, Good-Bye!
I'm Late! I'm Late! I'm Late!"
"Arrg!" Luna gave
chase down the forest trail.
Luna walked down the woodland trail, listening to the birds. (Well, she assumed them to be birds, though, they, much like all the creatures here, were…distorted. She saw rocking-horse flies, cows that tamed the farmers, bread-and-butterflies…)
Luna looked around the forest,
for any sign of the White Rabbit, wondering how he made such an
escape, (As the Gill she knew was rather geeky and un-sporty) rather
quick the rabbit was.
Which made her wonder where in the world her
own stuffed rabbit had gotten too, she hadn't seen him
since
they parted in the Room.
Luna continued through the woods, her mind boggling at all the sights, till she reached a small little house. The place was very cute, a nice little house out in the country, W.B. Rabbit, was printed in fancy little letters on the mailbox. A cute little chimney rose from the red roof, which went along well with the white wood building. A nice garden surrounded the home, the path she had been walking continued past it though, through the woods and beyond.
"MARY-ANN!!!" someone roared.
Luna turned to see the White Rabbit; he was no longer wearing his
glasses, "Mary-Ann! I employ you to go and fetch my gloves and
fan!" said the White Rabbit.
"Mary-Who now?" Luna said as
the boy pushed her into the house.
"Just get the gloves
Mary-Ann!"
Luna stalked up the staircase of
the house, muttering things under her breath.
"Lousy prissy,
girly, bunny boy…if he wasn't so cute I'd smack him. Well, I'd
smack the normal Gill any day, but this one's too cute…stupid
rabbit ears," she said as she searched the hallway. A neat and
small washroom, Luna had the urge to go through his things, but
decided against it. Once having attempted that at Gill's birthday,
she didn't enjoy what she read in his diary. Though, making fun of
the fact he actually had
a diary cheered her
up.
Luna opened the next door she saw, it led to a tidy little room, a soft bed pushed up next to the wall with a comfy looking pillow on it, a big dresser next to the other wall, with some photos on it. She looked into them, a picture of a large castle, and a pretty blonde woman in a formal dress, another with the rabbit standing next to someone who looked like Luke and Bo. "Hm, now if I was a girly bunny boy, were would I put my gloves and fan?" she opened a small container on the dresser, it was filled with cookies, on each of them there was frosting spelling out: Eat Me.
"You know, I'm going to have gained so many calories after all of this," she said rolling her eyes and biting into one of them as she began to look around the room again. That's when she began to feel quite odd again. "Hm?...Oh not again!"
"Ooof!" Her arms lashed out through windows, her feet going down stairs and out the door, and her head popping through the roof.
She looked down around the house's surroundings, far, far away was a large castle that looked like she could get inside, even and this size. Luna blinked as she felt something hit her cheek.
"Monster! Monster!" called the White Rabbit. Luna looked around, "Monster?! Monster where?!" she shrieked, then looked at herself. "Oh…me," she said.
The rabbit had called others around him, the Dodo, and a young boy with a headband.
"Bo? What are you doing here?" Luna called.
"EEEP!" Bo cried ducking behind the Dodo.
"Why Mister Monster, that is
The Lizard Handy-Man, not Bo,"
the Dodo
said.
"Whomever," Luna spat.
"N-Now listen here
Monster," said the White Rabbit, "You leave my house this
instance!"
Rolling her blue eyes, Luna responded in a droll
voice, "Well, I
would just love to
leave this house if I could…but if you haven't noticed…I'M
STUCK!"
The sonic scream she set out threw the rabbit, handy-man and dodo back, and they looked more scared than ever. Luna had the worst itching in her foot, and began to shake it, causing the people around her to panic.
"I-it's attacking!" the
White Rabbit said.
"Ah!" the Dodo said, "You two, help me
here, we'll fire these stone's at it!" he said.
OW!
"Oh
for the love of…Well, I could say something if I was older…"
she sighed.
Hm, if unhealthy food like those sweets keeps making me grow, I shall try some of the vegetables in that garden. (In all honesty this is backwards…Then again, so is everything here.)
Luna reached to the White Rabbit's garden, pulling a carrot out of the ground; she was bringing it closer to her, when she felt something kicking her arm.
"That's mine! Stop that!" the rabbit
cried.
"Shove-off Bunny-Boy!" Luna said flicking her wrist,
sending him off a few feet. She bit into the carrot, and felt herself
tingle all over.
Luna awoke on the carpet of the White Rabbit's room; she looked up, seeing how much she changed this time. "Honey, I've shrunk myself…AGAIN!" Luna got up and looked around. "Dang, no matter what his ears are, Gill's a neat freak, even from this point of view."
"Hm?" Luna said as she walked over to the wall. A small crack was there, just big enough for Luna herself to now fit through. "You know, I always did want to see why mice like crawling through these holes," she said smiling and crawling in.
There was nothing much there, just a lot of wood. "Hm, no wonder mice only live a few years…Bored to death, nothing to do around here," she sighed.
Haahhhhhahhhhh….
Luna felt something breathing hotly on her neck, feeling sweating, and her neck clamming, she turned around slowly. "R-r-ra…"
The whiskers twitched as it bared fangs.
"RAT!!!!" Luna screamed, running down the crevice, tripping and climbing the inner walls of the White Rabbit's House. Luna ducked behind a small wooden wedge.
"The Gill I know is terrified of rats…mice, squirrels…any woodland creature," she sighed again, checking around the corner. A long fleshy tail was darting about, as the rat ran back up the crack. Luna darted down the hall (so to say) and continued until she ended up in a rain gutter, going down it until she landed in the grass.
"La-La-La-La"
"Hello?" Luna called, she walked around to see women wearing dresses of leaves and flowers, dancing and singing around a garden.
"Oh! Girls look," one
said.
"A girl-child wandered into the forest!" one laughed.
"La-La-La"
One women looked like someone
Luna knew from school, she had red hair and tanned skin, red
eyes
and wearing a dancer costume.
"Selena?" she asked.
"Who?"
she replied.
"Never mind…" Luna
sighed.
"Um, have any of you…ladies seen a white rabbit?"
"Question should be, honey," the girl began, "if we've
seen any pink rabbits, red rabbits, blue, orange. Something like
that. Of course we've seen White Rabbits, especially that…Er,
charming
one employed to the Queen. Now, back to the colourful rabbits. We've
all seen white rabbits, be them the fancily dressed one, or any
other. White rabbits are so…passé."
"Ah, yes ever so
passé," the
other nymph replied.
"Um…I don't care about pink
rabbits or anything, I'm looking for a white one," Luna
said.
"Phht!" huffed the flower girls. "Then why is your
hair pink?"
"It wasn't my choice," Luna said.
"Well,
how old are you miss?" said the leader of the women.
"Eleven,
but I turn twelve soon," Luna said.
"Awww! A little girl who
DOESN'T like pink!"
"Booo! Get out! Color hater! Go find
you're Bland rabbit,
we, on the other hand will be here, enjoying the nature of colourful
words," said the Selena-like women.
"I'd love to say a good colourful word toward you right about now!" Luna said leaving quickly.
Luna kept walking down the seemingly endless forest trail, wondering what was happening back outside of this place. Back home, I wonder if Candace has noticed I'm gone yet? I can only imagine how that girl will worry. If she was in this situation she wouldn't be enjoying herself like I am. Hmp, except for Selena's little fit back there, next time I see the real Selena I swear I'll-
"Oof!" she picked herself off the ground, "Hey what's the big ide….a?" Luna stopped and looked up; she'd walked into a giant mushroom.
"Hm? Hello, are you well
today?"
Jin's a
caterpillar?!! Oh this place is making my head hurt…literally.
"I've been better," Luna said sitting herself on a smaller mushroom,
"But are you
okay, Jin, you know,
the whole caterpillar
thing?"
"Perfectly.
But I'm not Jin," said the caterpillar.
Luna sighed, "No
one here is who I think they are. Are they?"
"I have no clue
what you're talking about Miss," said the Caterpillar. "Now,
what brought you to me today? Are you feeling sick?"
Luna
thought for a moment, "Well, I'm not quite sure, I've changed
so much today. I was a perfectly normal little girl earlier, now I've
just recently changed so much, it isn't funny. I've grown until
my head crashed to ceilings, or till I could follow a mouse through a
crack in the wall," she sighed.
"Hm, well I would suggest you
take some of the mushroom later. The left mushroom and right mushroom
have different effect. Take some later. Changing is a good thing,"
said the Jin like Caterpillar.
Luna shrugged and pulled two
mushroom caps off the smaller fungi growing near the one the
Caterpillar sat on.
"Hm, that's odd," he
said.
"What is it Ji- I mean Mr Caterpillar?" Luna
asked.
"Well, the Duchess had an appointment right now. I wonder
where she is," he mumbled.
"I could try looking for her if you want," Luna said cheerfully, she was rather bored at this point, and meeting a real Duchess would be quite exciting in her eyes.
"Of course, just go through that door in the tree, it should lead you round to the path to the Duchess' House," said the Caterpillar. "But please, why not sit a moment longer, tell me…about these changes," said the Caterpillar. "Well," the pink haired girl began. "I began perfectly normal, but since I entered…This Place, I've changed so many times…I've even reached this bloody awful height…Three Inches," Luna scoffed.
The bug's eye twitched. "And what is wrong with being that height? I am exactly 3inches tall!" Jin scoffed, "Well then, be off!"
Luna headed for the door, You know, if today were any other day, I'd be at the beach with Takeru… Luna opened the door revealing a grassy field surrounded by trees. Down a small trail beautiful mansion, though, it was (like all things here) very oddly done. The house's windows were upside down, the chimney spurred out bubbles, and even the roof panels seemed wrong.
"Oh perfect," Luna said, realizing the biggest problem about this house. The Door was twenty times larger than herself. "Lovely," she muttered, walking around the wall. A much smaller door, perfectly identical to the normal one, was placed in front of her.
Luna found herself inside of a kitchen; two people were around the cooking area, while someone else seemed to be sitting on a decorated chair. One of the cooks had peach coloured hair, with clips keeping it out of his eyes, wearing a big apron and a ladle in his hand, the next cook was a young girl, with braids on the sides of her head, coloured orange, wearing a large hourglass like maids dress.
"Maya, Chase!" Luna squeaked. The two cooks turned around, though the female chef kept dousing the soup with pepper. "Pardon?" they said. "Never mind," Luna smirked.
"Hello, may I help you miss?" someone said. Luna turned to see a beautiful blonde girl sitting in the chair, she had lovely clear eyes, long blonde hair, a pretty baby blue dress with lots of lace, high heeled shows, an emerald broach centered on it, and in her arms, and she cradled a small child.
"Kathy?"
"Hello, I'm
the Duchess," she said.
Luna curtsied to the woman saying,
"Hello miss Duchess, I'm Luna."
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
The child the Duchess held wailed fanatically, waving their tiny hands in the air, she rocked the small child, and the baby began sneezing from all the pepper in the air.
Another chef entered the kitchen, this one strongly resembling Yolanda, Maya's grandmother; she opened her mouth as she stirred the soup,
'Speak Roughly to your
little boy,
And Beat him when he sneezes
He Only does it to
annoy,
Because he knows it teases,'
She laughed, "Least that's how we would do it in my day, milady."
"Luna," the Duchess said, "These are my cooks and th- this i- is- ACHOOOO!" Luna ducked as the Duchess and the baby sneezed, "Sorry," said the Duchess. "Finally, this is my cat," she said pointing to the corner. Luna eyed it, but nothing was there.
"I don't see him," Luna
replied.
"Oh, look a bit harder," she replied. Luna squinted,
she seen a large smile floating about, suddenly someone appeared
around the smile. A young boy with blue hair, blue cat ears, and big
golden cat-like eyes, his goofy grin changed to an even bigger smile
as her twirled around Luna, wrapping his blue and navy ringed tail on
her, tickling under Luna's nose.
"Luke? Man…you know, that
makes sense, the whole gold cat eye thing," she muttered.
"Hiya!"
he said, disappearing, leaving only a grin behind. "Ta, ta," he
said.
"Odd, I've never seen a cat
smile like that…come to think of it, I've never seen a cat
smile," Luna said.
The Duchess smiled, "That's true, he's
quite the cat," she replied.
"You may see a cat without a
grin, but you won't see a grin without a cat!" he laughed.
"That
makes no sense
Luke," Luna replied.
"Whom?" the Duchess asked. Luna sighed,
"It doesn't matter."
"ACHOO!" the baby and the
duchess sniffed, "Well Luna, what brought you to this Duchy?"
Well, I met a
caterpillar, whom told me you have an appointment with him," Luna
said.
"Ah, I'd forgotten about that…I can't leave him
alone though," the Duchess said pointing to the baby.
"Is he your son?" Luna
asked.
"No, but his parent's are always so busy, they never
care for him. So I took him in," she said, and then smiled, "But
with you here, I can go to my appointment! If you'll watch him,"
The Duchess said.
"Sure, I don't have much better
to do," Luna said, thinking of the White Rabbit and her own
stuffed rabbit.
"Wonderful! Please, why not join u- u- ACHOO!...Well, I'd say for super, but I think she may have over done the pepper," the Duchess said, pointing to the cook who looked like Maya. Maybe a different place, but this Maya's the same as mine: Couldn't cook to save her life.
"Maybe we should eat somewhere
else," Luna suggested.
"I wouldn't do that," the Duchess
said, in a very Kathy-like way. "What with the storm settling in,"
she said.
"What storm?" Luna asked, as a grin settled next to
her, with a cat-boy following it, "That one," he said, pointing
out the window, Luna stopped to see literal buckets
of rain, with cats and
dogs following.
"Careful, might step in a poodle,"
said the Cheshire Cat,
before disappearing. "See, this is why we Cheshire's
don't go out in
storms," he said as his tail trickled along the bridge of Luna's
nose.
"I don't really care for
storms," Luna said. "They do me no good."
The Duchess rocked
the baby and said, "Well there's a good in everything if you look
for it," she said. "Without such storms, we'd run out of extra
cats and dogs, and where else would we get buckets?"
"You're welcome to stay here," said the Duchess, "It's the least I can do."
Luna opened the door to her bedroom; normally she had her rabbit when she went to sleep, but…who knows where that thing had gotten itself to. She settled herself under the covers of the bed, listening to the loud thunder and lightning outside the estate, as she slipped off into sleep.
The thunder must have been affecting her while slept, because she began having a dream about something long ago.
It was one of the first storms since Luna arrived on the Island after her parents died. She had just finished settling into her Grandmother Shelly's house, her sister Candace was colouring a picture, and Luna decided to go out and play. The island was much younger then, Luna had gone for a walk in the forest, a canopy of trees above her and the emerald ground beneath her feet, she ran through flowers and lay still on the ground, watching the clouds and birds, animals in the trees…when the sky grew dark. Like the angels had become angry, the sky roared in fearful thunder, smiting the ground and air with lightning. Luna was so scared, she didn't know what to do, and the rain pelted her harshly.
"Hey! Are you okay?" someone yelled, Luna looked up, her eyes gleaming with tears, she seen someone running up to her. A young boy with caramel brown hair and bangs that flopped as he ran to her, and had a cowlick at the back of his hair, his warm brown eyes kindly stared at her. He wore a baby blue shirt and black shorts, and nice shoes.
"H-hello?" Luna wept, wiping
her tears on her arm.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Luna
looked brave and said, "I-I'm fine." The boy folded his arms
and looked worried, and then reaching into his pocket, he pulled out
a tissue, "Here," he said wiping some of the tears away. Luna's
blue eyes went wide. "I'm Luna," she said. "I'm new in
town."
"Takeru," the boy replied smiling, "I live on a
farm with my family just outside the town."
The boy, Takeru, helped Luna back to town, showing her the farm on the way, "Your welcome to visit me there any time!" he said, "I like having people over," he said with a big grin.
"Here we are," Luna said,
pointing to the tailor shop.
The two looked up to the sky, "Looks
like the storm's clearing," Takeru said cheerfully.
"Thanks
Takeru," Luna said, looking up to the blue clearing sky, before
entering her house.
Luna woke up slowly, wiping her
eyes and looking out the window, "Looks like this
storm has cleared up
too. Now to go back to the Duchess, then she could go to her
meeting."
She arrived in the main hall; it looked like it had
been ransacked. Chairs and lamps were knocked over, the chandelier
had been knocked down and muddy footprints were everywhere.
"Hello!!!?" Luna yelled, she
heard someone muttering, and saw the Yolanda looking cook entering
the room with a mop and feather duster.
"Where's the
Duchess?" Luna asked, approaching the cook.
"Hm, flimdandergas
bloddyflichallrig..Oh, the guards came and took her earlier,
something about a croquet match, leaving us with all the work. Oh,
the younguns are gonna be lookin' after the baby, so go on now."
"Guards?" Luna said.
"Yup.
Probably went back to the castle," she said before setting more
chairs back up.
Luna left the Duchess' Estate, she would go and look for her, or at least something interesting to do for now. Accept be bored of course. She wondered what everyone at home was doing, if they were worried about her being gone so long, she left around the afternoon of the previous day, now the morning of the next day, she still hadn't returned.
"I don't even know what I was doing going through that door…" she muttered. "I don't even know where I'm going now."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry too
much about that here," someone said.
"Huh?!" Luna stepped
back, her left hand on her chest and the right behind her. "Oh,
Luke…Er, the Cat,"
Luna said. The blue
tailed cat grinned wide, as he stared at her. "Do you
know which way I
outta' go now?" she said. He nodded and replied, "Depends,
where your off to in such a rush miss," he said smirking. "I
don't even know where I'm going," she muttered.
"Then it
doesn't matter which
way you go," he said
pointing in different directions.
She muttered something about
stupid cats and said, "As long as I get somewhere then I'm fine,"
Luna replied. "Oh, you'll definitely get somewhere,
you'll be walking a
while, but you'll hit it eventually."
"Is there any place
special around here?"
"The Castle I suppose," he said.
"How
do I get there?"
"You should see the Mad Hatter," said the
Cheshire Cat.
"I don't want to go around Mad
people," Luna said
crossing her arms seriously.
He shrugged and grinned, "Well, you
can't help that. We're ALL
mad around here. I'm
mad. You're mad."
"How do you know that I'm
mad?" Luna asked
squinting her eyes.
"You must be mad. You're here after all,"
the Neko-boy, laughing as he sauntered around her, his tail rubbing
around her and swishing around.
"That doesn't prove a thing!"
she snapped. "I came here by an accident!"
"An a unfortunate
accident caused her to go mad…That'll make a great story!" he
said, sitting on a tree stump, he dusted another next to him off with
his tail and grinned, tapping it with a lively grin, Luna took her
place and waited for him to answer.
"Well…look at it like this. Dogs wag their tails when they're happy and growl when they're not; meanwhile, I do the opposite. Or change it up, and sometimes both! Sooooo, I'm Mad!" He said grinning as he disappeared, his smile the last thing to go, still saying, "Head east, and you'll hit the Mad Hatter's house, be mindful of where you step!" he laughed… "Or, maybe where you don't step. Who knows?! HAHA!"
"Uh-Huh…" she said nodding, as she got up and took a look at the Duchess' house before heading out again. She entered the path, taking the eastern road as the cat had told her. She walked on for a little while, before she stepped on a certain block. Her foot sunk into the ground, and she was flung into the air. She felt the rushing sensation of the wind and blistering feel of adrenaline rising. She looked around, she saw the Duchess' Estate, the White Rabbit's House, the coast where the Cactus Race had gone one, and in the centre of the land, she saw the large castle, a large heart adorned the front of it.
A set of teeth appeared before
her, soon becoming a young boy with cat ears and a tail, and yello
cat-like eyes. "So, took the short-cut, did ya Luna?" said the
Cheshire Cat.
"It would appear so," she said. He grinned even
larger, "Do you ever
stop smiling?" she
asked.
"Do you ever start
smiling? You should
more often," he said twirling and turning invisible, only to
reaapear behind her and push her downward, "The person you meet
next will probably bring you a smile!"
"I'm gonna get you caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!" she howled as she fell to the evergreen forest bellow her.
"Ooh, when I catch that cat, I'm gonna have him spayed or..." she looked around, she was sitting on a pink clothed table, people were sitting in fancy chairs, singing away not even minding her, passing over tea-cups and slices of cake and other sweets like they didn't know she was there.
On one seat was occupied by a
rabbit with silver hair and bunny ears, with eyes closed in slits and
wearing a fancy blue outfit. Toby?
The next person wasn't really
a person; it was
Luna's stuffed rabbit! The final person had a white tuxedo and top
hat with a red tag on it and red scarf thing in his collar, his messy
brown hair fell to his eyes, and his big brown eyes glued to his tea
cup as he sang along with the others. "TAKERU!!" She yelled, she
leapt up hugging him like a stuffed animal, "Oh lordie dee-de,
finally someone normal!"
"Hello
young lady, where did you come from?"
Luna blinked, "I fell
from the sky on your picnic table...and you're just now
seeing I'm here!?"
"You fell from where now?"
someone said, she looked around, a sugar jar opened and someone
peeked out, someone with messy reddish blonde hair appeared with
mouse ears and tail. "Gray too?" Luna said.
"Sorry, never
noticed. I'm the March Hare," said the Toby-like rabbit.
"The
Dormouse….zzzz…" said the small Gray like mouse.
"And the
Mad Hatter," said the Takeru looking boy.
"I'm Luna and I-"
"I have a suggestion!" said
the March Hare. "I suggest we change the subject!"
How
Rude!
"Motion
ruled," the Mad Hatter said.
"Takeru…" she sighed.
"Take a seat," her stuffed
rabbit said, pointing to the huge plushie arm chair at the head of
the table.
"Well, you ditch me for TEA! We have tons of tea
parties!" she said.
"I left so you could meet more new people,
instead of just being with me. You should expand your friends to more
than just me, Takeru, and Kathy," he said.
"Well I don't get why we came
here then, I'm not with the real
people I know."
"There
are people you know here, don't worry," the stuffed bunny said.
"Who?" Luna asked, raising her eyebrow. The stuffed animal smirked like the cat (If that's even possible), "Time to switch!" The March Hare said, and everyone got up, switching to the seat to their right. "What's the point of that?" panted Luna. "Oh, nothing really Miss Luna," the Mad Hatter replied, just too DULL in one place for a long time," he laughed, a carefree tone in his voice. "Just like Takeru…" she smiled, rubbing her temples.
"My word," the March Hare
said, "Have you heard?"
"Heard what?" Luna said looking up
from her tea cup.
"How should I know," he replied, "I was
hoping you'd tell
me."
"What the heck?" Luna
whispered to the Black Rabbit (Her stuffed animal).
"Don't
worry their mad. Can't help themselves."
I need to ask what the Cheshire Idiot told me, what was it again? Oh that's right!
"Do any of you know the way to
the Castle?" asked Luna.
The Mad Hatter looked at her seriously.
"Can't see why you'd even want
to go to the Castle.
Not with the Queen in her current Mood.
I mean. Seriously.
Poor Duchess hadn't done a thing wrong, and she's scheduled for
execution."
Luna's mouth dropped. "Wh-Why!? What's she
done?"
"Nothing. That's her crime. She hasn't done enough
lately, and the Queen's become bored with her."
"A-and no
ones doing anything about it?"
The others laughed, "Of course not! You'd be insane to do that, its been happening a lot lately. Well, most people have been thrown in jail. The Duchess is the fist and most unlucky. She's the only about to be killed so far…And…hey where are you going?"
"Luna!" the Black Rabbit
called, the Hatter at his heels.
"What? If you're going to
say it's too dangerous, then both of you can leave," the pink
haired girl said.
"Well I certainly can't let you go getting
yourself killed. But I'll go help, best you could get is mauled I
suppose," the Hatter pondered.
Luna rolled her eyes, "Whatever,
let's go. The Castle is at the centre of this…" she stopped for
a minute, "Place,"
she scoffed.
Wonderland is laid out sort of
like a wheel, with areas spanning from the middle. Luna had gone near
full circle since she began her journey, and the whole 'Being
Thrown Through the Air' by the Stepping Block at the Duchess'
Gardens really sped things along, she skipped two or so areas right
to the Mad Tea Party. Now, there was only the forest between Luna and
the Castle.
Easy, right?
WRONG!
If it wasn't the Black Rabbit complaining about the long walk, it was the Hatter constantly blithering on about how a desk is like a hawk…or something like that, a bird anyways. Not like it really mattered. Luna's eye twitched, she clenched her small hands into fists, near ready to smack the next person who spoke.
"You know…" the Hatter
begun.
"THAT'S IT!!!" the girl yelled. "You!" she
pointed to the Black Rabbit, "You're the one who started all
this, walking and stuff. So you've no one to blame but yourself for
your wittle feet
hurting!"
The
Hatter snickered behind his hand, "And you! One-Insult…Shut-Up!
Okay? I swear, I'll give you something to really
talk about! It'll
hurt so hard, the real Takeru back home will cry!"
"No need to Loose You're Head!" someone said slyly. Luna rolled her eyes as a familiar cat-boy appeared. Leaning on her shoulder the Cheshire Cat said, "After all, if you're off to see the Queen, you'll lose your head anyways!" he laughed, running around a tree like a little kid, more of him disappearing each time.
"Good lord almighty. The Queen
won't even have the chance to have me killed; you all are beating
her to the punch!" Luna scoffed, continuing down the path, rushing
ahead of her companions, muttering to herself. The Black Rabbit
approached and said softly, "Luna, we're only trying to
help…"
She looked at him with distain, "I liked you better
when you couldn't talk," she spat.
Luna eyed the Mad Hatter as they walked, he looked so much like Takeru, she couldn't believe it. She wanted to feel at ease around him, but he was…A Nutter! A freaking Nutter! Loon! Space-case! Name it and he is. She didn't know why he had wanted to tag along with her, seemed so weird… He looked up at her, and she blushed looking away. Stupid! He's not Takeru…He's not! I wish he didn't look like him; it'd make him much easier to hate!
The Black Rabbit warmed his stuffed paws over the open fire. The group had set up for the night, camp had been easy. Well…accept for Luna and Hatter at each other's throats all the time. The rabbit took a moment to think, back home, Takeru (The Doppelganger of the Hatter…or is it backwards?) and Luna were the best of friends, and did everything together. He had even cheered her up about the one thing she hated more than anything than anything in the world…Something the Black Rabbit couldn't do without speaking. (Which, in Luna's world…is impossible)
"Leave me alone!" Luna
snapped.
"You're the one following me!"
"I wouldn't
be if you'd quit walking backwards! That's how we keep bumping
into each other!" she snapped.
"They're at it again
lil' guy," Cheshire said.
The bunny sighed. (However that's
possible…)
The rain poured down like hail, harsh and sharp. The Hatter ducked into his shelter, his top hat covering his caramel coloured hair, meanwhile, the Black Rabbit tied his corset (Which he had always hated) on tight, keeping the rain off…Luna however, was snuggled up to the cat, blankly looking at the fire. (This somehow didn't burn out.) She winced at the occasional drop of rain hit her, blankly staring at flickering flames.
Mum…I'm sorry. Please come home soon…
Luna, mum and dad are missing
You both are leaving Rideout Girls Academy, and will be transferring to a school nearer your new home
I'm Takeru! Who're you?
Luna? That's a nice name
Welcome home dears, how was your first day at school?
Tell Gramma how your day was
Have a good-time studying; I'll see you at four Dears…
Luna huffed, leaping up in tears;
she couldn't even keep her eyes set ahead…
She needed to
concentrate, the Duchess' needed help. The rain started pelting
harder, through the canopy of the forest, Luna constantly whimpered,
her head resting in her hands.
"Miss Luna?" Hatter said
sleepily. "Are you okay?" Luna looked up with puffy eyes, "Yeah
fine," she sniffed. He looked curiously at her, and sat up at the
tree she rested on. "C'mon, what's wrong?"
She looked at
him confused, "Why do you want to listen to me? I thought you hated
me?" Luna said.
"I don't hate anyone," the Mad Hatter
said, putting his hat on her to keep off the rain. "Now, tell me
all about it."
Luna looked longingly into the flames, "When I was little, my mum and dad had to work hard in the city every day. One day, on the Opening day for the beach, I wanted them to hurry right home, and…they got in an accident. They're fine of course…their minds are a little hazy is all. They stay in the city for medical care…the nurses and doctors say they'll be fine in a few years but still…."
Luna looked up, and up, and up, and had only one thing to say. "Oh. Lord."
The Castle was an enormous white stone building that towered high into the sky, piercing the light and heavens. The clouds around its highest peak now looked like a heart in fact, and higher up were other suits. Ivy and roses grew around the structure, and card-like people marched up and around it in patrol.
"Halt!" one roared, "You
are in violation of law instigated by her Majesty the Queen!"
"Oh
lovely," Luna said, "And my crime is…?"
"Breaking and
entering!" he returned, more cards surrounding the group. "We
haven't even gone inside!"
"Breaking and entering The
World!" he said.
"Wh-?"
"Hold your tongue little girl,
the Queen's the only one who can talk to people like that!"
"Then you may as well hand me a crown. Gram says I got my
tongue from my mum."
The cards looked at each other and in union
said, "Get them."
The inside of the Castle of
Hearts was ritzy and luxurious. The walls were decorated with
patterns of all kinds, dice everywhere, checkers as floor tiles and
dominos lined the entrance to a large door. "Da' Queen aint got
time for riff-raff like ya'll," a rugged nine of spades said, the
three of diamonds smirked wickedly and said, "Yup. Her hands are
tied with the Duchess' Execution!"
"The poor little baby
she's got gunna be one sad thing, eh?" the twelve of hearts
added.
Miserable people! That poor baby…is going to be growing up with no one around to care for them…
"Run for it!" the Black Rabbit said, kicking one of the guards. Black Rabbit and Luna ran down the hall way, the Cheshire Cat disappeared fleeing through a wall, and the Hatter was out of sight before long.
The room she found herself in was big, and I mean HUGE! There was a large cage plated gold with hearts adorning it. Inside was a pretty blonde girl, who the pink haired maiden easily recognized. There were to Thrones behind the Duchess, at the end of the hall. On the throne on the left was a shorter looking man with blue hair, a golden grown and a masquerade eye cover. On that of the right, sat a very tall women, dressed beautifully with long pink hair, with and equal crown and mask.
"Who dares interfere with the
Duchess' Sentencing?!" boomed the woman at the end of the hall.
"Um…We do, we're the only other people here…" Luna
said, noticing another person, who kept writing things down.
"Gil- I mean, the White
Rabbit?"
"Oh, its you…and the Black Rabbit? What in the
world happened to you? What's with the corset?"
"It's a
long story….Trust me."
"I'm sorry, but if you two are done talking, I have a Guillotine rented. It's charged by the hour and we're burning daylight!" the Queen snapped. "S-she's right…" said the King softly.
How do I know these two?
"On
what charges have you sentenced the Duchess? From what I've heard
you've sentenced her for doing Nothing."
"Well Obviously.
Isn't it rather dull
to do nothing? In such
a poor quality world of amusement, one must find good entertainment.
And this girl, has done NOTHING to amuse," the Queen said.
"People
have the right to do what they want! They can't do something just
because you want
something to
happen!"
Like
going to the beach….
The
Queen eyed the girl. "Who are you? Girl who sides with the Dark
Rabbit?"
Big
mouth…pink hair?
"Well
that name is amusing. By the way… may I call you Queen B? I'd say
more, but I'm not old enough to use worlds like that."
"Le-least
her parent's got her r-r-raised wel-ll," the King
said.
Stuttering,
Blue hair… "Luna!
The Queen has an awful temper!" The Duchess said sharply.
"Luna…"
the royals repeated.
"Lll-uuu-nn-a"
They way the name was said. The
appearances… "How long have you two been King and Queen!?" Luna
snapped viciously, marching up to the thrones. They looked stunned,
terrified even.
"Since you were a young child, most likely,"
the Queen said, biting her lip. Luna was ready to hit them, hard and
furious. "Too many questions! Off with her head!" the Queen
cried, Luna gulped, "What, were you expecting me to ask you to a
game of croquet or something?" the Queen asked.
"You know, this isn't the best place to sit," someone said, a cat boy with a goofy grin appeared, happily sitting on the Duchess Cage.
"Oh, you should try some of this tea," the Hatter said, entering through one of the Great Hall's doors, keys in hand.
"How is it a group of
children can disrupt me so dear?" the Queen said. "That girl in
particular…seeing her makes my chest hurt…"
"The sa-same
here…" he said, untying his mask, the Queen following his
example.
"M-Mom?! Dad?!" Luna gasped.
"I knew there was something special when I saw you…" the
Queen of Hearts said. "I've been stuck here for such a long
time…Since that accident? Right Luna?"
"I-I'm so sorry
mum, dad!"
"I..it's not your fault Luna…besides, you came
to help us," the King of Hearts said. "Wh-what now?" Luna
asked, hugging the Black Rabbit.
"Now?" The Duchess
asked.
"Now you can go home…" the Hatter said, gesturing to
a large door, like the one she entered Wonderland in.
Luna didn't want to leave, not after finding her parent's again! She cast her blue eyes to them; they smiled, nudging her forward. Mouthing I Love You to her. She reached for the doorknob, turning back and saying, "Don't forget you're appointment with the Caterpillar," to the Duchess. She nodded, tears in her eyes, "Visit us again Luna! Luna…Luna…."
"Luna…Luna…Luna?"
The
pink haired girl softly opened her eyes. Above her stood her sister,
two glasses in hand.
"Sor-sorry I'm late. Gramma Shelly has
news for us. Y-you'll never believe it! About Mum an-and Dad,"
Candace said smiling. Luna eyed the stuffed rabbit in her hand,
thinking to herself, Oh,
I think I have a idea what's happening. Wait till I tell Takeru…
The sister's looked
up to the warm summer sky, blue and sunny, they hurried home, to hear
the news they longed to know.
