Disclaimer: I do not own Alice in Wonderland, nor anything that has to do with the movie. But this idea, I do own.

Author's Notes: Please read and review. I hope you like it.

Lost In The Storm Of Madness

Chapter 4

The floor beneath her feet had seemed to crumble away, and she had fallen through. Her tears had long stopped, and her sobs had ceased to be. Not once during the fall had she screamed. Not once did she question how she was falling when the rabbit hole was miles and miles away. Not once did she let herself wander from that one thought. The thought that she was finally coming home.

She felt herself come to a sudden halt as her face came in contact with the dirt ground. She stayed there motionless, covered in dirt from head to toe. She clenched the grass around her, and rose to her knees. Spitting out dirt that had managed to slip into her mouth, she looked around. However, her eyes did not come in contact with doors as she had thought they would. The entire area seemed to be hidden in a mysterious blanket of foggy mist.

"This way Alice" she heard that same angelic voice softly whisper through the fog.

She glanced around, and tried to find the stuffed rabbit, but in the foggy mist her eyes could only see an odd familiar stretched smile.

"Chessur?" Alice asked in question.

"Who else?" purred Chessur.

"What about my stuffed rabbit?" Alice asked the cat.

The cat howled in laugher.

"Are you done?" Alice asked, her arms crossed.

"Always the impatient one. I see you haven't changed a bit since the first time." Chessur commented, before adding "The speaking stuffed rabbit was me." He disappeared into thin air, only to reappear next to Alice.

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Alice said, staring at the cat in question.

The cat shook his head. "So many questions, and such little time for answers." he faded into the night.

Alice stared at the spot where the cat had once been. "But where do I go from here?"

The cat reappeared on the other side of the pathway. "Coming?" he asked.

Alice nodded, and ran to catch up with the cat.


Back on the ship, the storm had come to a calm stop. However, the people aboard were not. Few were calm, several were going wild in worry, and some were just plain crazy.

Lord Ascot had long awakened from his unconscious state. He sat on Alice's bed, wondering what he was doing there, and how he had gotten there, when the horrible memories returned to him. It had been his fault. All his fault. He knew this. Men and women had warned him on and on about the storm, but he had failed to listen to them. He had been too stuck on the idea of getting home to England that he had failed to see logic.

He rose from the bed, and glanced around. Alice was not in the room. At first he worried, but then to ease his mind he told himself that she probably awoke prior to him. Before leaving the room, he made the bed and admired the silver mirror on the floor. He noticed with admiration that next to the mirror was a note that said 'from your mother, Helen.' He walked out of the room with the thought of giving Mrs. Kingsley a ring.

Walking out of the room, he had ran into Fredric. He sighed, and asked the man "Is everything alright, Fredric?"

"Sir…Alice is gone!" exclaimed Fredric.

"What do you mean gone?" asked Lord Ascot in disbelief.

"No one has seen her since the mad storm last night." explained the young man. "Is she in her room?"

Lord Ascot shook his head. "No, she isn't." he said, "And I have no idea where she might be, I had been unconscious until this moment."

Fredric looked at Lord Ascot with worry. "Are you alright now, sir?"

Nodding, he said "I believe so."

"Good." replied the young man, "If we don't find her soon, will you be calling Miss Kingsley's mother?"

"I guess I will have to." Lord Ascot said, sadly. Before now, he had planned to call up on Mrs. Kingsley only to comment on the lovely antique she had gifted her daughter, but now he was afraid the call would be of more dark and saddening topic.


"Where are we?" Alice asked, looking expectedly at the cat.

"Underland." purred the cat.

"I know that much. But where in Underland exactly?" retorted Alice with a slight glare of impatience.

"Why we are on our way to the White Queen's castle doors of course!" replied Chessur, a huge grin on his face.

"What are we doing here?" asked Alice, calming down.

"You're here to visit the Mad Hatter!" answered Chessur.

"He's here?" Alice asked, her lips curving upwards into a smile.

"At the moment yes." replied the cat, "He is the Royal Hatter." There was silence as they walked the rest of the way to the castle doors. "Now I must disappear now, just knock on the door, and tell them the Cheshire Cat sent you."

"What-" Alice started to say, but closed her mouth as the cat faded completely away. Sighing, she stretched her hand out, and knocked softly on the door.

Not even seconds later, the door opened. Standing there with a welcoming smile, stood the White Queen.

"Alice" greeted the queen.

Alice quickly blurted, "The Cheshire cat sent me!"

The queen laughed softly, her laugher a melodious sound.

Alice's eyes widened, embarrassed. How could she have forgotten her manners, and in front of the queen of all people? Bowing down, she said "Your majesty."

The queen chuckled in amusement. "Please Alice, save these formalities for strangers. We're friends. Please, call me Mirana. Now, what brings you to Marmoreal?"

Alice replied "Chessur told me that the Hatter is here…Is he?"

Mirana nodded. "Yes, that would be correct. Tarrant is here working on some hats for an upcoming festive. I propose you want to see him?"

Alice nodded, "Yes" she then added, "If it's not too much trouble. I wouldn't want to interrupt the Hatter…"

The queen shook her head. "Nonsense." she said, cutting Alice's rant off. She took a deep breath, before turning around, and said "This way please."

Slowly, Alice nodded, and followed Mirana into the castle, the doors closing behind them.


The lights around Lord Ascot were dimmed down until the only light that entered the office was from the moon; the perfect gloomy setting for the gloomy situation to come. He sat there on a chair inside his office, making an unfortunate call to Mrs. Kingsley. As he listened to the soft rings, he had half hoped that she wouldn't pick up.

"Hello? Who's this?" came the soft voice of Helen Kingsley.

"Mrs. Kingsley…it's Lord Ascot." Lord Ascot answered, taking a deep breath. He didn't know if he had the heart to tell this mother that he and the rest of the crew couldn't locate her daughter. Surely such news would break this already fragile woman.

"Oh! Hello." greeted Mrs. Kingsley. "What a wonderful surprise to hear from you, Lord Ascot. But why do you call?" she asked.

"It's a pretty mirror." blurted Lord Ascot.

"Pardon?" questioned the woman.

He had to talk about it before breaking the ice, because he knew afterwards the topic would not be welcomed. "The one you sent Alice."

"I have not sent Alice anything." Mrs. Kingsley said, confused.

"You didn't?" asked Lord Ascot, "How odd, then…"

"Is that all you called to say?" Mrs. Kingsley asked.

"No… there's one more thing." said Lord Ascot, solemnly.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know how to say it…" whispered Lord Ascot.

"Please, just spit it out." ordered Mrs. Kingsley.

Lord Ascot nodded, even though he knew his nod was not seen by Mrs. Kingsley. "I am so sorry to inform you, Mrs. Kingsley, but Alice has gone missing." he informed, sadly. He waited for the mother's screams, for the choked sobs, but all he heard was the fall of a phone hitting the floor and the beeping of the phone line going dead.


Author's Notes:

There is Chapter Four! I hope you readers liked it! I want to ask: Do you like that I don't completely let go of the upper land characters? Anyways, please review with whatever you want to say. Remember, the more reviews, the more I get inspired.

Psst...this was five pages.