She pushed on the glass, but nothing happened.

"Why won't you work?" She frowned, attempting to kick out the glass of the mirror. Alice had been here for an hour already, trying to get the portal to work. She had tried everything that came to mind, but the mirror refused to open.

She pushed her hair from her face, letting out a sigh of aggravation; She knew it was time to give up. The Queen was going to have her head…. Alice turned away, watching the ground as she walked back up the path. Perhaps she could make a deal with The Queen, make her understand that the way she came to Wonderland wouldn't let her leave. But now that the soldiers were gone, there was no one to confirm that she wasn't lying.

"This is where I came in." Alice pointed towards the mirror. The soldiers walked up to it, overlooking their reflections.

"How does it work?" One soldier asked, his voice muffled inside his headgear.

"On the other side, well… I walked through it."

The soldiers nodded at her, then one put his hand on the glass. The wave formed around his touch, and he let out a chuckle.

"You first," he looked to his partner. They didn't hesitate to disappear into the mirror, leaving Alice standing there. She glanced around, waiting for them to come back. It was minutes later that Alice decided to follow.

She stepped forward, leaning in to go through the portal. She squeaked as she knocked her head and tumbled back, landing on the ground with a small thud.

She didn't have to go back; perhaps she could just hide. But, something told her that the queen's soldiers would have a problem finding her. She barely knew anything about this land… She wouldn't survive her by herself for a day.

"You are headed the wrong way. Or perhaps the right. But then again it could be left."

"Oh!"

Alice jumped back; her heart seemed to have pounded out of her body. She put her hands on her chest as if she was pushing it back in, taking in a deep breath as she looked to what was now standing in front of her, blocking her path. There was a cat, although it was rather mangy: hairless, to be exact. It wore a hoop earring on one ear, both of the ears standing tall and pointed. The grin was the most disturbing part of the animal's appearance.

"Have you lost your head?" The cat continued on to ask.

"Not yet," Alice sighed. She stared at the cat curiously; perhaps it was a friend? She could use one of those around here to guide her.

"So you have, I see."

"No, I said that I have not."

"If you still have your head, then why are you walking to the Queen?"

"I never said that I was."

"So you're not, then?"

"Well…"

"I had thought so."

Her arms crossed her chest, a slight frown on her lips as she studied the cat. "What are you supposed to be anyways?" She inquired curiously.

"I ask you the same."

Was she honestly going to have to have this conversation again, now with a new strange creature? She thought of walking around it, and so she did. Her feet stomped against the ground, she wanted to just get all of this trouble with The Queen over with. This strange place was not pleasant, not one bit.

"Why ignore advice?" She barely made it a few feet before the cat appeared in front of her. It chuckled at her surprise. "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

"I think I may have."

"I am not a ghost if that is what you're implying. I am a Cheshire Cat," it grinned.

"Well, whatever you may be, I don't need your advice. I am doing just fine on my own, but thank you."

"Oh my. Here I was under the impression you were willing to learn."

"…What is it you could possibly tell me?"

"What is it you would like to know?"

Alice crossed her arms, staring at the cat that grinned at her yet. She had plenty of questions, and someone, or thing really, to answer them for her. She could only hope that he knew the answers.

"Why wont the mirror work for me?" Her first question.

"The same amount of people whom come through the mirror can leave through it. It seems you may be stuck."

"And why must The Queen be so hostile about me being in her land?"

"She doesn't take well to strangers. Err, well, to anyone to be exact. To the royal guards in this realm, we're all victims in-waiting."

It was silent then, Alice staring at the cat as it stared back at her. It seemed neither of them had anything to say at this point. If the Queen was out to kill practically everyone who was in Wonderland, she had no hope of returning home. What would make her any different than anyone else in this place? Well, besides the fact that she was not a talking animal.

"…And so the mirror is the only way in and out of Wonderland?"

"Ah, you catch on quickly. You might serve a purpose."

A purpose… What exactly could he mean by that? She wasn't sure, but it stuck in the back of her mind and tried to convince her not to give up. She had a home to return to, where her family and friends were waiting on her to return. They might have not been the most pleasant of people, but it was definitely better than having no head. On her first arrival to Wonderland, Alice was hoping this place could have been her relief from her life back at home. Her chance for freedom. Now it would merely be the death of her.

"Well then I have to find a way to make it work again," Alice concluded. She nodded her head, glancing off as she put her mind to work.

"Perhaps you should see the Hatter."

"The who?"

"The Mad Hatter."

"I don't want to speak to anybody who's mad."

"We're all mad here, Alice."

"How do you know my name?"

…..

When she approached the maze, Alice took a few steps towards the hedges, her hand reaching out. The cat had given her a key piece of advice, that this would be the quickest way to the Queen. When her fingers brushed against the hedges, a hand grabbed hers. Alice didn't resist against the pull, being dragged in to the wall of the labyrinth. It was dark, and all the girl felt was being dragged down a steep hill. She couldn't see who was there, where she was going. It was like taking a walk straight to your doom, marching down until you were face to face with death.

To live without fearlessness is impossible. No matter how much you convince yourself to believe that you can truly live without fears, it will not become true. That moment when you are looking towards death, it's arms widening to invite you in… That is when fear is inevitable.

Her heart beat heavily, her eyes staying open as she attempted to find anything besides blackness to look into. That raised the question in her mind, if it was more terrifying to see what was coming your way, or to close your eyes and just allow it to happen. Down the way, she saw a small flicker of light. Alice stared at it as she allowed herself to be dragged, the light was nearly hypnotizing her. A small smile curled up on her lips.

When she finally got close enough to the light, she figured out where it was coming from: The hedges, waving back and forth in the wind.

Alice was now able to see where she was. It was a hallway, the walls made up of the hedges. Pulling her along was a guard, except this one had on a strange jumpsuit that was entirely gold. The only opening was slits for his eyes. How does he breath in there? He let his fierce grip on her wrist go, not without giving her a shove out of the hedge first. Alice looked around, quickly realizing where she was. It was exactly where she had hoped to get.

Alice walked down the long bridge, two soldiers now following behind her. The Queen was in the same spot, as well as the two lines of people and the braggart. When Alice approached the stage, a soldier grabbed her for a moment to prevent her from getting too close. She shrugged his hand off her shoulder.

"A mirror. That was my way into Wonderland," Alice spoke up. There was something different in her voice, pride. She kept her chin up, staring at the Queen, whose face was still hidden by the red veil. She refused to talk to the woman through the man with the horn; her words would be spoken to this queen directly.

"I led your soldiers to the mirror, and they disappeared through it. Now it does not work. If you must have my head for this, then so be it." Her blonde hair hid her face as she dropped to one knee, her head bowed to face the ground. Her eyes closed and she gulped, using her hair as a mask to hide her terrified expression. She only could hope that he did not set her up.

She waited, each second that ticked by felt multiplied by ten. She listened to nothing but her heart beat, pounding away like a tribal drum roll that grows to be faster and faster until something terrible happens.

"On your feet for The Queen."

Upon hearing those words, Alice took a sharp inhale of breath. She squeezed her eyes and muttered a 'thank you' that only she could hear, before she did as instructed.

"The Queen has a need for soldiers with bravery such as yours. You will live, and you will join The Queen's army."

"W-What?"

That was not supposed to happen. The cat had promised her that The Queen liked those who proved to have courage… But he mentioned nothing of her wanting to recruit the brave. Had he known that the entire time? He tricked her, Alice believed. He probably stood nearby, watching with satisfaction, as she stood dumbstruck before The Queen. He fed off of her misery just as he fed off her confusion.

The soldiers began to move towards her, ready to take her to castle and create a warrior out of her. Alice's eyes darted around, she was being enclosed between the soldiers and all of a sudden she became claustrophobic. So she did the first thing that came to mind… She ran.

The blonde dodged between two soldiers whom automatically reached out to grab her. She heard screams from behind her, the two lines of people acting as if she was going on a murderous rampage, when she was simply running down the ramp.

"Off with her head!"

That was a different voice, the voice of The Queen. Alice only looked over her shoulder for a moment to catch a glimpse of The Queen who was now on her feet, the veil moved away from her face. She had black hair, done up on the top of her head. She was an older lady, perhaps sixty. There was an evil look on her face that you would never forget; She wanted to kill.

When Alice looked back in front of her, there was a soldier who thought he was smart and was waiting for her to run into him. She stopped in her tracks, but to her demise her shoes slid against the tiles from her momentum and she went crashing onto her back. She groaned as she arched her back off the ground from the slight pain. She looked up, the executioner now standing over her.

She only made it less than twenty feet before she was staring up at the scythe that was being prepared to end her. She had hoped that if her running away didn't work that she would have at least lasted more than a minute. In fact, she only ran for less than a minute. She stared up at the scythe as it swung down, directed at her neck…

The scythe made a loud clink as it stabbed into the ground, successfully making a large crack in the tiles. Alice breathed out a laugh, in a crouching stance a foot away from the weapon with a grin on her face. She sprang to her feet as the executioner struggled to get the scythe out of the ground. She ran into the maze, which wasn't going to be much of a problem for her now.

"I was hoping you'd decide to run."

"You really don't look pleasant as just a floating head."

Alice chased after Cheshire Cat who was leading her through the maze overhead. She was still breathless, but nevertheless she kept her grin on her face, matching the cats. At the last minute before the scythe swung down, he had appeared above her.

"Just like you wouldn't look pleasant without one. Ah, don't look back. You'll tumble."

Alice stopped looking over her shoulder at the soldiers whom were chasing after her.

"So, do you have a plan on where to go next?"

"I was hoping that you would have one."

"Well I don't."

Alice gasped as an arrow went right past her head, instead stabbing into the herb in front of her. She quickly turned the corner.

"Afraid to say you're on your own from here," the cat added.

That was when it disappeared, and Alice was too distracted watching the air where his head had been a second ago. She squealed as she felt herself falling forward, her first reaction was to try to push herself backwards. Her feet did a little dance at the edge of the cliff, only causing her to fall onto her back before she began to slide down. She felt her body hitting off the ground every few seconds from bouncing as she rolled down, her hair catching up twigs and her dress getting full of dirt.

When she finally stopped falling down the cliff, she groaned and laid flat on her back. She hesitantly let her eyes flutter open, everything around her spinning in circles. At first she thought perhaps it was, but when she went to sit up she realized it was her head. She lay back down then, waiting for her dizziness to fade away before she tried to get up again. She looked over to where she had fell from, a very deep hill that had to be about a mile high. She was surprised she wasn't completely unconscious from the fall, but she was close to it.

When Alice finally stood up, she put her hand on a tree next to her to keep her balance. She looked around the area; she seemed to be in a forest. At first she had thought perhaps she had waken up from her dream when she began to hallucinate that she was falling… Except the forest wasn't ordinary, because just like where she had first entered Wonderland, there were giant mushrooms. She let out a sigh of despair, pushing herself to go forward. She began to pluck the twigs out of her hair, throwing them harshly at the ground in frustration. She just wanted to go home.

"I think she fell down there."

Alice glanced behind her, coming down the hill were more groups of soldiers. She cursed under her breath, picking up her pace only slightly. She glanced down at herself, her arms full of dirt and mud, and her dress was the same. She was a complete mess, her hair all over the place as if she ratted it. Under her shoe, a branch snapped.

"What was that?"

Alice turned around and made a face, unsure on how the soldiers far behind her in the trees heard such a small noise. She started to jog then, when she heard feet pattering against the grass at a higher pace. She broke into a run then, dodging the trees. The footsteps behind her were catching up; she refused to look back because she remembered if she did she would fall.

Someone grabbed onto her arm, she started to scream but a hand placed itself over her mouth. The hand muffled her screams; the arm that wrapped itself around her waist was pulling her backwards.

Trees surrounded them now, Alice was desperately trying to look to see who was holding onto her. She continued to attempt at squirming away, screeching into the hand to let her go.

"Shut up," his voice hissed into her ear.

She did as she was told when she saw the soldiers running by, oblivious to them hiding in the trees. He continued to hold her there until they were gone. When he let her go, Alice stumbled forward.

Alice slowly turned around, unsure if she really wanted to see whom it was that was now just standing behind her. When she did her eyes widened for just a moment. It was a man, he stood almost a foot over her and he had shaggy hair that surrounded his face, topped with a hat. He was young, somewhere around ten years older than her, but nothing more. His arms were crossed across his chest, his eyes looking her up and down. When he met her eyes, he made a smirk that was rather animated.

"…Who are you?"

"I think your first remark is supposed to be 'thank you.'"

Alice shook her head nervously, making a small noise in her throat. "Y-yeah, thank you."

The man made a snort of a laugh, then after giving her one last look turned on his heels and began to stroll of.

"Hey, where are you going?"

He continued to walk a few strides before he turned around, bending slightly at the knees as he did so. His arms went up on either side of him, shrugging with his palms facing the sky. He was quite vivacious with all his actions.

"Where are you going?" He reversed the question.

"… I don't know."

"Well perhaps finding out would be a good idea," he winked.

Alice crossed her arms; she narrowed her eyes slightly at him. Did everyone in this place speak in such an aggravating way? "I don't even know where I am, let alone where I'm going."

His expression was blank for a moment, and then he suddenly broke into laughter. His face lit up as he did, as if he just heard the funniest thing in the world. Alice jumped back slightly.

"I'm being rude aren't I?" He asked after a moment. He took the hat from his head as he did a small bow.

"You can call me Hatter."