Sorry for the wait between uploades but I've tried to include something from both Clary and Isabelle's stories, let me know what ya think! :)

-H

Church, or the floating cat, or whatever it was had been leading Isabelle through the jungle through the rest of the day and late into the night. Every time she mentioned stopping for a rest he would just disappear for a while and leave her wandering in circles until she apologised loud enough for him to reappear in the branches somewhere and continue floating ahead. There were a lot of noises as many of the nocturnal creatures came into their element and Isabelle found herself glancing nervously over her shoulder more and more as the night wore on. "Okay and don't fucking disappear on me this time, but I seriously need to stop!"
It was almost impossible for her to believe she'd now been in this fictional hell more than twenty-four hours. Church sighed heavily, "Well well if needs must."
With as gasp of relief Isabelle sank to the ground and pushed her hair off her face. "How far away does this friend of your live anyway?"
"Oh did I say he was a friend?"
She looked up sharply, "I bloody hope so, you're not taking me to some crazy psychopath are you?"
"Oh he's certainly mad."
It was too late to argue and turn back. Church had led her through the strange gates that he had silently refused to answer any of her questions about and had wound through tall purple plants until the ground beneath her feet started to resemble something of a trail. He might be secretive and less than friendly but he had saved her time getting lost… at least, she hoped so. But she was out of options. "How long will it take for me to find out that for myself?"
Church looked up at the sky contemplatively, "Our journey depends on a number of things-"
"Forget I asked," she muttered, coming to her feet. Something white and stone caught her eye- a pillar, like the gate it was attached to nothing and seemed randomly set in the jungle. It looked almost like a chess piece. "What's that?"
"It is a fraction of the past, left here as a reminder."
"A reminder of what?"
She began to follow again and this time Church led her more slowly as the night drew closer to the dawn. "Once ago this was a kingdom, the White Kingdom and home to many of people and creatures who sought refuse under the King. The outskirts fell first, but later the last defences were too overpowered by the Hearts and the kingdom fell to the red. Only pieces remain this far into the now red kingdom."
Isabelle wasn't sure she had completely understood what he had said, but the gist was clear. An old regime had died and a new one was in place… "The white and the red?"
"The Queen on Hearts upon her bloody throne, and the rest of us squander here, in the jungle of old. A memory of old Wonderland." As he spoke they broke through a tree line and Isabelle almost gasped. A road cut through the jungle in a single straight line of stone, it seemed so out of place, out of character, she could hardly believe her eyes. "And now the next part of your journey Isabelle my dear." She turned to see all that was left of the cat was his unnerving human grin that came so close to whisper in her ear, "Stay off the path until you find your path or risk the traffic of the ghost road." And then he disappeared completely.

For Clary the journey with the White Rabbit was fast becoming a testing one. Each breathless question she asked was answered with a poorly constructed riddle or rhyme and her feet were beginning to feel the pain of stumbling across the loose rocks that were much sharper now she was so small and barefoot. She knew he had warned her not to look back at the strange noises that she was sure were following them through the maze of thorns but the temptation was growing to check behind her almost to the point where she couldn't resist. The White Rabbit showed no signs of coming to rest any time soon until very suddenly he stopped stock still in the middle of a tunnel, his ears picking up something hers couldn't hope to hear. "What is it?"
She bent over to brace her hands on her knees to catch her breath. His nose twitched, "Something on our shoulder."
"What?"
The next noise she heard was a terrible roar much like Isabelle in response to a Monday morning alarm clock and she ducked for cover under a huge thorn, covering her ears with her hands. "No, no we're out of time!"
"Stop checking that fucking pocket watch and hide!" Clary shouted at him. Something dark was brewing at the end of the tunnel and ignoring the White Rabbit Clary glanced over her shoulder so see that the thing- whatever it was, had blood red slits for eyes that were set into a mask of smoke and shadow. "Run! We must run!"
His paw hit her arm in an attempt to pull her forwards but instead due to her smaller size it sent Clary sprawling in the dirt. She coughed and scrambled to her feet as the thing gave another roar and continued to advance. "In here!"
This was another voice, not the White Rabbit, and when she looked up Clary's jaw dropped open. If she had found it strange to encounter a snow white rabbit in a paisley waistcoat with a golden pocket watch then what she saw now was sure to cause her to completely rethink everything she had thought she had ever known. It was a brown mouse in a golden tunic, wielding the smallest and thinnest sword Clary had ever seen. "I warn you!" the mouse shouted in the direction of the impending beast, "Come no closer!"
Her long tail snapped out and coiled around Clary's wrist, pulling her towards the entrance to a tiny burrow she hadn't noticed before. The White Rabbit dived into it and Clary followed with the mouse close on her heels. Deprived of its prey they heard the shadowed-creature spitting furiously and began to sprint along the burrow that grew darker with each step. "Do not think about what there is or isn't to see and follow the path that's under your feet!"
"Oh great another person who talks like a moronic, poorly written character," Clary muttered and the mouse nudged her forwards with the sword, "Watch where you're pointing that thing!"
"I'll take your eye if you stop running!"
Eventually Clary's eyes managed to detect a slight lightening of the burrow and she gasped in relief when morning light poured through an opening and the White Rabbit slowed down in front of her. Together the three of them emerged on a slope above another kind of forest, this one much more like the burned trees above the waterfall where she had first been taken. "Am I back where I started?" she asked, partly grateful and partly annoyed she'd been running in circles. "Near the jungle where I was taken?"
"You are across the way and quite a way away," the mouse said, still holding her tiny sword.
The White Rabbit turned and checked his pocket watch, "We're almost out of time, thank you Dormouse for your help in rescuing us."
Clary looked at the two of them, "What was that thing?"
"An unspeakable evil," Dormouse replied, "And one you must pray you do not cross again. Do not think about heading back into the maze, your journey is onwards now not back." And with that and a nod to the White Rabbit who had turned his gaze to the path ahead, she dived back into the burrow and out of sight.
"That was a short introduction," Clary said mostly to herself before asking, "If I'm not back where I started then where the hell are we?"
"These are the Red Forests now come, come now!" He began to hop down the slope towards the trees that Clary admitted looked much less foreboding than the thorned plants she'd been stranded in until now. As they reached the first trees she understood why they were the Red Forests, as despite the fact they looked blackened from fire from a distance, up close she saw that had grown from the dark soil and had a bark of a deep, deep red. Almost like the soil had been laced with blood.
"So much for less foreboding," she muttered.
"These trees belong to the Queen," the Rabbit called over his shoulder.
"The Queen?" she asked as the ground between the trees began to take shape to include a pathway made of small interlocking stones… that looked almost like-
"Hearts. This is the Kingdom of the Red Queen of Hearts."