A/N: First, I need to apologize for the ridiculously long wait I put you guys through. I'm sorry! But I do want to say that I've done my research. I've read the original Alice in Wonderland story, along with lots of google searches and have watched some OUAT Wonderland, (hehe). That being said, my new guest co-author (FaeireTales4ever) and I will be taking all of those elements as well as coming up with our own twists and turns to create our own Wonderland, per say.
This installment is short, but hopefully sweet. Just a little something to get us going and to let you all know that that my new co-author and I have planned out the rest of this baby! Updates shall be flowing like a river!
Hope you like! Okay, ramble over. Read on!
A Land Far Far Away
Chapter Eight: A Caterpillar's Warning
Emma and Mary Margaret found themselves tumbling onto a cold, hard floor. Emma was the first to regain herself. But her face was pinched to a wince. She hit her head along the way, a throbbing pain radiating from the back of her skull. With her hand over the source of the pain, the blonde clumsily stood up.
"Mary Margaret?" She called, her voice a struggle. No answer.
Emma circled around frantically and while doing so, she spotted her mother in the corner of the room, lying on the floor, seemingly unconscious.
"Mary Margaret!" Emma shouted in panic, forgetting about the pain in her head while rushing to her mother. She slid to her knees, gently rolling Mary Margaret's body over to see her face. "Wake up, Mary Margaret… please, wake up" Emma begged.
The woman began to stir. Emma sighed in relief. But her head, it was still pounding with pain. She started to feel light headed.
"Are you… okay?" Emma asked, her voice breathy, the words a struggle. The room was starting to spin.
Mary Margaret nodded while putting her hand to the wall, trying not to take her time to stand up, but unable to help her slow movements. "You feel it.. don't you?" she asked, her hand going to her forehead, hoping the skin on skin contact would clear her foggy mind.
"Dizzy," was all Emma could say as she closed her eyes. She found herself leaning to the wall behind and sliding to the ground.
Doing her best to fight the effects of their surroundings, Mary Margaret bent to the floor. She took a deep breath, telling herself they just needed to find the door. They needed to cross into Wonderland and these awful symptoms would dissipate.
"Emma… you're… you're okay," She struggled to say, trying to fight the haziness that was overtaking her mind. "We… need… have to.. go."
Emma could barely nod.
"There's… a poison… we don't… have much…" Mary Margaret couldn't speak any further.
Something clicked in Emma's cloudy mind. She remembered bits and pieces of Snow's warning… "large room… many doors… minutes lead to sickness… poison can stop heart."
Emma forced her body to move. She leaned against the wall while trying to stand tall on weak knees. She looked up, the room spinning just enough to throw off her vision. But she squinted through the illusion. She tried to make out the shapes of the door.
Mary Margaret wrapped her arm around her daughter, and Emma didn't fight it. Feeling weak, she leaned into her mother.
"Which one?" Emma asked, her voice faint as she tried to fight her eyes from falling closed. She couldn't take the spinning.
Mary Margaret looked to the doors. She couldn't see clearly either but was able to make out the shapes. Was able to see fuzzy imagines of, well… doors. Ordinary door. Until one caught her eye. One that looked different "The door will be unique." Rumpel's voice rang in her head.
"This way," Mary Margaret said, her arm still around her daughter as she struggled to lead them across the room.
Emma looked up as they walked. She found them walking towards what looked like a pool of water. As they got closer, Emma was able to see that it was in the shape of a door. Seeing it confused her. But she couldn't' form the words to ask questions. Her head felt so heavy.
Time was running out. Mary Margaret knew that. They could fall dead at any minute. So she took a chance, forcing their weakened bodies to go through the clear pool of water…
xoxo
Emma opened her eyes and began coughing spews of water. She'd tried to hold her breath as they went under, but ending up closing her mouth a fraction of a second too late and her lungs filled with water. She felt Mary Margaret's hand on her back as she tried to catch her breath. When she could finally take in air again, she went to stand up but hit her head on something.
"God damn," Emma grumbled in frustration. She scooted away, her body crouching as she turned to look at what at she bumped into only to find that it was... A giant mushroom. A giant mushroom with a giant caterpillar sitting on top. The odd creature looked to be nearly eight feet tall, smoking from a large pipe. His back was turned toward them.
"Mary Margaret," Emma whispered. her tone urgent as she nudged her mother's side, who was standing up beside her, "Are you seeing this?" she asked, needing to make sure she wasn't imagining things.
The brunette looked to where Emma was pointing. She shook her head. "I've heard about him." she whispered, "The Wonderlanders believe him to be the wisest of all creatures but-"
"But he's a god damn giant caterpillar smoking from a giant hookah!" Emma whispered harshly.
"You didn't let me finish," Mary Margaret said, an amused smile on her face. "He's really as mad as everyone else in this place. And-" she couldn't help but let the sentence drop as she saw the caterpillar start to turn. Mary Margaret crouched down on her hands and knees, pulling Emma down with her, forcing them to hid beneath the lid of the mushroom. She crept around the floor, beckoning Emma to follow. They made it halfway around before they heard a disturbing creak from the top of the fungus.
With a wince, Mary Margaret took the chance to look, only to be met with the face of the Caterpillar, his large, glazed eyes glued to her.
"WHO," the caterpillar bellowed before taking another swing from his hookah,"are you?" he finished, his voice having dropped.
Emma reeled backward as a giant puff of smoke hit her. She coughed, trying to rid her lungs of the smoke.
Mary Margaret put a smile on her face at the caterpillar's curiosity. Many moons ago, she once read about Wonderland. She could remember reading a passage about the giant caterpillar who sits atop a giant mushroom. From what she read, he was a gentle creature… but she had to be sure. So she tried to hide from his sight. Though now, seeing that he didn't appear to be a threat, Mary Margaret was confident in what she read about him to be true. She waved Emma over, silently calling her for to follow suit as she stood.
"We're just… visitors," Mary Margaret said, a warm smile on her face. "We mean no harm."
"Yeah, we, uh, come in peace," Emma said, nodding in agreement at her mother's words.
"Hmmm," the caterpillar grumbled before taking another burst from his hookah. "Come in peace," he murmured thoughtfully while leaning back. "I wonder what that could mean."
"We're just here to see an old friend," Mary Margaret added.
"You strangers have a friend… here in Wonderland?"
"Yes," Mary Margaret said while taking her daughter's hand. "Now if you'll excuse us, we'll just be on our way."
The caterpillar gave a lazy shrug before inhaling a large gasp of smoke. "Suit yourselves."
Before Mary Margaret could say another word, trumpets rang out in the background.
"Off with their heads," the caterpillar murmured to himself. Then he turned back toward Mary Margaret and Emma. "If you aren't going to leave this land," the caterpillar warned, his words sounding as if he could fall asleep at any moment. "Then you should go… wherever it is you're going."
"Why? What's-" Emma started, her brows furrowed in confusion, but the caterpillar interrupted saying,"Queen of Hearts… must be traveling," he said lazily
"Great," Emma grumbled.
"Come on," Mary Margaret said while pulling on her daughter's hand. "Thanks," She quickly said to the caterpillar before darting the opposite way of the noise.
"Where are we going?" Emma asked as they ran.
"Not sure yet," Mary Margaret said between breaths as they ran, her voice low. "But far away from the Queen."
"Wait," Emma said while pulling on her mother's hand, forcing them to stop.
Mary Margaret looked to her daughter with a frown. "Emma, we need to keep going," she pressed.
"Yeah, I get that," Emma said. "But I talked to you- well, past you," she corrected. "And you said you've read about Wonderland. So you know about the Queen of Hearts, don't you? What can she do? How dangerous is she?"
Mary Margaret sighed. "What i've read, there was no mention of the Queen of Hearts."
Emma's forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"And of course, Rumple wasn't much help. But we need to go. We have to find Jefferson. Though I suppose he goes by the Mad Hatter here."
Emma's thoughts were spinning. But she closed her eyes for a brief moment. She took in a breath… and she thought going to the past, to the enchanted forest, she thought that was insane… but that experience had nothing on what was happening now.
"Emma?" Mary Margaret said, her voice soft, trying to jar her daughter from her mind.
"Yeah," Emma said, snapping from her daze. "Right. Let's go."
Mary Margaret nodded. And together, they ran off, hurrying as far away from the sounds of the trumpets.
TBC...
Hope ya like! Don't forget to review before you go! And P.S, there's a link to a super cool new FB group on my profile page! Its called OUAT Fan Fictions & Creations! Hope to see you there!
