~O~
Alice glanced over at the Hatter, who was still marveling in the map that he had acquired from Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. He was completely absorbed in the piece of paper, and Alice was starting to worry. "All he's done is stare at that map since he got it," she said under her breath.
As far as she could remember, she didn't recall him looking away from the item except to speak once or twice. "He's hatching a plan," Runo said next to the orange-haired girl. Alice jumped a bit, startled by the March Hare, who she forgot was sitting beside her. "I figured that much…..," Alice said, her voice trailing off, "I'm just wondering if what he's thinking up will work. It seems like he's running into this rather blindly."
Runo smiled slightly and whispered over to the orange-haired girl, "He's had his plan thought out for years. All the Hatter is doing now is trying to figure out the timing and when to put it all into action. So, don't worry about him. He knows what he's doing." Alice believed the March Hare, but was still a bit skeptical about how quickly Dan was trying to get things started.
True, the Hatter had been waiting a long time for the right person to come along and help cause his plans to fall together, but she still felt like it was too soon. When the word 'rebellion' popped into Alice's mind, she thought of months and years of going over plans and getting together all they would need.
For this though, they had only truly been at it for a couple of days. Then again, this was Wonderland they were talking about, where nothing made sense to a normal person. To them though, this was all logical and sane. Alice begged to differ, but was slowly growing to accept this world of upside downs and right-side ups. She sighed and didn't say anything else to Runo.
Instead, Alice watched as Dan scrutinized over the map, going over his plans for the millionth time. At least he's being thorough with it, Alice mused to herself. If anything, the plan was going to be somewhat well-thought out as much as the Hatter kept repeating it.
Her eyes then left the Hatter and began to wander about the room. They finally fell on the window that she had cleaned a bit to look through. For some reason, Alice wanted to be outside and get some fresh air. Perhaps it was all the dust floating about in the air of the house that was making her feel like she was being suffocated.
Or maybe it was the enormity of all of what was happening, and how fast it was going. That sounded about right. Yes, Alice just wasn't able to process how suddenly things were happening; she still hadn't even fully accepted that she was going to be the face for the rebellion against the Queen.
Beside her, Runo must have sensed Alice's discomfort, for the March Hare asked, "Is everything alright, dearest?" Alice thought for a moment, then decided be as honest as she wanted to be with the bluenette. "No, I don't think so. I'm feeling a bit…..overwhelmed, I guess would be the proper term. I think I might step outside for a bit. You know, to get some fresh air and clear my head."
Runo drew back one of the corners of her lips in a sign of uncertainty. But her expression turned into that of a concerned friend as she told Alice, "Okay, but don't stay out there too long. It's not exactly safe for you." The orange-haired girl smiled at the March Hare, touched by the kindness she was receiving from somebody just short of a stranger.
"Alright, I won't be long," Alice said and stood up from the couch that she had been sitting on. Quietly, Alice snuck out of the house without drawing the attention of the diligently working Hatter; she knew if the Hatter found out that she was going outside, he probably would have insisted that she stay in for her own safety.
In a way, Alice wished that she could stay in the confines of the house, for it really wasn't safe out there. Outside was where the Champion and the Queen's Knights roamed about, searching high and low for her. But Alice was in desperate need of some time alone to sort through the jumble in her brain.
She took in a somewhat shaky breath and opened the door, crossed the threshold, and found herself outside the old house. Thanks to the daylight, the surrounding forest was a lot less terrifying, but she still shuddered at the chill that hung in the air.
Alice then began to walk away from the house, one small step at a time, and made mental notes of landmarks so she would remember the way back in case she strayed too far away from the house. She maneuvered through the trees and kept the skirt of her dress out of the way so the brambles wouldn't tear her dress up even further.
Her goal was to find someplace peaceful, someplace that reminded her of home that would calm her and allow her to think rationally about all of this, for it had almost been impossibly to think rationally since her arrival; rationality was just something that refused to exist in the mind's of the people of Wonderland.
As she wandered about, Alice found herself faced with a very familiar path. It was the very path that she had traveled down after speaking with the flower upon her arrival. She glanced down the direction of the Rabbit Hole, the entrance to Wonderland, and saw the charred remains.
From what she had been told, it had been the Queen's Champion that burned down that portion of Wonderland. The thought of somebody doing something so cruel left a sick feeling in the pit of Alice's stomach. In a strange way, she wanted the Hatter to get the revenge her deserved on the Queen and her minions, but at the same time, she just wanted all of this madness to end with as little bloodshed as possible.
This was why she needed this peace and quiet, so she could sort through conflicting feelings like this. She was about to start down the path that the Rabbit Hole resided on, thinking that maybe seeing what she was now fighting for would help clear some things up, but she was suddenly stopped dead in her tracks by a flash in the corner of her eye.
Alice whirled around to see what had caught her eye, but didn't find anything right off the bat. She stood there for a moment, searching through the trees in confusion. I know I saw something, she thought to herself. Perhaps this crazy world was finally starting to get to her and add it to its crazy victims.
Deciding to ignore whatever it was that she might have seen, Alice was about to return to the path that she was about to walk down, when the flash caught her eye once more. This time, she realized something about this suddenly bolt of brightness; it was white.
Alice turned back around and said, "Hello?" Nobody answered her call, and the only noise was of that of the strange birds that fluttered about the air. The color of white then shot through the trees, and Alice instantly knew that she still had a hold of what was left of her sanity.
She had seen something, or more like somebody to be exact. The suddenly flash of white reared its head again, and appeared to be circling about her. But all it took was one quick glimpse through a slight opening in the trees to see the face of the little boy that she had fallen down the Rabbit Hole after.
"Hey!" she shouted and started to run after him, but he took off ahead of her. "Wait up!" Alice called and began to chase after him. She wanted to speak to the little boy, ask him what he was doing up in the garden the day that she followed him, and if he was okay from the fall down the Rabbit Hole.
As she chased after him, Alice recalled that when she met the Mads at the tea party and told them she had followed this boy, who they called the White Rabbit, that they had said following him would bring nothing but trouble.
Alice didn't really know how following somebody so innocent-looking could be trouble, and figured that Dan and Runo had been over-exaggerating this small child a bit.
"Hey! Stop! I'm not going to hurt you! I just want to talk!" Alice shouted, hoping to get the boy to cease his running. But he didn't. He just kept going.
~O~
The White Rabbit had finally run across the human that the Queen had been searching for. She was a girl, with fiery orange hair. But in Marucho's opinion, she wasn't the least bit threatening. He had seen more fearsome smiles from the Queen that this little human, and he had a feeling that her Majesty would end up laughing at the latest threat to Wonderland.
Now, he was running back to the Red Palace, the human girl following him behind, just as the Queen figured she would. Humans were quite easy to predict. The Palace was coming into the White Rabbit's sight, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he brought back the human and made her Majesty proud.
Perhaps she would reward him with something like she had when he had accidentally lured the raven-haired boy to the castle, where the Queen had proceeded to turn the human into her Champion. The gift that Marucho received that day, had been a red pocket watch in the shape of a heart, and it was the only working clock in all of Wonderland.
He found this gift to be priceless, for he now had the power of time in his tiny hands, even if he couldn't truly control how fast the second hand ticked away. But he had received that gift on an accident; he couldn't imagine what kind of reward he would get by doing something of this magnitude on purpose.
Maybe the White Rabbit would be promoted to a higher rank, and he would no longer be the Queen's errand runner. Although, he did enjoy running against the clock, defying the inevitable deadline that would come if he did not take out a task in time. It was full of adrenaline, and pushed him to do better in what the Queen asked of him.
He strived to run faster, to do his job better to impress her Majesty. Next to her Champion, the White Rabbit was the Queen's second most loyal servant. The short child glanced back to see if the human girl was still following behind him, and felt his eyes widen at what he saw; she was gone.
The White Rabbit quickly skidded to a halt and began to frantically look around for the girl. He had by the end of the day to bring this human to the Queen, or else he would have failed her. And failure would mean off with his head. Panic began to set in for the small boy, and he quickly ran back in the direction that he had come from, searching high and low for the renegade human.
~O~
Shun was still chasing after the White Rabbit, and actually felt himself wearing down. But despite his growing fatigue, he pressed forward, following the short blonde as the Queen had instructed him to do. The White Rabbit had traveled over most of Wonderland, searching for whatever the Queen had sent him for.
Shun had a pretty good idea what that something was, but decided not to jump to conclusions so soon. There was still a considerable distance between him and the child; enough that he could see the short blonde, but just enough that he didn't appear to be following the errand runner, which was a good thing, for it didn't draw much attention.
Well, Shun still drew attention to himself, for he was the Queen's Champion, and the white uniform that he wore was enough to strike fear into anyone that laid eyes on it. But that was attention he could not avoid. Making it look like he and the White Rabbit were not together was what he was able to avoid though.
Shun's paced slowed down a bit as he saw that he was closing in the on the White Rabbit. The short blonde was running around in a large circle for some reason, and when the Champion peered through the trees, he saw why. Standing in the middle of where the short blonde was circling, was a human.
She was talking to the White Rabbit, asking him to stop and speak to her. Shun watched as the short boy darted off in the direction of the Queen's palace, and as the human girl chased after him. Suddenly, Shun was overcome with the dark memories of when he was captured; and it had all been because he did the same thing that this human girl had just done.
The Champion narrowed his eyes and darted off after the White Rabbit and girl. He knew now the Queen's true reason for sending him after the short blonde; it was to capture the human if they ever came out of hiding. And since this was his request, he had no choice but to carry it out, no matter what.
As he chased after them, Shun couldn't help but think that this was the lowest that the Queen had ever stooped. It was one thing for him to be lead massive search parties for this human, but it was another to go and relive the very event that had brought a dark cloud over his life. He ran through the forest and took a shortcut that he knew, and hoped that it would allow him to cut them off. And it did.
Before he realized it, he found himself running into a small clearing. The human that was chasing the White Rabbit stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the Champion, her eyes suddenly wide with fear. She knew who he was, and what he was there for. The two stood in the clearing for a moment. Shun carefully extended his hand out and said calmly, "It's alright. Come with me, and I assure you that you'll be fine."
He had lied many times, but he never got used to this one lie in particular. Maybe it was because it really wouldn't be fine. He knew that odds were, that this innocent-looking girl was going to meet a horrible end to her life as soon as she was brought to the Queen.
The girl stood there, staring in shock at the Champion's outstretched hand, then slowly looked up at him, meeting his gaze head-on. Then, it was like something clicked over inside of her, and the girl darted off away from him. "Hey!" Shun snapped and ran after her.
The human girl was pushing past limbs and briars that should have snagged and tugged at her dress, but it obviously did little to slow her down. Shun, hating how tired he was from chasing after the White Rabbit the past couple of days, forced his exhausted body to keep after her.
The girl glanced over her shoulder. "Stay back!" she warned. For some reason, this girl didn't look as innocent as she did back in the clearing. Back there, she had resembled somewhat like a frightened deer. Now, she was something else entirely. Her paced quickened up, and Shun struggled to match her speed.
But he was catching up to her, and he knew if he just kept pushing himself past his limits, he'd catch her in no time. He was just about to reach out and grab the neck of her skirt, when he felt the ground vanish beneath his feet. When he looked down, Shun saw that a giant hole had opened up.
Then, gravity kicked in and caused the two to fall into the black abyss. The Champion heard the human girl cry out, and he couldn't help but express his own feelings of fear as he fell into the unknown.
The two tumbled as they fell down the seemingly-endless pit, and at one point, Shun had caught a glance of the mouth of the hole, and saw as it closed up, trapping them and taking away the last bit of light.
~O~
Up in the trees, and invisible creature sat perched on a limb; it was the Cheshire, Julie. She had spotted Alice after the orange-haired girl left from the Hatter's old home, and followed the human out of curiosity, remaining invisible all the way.
She wanted to make sure to keep an eye out on the girl, seeing as the Champion was wandering about Wonderland on his own. Julie had warned Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum about this, and told them to relay the message to the Hatter.
She was sure the two had done as she asked them. As she followed Alice, Julie noticed off in the distance that the White Rabbit was running towards the orange-haired girl. The Cheshire had tensed at this, and wanted to warn the girl, but it had been too late. The short boy was starting to circle her, and had the human's full attention.
It all went downhill from there. Alice chased after the White Rabbit. Julie tried her best to keep up with the two, but was no match for their speed. Soon, she lost sight of both of them. But she held onto the hope that she might catch up, so she hurried along the direction the two had run off in.
What she found next, send a chill down her spine. Alice was standing in front of the Queen's Champion, and the Cheshire instantly knew that it was all over. There was nothing she could do to help Alice. The orange-haired girl then took off, the Champion trailing right behind her.
Julie bolted after them, hoping that Alice would somehow outrun the Queen's top Knight. But just as the raven-haired man was about to catch her, the ground broke open beneath them, sending them plummeting into a dark abyss. Julie sat on a tree limb, staring down at the gaping hole in shock.
Then, it slowly began to close. Before the hole completely vanished, the White Rabbit ran up and saw as the last remnants of the pit disappeared. The Cheshire sat in her tree branch, totally invisible to the White Rabbit, and knew they were both thinking the same thing; that this was far from good.
aye, quite the long chapter, huh? a lot going on. you'll have to check in for the next chapter to know what's going on. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~