A/N: A while back, my sister and I came up with this idea and for a piece, it kind of went nowhere, which is why I decided to get it all out in one go.
One-Shot overview: Okay, so you all know the tale of Alice in Wonderland, but in this story the cast of Young Justice decide to put their own spin on it as this story of nonsense suddenly becomes the story of their lives.
Casting Alice For The Role:
Artemis found herself groaning out loud as she sat in her room all alone in her pajamas in the middle of the afternoon. There was literally nothing for her to do on this cool fall day. Not a single mission had been called for the passed three days and with an elongated weekend finally upon the teens, she found all of her friends were out on some sort of vacation with their own families. Realizing that nothing would happen the second time she blinked her eyes, the blonde haired archer sighed softly, feeling a great pressure ease off of her chest, and flipped over on her bed to play with the hem of her old blankets and thats when she saw it. Poking out from under her bed, was what looked to be a rather large brick, or a box at least. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she found herself rolling onto her stomach and reached under the bed and pulled out the object, and then tossed it on her bed with a little bounce of the mattress. With this done, she sat up to get a better look at it.
It was a book, with a dusty leather brown cover, bound with what looked to be a series of several leather straps. It was old and worn, with a hand painted illustration keeping it looking lively. The illustration was of a young blonde child, wearing the ugliest blue dress Artemis had ever seen, with a rather large, colorful cat standing over her, his tail hanging from a crooked tree and bending and weaving in crazy ways to spell out the title of the book. 'Alice and Wonderland'. Artemis' memory clicked, as she remembered this book, which was one her sister used to read it to her before bed every night before she left Artemis alone in the home for good. A small tear found its way into Artemis's eye, but she blinked it away quickly and opened the book.
Sitting back upward on her bed, she was about to lean back against the wall, finding it much more comfortable than her headboard on most days, but she didn't notice the gap between her and the wall this time, so upon leaned back, she fell back unceremoniously and hit her head hard against the wall. Going, she was just about to get up again, when suddenly the wayward book slid down her stomach quickly and smacked her in the face, causing her head to hit the wall yet again and like that was out like a light.
Down The Rabbit Hole:
Eyes flashing open, Artemis said up startled, stopping only to grunt in slight discomfort from her newly forming headache. A good dose of painkillers would cure this, and luckily that would give her something to do for the time being, so with a grunt, she pushed herself up off of the floor and struggled a little to get to her feet from the odd angle she was at the side of the bed. Rubbing her head a little, her eyes fluttered opened as she searched the far wall for the door to her room, only to find that was not her room at all. Rather, it looked like her room but in oil painting forma, almost making the blonde appear surreal by the way she stood out against it. Oh, that and there was now a little red bunny with green spots no bigger than her elbow to her finger-tips on her bed, jumping about as if he had to pee.
"Oh I'm late! I'm late!" He shouted loudly, pulling out a pocket-watch and flipping it open.
"For what?" Artemis asked in surprise, looking down suddenly and realizing her blue pajama pants and light blue tank top were now transformed into a hideous puffy dress. "And why the hell am I in a dress!?"
"A very important date!" The bunny yelp like he was being tortured, running to her dresser at top speed and pressed a paw to her vanity mirror while calling over his shoulder. "Didn't you check your calendar? A very important date! And I think your dress lookslovelybytheway!"
With that, he jumped through the reflective glass. Artemis gasped and ran to her mirror at a slightly slower speed than the bunny and inspected the glass. It looked like her mirror still, nothing zeta-beemish about it, but as she put her hand to it, just as the bunny had, she began to feel herself falling forward. Twisting her body quickly to see above her, she found the light walls of the sunlight bouncing off of her bedroom walls was now being pulled away from her, and a dark, dirt tunnel began to envelope around her until their was nothing but a never ending hole. She opened her mouth to scream, but when she did she stopped it shock we she saw a piano. Now, she wasn't an expert of physics, but even she new that heavier objects have a tendency to fall faster, or something like that. Wally would know this, so if she survived this, she would have to ask him.
"Oh Shi-" Before she could finish that statement, something odd and squishy hit her on the back of the head, causing yet another headache, and Artemis suddenly felt herself being flung off to the side, then she hit one last one of those squishy things before she was suddenly blinded by a shock of bright light filling the darkness of the tunnel.
Finally, she felt ground beneath her body and with a final few tumbles, she rolled onto her stomach, and all movement seemed to cease. It took her quite a while to get her head back in order and to finally figure out how to move again, when she did however, she felt a sharp pain in her head returning ten fold.
"Ouch!" Artemis mumbled sitting up and rubbing her sore head like mad, then did a visual inspection of her person to make sure she was still in tact. "Thank God... W-wait, where am I now?"
She looked around and saw a field of giant mushrooms, all with a different color of cap and poka-dots regardless of color. Some even had smiley faces on them, or a frowny face if it so much as pleased too. There were several strange creatures leaping about, where some looked more animal than others, such as a caterpillar, a jungle cat, and a few butterflies, while the rest looked almost like chess pieces or plants of some kind. Wait just a moment, where had she seen this before?
"Are you lost, little one?" A voice asked sweetly from behind her, sounding close, but somehow very distant.
Artemis gasped as the image before her suddenly changed to that of a door. One with a simple appearance but a large and complicated looking lock right where the handle should be. Suddenly, the tumblers of the lock were heard turning and falling out of place, thus locking the door with her inside. The lock seemed to grow, and with it, two shapes began to take shape on either side of the door. There was now a cupcake on one side, and a cup of tea on the other.
'Drink Me' Said the cup in a disembodied voice, creating rings throughout its contents.
'Eat Me' Cheered the cupcake, hopping up and down on the plate like mad.
"Maybe a snack will calm you down?" The voice from before had asked again, and in an instant Artemis remember where she had seen this room and heard that voice before.
"If that's... The Cheshire cat... Then this must be, oh my god! ... Wonderland!" She sighed in relief and rubbed her forehead. "Okay. So let me guess, I have to complete the story to get out right? Very original."
A silence answered her, and she smirked triumphantly, having figured out what was going on. She decided to test her luck for an answer, so she spoke in a loud tone what she was thinking.
"Its a good thing I know this book by heart then. I can get out of here in no tim-" A soft 'Shh' suddenly cut Artemis off, and the voice spoke again.
"Don't be so sure, Little Alice. The red queen has altered this story quite a bit. So choose very wisely, Alice, will you eat that, or drink this? to get out of this room?"
Artemis groaned loudly in annoyance, grabbing a fist full of hair and squeezing it together between her palm and fingers. Of course there had to be a trick behind all of this. Huffing, she folded her arms and looked back down at her two options. One was a teacup, filled with what looked to be one of Robin's smoothies, pink in color from the obvious strawberry yogurt, with little flecks of brown from what was usually chocolate and yellow for a single banana. The other was a plate with a cake on it that looked like it had been made by Megan. Slightly burned around the edges with a dough-like middle, dripping with an oddly colored frosting that was more water than solid.
"Well, lets see. One gives you energy, and the other just really makes you feel down-" She snapped her fingers out of habit and nodded her head. "Okay, I think I may have figure it out."
"Have you?" The cat's voice came in suddenly, much louder and closer this time. "Or is this just another one of the Red Queen's tricks?"
"Well God damn it! Shut up so I can figure that out!" Artemis yelped, shaking her head again and trying to gather her thoughts. "Okay, since you are more than likely just trying to trick me, I'm going with my gut on this one."
"Go ahead, pick one and-" Before the voice could finish, Artemis took the cupcake up suddenly and bit into it. "Oh! Why did you pick that one?"
Artemis shrugged, and smirked as she dropped the cupcake and suddenly felt herself begin to grow larger and larger, until she was finally the size of the door. In all honesty, the clever archer had simply figured that if one thing makes you larger, and the other makes you small, then the one that Robin gives you won't do anything at all. Translated into simpler terms with actual logic put into it was that she simply did the opposite of what her gut said, because after all they were in Wonderland, and here your choices are not supposed to make any deal of sense. Turning back to the table, she swiped up the drink that remained untouched and took it with her just in case. Smirking yet again, she looked at the lock on the door and with a deep breath, simply kicked down the door now that she was large enough to realize that it was not set up on any hinges.
"That was surprisingly easy." She said with a simple shrug, looking up to no where for any sign of the cat. "Okay, cat! Next trial!"
"You think you're so clever, don't you?" The voice replied glumly. "Fine, if you don't need my voice overview, then you're on your own with this next one."
"If its the part about the duchess's gloves and fan then I think I'll do just fine." Artemis told the voice, turning sharply on her heels and walking down the long path that lead nowhere.
The Caucus Race, :
The blonde was moving fast now, having figured out the first part of the story already, she figured the rest would be a snap. At least it should have been, but the more she walked, the more the background began to shift and change until she soon found herself walking along the beach that could usually be found outside of the Cave. The waves crashed idly around her feet, nuzzling against at her ankles like kittens before retreating back to the ocean again. Artemis rose an eyebrow, but shook her head and kept walking. She didn't remember this part of the book, though it did seem familiar.
"If the story is going order, then that me-" She stopped suddenly and looked up just in time to see a little Robin flapping past her head, followed by a green wolf, fanning its face rather quickly with a very gaudy fan, a red snake soon followed close behind, and then a black deer wearing a pair of white gloves, all whom seemed to be racing one another. "W-wha? What the heck is going on?"
"Er'Ew gnivah a ecar!" The deer called, quickly picking up its pace. "A ecar!"
"Because we fell in the water!" The snake added suddenly, slithering along at a much quicker pace. "Because we fell!"
"So we need to dry off!" The green wolf replied, letting out a happy howl as it went. "We got wet!"
"By having a Caucus Race!" The Robin concluded merrily, flapping his wings at a quicker pace. "Care to join us? Run as long as you like and if you win we'll give you a prize."
"Um, no. I really don't have ti- AH!" Artemis yelped as the snake suddenly wrapped its tail around her arm and the robin began to pull at her fingers in an attempt to get her running. "Hey! Okay, okay! I'll join in!"
With that, the animals let her go and she took off running in an attempt to get as far away from those strange animals as possible. However, after just a short sprint, the animals had caught up and now were making fast tracks away from the archer. They ran until they disappeared over the horizon, only to reappear behind Artemis as they ran in a seemingly impossible and endless circle. This went on for a while, until Artemis stopped and realized that A:) She was literally going no where. B:) Everyone else was just running laps. And C:) She was starting to get pissed off.
"Hey! How the heck to you even win this race?" She called ahead, suddenly snatching the robin from the sky before he could go back around the bend.
"Win? You don't win silly." He chirped happily. "There is no winner."
"So you're just doing this for fun?" Artemis groaned, wanting to face palm.
"Not even, we're doing it to out run the water! Its rising fast you know!" The deer exclaimed, suddenly passing by them at a frightening speed.
"Much like my blood pressure." Artemis shot back in an annoyed tone. "I wish I could have a cat to feed you too!"
"F-feed me to!" The robin exclaimed, batting his wings like mad. "But you can't do that!"
"Why not? My cat gets hungry too sometimes, and a little robin like you is perfect to feed to him." She was enjoying messing with the little bird, now if only those other animals hadn't come to his rescue.
"You can't do that!" Deer shouted in defense.
"We will fight him to the death!" Snake hissed in anger.
"That cat doesn't stand a chance!" Wolf added to the mix. "He doesn't scare us!"
"Well, then will a bat scare you?" Artemis asked, smirking softly. "A half bat, half man bat to be precise. Overly moody, and really disproving if you accidentally drive your motorbike into a wall even though it was an accident, that kind of bat?"
The animals suddenly paled, the color quickly draining from their faces and bodies until they were all bone white. Slowly, they backed away from the blonde, horrified at the thought of a man bat being set after them. All of them suddenly let out terrified cries as they tore away from the clever archer and kept on running away from her until their were out of sight over the horizon, and after that they just didn't come back.
Rabbit's Bill, and Advice from a Caterpillar:
As they were running away though, the wolf dropped the now pretty fan, now decorated with shimmering red and yellow paper, that it had been holding, sending it fluttering to the ground in front of Artemis's feet. A tag stuck out of it now that read: The Duchess's fan. Do not touch except for duchess. If you touch my fan, I swear to God, I will find you and kick your a**.
"I should probably return this then." Artemis figured out loud as she went to pick up the fan, only to find that it weight at least 100 pounds. "Damn that things heavy!"
Kneeling before the fan, she wrapped both hands around the handle and gave it a fierce tug, only to have it come right off of the ground for it was now lighter than air. The fan flew opened, reviling a canary like design now decorated it, with a blue background decorated with flecks of golden glitter. It then closed itself again and reopened with a black bat imprint on it in a yellow background, then a flash symbol in a red background as it opened itself again.
"Hey! Would you stop that!?" Artemis exclaimed, closing the fan and holding it shut with both of her hands. "Or I swear, I'll make origami out of you!"
The fan struggled against Artemis's hold, and was easily able to slip out of her grip. After that, it closed itself again and slapped Artemis with its side as payback for threatening it. Artemis yelped in pain, grabbed the fan, and was about to break it over her knee when a sudden voice stopped her from doing so.
"You'll do what!?" A voice yelped loudly but from out of Artemis's line of vision. "You can't do that!"
"Says who?" She yelped, turning her head quickly and finding the source of the voice to be the rabbit who had gone through the looking glass just before she did. "There you are! Where the heck have you been!?"
"Says me! For that is the Duchess's fan! Didn't you read the warning label for crying out loud!?" The rabbit exclaimed in a rather annoyed tone, pointing to the tag like mad. "Oh, and by the way, I'm the Duchess's servant and I've come for that fan."
"Wait, why can you touch it yet I can't?" Artemis shot back. "I thought the warning said that no one could touch this except for her!"
"Then why the heck are you touching it, genius!?" The rabbit asked, pulling out his clock and looking down at it. "Oh, looks like I don't have time for stupid, blondie!"
"Hey! Don't call me blondie!" Artemis growled lowly, striking the rabbit's head with the fan. "Didn't you come here for the fan?"
"Heck no! Duchess would kick my ass if I touched that! Take it to her, you're already brave enough to hold I- No take backs!" With that, the rabbit suddenly took off hopping, the scenery suddenly changing around him, all while kicking up a good screen of dust.
"Then what was- I don't even know anymore!" Artemis groaned, about to walk after him when a voice suddenly spoke to her.
"He is right though." A low voice spoke, followed by a puff of sweet scented smoke. "You are stupid... And blonde for that matter."
Artemis wheeled around on her heels suddenly in the direction of the voice, and found a rather large, red and yellow bug, staring back at her. Well, it was a caterpillar to be exact, with a long pipe set up between his lips. His eyes were really a dynamo mask melted into his skin and the mushroom he sat on was dubbed with CAMDUS markings and was light blue in color. Idly, he puffed a bit more of his smoke and blew it again in Artemis's direction, causing her to cough rather loudly.
"H-hey! Would you stop doing that!?" She exclaimed, taking out the fan again and fanning away the smoke with it. "Smoking is bad for your lungs you know!"
"I could, and I know." The caterpillar said smugly with a simple shrug. "Not that theres much you can do about it."
"Yeah whatever!" Artemis exclaimed to him suddenly, pausing only once to think of a comeback. "Hey! Aren't you supposed to tell me something about myself or something?"
"What the heck are you talking about?" Now the caterpillar sounded very confused.
"In the book Alice in Wonderland, the caterpillar helps Alice with an identity crisis and gives her advice." Artemis said, folding her arms over the puffs in her dress. "Aren't you that caterpillar?"
"Oh! No, you're talking about my clone brother, hes the one that gives out the advice usually." The bug laughed and shook his head. "Eh, not sure what happened to him, but if I find him, I'll point him in your direction."
"How does th- I'm just gonna head over to the Duchess's house." Artemis said, turning her head suddenly in the direction that the rabbit had gone.
"Good luck with that. Try not to talk to anymore strangers." The caterpillar called back to her, giving her the only piece of advice he could.
The Dutchess:
Artemis watched in wonder as the scenery suddenly began to change around the rabbit the more he ran off towards the horizon. What was once a beach scene was now a rather large manor, which looked a lot like the one Artemis's friend from school, Dick Greyson, lived in. Looking around, she hid the fan behind her back and slowly walked towards the front door. It was slightly ajar, and she could only assume that the rabbit had rushed through there. Frowning, she slid into the crack in the door and entered the manor. Not only did this place look like Dick's manor from the outside, but it was also the same on the inside. Well, except for the cloud of pepper that was floating around in the air.
"Darn, I always hated this part." Artemis groaned as she followed the cloud from the main room to the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, there was a butler with a pepper jar, a man dressed in a black outfit, and a baby who looked a lot like Robin, including a pair of sunglasses. Artemis was about to speak, when another cloud of pepper came towards her. She frowned, and simply opened the fan and waved it once, sending the cloud in the opposite direction. After that, she walked over to the man, tossed the fan on his lap, and then plucked up the baby.
"Heres your fan, and I'll take that." She said simply as she walked away. "See ya."
At The Mad Teaparty:
Upon entering outside of the manor, the Alice-look-alike set the stolen baby down onto the ground and watched as he turned into a little robin bird and flew off. Of course, this didn't really surprise her, so instead she just walked off with a simple shrug. Nothing in this world really stood out or amazed her at this point, not like it used to in the original book. Eh, that was probably because she was a teenager now and had just simply outgrown it all. Sighing, she kept up her simple stroll down a steady running pathway in the direction of anywhere. She hadn't realized it, but at the moment she was following the distant sound of a flute, which was beckoning her to follow.
It sounded in low at first, just barely past a whisper that tickled her ear for the moment it passed by. Then it got a little louder, raising its volume as steady as the path that she was currently walking on. All at once, it stopped though, only to pick back up again a little closer than before. Its source; a rather large mahogany table, with a multi-patched table cloth over it and several plates and teacups scattered about it. From either side, Artemis's animal friends from before were present, along with the rabbit, the duchess, the caterpillar, ect. At the head of the table though, a new face was present. A clown; with a pale face and a streaky make-up job. Atop his head, there was a large top hat with every design until the sun all wrapped into one hideous hat. The clown was idly chatting with those around him, until he laid eyes on the human girl.
"Well! If it isn't young Alice!" He exclaimed in a cackling voice, standing up on his chair and looking down at her. "My friends and I were just talking about you! Come have a seat, and join us."
"Joker!" Artemis exclaimed, both delighted and terrified at the sight of a familiar face. "What are you doing here!?"
"Joker? But I'm the Mad Hatter!" The clown exclaimed, pouting innocently before folding his arms and sinking back to his chair. "And I suppose next you're gonna tell me that bird boy over there is Superman!?"
"Don't be mean, Alice!" The actual robin yelped, fluttering over to her and nipping at her sleeve. "Come on! Come have some tea with us."
The robin began to drag Artemis with surprising strength over to the table, mindless to the times when she would almost trip over a root or a mushroom around the table. Finally, he stopped at the only seat available for the teaparty, which was right next to the Hatter. He directed her to sit down, and then flew up to the top of the hatter's hat and sat down upon it.
"So, little Alice, what brings you down to Wonderland?" The hatter asked, picking up a teapot and pouring its contents onto the table instead of in a cup.
"Um, I think I hit my head a few times and now I'm just dreaming about the last book I read." The archer said simply, shrugging her shoulders as if she was talking about anything else.
"Hm, funny thing about hitting your head. One time I did that and I think I still have a few screws loose!" He cackled in response, slapping the table and sending colored drops of tea souring through the air and into everyone's cups.
"I can only imagine the force that went into screwing you up." Artemis replied bitterly, eyeing this new character oddly.
"Ever felt the sting of a jabberwocky tail? Hurts more than a punch from Superman!" Another roar of laughter and another slap of the table left him, sending even more tea into the air. "Or a slice from the queen's knife!"
"That's- an interesting way to put it..." The archer shrugged, scooting away from the Hatter, only to be pulled into an awkward side hug.
"Now heres another riddle; How is a raven like a writing desk?" The hatter laughed, slapping her on the back. "My friend, the Riddler told me this one."
"There is no answer to that! Everyone knows that!" Artemis shot back, not needing to even think about it. "Come on! That one is old."
"WRONG!" The hatter roared, shoving the archer aside so that he could get on the table to be dramatic. "The answer is; Both were written on by Edgar Allen Pot!"
"Poe, the last name was Poe." The Duchess corrected him suddenly, taking a idle sip of tea. "And you both need to calm down, have some tea."
Oh! TEA,TEA! Its time for tea!" He exclaimed happily as he jumped back down, pouring two cups. "Why don't you give a riddle a go then Alice, since you seem to know so much about them."
"Okay then, I've got one I've been saving." Artemis shot back almost instantly. "When does ten plus four equal one?"
The Hatter paused, setting the teapot down and folding his hands under his chin as he thought. He also began to mutter the riddle under his breath as he thought over the question, every so often turning to Artemis for a hint. Eventually though, he gave up and turned to her fully.
"On a clock! If its ten now, then in four hours it'll be one!" She exclaimed smartly, folding her arms over her chest once more.
"A clock! But its always TEA TIME HERE!" He bellowed in surprise, not happy that he had been outwitted by a child. "Which is six by the way."
"Okay? and this-"
"Now its my turn for another riddle! Whats at the beginning, that's also at the end?"
Artemis was rather surprised by this question, and chose not to say anything in fear of what the answer might be. With no response from 'Alice', the Hatter decided to answer for her anyway.
"Why, the answer is you, little Alice! You're at the beginning of the story, and you're also at the end of this story, and just a warning; the story gets scarier the more I'm around!"
Artemis shifted uncomfortably at the clowns choice of words, finding them all to be very crass and disturbing. She looked about the table quickly for any words of advice from her woodland friends, but they were cracking up just as much as the Joker, and the more they laughed the more their lips began to stretch upward just like his had until they were painfully large smiles and their laughter was now being forced out of them. Gasping and looking down at their cups, it was now obvious that the drops in the air had been some sort of poison, because just seconds later, each animal (and duchess and caterpillar) began to slide down in their seats, hands grasping at table clothes and air before they fell to the ground. Artemis gasped, and looked down under the table to find that all of the creatures were gone now, leaving just her with the hatter. He looked as shocked and surprised as she did.
"Oi! What have you done to them!" There went the Joker's laughter.
"Me! You're the one who poisoned them all!" Artemis gasped, about to the slap the clown across the face when he suddenly jumped up from his seat.
"I've been poisoning them! But they only transformed when you showed up!" He replied in an almost bitter tone, suddenly growing in size and changing shape from a normal human to a Jack-In-The-Bow so that he towered over the girl. "I'm gonna report you for this!"
"Report me! To who-" Artemis called up, backing away slowly but was suddenly cut off by two rose colored swords being held to her neck, each bearing a beating heart shaped card on the other end.
"The Red Queen of course!" One card said, poking Artemis with the blunt side of his sword, causing her to back track quickly away from it until she stumbled down from tripping over a high root. "Now get moving!"
The blonde jumped to her feet quickly and was about to take off running when it suddenly felt as though her blood were made of a thick glue. It held her fast in place and she could sense the presence of many other cards and the Hatter surrounding and nearly suffocating her.
"GRAB HER!" A voice suddenly shrieked as a hand reached out and grabbed her arm with a bone crushing grip.
"Don't LET HER GET AWAY!" Another yelled, this time kicking her in the back of the knee.
More cards began to show up, each grabbing onto one of her limbs and pulling her back and forth like a game of tug of war until finally all of her limbs were held tightly so there was no chance of her escaping as they dragged her away in the direction of the Red Queen's castle.
The Red Queen's Castle:
The red queen wasn't a very ugly woman, but she wasn't the prettiest rose in the bunch either. Her long red hair that was almost always flying free was something to be envious of, along with her large hazel eyes, but unfortunately her near flawless skin had an awful habit of its own. Whenever the queen had an unhappy thought, her creamy white skin would flash a terrible shade of emerald, there by clashing with the red on the rest of her.
"NO! NO! NO! I WANTED RED ROSE!" The queen roared, her skin breaking out in its green little splotches as she tore said flowers from their stems. "NOT CAUCASION!"
"Madame! We could just paint the roses red!" A playing card beside her tried to reason, searching around for a can of paint.
"ITS NOT THE SAME!" The Red Queen growled, turning sharply to her card and summoning her guards. "OFF WITH HIS HEAD! HE SHALL NEVER HAVE A STUPID IDEA IN MY KINGDOM AGAIN!"
She turned away swiftly as the card was dragged away, her eyes suddenly landing on a bucket of red paint and all at once, her mood went from dreary and mad, to cheerful and glad. She swept the paint can into her arms, and grabbed a handful of roses in her free hand.
"Just paint the roses! Glad I thought of it!" She squealed, hugging the items to her chest. "But who to paint them for me?"
"My queen! We have brought a prisoner!" A guard called suddenly from behind her and her mood turned sour yet again.
"Send them in." She huffed, turning around to face the prisoner who was none other than Artemis, still being dragged by the cards. "Oh. Its just a little girl. What did she do?"
"Cruelty against the woodland animals, a caterpillar, the Duchess, and the Mad Hatter." The guard hold Artemis's leg said, only to get a swift kick in the head from her foot.
"Hey! The Hatter challenged me!" Artemis pointed out, swiftly kicking the guard yet again.
"ENOUGH!" The queen bellowed, there by silencing everyone else in the room. "Not normally I'd say off with her head, but I am very busy today so I haven't the time an- Wait a minute! That's perfect! She can be the one to paint he roses, then I can make it to my croquet group! Release her!"
All at once, the cards dropped Artemis on her arse and then filed away simply. Upon being dropped, Artemis felt a heavy weight on her chest as a bucket and flowers were dropped on her chest. A slosh of red paint spilt out of the can and onto her pretty dress, as well as the flower, there by staining them all bright red as instructed. The queen, who assumed Artemis had simply finished painting very quickly, jeered at her work and clapped her hands in excitement.
"You work fast for such a small child! For that, I will reward you with a game of croquet with the rest of my group and myself!" Before Artemis could even say a word, she was yanked to her feet and dragged away to a large arena.
It was overgrown with grass, and had very large pegs and balls set up for the game. In the stands, she could see the animals that were harmed by the Hatter, all with packs of ice on their sore, but still smiling jaws. Frowning, Artemis rushed to the stand and withdrew the cup of smoothie that she still had from earlier and passed it up to them.
"Here, drink this. You'll feel better." She said, knowing that the banana in the drink would help with the cramp. "I have to go now."
After this, she rushed back over to the queen and took her place next to her just as a live flamingo was shoved into her arms. The queen was already taking her turn, and hit the ball through the first couple of rings before it rolled to a complete stop. Regardless, the queen beamed proudly at the ball and challenged the other players (mainly playing cards) to top that. One by one, each of the cards took a turn, and they all topped that easily. The queen stood, and while seemingly calm, it was obvious she was angry by the way her nose turned a lovely shade of emerald. When the last of the cards went, the queen could barely contain herself and finally let out a shriek of 'OFF WITH THEIR HEADS! THOSE WHO HAVE BEATEN ME HAVE OBVIOUSLY CHEATED!'
Artemis gulped as the cards were quickly dragged away and the queen shoved her forward for her turn. The blonde took her spot at the start, and aimed her mallet at the ball carefully. All at once though did things change quite dramatically. The Mallet turned from wood into a flamingo, and the ball unrolled itself to be a live porcupine. Neither wanted to smack into the other, so the ball rolled away quickly and the 'mallet' craned its neck to look up at the player holding it with teary eyes. Artemis let out a yelp and dropped it, watching now as the rolling ball slid carelessly through the croquet rings set up. By now, the Red Queen was now the Green with Envy Queen.
"H-hey! Calm down!" Artemis yelped, backing away slowly from the queen. "I-its just a game!"
"Just a game!?" The queen growled, shoving Artemis over while still advancing. "You think this is all just a sick game!?"
The queen reached for her croquet mallet once more and raced it above her head, and Artemis watched in horror as the mallet suddenly took the form of a sharp balde, stained bloody red with the heads of who knows how many victims. The glue seemed to return to her body, as she found herself unable to move from her spot as the queen readied to send the final blow.
"Off. With. Her-" A sudden and very loud meow cut off the queen's order, causing her blade to pin the tip of Artemis' headband to the ground.
Artemis turned her head as far as she could in the direction of the meow, but all she saw was a floating grin, just a few feet above the queen. It smiled at her, and beckoned her to run with a mouth of the word before letting out another deafening meow to startled the queen back into her lovely pale skin. Artemis felt life return back into her limbs as she scrambled shakily to her feet and took off running through the exit she had been dragged through, passed the throne room as fast as her numb legs could carry her, and was about to make it to the castles exit when the draw bridge suddenly creaked to life, and faster than she could stop it, it was pulled up and slammed into its place, trapping her inside and helpless to escape the Red Queen.
That didn't stop her from trying, as the sounds of the queen's roars and the shuffles of playing cards drummed loudly in the distance. Her heart beat was racing by now, knowing that staying to fight probably wouldn't be wise. These weren't ordinary cards, they were Wonderland cards! From the strength and pain tolerance they presented when she was first capture, it was obvious that a fight against them would probably end in yet another capture. Picking up the pace, she stopped just before a flight of narrow stairs, and taking in a deep gulp of air, she jumped up three stairs at a time until she was at the top. Many large windows were wide opened and welcoming, almost beckoning her to jump out of one of them, and she almost did if it weren't for the shutters suddenly slamming and holding closed.
"There you are!" The queen growled, almost half way up the stairs and still swinging her sword, beheading most of the cards as she went.
Artemis gasped, and looked about quickly for any other escape route. There was only one, which was a small strip of area between the stairs and the floor they lead to. It was small, but just enough that Artemis could fit through, so without a second thought, she jumped towards it, went as straight as a board and easily slid past the Red Queen. What she hadn't thought of was how deep the gap would be and just like before she found herself free falling, just as she had been when she first entered the dream. Did that mean she was leaving? Was she finally going to wake up after all of this?
She didn't dare to open her eyes as she fell, she only cracked them when she was stopped from hitting the hard ground by landing on something soft instead. The sound of meowing from behind her caused her to open her eyes fully, and she found that she was not in her room, but instead was in a field of mushrooms with that same grin still floating behind her. Slowly, it began to gain a body around it.
"Cheshire cat! Man, I really owe yo-" She began, but was surprised when she didn't see the spotted and striped cat from her childhood book, rather she saw a young woman in a dress of the same design, with messy black hair tied into cat ears at the top of her head, and wearing a Cheshire cat mask. "J-Jade!?"
"Hey, little sis." The cat greeted with a nod of the head. "Fancy meeting you here."
"What the hell are you talking about! This is my dream!" Artemis exclaimed, gesturing to the area around her. "And I still have to dance with the turtle, and nearly get my head cut off before I can wake up!"
"You still don't get it, do you?" Jade muttered, walking over to the queen's thrown and sitting down. "I told you the Red Queen has altered the story."
"So? Whats your point?" Artemis huffed, folding her arms over her chest in a similar way to her sister.
"The Red Queen, its obviously your friend Megan. I asked her to think us together in a dream. Using our story as a prompt." Jade admitted with a shrug of the shoulders. "Its fall break, so I thought I'd come visit you and spend some time with you."
"But you were absent through like, half of the story!" The blonde pointed out, now really sounding annoyed.
"Eh, I got kinda side tracked with some things, you knew the story pretty well so I figured I'd just catch up with you." Jade said, shrugging as she waved her hand above her head, making a large table appear in front of her. "Now get over here so we can have that tea party I owe you. The Queen's charging by the hour you know."
Artemis was about to speak, but said nothing as she walked over to the table, sat down, and enjoyed a nice lunch with her sister.
