Fluffy fluffy fluffiness! But this beginning part is slightly important if anyone wants to skip the fluff...

"Beware the Jabberwock, dear Alice! The jaws that bite and the claws that catch! Yet no longer fear the Jubjub bird nor the much calmed Bandersnatch… Secrets have been hidden and secrets have been told, fear not the dead but instead the Queen of old. When dawn comes alight new rulers will come, no longer champion, but still the one who won."

She heard the ominous voice and knew that she must be once again sleeping and dreaming, or astral projecting as she had recently learned it was called. Things were different this time though… she wasn't in her bedroom or anywhere else that she recognized. Rather, she did recognize where she was, but she hadn't the foggiest clue on how she had gotten there. She was in the sky, just floating about, flying above it all. She could see only darkness below her, but all around there were lightly glowing stars. Some so close she could reach out and touch them if she wished… but she didn't. She had better things to do, like find the source of the familiar yet unfamiliar voice.

There was no one to be seen near her, but at the same time she sensed a presence that was just out of sight no matter how far she moved. Then she felt another presence that made her blood run cold. There was someone behind her, and it wasn't a good thing.

"My old foe…" Said the voice of whatever was behind her… but it was strange. It wasn't a single pitched voice. It was instead the sound of two voices speaking in unison… the voice of a woman and the harsh sound of something that was completely and totally inhuman all together.

Alice wanted to run away, far away from the presence, but could not command her legs to move or her head to look back before she felt a force hit her hard in the back of the head and she found herself falling… falling as usual, but not down any rabbit hole. She was falling from the sky, plummeting from the stars into the black abyss below her with the cackle of evil laughter ringing in her ears… she couldn't do anything except scream.

And scream she did. She woke up to the sound of her own voice screaming bloody murder… and the sound of something else.

"Alice! Are you alright? Alice!" Tarrant was shouting over the sound of her screams… he was shaking her too… he was trying to snap her out of it… to wake her up from her nightmare and to let her know everything was going to be fine.

She stopped screaming and took in her surroundings… She was in bed in a dark room… Tarrant's room from what she could gather. He was next to her in the bed, though they were both now upright. She must have sat up as she awoke, and he must have sat up to calm her. She tried to relax, and she admitted that his presence comforted her into a state in which she could at least think.

So she thought about and remembered what had occurred to put her in her current position. It had been after the kissing, and Tarrant had scooped her up in his mad glee and carried her back home… just in time for tea with Mali and Thackery. They had kept quiet about what had just happened, and didn't breathe a word on the subject… Maliumpkin had seemed to know that there was something they weren't saying, but she didn't pry. After tea Mali and Thackery left to do last minute work in preparation for the ball. Leaving meant that Alice and Tarrant were once again alone.

Rather than do too much too fast, Tarrant had told Alice that he too had last minute orders to fill for hats and such for the ball. She had offered to assist him, but he had denied her help at first. Eventually though she had helped him put finishing touches like ribbons, feathers, and beading on to his hats. She was terrible at sewing, however, and he had laughed for hours at the jumble of thread she had called a stitch. He had left her only with small jobs not requiring sewing, and though usually not doing the hard work bothered her, Alice knew it was for the best.

She had decorated and packaged hats with him for hours, talking about this and that for hours and hours until eventually everything was finished. She had even cleaned up his workshop and had given all the packages to Bayard and his pups to deliver. They had eaten after that and had ultimately gone to bed in their own rooms… until she had crossed the hall in the middle of the night in her nightgown unable to sleep. She had found him wide awake in his bed and had tried to sneak back to her room in embarrassment, but he had caught her and invited her to spend the night with him… He was shirtless and as she found after crawling into bed with him… his bare chest made an excellent pillow. They had both fallen asleep and all had been well… until now.

"Are you alright Alice?" He asked again, worried about her and wondering why she had suddenly woken up… especially why she had woken up screaming so loudly.

"I'm fine…" She said before pausing a moment and adding a single word in explanation, "Nightmare…"

"A nightmare…" He repeated, "Oh I know just the thing for nightmares… used to have them all the time myself, especially as a child… I still have them now though…. Not always, but from time to time… frightening is what they are… truly scary and all… I think they should be outlawed, banned maybe… something truly inspired I suppose, banning nightmares… They would have to make a dream police wouldn't they… It would be odd, wouldn't it be Alice?"

She smiled, he was crazy, but at least he always knew what to say to cheer her up. "Simply preposterous!" She agreed. "But you never know what's possible or not in Wonderland."

"Underland." He corrected with a grin. He hadn't told her yet how much he loved it when she called their world Wonderland. Absolem and McTwisp hated it, but it had always made him smile. "Now about the perfect thing for nightmares… follow me…" He said as he touched her shoulder lightly and got out of bed.

"Do I need my shoes?" she asked, unsure of exactly what this 'nightmare cure' was or where she would find it. She needed to know because her shoes were next to the bed.

"No… not at all, we're just heading to the Kitchen." He laughed as he said it as if it were obvious. She simply followed him and didn't ask anything else until they were in the kitchen.

"Tea?" She asked a bit confused as she watched him put the kettle on. He had lit up a few candles and had them set on the small table at which they ate every night.

"Of course… tea fixes everything."

She couldn't see his face because his back was turned to her, but she had a feeling that he was smiling. "Everything?" She repeated questioningly.

"Well everything except craziness… I mean look at Thackery, he's been drinking the stuff for years and still mad as a rabbit… a march hare at that!"

"And of course you too." Alice teased, "Just as crazy as ever."

"I suppose so." He said with a mad laugh as the water boiled and he fixed them both a cup of tea. He didn't look to see what kind of tea because to him all tea was good. "Sugar?" He asked as he added a large amount to his own cup as well as a fair amount of honey and a splash of milk.

"Yes please!"

"Say when…" He said with a grin.

"But I can't see how much you're putting in…" She said confused, "So I don't know when to say when."

"Alright!" He said hearing the word when twice and taking that as time to stop. He had been known to serve a cup of damp sugar to guests who took too long to say when. He carried both cups to the table and set them down only remembering which was which from the fact that his was no longer clear from the added milk.

"Thank you." She said taking her cup and taking a sip finding it to her fancy.

"I told you tea was good for everything…" He said with a smile as he drank his own.

She ignored his comment and shook her head, "How do you take yours?" She asked just making conversation.

"Depends on the day…" He replied… he did have a different way for everyday, and it seemed that today's mix involved more sugar, honey, and milk than he generally used in a week.

"Today?" She specified.

"More sugar than tea with a bit of milk and honey." He replied sipping his concoction from the cup and amazing him that all that sweetness wasn't making him sick.

"Let me try?" She asked setting down her own cup and reaching her hands out to take his cup if he handed it to her.

He handed it over and smiled, he wondered if she would be able to take such a concentrated sweetness, but it really didn't matter either way. She may not realize it now, but tea truly was the cure for everything because it took your mind off whatever was troubling you.

She took a sip, then another, then another. It was extremely sweet and at this point tasted nothing like tea… however it did remind her of something else. "When I was little, my father used to give me a bit of warm milk with sugar in it before bed… he would sneak the sugar because Mother insisted it would keep me up at night… it probably did, but it was good regardless…" She trailed off and returned the cup to his hand, "That's what it tastes like…"

Tarrant gave a sad smile. It was rare that Alice spoke of her father and he personally knew very little of him, He knew that he had passed away when Alice was young and that they had been very close. Her father had been the one who had allowed her to be creative and unique… he was the one that had allowed the Alice he knew today to come to be. It reminded him of his own parents who had died along with the rest of the Hightopp clan when the Red Queen had originally attacked. It made him sad to be on such a somber topic, but it was nice that she was opening up to him once again.

He couldn't help himself but ask, "Why is a raven like a writing desk Alice?"

She smiled, "No one knows… not even you."

He smiled back, "True, but I do have a few theories… They can both be black, they can both squawk… depending on how squeaky your desk is of course… You can write something on the desk, or you could write something on a raven…" He shrugged, "They're also both parts of an age old unanswerable riddle that I've been asking my whole life… but regardless, they're a like, or maybe they aren't at all and it's just a trick to confuse and work the mind…"

"I suppose we'll never know…" Alice said as she finished her tea and yawned… it was still quite dark out. If they went back to bed, maybe she would be able to get a bit more rest.

"Or maybe we will… You never know what can happen in Wonderland…" He said after finishing his own tea.

"Underland." She corrected, holding out her hand so that they could return to his bed and the company of each other's arms.

Cute, right? Well the next update will be all about the ball and the morning before it all :) Please review!