The Cheshire Cat read from the ratty entrails covered book of Fairy Tales he'd managed to liberate from the Library of Lies in the City of Callous Adults. The City was an unhappy place where giant cannibal childlike Wonderland residents devoured those the Red King had brought into Wonderland for abuse to the very children he so tormented by keeping here. The Cat
admitted he wasn't doing much to alleviate the situation in day to day life though. It was Story-time for the insane children in the Mushroom forest and the tales were never pleasant for anyone but him.
"Then the Witch slowly cooked Hansel and Gretel alive in her oven as their tear streamed eyes exploded. She fed the pieces of burnt human flesh seasoned with cinnamon to many more children who disturbed her until she finally grew tired of living in the Forrest. After this was done the Witch married a very rich man and eventually became Queen of England, living happily ever after. The End." The Cat yawned as he patted his mouth with his paw and nuzzled his posterior a little more comfortably on the mushroom. Actually truth be told he wondered if the children were actually listening, he suspected they were but being insane they wouldn't probably respond to the story another week or two.
"Ring around the Rosy! Pocket full of Posey! Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down!" two of the younger boys were wrapping young Jill's jump rope around her throat. The young scamps were doing their best to decapitate her by pulling as hard as they could but the Red King made then unique in Wonderland as unable to die. To Cheshire it was a manifestation of the
monarch's guilt for killing their parents and bringing them eternally into this place. However by denying them the release of even death he had necessitated his own by the Cat's mind.
"Now Now children what have we said about suicide? Need I remind you about Little Billy who tossed himself down the Jabberwockey's mouth only to have to suffer a very smelly and painful travel down his bowels?" The Cat then sniffed the air and wondered if the Army Ants were going to launch an attack. He noticed it was the White Knight, though with his dust stained armor.
The Cheshire Cat played dead on the mushroom by opening a gigantic hole in his body even as he looked at the White Knight with a playful sneer. "How goes the war to liberate the Lands of Wonderland from the oppression of the Reds most noble...snicker...knight?"
"The Red Queen is dead but she has returned along with all the other horrors. I had hoped that we would be free of the nightmare when she was annihilated but now they are as immortal as the insane children it seems some how." The White Knight sighed and looked at the children while one blew his brains out with a pistol he'd managed to locate only to find he simply needed to stuff them back into his head.
"Sigh you poor stupid Pawn...." The Cheshire Cat shook his head as it twisted three hundred and sixty degrees.
"Knight." The White Knight corrected.
"The game isn't over until the Red King is dead or the White King which in these times of Suffrage is our Alice. The Red Queen might have been the most powerful piece on the board but her destruction merely weakened the horror. Plus as you know the game makes provisions for pieces to return in play. After all, look at me." The Cat explained the intricacies of Chess to the person who knew it better, there was one thing about being mad that was always enjoyable-being a smart alec.
"I'd rather not man. You should really eat something and get a flea bath. I know what you say now is true. Worse, the leader of the Reds grows more powerful with each move. Yesterday in our world and the Great Dreamers know when in the timelessness of the Undreamt Lands the entire crew of a ship called the Mary Celeste was physically dragged into Wonderland." The White Knight shook his head.
That peeked the Cat's interest, he hadn't yet contemplated that the Red King would develop the power to bring flesh into the Dreamlands. He'd thought about the Red King developing the power to take men's minds over, make himself immortal by altering his biology, and even his powers starting to move through time to affect the past or future but crossing the realms of
Madness to Sanity was a new one. "I eat plenty of things Knight however I'm like a mind and never full. What happened to them after they arrived?"
"They died of course. A school of fish tore the flesh from their bones and used the remains for their anatomy lesson. I do not know which is more frightening, the indiscriminate slaughter of dreamers or the thought the Red King will start to choose more precisely his victims." The Knight shook his head and took a drink from the rancid water in his canteen. The rivers of the Chess battle field were choked with the marble dust of his brothers but their was nothing cleaner.
"I hope the class got an E for Efficient. As to the dreamer's fates I do not think we have to worry overmuch. I and the Rabbit are leading our Pawn and Queen to the position where it is checkmate one way or the other." The Cat gave a maniacal laugh before spitting up a hairball filled with human finger bones.
"You realize that without the Red King and Alice both Wonderland will die or at the very least never be contacted with mortals again." The White Knight was not afraid of annihilation but his code of honor, sorely strained as it
was, demanded he make sure his companion knew the consequences of his actions.
"Most children's tales do not last a decade or more Knight and I personally have grown weary of craftiness. The subtle lies, the manipulations, and even the toying with my prey has staled. A Cat always lands on his feet but this infinite Cradle I live in is better off destroyed. Honestly I care not what happens to me but the thought of living on in even one of these poor little minds as I am now is too much to bear. To summarize, I understand purrfectly." The Cheshire Cat's flesh disappeared as his eyes grew the size of mountains in the sky even as they faded away.
***
Alice walked through the asylum halls with a lot more memories and trepidation than she expected. In her mind she'd killed literally hundreds of people, watched thousands endure unbearable agony, and even butchered close friends in order to bring about her sanity but here she was as weak as a girl seven and a half exactly.
'No one could possibly understand what this is like for me.' Alice thought, looking for the white rabbit as she followed the nurse.
"I understand Alice." the voice that spoke the words was soft and echoing in the wind, much like the Cat's in some ways but less self amused. The tone was actually more depressed
Alice turned her head to look at the figure who stood in the hallway to her side. He was beautiful to look upon with golden hair that shined in the weak light, green eyes every bit as deep as her own, and a form hardened by years of duress. The man was dressed as a gentleman in courting clothes even as they were gnashed with twigs, dust, and blood. In his hands were a
bouquet of black roses that he offered to her.
"Thank you." Alice said, mesmerized by the man's look as she sniffed the somber decay in the dead flowers.
"Miss Liddell?" Nurse Ozma asked as she turned around to look at Alice with her arm stretched out to a barren wall.
"Oh! Sorry, I'm coming." Alice said, beginning her walk down the darkened hall of Rutledge. The cells of the monks who'd inhabited the building a century ago were now cells of a different kind with the smell of the place reeking of human wastes and misery. Looking through the iron windows of each door Alice could occasionally catch glimpses of the mad living here.
Some of them were ranting lunatics, others cold murderers, while others were children who simply weren't able to process reality like 'normal' people. Some present in the halls weren't actually insane at all in Alice's mind but simply were adults or young adults who never progressed beyond the mind of a child.
"And they call us mad." the voice echoed in her ears. It was strangely comforting and familiar, like a childhood playmate. Alice wrapped her shawl around her tighter even as she saw the White Rabbit hanging over the doorway to Doctor Wilson's office.
"Nurse Ozma, leave us." the voice that sent Alice's skin a crawl went. If Alice had an ice wand, a vorpal sword, or even a razor blade she would have set her date with the hangman's noose. Doctor Heironymous Wilson was a tall man with lengthy white hair that if curly might have formed a powdered wig like the men in Parliament wore. He was wearing obscenely small bifocals that pinched his nose that was the prominent feature of his ugly gray bearded red face. Left alone with him by the Nurse, Alice had a wicked urge to run but she knew he'd catch her.
"Alice I'm touched to see you've returned." Heiro began approaching her and Alice backed away quickly.
"I know what you've touched. So what have been doing lately Doctor?" Alice said and the Alienist's eyes darkened. The memories of the liberties the respected Doctor had taken upon her almost brought tears to her eyes.
'I could squeeze your throat.' the thought was murderously pleasing to her. Part of her wanted to do it more than anything and the voices of Wonderland wanted her to do it. Alice did not kill human beings though, that was her sacred law. If she killed him then killing the Red King might be permissible but she had no intention of doing either.
"I was just playing checkers with an old colleague Alice. Todd! Theodore!" Heiro called the brothers down the hall as the hideous ogre and his mousy companion came up behind Alice. Alice got the creepiest feeling on the back of her neck which was confirmed when the pair grabbed her arms and began to try and hold her down.
"Get off me!" Alice kicked, screamed, and spat as the Doctor shook his head over her.
"You should learn to be more polite to your social betters Alice. A proper young Lady does not behave in such a manner. Take her to her old cell and give her a sedative." Doctor Wilson said calmly even as Alice wondered when the real world had gone completely mad.
-Charlemagne
admitted he wasn't doing much to alleviate the situation in day to day life though. It was Story-time for the insane children in the Mushroom forest and the tales were never pleasant for anyone but him.
"Then the Witch slowly cooked Hansel and Gretel alive in her oven as their tear streamed eyes exploded. She fed the pieces of burnt human flesh seasoned with cinnamon to many more children who disturbed her until she finally grew tired of living in the Forrest. After this was done the Witch married a very rich man and eventually became Queen of England, living happily ever after. The End." The Cat yawned as he patted his mouth with his paw and nuzzled his posterior a little more comfortably on the mushroom. Actually truth be told he wondered if the children were actually listening, he suspected they were but being insane they wouldn't probably respond to the story another week or two.
"Ring around the Rosy! Pocket full of Posey! Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down!" two of the younger boys were wrapping young Jill's jump rope around her throat. The young scamps were doing their best to decapitate her by pulling as hard as they could but the Red King made then unique in Wonderland as unable to die. To Cheshire it was a manifestation of the
monarch's guilt for killing their parents and bringing them eternally into this place. However by denying them the release of even death he had necessitated his own by the Cat's mind.
"Now Now children what have we said about suicide? Need I remind you about Little Billy who tossed himself down the Jabberwockey's mouth only to have to suffer a very smelly and painful travel down his bowels?" The Cat then sniffed the air and wondered if the Army Ants were going to launch an attack. He noticed it was the White Knight, though with his dust stained armor.
The Cheshire Cat played dead on the mushroom by opening a gigantic hole in his body even as he looked at the White Knight with a playful sneer. "How goes the war to liberate the Lands of Wonderland from the oppression of the Reds most noble...snicker...knight?"
"The Red Queen is dead but she has returned along with all the other horrors. I had hoped that we would be free of the nightmare when she was annihilated but now they are as immortal as the insane children it seems some how." The White Knight sighed and looked at the children while one blew his brains out with a pistol he'd managed to locate only to find he simply needed to stuff them back into his head.
"Sigh you poor stupid Pawn...." The Cheshire Cat shook his head as it twisted three hundred and sixty degrees.
"Knight." The White Knight corrected.
"The game isn't over until the Red King is dead or the White King which in these times of Suffrage is our Alice. The Red Queen might have been the most powerful piece on the board but her destruction merely weakened the horror. Plus as you know the game makes provisions for pieces to return in play. After all, look at me." The Cat explained the intricacies of Chess to the person who knew it better, there was one thing about being mad that was always enjoyable-being a smart alec.
"I'd rather not man. You should really eat something and get a flea bath. I know what you say now is true. Worse, the leader of the Reds grows more powerful with each move. Yesterday in our world and the Great Dreamers know when in the timelessness of the Undreamt Lands the entire crew of a ship called the Mary Celeste was physically dragged into Wonderland." The White Knight shook his head.
That peeked the Cat's interest, he hadn't yet contemplated that the Red King would develop the power to bring flesh into the Dreamlands. He'd thought about the Red King developing the power to take men's minds over, make himself immortal by altering his biology, and even his powers starting to move through time to affect the past or future but crossing the realms of
Madness to Sanity was a new one. "I eat plenty of things Knight however I'm like a mind and never full. What happened to them after they arrived?"
"They died of course. A school of fish tore the flesh from their bones and used the remains for their anatomy lesson. I do not know which is more frightening, the indiscriminate slaughter of dreamers or the thought the Red King will start to choose more precisely his victims." The Knight shook his head and took a drink from the rancid water in his canteen. The rivers of the Chess battle field were choked with the marble dust of his brothers but their was nothing cleaner.
"I hope the class got an E for Efficient. As to the dreamer's fates I do not think we have to worry overmuch. I and the Rabbit are leading our Pawn and Queen to the position where it is checkmate one way or the other." The Cat gave a maniacal laugh before spitting up a hairball filled with human finger bones.
"You realize that without the Red King and Alice both Wonderland will die or at the very least never be contacted with mortals again." The White Knight was not afraid of annihilation but his code of honor, sorely strained as it
was, demanded he make sure his companion knew the consequences of his actions.
"Most children's tales do not last a decade or more Knight and I personally have grown weary of craftiness. The subtle lies, the manipulations, and even the toying with my prey has staled. A Cat always lands on his feet but this infinite Cradle I live in is better off destroyed. Honestly I care not what happens to me but the thought of living on in even one of these poor little minds as I am now is too much to bear. To summarize, I understand purrfectly." The Cheshire Cat's flesh disappeared as his eyes grew the size of mountains in the sky even as they faded away.
***
Alice walked through the asylum halls with a lot more memories and trepidation than she expected. In her mind she'd killed literally hundreds of people, watched thousands endure unbearable agony, and even butchered close friends in order to bring about her sanity but here she was as weak as a girl seven and a half exactly.
'No one could possibly understand what this is like for me.' Alice thought, looking for the white rabbit as she followed the nurse.
"I understand Alice." the voice that spoke the words was soft and echoing in the wind, much like the Cat's in some ways but less self amused. The tone was actually more depressed
Alice turned her head to look at the figure who stood in the hallway to her side. He was beautiful to look upon with golden hair that shined in the weak light, green eyes every bit as deep as her own, and a form hardened by years of duress. The man was dressed as a gentleman in courting clothes even as they were gnashed with twigs, dust, and blood. In his hands were a
bouquet of black roses that he offered to her.
"Thank you." Alice said, mesmerized by the man's look as she sniffed the somber decay in the dead flowers.
"Miss Liddell?" Nurse Ozma asked as she turned around to look at Alice with her arm stretched out to a barren wall.
"Oh! Sorry, I'm coming." Alice said, beginning her walk down the darkened hall of Rutledge. The cells of the monks who'd inhabited the building a century ago were now cells of a different kind with the smell of the place reeking of human wastes and misery. Looking through the iron windows of each door Alice could occasionally catch glimpses of the mad living here.
Some of them were ranting lunatics, others cold murderers, while others were children who simply weren't able to process reality like 'normal' people. Some present in the halls weren't actually insane at all in Alice's mind but simply were adults or young adults who never progressed beyond the mind of a child.
"And they call us mad." the voice echoed in her ears. It was strangely comforting and familiar, like a childhood playmate. Alice wrapped her shawl around her tighter even as she saw the White Rabbit hanging over the doorway to Doctor Wilson's office.
"Nurse Ozma, leave us." the voice that sent Alice's skin a crawl went. If Alice had an ice wand, a vorpal sword, or even a razor blade she would have set her date with the hangman's noose. Doctor Heironymous Wilson was a tall man with lengthy white hair that if curly might have formed a powdered wig like the men in Parliament wore. He was wearing obscenely small bifocals that pinched his nose that was the prominent feature of his ugly gray bearded red face. Left alone with him by the Nurse, Alice had a wicked urge to run but she knew he'd catch her.
"Alice I'm touched to see you've returned." Heiro began approaching her and Alice backed away quickly.
"I know what you've touched. So what have been doing lately Doctor?" Alice said and the Alienist's eyes darkened. The memories of the liberties the respected Doctor had taken upon her almost brought tears to her eyes.
'I could squeeze your throat.' the thought was murderously pleasing to her. Part of her wanted to do it more than anything and the voices of Wonderland wanted her to do it. Alice did not kill human beings though, that was her sacred law. If she killed him then killing the Red King might be permissible but she had no intention of doing either.
"I was just playing checkers with an old colleague Alice. Todd! Theodore!" Heiro called the brothers down the hall as the hideous ogre and his mousy companion came up behind Alice. Alice got the creepiest feeling on the back of her neck which was confirmed when the pair grabbed her arms and began to try and hold her down.
"Get off me!" Alice kicked, screamed, and spat as the Doctor shook his head over her.
"You should learn to be more polite to your social betters Alice. A proper young Lady does not behave in such a manner. Take her to her old cell and give her a sedative." Doctor Wilson said calmly even as Alice wondered when the real world had gone completely mad.
-Charlemagne