(An: Well, this isn't gonna be a big update (have they ever been, lately) but it's something, anyway. Short, fluffy, and explanatory.)
(Cheshire)
Alice is gazing out over the land. We're near the castle. It looms, empty and abandoned but nevertheless menacing. Her dreamy, green eyes are unfocused.
I smile at her- not my grin, a true smile, that only she can bring to my lips.
Then she speaks. "Wonderland's not going to be normal again, is it?"
"Was it ever?"
She looks over at me and frowns. "You know what I mean. The way it was supposed to be."
I shake my head.
Alice looks utterly forlorn at this, staring down at her hands. I lean over by her and whisper in her ear. "I'm not the way I'm supposed to be, you know..."
Alice's green gaze finally turns from the morbid palace to me. I catch her lips with mine, kissing her for the first time since we came to Wonderland.
(Alice)
Cheshire looks at me in that frank way he always does after doing something like this- strange and right and confusing. His unsettling yellow eyes and the small smile on his face reveal nothing of his thoughts.
"I know," I tell him. And this time I kiss back.
(Rogue)
This weirdness is all mah fault, I think, trying to get my head around it. But when's it ever not?
Remy is sitting nearby, his chin propped on his fist and his beautiful, demonic eyes unreadable.
(Remy)
I sigh as the sun sets. We've been here a while. I wonder what de others are doin'... I look over at Rogue and wonder, Does it matter?
(Rogue)
I can feel Remy looking at me.
I wonder what he thinks of all this. Wonderland. The surreal, deadly edge to everything. Alice and Cheshire. Me.
When Remy left, I told everyone I didn't care about him and never had. But I can't lie to myself.
(Cheshire)
We sit in silence for a while. Then Alice speaks, gesturing at the castle. "Is anybody in there?"
I shrug. "I haven't the faintest, but I wouldn't think so. It's a bad place."
She nods, pulling her legs against her chest and resting her arms on her knees. "Very much so."
(Alice)
I look over at Cheshire, looking at me, then back out at the castle.
When the sun rises and I awake, I'll have to go in there. The one place I swore I never would. The memories are bad enough.
I look back at Cheshire. He smiles at me. And I get the feeling that everything will be alright.
(Rogue)
Everyone else is asleep now, and the moon is high in the sky.
I remember what the Griffin- Logan- had said. Wonderland was reacting to my fears. I think of the Cards, with the Eye of Ages smeared on them. I got the impression that they weren't a big deal. We're going to the Red Queen's castle- as close to a villainess as Alice in Wonderland gets. Whatever's in there- and I'm sure there's something- will be symbolic of something I fear worse than Apocalypse. What that is, I'm not sure... but I know I'll find out.
It is a long while before I fall asleep.
(As promised, short and fluffy. This is only a setup chapter, though. There will be TWO more chapters and then that's it folks. Please don't lynch me, but I would like this to be done. And for all of y'all who want more- GO PLAY THE DAMN GAME!)