Me: C'mon... ask me.
Mewtwo: No.
Bahamut: No.
Poupoko: Chao.
Me: C'mon... I'll give ya some of Camille's cookies...
Poupoko: CHAO? Chao!
Bahamut: ... With the sprinkles?
Me: Of course.
Mewtwo: ... Fine. Why's a raven like a writing desk?
Me: Because
DISCLAIMER: SEE FIRST CHAPTER.
"Twas Brillig"
By Corvus no no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland
He was drawn to her just like the rest of the woodland creatures, but, unlike them, he did not join her in her tears even though he was saddened by both her small song and her predicament. But crying never solved anything, nor did answering her unspoken wish to be left alone in her misery. He looked around and saw that the few creatures that had joined her in her tears slowly vanish, most likely to reappear far away from here. Tears were a foreign thing here, even with the Queen of Hearts screaming "Off with their head!" every which way. Looking down, however, he saw that the creatures near to him were not crying but, instead, quivering in fear.
Fear of him.
But that was to be expected really. He was one of the few creatures in Wonderland that ever inspired fear in its other denizens. It was to be expected since he and the other creatures were much larger than them. That and the others of his stature were caught, as it were, in a certain emotional range. The Jub-Jub bird, for example, was perpetually caught in intense passion, be it joy, excitement, or about an object of some sort. Either way, its chatting beak was not looked upon with joy by the smaller denizens of Wonderland. Then there was the Frumious Bandersnatch, always in a temperamental mood, who always found the smallest bit of joy from shooting his long neck forward and snapping his dog-like jaws just mere centimeters from people's faces.
He shook his head suddenly, causing the small creatures staring open-mouthed, if they possessed such a thing, at him to jump in surprise. Now was not the time to be thinking about odd acquaintances, now was the time to help the poor child that he found sobbing while she sat on his headrest. Moving slowly towards her, he silently hoped that the creatures staring at him in fear and dread, some not for him but for the sobbing girl before him, would not cry out in fear and run away from him. The last thing he wanted, or needed, was another person fearing him for something that he wasn't.
Slowly he walked around her till he was sitting just to her right. Slowly, hesitation quite evident in his movements, wrapped his tail around the rock so that, if he had to of course, he could grab her if she chose to run from him. He bent his long neck down so that his snake-like head rest gently atop the girl's own. She sat up slowly and blinked up at him through her tears, her face still saddened but surprise and slight fear were evident in her tear-filled eyes.
He waited patiently as she took in his rather large form slowly, beginning from the tip of his black tail and up to his purple sweater where his small wings flapped nervously as his three-fingered claws opened and closed in nervous anticipation to her reaction to him. Her eyes went up and across his sinuous neck to land upon his two forest green horns, which were the exact same color as his protective underbelly scales, that curved upwards from the top of his head to his purple fin-like ears. Her eyes then landed upon his own and he flinched slightly from her startled gasp. He knew that, above anything else, his eyes would be the one thing to scare her for his eyes reflected the very element that he breathed from his fang-lined maw upon his specifically chosen apples.
Fire.
He struggled to try and utter words that she could understand, but he was not created to speak to people or anyone else for that matter. Few could even understand and those that could were not exactly the best of company. Especially considering some people here were quite… eccentric… about certain things. Alas, even with his best attempt, all he could really get out was, "No afraid… please!"
"What?" she spoke slowly, tears still pouring from her eyes.
"No afraid… Jabberwock… friend… Jabberwock friend…" he silently cursed whoever had given him creation in this world without a way to communicate with its visitors.
"Ja-Jabberwock? Who…?" He quickly raised his tail up so that its pointed tip was pointing directly at him.
"Aye, Jabberwock. Jabberwock friend… Jabberwock… wa-want… help…"
"Help? From me?" she asked, her eyes slowly starting to dry but her sad face had not left her. Jabberwock shook his shaggy head and knelt down and pushed her shoulder lightly with his nose.
"Jabberwock help… y-y… you…" Her eyes widened slightly as tears came to eyes once more as the weight of her predicament fell upon her once more. She let out a half-choked sob before wrapping her arms firmly around his snout and crying into his lush fur. Jabberwock's eyes widened slightly before they closed halfway as he slowly raised his tail and patted her back softly.
A slight honking sound made him look downwards at the girl's feet to see something that, quite bluntly, surprised him. It was a little Honkling along with a Mome Rath and a young Shovelhead all of whom were attempting to climb atop the rock at the same time. When they finally succeeded, they merely stared at Jabberwock as he did the same to them. Another surprise came to the Jabberwock via the Mome Rath who was the first to move closer to him and the sobbing girl currently hugging his snout.
The Mome Rath, a blue bodied one with bright green hair, walked in his tip-toeing way, making his small outgrabe sounds as he walked, to rest his body against the girl's arm. The Honkling stared for a moment more before he too waddled over to the girl and rest his blow horn-shaped head on the girl's other arm. The Shovelhead snapped his shovel-like beak twice before hopping off the stone to lean against the blonde-haired girl's legs. The Jabberwock stared in surprise for a moment longer before he smiled and closed his eyes, joining the woodland creatures in their silent words of comfort.
It was not long before the girl's tears had dried and she slowly eased her small form off the Jabberwock's snout. Totally unaware of the small creatures beside her, the young girl took her handkerchief and blew her nose rather softly compared to that of a certain feather-brained individual the Jabberwock had the unfortunate luck of encountering. Still keeping a hold of her handkerchief, the smartly dressed girl looked up into the burning eyes of the Jabberwock.
Jabberwock tried to smile, but found that her sadness and remorse had reached his normally care-free heart. Sighing softly, Jabberwock leaned his head down once more and pushed lightly against the girl's shoulder.
"Who arrrr… y-you?" he asked, flinching slightly, fearing that his 'are' sound much like a growl to the girl. Instead of flinching away from him in fright, she merely cast her sad eyes down to the young Shovelhead and stroked the green bird's yellow crop of hair.
"I hardly know anymore, sir. I know my name, Alice, but not who I am… So many things have happened to me ever since I followed that silly rabbit down here." Alice had expected Jabberwock to not understand her, much like the Caterpillar hadn't, but she was delightfully surprised when he nodded to her explanation. Little did Alice know that such things were quite common here, especially for foreigners like herself.
"Jabberwock is Jabberwock… and Alice… is Alice…" said Jabberwock, shrugging his small arms. "That simple… Alice… want mome-gra! Home? Alice want home?"
"Yes but I-I can't find my way," murmured Alice, blowing her petite nose once more.
"Well of course!" said a very familiar voice, Jabberwock and Alice looked up into the branches of Jabberwock's favorite tree, the Tumtum tree, to see the ever-grinning Cheshire Cat, "All ways here you see, are the Queen's way." The Cat changed the fur on his head to match that of the temperamental Queen of Hearts while also impersonating her voice, scaring the few woodland creatures remaining back to their homes.
"But… I've never met any queen…" said Alice, her curiosity getting the better of her once more.
"You haven't? You haven't? Oh, but you must! She'll be mad about you, simply mad! Haha!" laughed the Cheshire Cat. Jabberwock narrowed his eyes at the grinning cat. He was one of the few creatures that knew of that the Queen's temper was merely that and that no one ever lost their heads, but Alice didn't. Unfortunately, Jabberwock knew of no words to use to inform Alice of this and he highly doubted that the Cheshire Cat would help. Jabberwock was willing to give it a try though.
"Cheshire, you know of the Queen's temper! There's no need to frighten the poor girl!" burbled Jabberwock. The Cheshire Cat merely laughed once more and continued on as if he hadn't heard Jabberwock.
"If you want to meet her, you could go that way," said Cheshire, pointing to his left, "or you could go that way," then to the right, "as for me, myself, personally, I prefer the shortcut." The Cheshire Cat pulled one of the TumTum tree's branches, causing a hidden door to open downwards for Alice to walk through before he disappeared. Alice stood slowly and walked to the open door and gasped from the vivid scenery of the Queen's maze before stepping through. Jabberwock sighed and slowly stood up on his cloven feet before making his way over to her, thinking that her name should have been Kitten for all the curiosity that filled her. However, upon stepping through the door, Jabberwock realized something.
He was too big to fit through.
"Alice!" called Jabberwock, "Alice!" The young girl turned and saw that her new friend was having a tough time getting through.
"Oh dear! Can you not fit through?" she asked, looking around him to see that his large torso was firmly keeping him from entering through the door. Jabberwock grunted and dug his claws into the ground and futilely tried once more to squeeze through. It was all in vain and he was now forced to find another way to the Queen's Curious Maze.
"Alice wait… Jabberwock come. Alice wait for Jabberwock?" Alice nodded and Jabberwock hesitantly backed out and stood straight up, watching as the door closed on its own accord.
"Why, oh why did I really think a curious kitten like Alice would sit still?" grumbled Jabberwock as he looked both ways before crossing an intersection in the Queen's Maze. Flying here would be a big no-no considering that, although he was considered by many an evil creature, he didn't need the entire pack of Card Guards of all four queens chasing after him again. Sure it was fun the first few times but now… Loud laughing suddenly drew Jabberwock's attention from his thoughts. Turning to the hedge to his right, Jabberwock slowly stood on the tips of his cloven hoofs and looked over it to see the Queen was having her daily croquet game. Except this one had a certain guest that Jabberwock had been but seconds ago fruitlessly searching for, a guest that was currently having quite a bit of trouble controlling her flamingo.
Jabberwock couldn't help but chuckle quietly, so that the card guards beneath him didn't notice him. It was rather cute scene really, the flamingo trying to use Alice as a mallet instead of the other way around. Jabberwock's eyes then widened as his chuckling was brought to an abrupt halt by the sight of Alice roughly grabbing the flamingo and smacking the surprised hedgehog with it. Jabberwock blinked slowly and thought to himself, 'Wow…'
Alice watched in horror as the cards surrounded their revealed Queen of Hearts, all of them, including the Queen's own husband, quivering in fear. The young began to slowly back away as the Queen's anger-filled voice growled out from behind the cards. "Someone's head will roll for this!" The Queen knocked down the cards, and the King, as she turned her very red face, from anger mind you, to Alice. Pointing her finger at the young girl who had fallen against some cards, the Queen all but roared, "YOURS!"
"OFF WITH HER-Her-her-eek…" The Queen of Hearts trailed off into silence as her face became ghastly pale compared to the heated red it was. Alice, surprised by this looked to see that the King as well as the cards and the White Rabbit were also pale, and were all staring at something high up behind her. She saw the scared face of the card she was still leaning upon before she saw what had everyone so terribly frightened.
Jabberwock.
A very mad looking Jabberwock, whose snout was set in a very angry scowl and his two small arms crossed across his sweatered chest. His cloven hoof tapped the ground as he continued to glare with his fiery eyes at the pale-faced Queen.
"Enough. Go way… NOW," said Jabberwock, his hoof still tapping on grassy floor of the croquet grounds. The Queen, King, as well as everyone else, besides Alice, continued to stare, wide-eyed and gaping, at Jabberwock, some even making small mouse-like sounds. Jabberwocky merely sighed before he took a very deep breath and roared for all he was worth, breathing great plumes of fire up into the air to add to the effect. Needless to say, this caused quite a panic among the cards and caused the feared Queen of Hearts to faint and fall upon her husband.
Wasting no time, Jabberwock leaned down and nodded for Alice to climb up on his neck. The young girl did so; hesitantly wrapping her arms around his long neck. "Hold firm," warned Jabberwock as he ran towards the opposite end of the croquet courtyard, his tiny wings flapping as fast as a bumblebee's. When he was far enough away from the panicking cards, Jabberwock slammed his tail down on the ground, propelling both him and his passenger high into the air. Alice's scream of fear turned to a scream of elated joy as she watched the ground fall away from beneath her and Jabberwock while the cottony clouds drew closer.
When they were both safe above the cloud line, Jabberwock turned his head to look upon the giggling Alice and asked, "Alice like?"
"Yes!" she cheered, "Very much!" Jabberwock smiled and tilted slightly so that his right wing grazed the cloud beneath them, leaving a fine trail of vapor in its wake.
"Jabberwock like fly. Jabberwock like help Alice. Alice want mo-home?" asked Jabberwock, tilting himself straight and twisting his head to look upon her once again.
"Could-could you take me home?" asked Alice, hope and doubt in her voice.
"Jabberwock can… Fl-fl-flight long… Alice nap. Fl-light long, Alice nap," burbled Jabberwock as soft purple smoke flowed lazily from his mouth. Alice was too preoccupied by touching the clouds to notice the smoke, but she didn't fail to notice how tired she suddenly was. "Alice nap…" It seemed to the girl that Jabberwock's voice was getting farther away, "Alice nap… Jabberwock help Alice…" Then, she could nothing more than the loud heartbeat of a kind-hearted dragon as the world around both her and Jabberwock broke away like shards of glass.
Alice yawned softly as she stroked Dinah's fur, the kitten purring in the utmost delight. Looking out her window once more, Alice wondered how Jabberwock was doing and if he had made it back to his home okay. She regretted never have the chance to thank him for helping her get home when no else really could. Sighing sadly, Alice leaned over to her nightstand and blew out the candle, enshrouding her room in darkness. Sighing once more, Alice fell back onto her bed and fell asleep within minutes, her kitten, Dinah, still in her arms and purring softly. The house was deathly still save for the odd shadow that the moon's pale light manipulated from its perch in the night sky.
Slowly, a large form made its way towards the house, not failing to notice how the moon's pale light nearly went through its translucent body, nor how its body was slowly fading away. The shape quickly put itself against the wall and listened for any signs of movement or awareness of his presence. Upon hearing none, it stretched its sinuous neck upwards until it came upon the closed window of Alice's room. Burbling quietly, the shape softly pushed the window open and stuck its horned head inside the room to look down at its two occupants.
The creature smiled softly at the sight of the sleeping Alice and the kitten in her arms. Breathing a soft sigh, the large beast thought back to what the Cheshire Cat had said about Alice, how she would return to Wonderland once more, albeit through a different way and for another purpose. Smiling softly, he leaned down and softly rubbed his nose against Alice's smiling face as his body slowly disappeared back to his homeland of madness and forgotten dreams.
"Mmmm…" murmured Alice, still deep in the realms of slumber, "thank you, Jabberwock."
Though his shape and form were gone from the world of rules and reality, the burbling laughter of the Jabberwock did not cease to echo across the land throughout the rest of the night, nor did the cloud of purple smoke, that so resembled a dragon, cease to fly in tight circles around the moon, a happy smile adorning its featureless face.
The End