Me: And that's why a raven is like a writing desk!
Bahamut: ... Okay. Great. Now... give us our cookies!
Mewtwo & Poupoko: Cookies! Cookies!
Me: Oh alright. (Takes out jar of cookies.) Enjoy. (Leaves.)
Mewtwo: Ah... sweet ambrosia...
Bahamut: Munch... yeah. Munch... Munch... All it needs now is some ice cold... milk?
Poupoko: Chachaoao?
Muses: CORVUS!
Me: Snicker.
DISCLAIMER: SEE FIRST CHAPTER.
"Twas Brillig"
By Corvus no no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland
How tired I am of all this. This world, this body, this NIGHTMARE that I had been forced into. Forever stuck in the body of a monster, followed forever by darkness, the elements themselves howling in rage at my very presence. How tired I am of all of this. Like all the others that had come before, I somehow failed in surpassing my nightmares and so fell into them, joining the others as my body warped to change according to that which I was closest to. I was one of the lucky few to keep my mind, let alone my memory of my life before I came to this awful place.
The Cheshire Cat is one of the few who truly understands what this world is and what we are. He tells all those requesting a way home that there is no way home, that this blasted world is lost to the real world and to time itself. Heh. Though I doubt the feline's sanity I know his words to be true for the entire time that I've been here, I have not aged in the slightest. The only aging that ever occurs here is when someone fails and joins the rest of us. The Mad Hatter is a good example of this. I still remember chasing him just like the others, trying to warn him and help though I could not speak any intelligent word. He, like the others before and after him, failed and aged and transformed into what he is now, a very mad Hatter obsessed with tea and unanswerable riddles.
I sit up now in the dark void that is my home until the time when another wayward child stumbles into Wonderland. I wonder how many of the creatures here are natural denizens and how many are like me. It doesn't matter really since I can never associate with them though I am allowed to watched them through various 'windows' that cover the nonexistent walls of the Void.
I have been trying to watch and see about how well Wonderland's newest trespasser is doing, but for some reason the windows refuse to show her in proper light. I can see her form just barely and, so far, I have been unable to see her face. I knew the moment she stepped into this world that there was something strange about her. The feeling I always got in the back of my mind whenever someone entered Wonderland was followed by something that I haven't felt in such a long time.
Familiarity.
Now she's believed that she has arrived safe at her home but she soon realizes that she's still here on the other side of the mirror. I curse whoever deemed it unnecessary for me to hear her voice. I can hear all the Wonderlanders but I can never hear the foreigners' voice until they have joined us in our prison. Thinking on that subject, I wonder what she will become when she joins us. I do not doubt that she will. There have been so many already why should she be any different?
Maybe she'll become something like the Queen of Hearts or the Mad Hatter. Still human, albeit aged, and set in a permanent emotional range and obsessed with whatever she fancies most. To my knowledge, the Caterpillar and the hamster servant, Pat, are rather similar to myself, alternate in form but not in personality. Though I doubt that their punishment is worse than even my own. It's really a wonder how so many people, of all ages, sizes, and color, could end up in this awful place.
And become a part of it.
A sudden electric shock runs through me. The foreigner, she's reading my book! I can see its cover in one of the windows. Oh God no… Please… it's too hard! I can't do it! I've tried so many times to warn them, help them, and each time I have failed. The only door in and out of this void unlocks and, though I loathe doing it, I hate this dark place more. I step through it, already aware of the darkness and the storms heralding my coming to the foreigner. I'm standing in her living room now and she stands before me, fear and surprise quite evident on her face.
Though my own is not that far off.
I know this girl! I played with this girl all the time before I came here! She doesn't look a day older than the last time I saw her! What does that mean? Have I been gone for only a few hours? Days? Months? Is she even aware of who I am? What was her name? Alice! Her name is Alice!
" ALICE" I cry, stepping closer to her. " ALICE! IT'S ME!" She's stepping away from, nearly knocking over the chess table in her fear. She hastily sets it upright before burying her face in her arms and crying. My clawed hand hovers over her shoulder. "NO! PLEASE, ALICE! NOT YOU TOO… PLEASE!"
"Don't hurt me! Please! Don't!" she sobs into her arms. The door is still opened behind me and I don't hesitate to step back into it. I should have known that she couldn't see through this awful form that Wonderland has stuck me with. I should have known better.
No one can see through the Jabberwocky.
I can hear her now as she converses with that blasted Owl. That same Owl who lies to all those who have encountered me. He's lying to her now. Though he is as intelligent as one can be in this world, he knows nothing about me! Or if he does, he is forced to lie because that is what Wonderland wishes for him to do. Wonderland can do that to you if you don't follow its unwritten script. It's happened to me a few times near the end of a foreigner's journey, when I've lost hope in continuing and choose not to enter through the door.
I can only pray it doesn't happen again.
Alice's words sting me now. "Not that I'd want to meet him again." Oh God, if only she knew who I am, who I used to be. Now the Owl is telling her that she created me with her fears and doubts and how I can come for her at anytime as long as she still has her fears. HA! How wrong he is. Though the door only unlocks when the foreigner of Wonderland feels fear, it doesn't remained open indefinitely nor can I appear whenever I desire. For, if I could, I would surely have appeared by now and had me some Owl flambé.
Now the Owl is telling her how she mustn't worry, that she can easily get home and be rid of me when she overcomes her fears about growing up. I know that to be false, when I came here, I had to overcome my fear of fire that I had attained when my house nearly burned down quite some time ago. I faced it and conquered it and now look at me, stuck in the body of a monster-a dragon! Each foreigner had a different fear and each one conquered it, only to end up here.
Permanently.
Now the Owl is telling her that everyone in Wonderland, or Looking Glass Land as he calls it, all care about her. With her fear periodically opening the Void's door, I can come anytime and 'attack' anyone. I'll have you know that I have never attacked anyone that couldn't recuperate within moments of my 'attack'. Humpty Dumpty is a prime example of this. Now the Owl is telling her about how, in the Looking Glass portion of Wonderland, beginnings are endings and endings are beginnings. With that, he fades away and I can do nothing more than watch as Alice travels through Wonderland.
Now she realizes how Wonderland is nothing more than a giant chess game, a demented one in my opinion. Oh God, Alice! Don't wish that you could be one of them! That strengthens Wonderland's hold on you! Blast that Red Queen for putting the idea of becoming a part of Wonderland by becoming a Queen. She's lying, Alice! Look at her and the White Queen! Do you really think that, by becoming Queen, you can go home? There were many Kings and Queens of Wonderland before you! And they're all a part of Wonderland!
She's riding the Wonderland Express and has met the train riders. She doesn't realize how dangerous that train is! How it goes out of control quite often and-Hahaha! She pulled on Billy Goat's beard! It's good to know she's still the same Alice that I know and adore… But brings little comfort to me knowing that she'll soon become a part of us. Now she's talking with the Gnat, I can barely hear her now… The connection between us must be getting weaker!
"BLAST IT!" I roar angrily my claws clutching a nonexistent wall as I press my face against one of the windows. "I'VE LOST HER! ALICE! ALICE!" There's nothing I can do now but wait. If one thing of me has survived this transitition from human to dragon, my patience is it. I stalk around the Void, glancing at the window periodically as black smoke began to pour out of my mouth. Most of the windows have become fuzzy and unclear so I cannot see nor hear what's happening around Wonderland.
That could only mean the Wonderland is focusing its control over a large number of Wonderlanders. Wonderland must be having difficulties making Alice a part of it. That's never happened before… I know not if it is a good thing or a bad thing… I can only pray that, should Wonderland succeed, that whatever form Alice takes, it be far better form than my own. Suddenly, one of the windows becomes clear and I see that Alice is conversing with Humpty Dumpty. I can hear her now too and I-HEY! That blasted egg! He's insulting her! Calling her 'Dumb-Dumb'! Oh am I going to have some sunny-side up egg for breakfast! (Although I no longer have need for food or drink. Time has no meaning here so food and drink has no meaning either, though other Wonderlanders often indulge in it when they can.)
Hello… the door is opening now… Maybe I can try again… Please, God, don't let me fail with Alice. Even if I must stay here for all eternity, please don't let Wonderland take Alice. I step through the door and enter the woods and come out to stand near the wall of Humpty Dumpty, shouting loudly, " ALICE! DON'T BECOME QUEEN!" She runs while Humpty screams in fear. I do not hesitate to shove the egg-man off the wall. Though he'll be broken for a while, he will reform once all the King's horses and all the King's men put him back together again. I hurry after Alice, silently cursing Wonderland for giving me such small arms to bat at tree branches with.
" ALICE! WAIT! PLEASE, IT'S ME! CHARLES! LOOK PAST THIS DRACONIC FORM! PLEASE!" I lose sight of her and I can only roar in frustration, suddenly, a flash of orange cloth disappears behind a tree and I'm back on her trail. She's trapped now with me coming towards her and a large spider web behind her. Maybe I can get her to understand if I can show her I mean no harm. It's an old and broken hope, but still I must try to-" ALICE" I roar, she tried to push through the spider web and now she's stuck with the large spider drawing closer. I hobble over to help but she breaks free on her own and races off, and I quite easily break through the web, snapping the spider into small pieces as I go. She's raced off and now I've lost sight of her. I stop for a moment and look around for her but I can't find her and though I am a dragon, my nose is nothing like that of a dog. I hesitantly walk forward and look around, failing to see the open door to the Void until it's too late.
All the windows are clouded now, and I cannot hear nor see what is happening. Wonderland really must want Alice to become a part of it for it to exercise such power. This Void of Nothingness seems larger and more bleaker now. I cannot believe how much Wonderland desires Alice. Never has there been someone that Wonderland wanted so dearly, not even me and I'm one of its 'key players'. What could Alice, my dear, dear friend, have that Wonderland would severely weaken itself for? Suddenly all but one of the windows darken while the remaining one lightens. Oh dear… Alice has attained the Crown and Scepter of Wonderland and has already begun the Dinner Party with all the denizens of Wonderland as her guests. Oh God, Wonderland is very close to having Alice in its grip. There is very little time now! I've got to try and break down the door to Wonderland.
Of course, this is easier to say than to do.
As I slammed repeatedly against the door, I failed to realize how the Void was rapidly losing its size as Wonderland rapidly lost focus on it to keep its control over all the guests at Alice's Party. A crack has appeared on the door and I try even harder until finally, it breaks! I'm free!
"I'M FREE!" I roar as fire shoots from my fanged maw, "I'M FREE!" More plumes of fire shoot from my mouth as the party guests scream and flee in all kinds of directions. My crimson eyes focus upon Alice and the White Chess Queen standing together in fear. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" I roar as they flee up the stairs, with me flying close behind them. I chase after Alice and forget about the Queen the moment I lose sight of Alice. I struggle to find her but I merely end up back in the dining hall, albeit on the second floor.
Suddenly, I spot her and I roar as huge plumes of steam pour from my nostrils, "YOU CANNOT HAVE HER, WONDERLAND! YOU MAY HAVE US BUT YOU CAN NEVER HAVE HER!" Wonderland is too weak keeping a firm hold on the guests to try and control me and I enjoy that fact as I glide down towards Alice with my large wings, my excitement and anger causing my fire sac to empty its contents on the air. I chase after Alice once more on foot while utter chaos contnues all around me.
I chase after her with my quite unnatural legs and stop for a moment when she hides behind the King of Hearts while his Queen shouts, "Off with his head!" That was a first, Wonderland must be losing its strength somehow. I can't think about the subject anymore than that since one of the few Card Guards that were still armed decided to charge at me. His sword is too dull to even scratch my leathery hide and I have no time to waste by fighting him, so I shove him to the ground as well as the few others that stepped forward to try and stop me.
Alice races off and I'm start to chase after her when the King of Hearts said, "By jove, I certainly scared him off, my dear!" I turn and growl angrily at him, causing him, his wife, and their ever-late servant to run off. I follow after them, roaring angrily at myself for having let the King distract me so that Alice could get away. The Heart Royalty easily gets away as well as the Rabbit so I'm alone now to creep as quietly as I could down an empty hallway in Alice's castle.
Suddenly, Alice comes around a corner and slowly backs into my waiting arms. I do not hesitate to give her the biggest bear hug I can give her while happily roaring, " ALICE! OH GOD, ALICE! ARE YOU OKAY?" She struggles in my arms and easily falls out of my small grip and runs off. " ALICE! COME BACK! PLEASE!" I follow after her into the empty dining hall, not failing to hear the echoing screams of the party guests.
Suddenly, the White Knight appears, apparently Wonderland has chosen him to try and 'defend' Alice from me while it attempts to attain her like all the others. However, as I'm about to attack, Alice crys out, "NO! Go back! He'll kill you! He really will!"
" Alice…" If I could I would have cried right then and there. "You can't see me can you? You only see this MONSTER!" I roar as the Knight charges at me and tries to hack off my head with his sword, but, just like the Card Guard, his weapon is useless against me. We struggle against each other, neither getting a firm blow against the other until I manage to shove him down onto the ground. My mind is clouded too much with anger to really focus on what he was saying but I knew he was telling Alice to run. My thoughts were confirmed by Alice hesitantly running away while the White Knight charges at me once more. I attempt to bite off his head, but Alice's words echo through my anger-filled mind and I back away from the Knight before shortly pushing him to ground once again, this time effectively knocking him unconscious.
I run through empty corridors with the utmost urgency, calling out for Alice in a vain hope that she'll hear me. I turn a corner and my heart nearly stops. Alice is on the otherside of the mirror in her living room!
"Oh no…" This was the final trick of Wonderland, it would allow us one brief moment in our homes before drawing us into its collective of pieces. I race forward and try to grab Alice but my arms can't reach though my head and most of my scaly neck easily do.
" ALICE GET OUT OF THERE! DON'T LET WONDERLAND FOOL YOU!" She screams and screams as I try to reach for her. Then suddenly
"Go away! Go away! I'm not afraid of you! You're a fake like the owl said! You're a fake!" God how her words bring me pain. Wait… I really am in pain! What's going on! "I'm grown up now! I don't believe in you! I don't believe in you!" I howl in agony as my body feels as though it were on fire! Smoke covers my body as pain wracks through it. Suddenly, the pain is gone though the smoke remains. I look down to see that my claws are normal hands. I'm human again! I look up through the smoke and I faintly see Alice's stunned look. Though I could not hear her words, I could see her say my name, "Charles?"
" Alice! You've saved me!" I look around and see that a few of the guests were also beginning to smoke, "You've saved all of us!"
In a the branches of a large oak tree, a young boy with firey red hair and charming green eyes awoke from what seemed like a lifelong dream, blinking rapidly from the sharp light of the afternoon sun. He slowly sat up as small leaves fell away from his clothes, revealing his rather casual attire of a simple grey dress shirt and blue slacks. Looking around slowly, the boy began to realize where he was exactly and began to smile the mischevious smile that most boys his age get when they realize that their greatest wish had just come true. Laughing quite loudly, the boy leaned back against the tree and gave a heartfelt sigh of content.
That boy would be yours truly. Mr. Ex-Jabberwocky at your service. Life was finally back to normal again and one of those normalities was something I had been meaning to do since Wonderland.
Sleep.
I know that I was most likely asleep the entire time but let me tell you that, that kind of dream was more than enough to tire out anybody. However, the voice of a very stern-sounding girl interrupted my desired nap. A girl that I owed everything to and then some.
"CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON."
Oh, God my full name… I looked down from my resting place on the tree branch to see Alice, her hands on her hips and her face set in a very stern expression, glaring up at me while her foot tapped against the soft ground.
"Uh… hi…?" I waved meekly down at the steamed girl below me. I may be two months older than her and easily five inches taller, but let me tell you that didn't matter in the slightest. I was half-tempted to try and run but I knew she'd find me. That and my older brother would love knowing that we're having a 'lovers spat' as he calls it. Honestly, she's my best friend and the thought of kissing her-EEW! Just EEW. Oops, she's lookin' madder now that I haven't said anything. "Um… how's life?"
"Come. Down. Here." Alice punctuated each word with a tap of her foot. Oh boy am I in trouble… That's one of the warning signs that a girl is angry at you. Better get down now before she develops a twitch in her forehead. A simple little jump from my perch and my feet are on the ground, and a few quick steps and one very heated glare from my slightly shorter friend and my back is against the tree.
"… hi…?"
"Care to explain how it was that I saw you as the Jabberwocky?" Crud, she remembers that. Oh boy, gotta think up something here and quick! Didn't she want to go to her mother's tea party with the adults lately?
"Heh… Don't you have a tea party to go to? I believe your mother said you're grown up now…" Obviously, I don't like to use those two words but if they could get me out of this pickle, I'd make up a song for 'em.
"And how, exactly, would you know that? My mother just told me not less than fifteen minutes ago." Nuts, I knew I shouldn't have added that part about her mother. Great, her forehead is starting to twitch now.
"Um… your sister told me…?" Oh that was stupid. She knows I dislike being in the same room with her sister let alone talking to her. Alice arched her eyebrow at me and crossed her arms with her foot still tapping. Dang it, in Wonderland she was like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, but with me, nooo, she's got to be her fiery little self.
"Charles," I couldn't help but flinch at the name. I don't know why I hate it so, in truth I'd rather be called Lewis but I got to stick with what I've got. "You can't even stand staying in the same room with my sister much less talking to her."
"Well uh… that's because she keeps making fun of you is all! Calling you a cry baby and the like…" I smile slightly as she blushes and looks down at her mary jane shoes for a moment. I never really thought of Alice as a crybaby, not even when I barely knew her when our parents introduced us at her third birthday party. Personally, I thought she cried just the right amount, not too much and over the tiniest things and not too little and over the saddest things. Too bad the rest of the world couldn't cry like Alice does, it'd probably be--- Uh-oh, the glare has returned.
"That still doesn't explain as to how you knew about my mother saying I could join her and the other adults for tea."
"Yes, speaking of that, shouldn't you be at your house by now?" I ask taking out my pocketwatch for a look at the time. I stared in surprise for moment because, you see, my watch had stopped at exactly brillig, which was the time that the Jabberwocky struck in that story Alice read. Luckily, my blonde-haired friend failed to see my surprise.
"I asked my mother for a raincheck and came to find you so you could explain yourself."
"Gee, ain't you like the Caterpi-" I hastily clamp my hands over my mouth with my hands and stare, horrrorfied, at Alice. Blast my slip-of-the-tongue mouth!
"Aha! You were the Jabberwocky! I knew it!" Alice stood proudly while I slumped tiredly against the tree, my hands resting limply at my sides. I sigh tiredly and sink down to the ground and sit with my back leaning against the tree for support.
"Sit down, Alice. Sit down and hear my story…" I tell her everything, not sparing even the tiniest of details. I tell her of my adventure through Wonderland/Looking Glass Land and of my transformation into the Jabberwocky. I told her of all the people I had tried to save before her and how I failed them all. I shared with her all my knowledge of Wonderland and how it worked and, finally, I told her all that everything that happened between me and her in Wonderland.
"It hurt so much Alice…" Tears are flowing down my pale face as I do my absolute hardest to keep from looking at my best friend. "Not being able to help you at all… Making it worse by attempting…" I sigh and look wearily at her. She too has salty tears flowing down her face and she looks torn between hugging me or remaining where she is. I look back at the cloudless sky. "You know what the worst part was…? … 'He'll kill you, he really will!'… Remember…? Weren't those your exact words…? God Alice, that hurt more than anything else…" A loud sob comes from her and I turned to see Alice with her face buried behind her hands and her shoulders shaking terribly. Great job, Charles make your best friend feel even worse. Why not use a knife? It'd sure hurt her less.
"Alice I-I didn't mean-I don't… I'm sorry…" I scoot over enough to take her within my arms and I hug her tightly, though not as tight as her hands, both of which had a very firm grip on my shirt. "I'm so sorry… Please… don't cry… don't cry cause of me…" Tears fell from my eyes once more and I could do nothing more than press my face into her soft hair. "Please…"
We sat there, two crying kids that, somehow, grew up more than most people ever do in a lifetime, for what seemed like hours. Our tears came to a slow and steady halt around the same time together. However, though our tears had ended, Alice and I held tightly to each other, using one another as a sort of liferope to this world. Unlike the few times that Alice and I ended up like this, it was Alice who had broken the peaceful silence between us.
"I'm sorry for saying those awful thing, Charles… I-" I press a finger to her lips and shush her softly.
" Alice, it's alright. If our positions were reversed I highly doubt that I wouldn't do or say the same things as you. After all," I smile wryly at her, "the Jabberwocky is a rather ferocious beast." She laughed dryly at the poor joke and stood up with my hand held firmly in her own. Hesitating slightly, I too stood and looked at our joined hands before looking at Alice. "Um… Alice, what-" Alice interrupted me not by placing her finger on my lips, but by placing her lips in a chaste kiss on my left cheek, the same one she had slapped long ago when I first met her. She pulled away quickly, a very red blush, no doubt equal to my own, adorning her face, before walking away towards her home, my hand still held firmly in her own. "Wh-Where are we…?"
She smiled over her shoulder at me and said, "To the next adventure." I stared at her for a moment before smiling softly and tightening my grip to match her own.
"To the next adventure."
The Beginning