**Note: The Tumblr has been abandoned due to someone hacking the page. Please note that from here on out it gets WEIRD.
...
Alice stood, stunned, in broad daylight, the middle of a colorful crowd.
Creatures were walking past her, mingling with humans of all shapes and sizes, hair colors and skin colors.
"Oh wow! Great costume!" a voice in the crowd said in her direction. A scattering of flashes and odd clicks followed. She held her hand up to block out the flashes of light. She looked around, disoriented.
A familiar orange coat and oversized hat tore her eyes from the crowd, in the distance. She shot to her feet and ran after it with a cry.
She was running through a mass of costumed people, down a wide hallway with a glass window dome overhead. All about the walls were banners displaying over-endowed women and muscular men, all with the title "WELCOME TO COMIC-CON" printed in cartoonish scrawl. The immense crowd of people surged against her and she fell heavily on her rear, chains falling roughly into her lap.
"Oh hun, are you alright?" A green-faced, large woman with long dark hair asked. Around her neck was a lanyard with a card containing a miniature photo of her likeness and "GAMORA" written on it. Alice supposed it was a name or title of some sort.
"Uh, I'm fine, Miss… Gamora," She stuttered. She quickly stood up and hopped in place, searching above the crowd for the large green hat.
"Ohh you're good," She said, eyes widening in what looked like recognition. "Very in-character. Are you looking for your Reginald, hun?" Gamora cooed.
Alice snapped her eyes back to the green woman. "Yes!" She cried, relieved. "Do you know him?"
Gamora giggled and pointed into a room. "He should be right in that room there, sugar."
Alice frowned. Reginald was quick, but certainly not able to get from one side of this immense crowd to that room without causing a scene. She approached the room labeled 'Conference B' and hesitated, not knowing what she would find here. Maybe the woman was mistaken and talking about another Reginald. She turned to ask, only to find that the woman had already disappeared into the crowd.
Her eyes took a second to adjust as she walked inside. Up ahead was a stage of some sort with a long table draped with a banner labeled Comic-Con 2017. At each side of the stage was the title "Alice In Wonderland" scrawled across a vertical banner. She stood rooted in place, staring in awe at the title.
A woman bumped into her, muttering an apology. Alice's own distracted apology was cut short as she eyed the long blonde hair and sky blue, white aproned dress that the woman wore. She had a dress like that once. That dress certainly did not display so much of her chest, however.
Wait, was that supposed to be her?
Alice averted her eyes, scandalized. What in the blue blazes could possibly be going on? Another badge floated past, displaying the name 'The Mad Hatter' on it. She quickly looked up.
Stifling a scream, she backed away and stumbled into a table. That was NOT the Hatter! That was a clown of some sort! His pale, painted face and orange frizzy hair under that dark, only slightly large sized hat? A tattered waist coat with that absolutely garish necktie, and not a single bright color on the man but his hair! Oh, Reginald would rather die than wear something like that! And there were more of them!
It was true. An army of clown-hatters and scandalous Alices were milling about, chattering happily with each other.
She saw him then, that unmistakable oversized hat and orange coat. She ran to him, cutting through the crowd. "Reginald!" She cried.
The man turned and looked at her, puzzled. It was not him at all! She came to a halt and stared.
"You're not Reginald," She finally murmured, "Why are you dressed like him?"
The man was wearing a fake nose and painted on freckles. The coat was made of some cheap fabric and the hat was clearly made of Paper-Mache. "Uh," he said in a gruff voice. "Who do you think I am?"
Alice's mouth fell open, too shocked to form a reply. It was then she noticed another orange coat, with yet another imposter in it. Spinning in place, with her mind barely able to comprehend what was going on, her shock and fear crystallized and anger rose, hot in her throat. She slammed her hands down to her sides with exasperation and stomped her foot.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?" She bellowed.
The silence in the room at her outburst caused her to flush with embarrassment. All eyes on her, she turned to leave and nearly stumbled into another person. Thankfully, someone dressed in an outfit that seemed relatively normal.
The woman was as tall as she was, with wavy red hair and a scattering of freckles across her face. The woman stared, stunned, then looked her up and down with a critical eye, walking around her and frowning at the chains and ashes that smudged her face and tattered dress.
"Ma'am, I beg your pardon, please, could you help me?" Alice asked. "I seem to be lost and I haven't a clue where I am."
A shout from the side of the room caught their attention. A couple of official-looking men in uniforms were heading across the crowd in her direction. The determined and grim look on their faces did not bode well for her.
Without a word, the woman snatched her arm, pulled her out of the room and back out into the crowd. She pulled her own lanyard off and looped it over Alice's head, pulling her hair up over the back. With a motherly kiss to the forehead, she shoved Alice towards a set of stairs.
Alice stumbled forward a few steps and turned to look back at the woman, confused.
The woman was nowhere to be found.
Alice gave one last look over her shoulder and rushed up the stairs, giving in to the strangeness of her situation enough to follow the woman's directions. In the next landing, row after row of tables covered the floor. Another one of the official-looking men was standing nearby, but he ignored her. She looked down at the badge and looked about, realizing that everyone else in the room was wearing one. Perhaps it is a pass of some sort?
Eyes darting back and forth, she approached a table. A gentleman sat behind one, with sketches arranged in neat rows in front of him. Alice cautiously leaned over to look.
Reginald's face was grinning up at her from a sketch. And another, and another. Her own face was peering up out of this set of drawings. And here was one of Belle! Looking up, she saw that the man was holding up a device to his head and talking into it. Could that be a phone with no wire attached? Amazing. Looking back down at the sketches, she felt a prickling in the back of her eyes and backed away before she could ruin one with her tears. The man stopped talking and stared, looking at her, then the sketches, and back again. She felt her face flush once again as she backed away.
A low rumbling brought a surprised silence from the crowd. The floor began to shake beneath her feet. A distant, tinny scream could be heard before pandemonium broke loose. The crowd panicked and stampeded towards the doors as the floors dipped and rolled. The man leaped over the table and shoved her into a nearby doorway, standing beside her to avoid the falling debris that rained from above. A few other people were wise enough to follow. The floor buckled and partially collapsed, tables and a few people sliding across. Glass panes and tiles poured from above and dust rose, obscuring everything from view.
It was over in a minute.
The man ran to help a nearby person while Alice collapsed where she stood. The pale dust was hovering in the air, painting the scene a misty white. The building still stood, well built to handle an earthquake, but tables and debris were scattered all over the floor and a few areas had crumbled. Alice carefully made her way down the stairs and towards the outside, where sirens could be heard approaching. She felt a tug on her arm and turned to see that man from the table.
"Thank you," She said. "But I have to get back—"
He nodded and handed her a small leather-bound sketchbook, slightly bigger than her hand. On the back of the badge she wore, he wrote a phone number. "Call this number as soon as you get out." He said, clasping her hand over the plastic-covered rectangle. "Good luck, Miss Liddell." He turned and clambered over some rubble, grabbing a wounded woman by the arm and supporting her as they limped out.
How did he know her name?
She looked around, distracted by sudden red flashing lights. It looked like a fire brigade had arrived. There were people shouting in her face, asking her if she was alright and shoving her in different directions. She made her way into the street and wove her way around parked vehicles and running people.
A collective cry caused her to pause in alarm. People were standing, awestruck, pointing at something in the sky. She turned to look up.
A large, jagged crack had appeared in the sky, followed by a few more. One erupted from the ground and towered over the biggest building. Screaming from the street level snapped her away from the view and she began to run along with the crowd.
….
Reginald stood in a small dais, hands and feet chained. His glassy, hollow eyes staring off into nowhere. The dais was centered in a massive room with tiered seating along the walls, each chair filled with over-dressed and heavily painted people, whispering and glaring at him from behind ornate fans or gloved hands. All about the room, eyes glittered and stared at him.
He saw nothing. He felt nothing.
The prodding of a spear did little to rouse him, so the guard kicked his knee viciously from behind.
"Bow to your Queen!" The guard roared in his ear.
The Queen of Hearts emerged from somewhere behind him, summoned by brash, tinny fanfare, followed by her entourage. While whispers and sighs rose and fell at her passing, she stared forward and nodded sharply as she made her way to the head of the room. She planted herself onto her throne and looked upon the crowd, glowering, her wide mouth in a furious white-pressed line. She looked towards the White Rabbit and the small page took his cue.
"Her Royal Majesty, The Queen of Wonderland, calls this court to order!"
Hatter's dead stare slowly lifted and curiosity began to lift him from his haze. The Queen was strangely silent today. How very interesting.
The Rabbit finished addressing the crowd and faced the Hatter. "The prisoner is hereby charged with High Treason and Sabotage for destroying the great barrier separating Wonderland from the Otherland. How does the accused plead?"
Hatter opened his mouth to reply, then closed it, suddenly very unsure. He had done a great many things, but this sounded serious. He fought to understand.
"The Hatter has nothing to say?" The Queen barked incredulously, her temper barely kept leashed behind her beady, glittering eyes. "That would be a first."
The crowd laughed on cue.
Hatter looked down from the dais and caught sight of Ears.
"What are they talking about?" He mouthed. Ears shrugged and twisted his ears about his head fretfully.
The Queen burst from her throne, no longer able to rein in her fury, pointing a stubby finger at Reginald.
"YOU!" She bellowed, spittle flying from her mouth. "I'll have your head for this!"
"There she is." Reginald said flatly.
"You have killed us, you addle-brained worm!" She cried, practically foaming at the mouth. "Why did you destroy the Looking Glass?"
Hatter's face lost all expression. "To…To save Alice…" He gasped. Her words blasted away the haze over his thoughts, the only barrier between his sanity and the memory of what had happened. His shoulders slumped further as the realization of what he had done brought his heart sinking to the floor. He'd been horribly tricked!
"Well I hope you're happy with yourself!" She spat. "We are all going to suffer because of your foolishness! Where is she, anyway? Alice! Bring her to me!"
The guards shuffled uncomfortably.
"Well?" She roared. "Where is she?"
"Gone forever." A smug, bell-like voice rang across the court. "As she should be."
The entire assembly looked around, searching for the source of the voice.
Cards shuffled in, forming two lines, spears raised.
"What is the meaning of this?" The Queen barked. She motioned with her fan. "Guards, stand down!"
The cards gave no indication of hearing. They stood, as still as statues.
"Guards?" The Queen repeated, with a tremble in her voice.
The members of the crowd nearest to the cards suddenly screamed, pushing frantically against the seated members in their haste to leave.
"STAY IN YOUR SEATS!" The voice roared, sending the terrified people back down into their seats, quivering.
Reginald felt something inside begin to rattle, like a cage door being shaken, tested. He leaned forward to look at the nearest of the Cards.
Where their eyes once were, there were only deep, charred holes that emitted smoke. The edges of their tunics were crisped and flaking away. Their feet were blackened, cracks exposing live coals inside.
Reginald felt his stomach flip. Those Cards were still burning!
The Cards straightened in response to an unheard command and raised their spears, meeting tip to tip, forming a tunnel.
Fog rolled in. Hatter felt the hair on his arms rise. The rattling quickened.
A petite woman walked through the fog, her dainty form wrapped in a high collared, long sleeved orange over-dress, split from the waist to reveal form-fitting pants that ended in high heeled Victorian boots. A miniature top-hat, such a delicate confection of lace and feathers, crowned her short, platinum-blonde hair, held in place with a long, pearl-tipped hatpin. Her stormy grey eyes glowed with a green fire and her pouty, raspberry lips stretched into a gleeful smile.
The cage in Reginald's chest burst open and the memories spilled out, ripping and tearing across his mind like fiery shrapnel. It was…
"M-Mary Anne?" The White Rabbit cried, stepping forward.
The Queen's face reddened with fury. "Who are you? Guards! Seize her!"
No one moved. The queen grabbed the nearest guard by the collar and pulled him face-level.
"I COMMAND YOU TO OBEY ME!" She roared into his face, sending spittle flying.
The guard in her grip went rigid. In the time it took for her mind to register what she was seeing, the entire court saw the guard's eyes began to glow and burn. She threw him back and scrambled across the throne, gibbering.
Mary Anne walked up to the raised dais and turned her pretty face up to look at the stunned Hatter. "Hello, Reggie," She purred. "Did you miss me?"
Reginald gulped and felt the sweat bead on his brow. "Mary Anne, uh," he struggled to find something to say. "You cut your hair…"
Her bell-like laughter rose from her belly. She reached a hand up and touched the fringes of her hair. "You noticed, darling! I knew you would."
Still smiling, Mary Anne walked around the dais and up to the throne. Performing a mocking curtsy, she addressed the court in front of the terrified Queen.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," She announced, grandly sweeping her arms out to include all her captive audience. "I have returned home!" She grinned triumphantly. "I have sent the interloper back in my place!"
The Hatter twitched, quickly coughing to mask the movement, as Ears had snuck up on the dais beneath the guards and was carefully picking the lock that shackled the Hatter's feet.
"I-Interloper?" The white rabbit whimpered. "W-whatever do you mean?"
Mary Anne locked her grey eyes on the Hatter's blue ones and smiled sweetly. "Why, Alice, of course!" she chirped. "You do know the rules of Wonderland, yes?"
Hatter felt the sweat run down his brow. He knew better than to look away.
"One for one," She sang. "When One comes in from the Otherland, One leaves Wonderland in their place. That's the balance!" She trilled. "She was an outsider, that one. She did not belong! And because she did not belong, I got thrown out on my rear like an unwanted child." Her sweet voice gained a nasty edge. "But I am back, and now that dear, sweet Reggie broke the Looking Glass, I'm here to stay. Alice is locked away from Wonderland forever! Is that not wonderful?" She crowed, turning to look at the Queen. "Wonderland is back to the way it should be!"
Mary Anne sauntered around the dais and up the stairs to the Hatter, who swung around to hide Ears from her view.
"And you, my Darling, I have you to thank." She whispered huskily, reaching up a gloved, dainty hand and pulling his face down towards her, lips parted for a kiss.
With a surge of rage, his hands sprang free from the shackles as Ears leapt away. He grabbed her by the collar and lifted her, struggling, in his hands. "Never, Mary Anne! You tricked me!" He bellowed. His glassy eyes sparked dangerously. "You made me break the mirror, getting your lackey to fool me into thinking it would save Alice!" Ice crept up her throat and down her bodice. The room chilled with his fury, sending hoarfrost skittering across the floor.
"Gah- you FOOL!" She gagged, reaching up to break his grip. "How DARE YOU!"
At her roar, lime green fire erupted from her hands and blasted her back from the Hatter, landing her roughly onto the floor. She shrieked and snarled, smacking the floor with her fists, her sweetness turned ugly with her tantrum. "You IDIOT!" She screamed. "You could have ruled Wonderland alongside me! Now you get NOTHING!" She stood up, quivering with rage. "You have lost your precious woman, and now you will lose everything else. Wonderland will be MINE!" She hissed. "SEIZE HER!" She commanded shrilly.
The guards snatched up the wriggling, shrieking Queen.
"And him!" She pointed at Ears. "I lost everything I had because of your Alice." She snarled, spitting out the name like a curse. "So now you will pay dearly, 'Darling'!"
The castle rumbled ominously. The floor trembled and the sconces rattled on the wall. The guards hesitated.
The puff of purple-pink mist near the Hatter's shoulder whispered "Run…"
Reginald leaped off the dais and snatched up Ears by his ears, racing past the stunned woman and down the hall, weaving and dodging as the guards swung the spears too slowly in his direction. The floor erupted behind him and dipped, the rumbling rising to a deafening roar as the castle began to succumb to the earthquake. Mary Anne's magnified, outraged shriek followed him as he ran to safety. Scrambling down hallways and through collapsing doors, He barely made it out before the castle fell in on itself, disappearing into an explosion of dust and rubble.
Reginald and Ears collapsed on the road, panting. They said nothing for a full minute, staring at the ruins of the castle as the last tremors of the earthquake subsided.
"Well," Ears said thoughtfully, turning his head to look at the Hatter. "I believe that was your favorite coat that she was wearing, wasn't it? The one that went missing years ago?"
Reginald pouted. "It was. And she made it into a dress."
A ground-shaking roar erupted from the hills. A great, winged beast emerged, and flapped overhead, circling and wheeling. With an ear-splitting cry, it fell, nose-diving into the ruins, sending rubble high into the air. Before the rubble could land, it was rising, Mary Anne and the Queen in its talons. It soon flew into the mountains and out of sight.
"W-was that a—" Ears gasped.
"Jabberwocky." Hatter moaned. "That was a Jabberwocky."
"And what is that?" Ears squeaked, his voice rising in pitch as he pointed to the sky.
Great jagged cracks had appeared overhead, and two were bursting from the ground in the distance.
"That's…not good…" Hatter whispered.
….