Lucy in Wonderland
Summary – Alice and the Mad Hatter unintentionally conceived a child, and Alice didn't find out until after she returned home. Alice named her Lucy. Now that Lucy is six, Alice believes it's time to let Lucy and The Hatter meet. But, things in Wonderland don't stay happy for long. The Red Queen is plotting revenge against Alice, and sometimes, a child's curiosity can be extremely deadly.
Authors Note – I hope you are all enjoying reading this.
Disclaimer – I don't own any versions of Alice in Wonderland, nor do I own the Characters, animals, plants, tea time, or the suite of hearts in a deck of cards. :P I do, however, own a poster of the Mad Hatter. That's right. Be jealous.
Chapter 2: Always Running out of Time
Lucy hates it in London. Her grandmother fusses over her like she's the queen of the world or something. And her mother lies to her grandmother, that's obvious. And her mother seems stressed and faraway, like she's visiting LaLa Land.
Lucy would rather be in LaLa Land than here, sitting at a table learning "Dinner Etiquette." Why does everything proper have to be so boring?
Lucy stared outside, into the bright sunshine. "Grandmamma?"
"Lucy, please call me Grandmother! It's much more polite!" Helen Kingsley disapproved of Lucy. She disapproved of the whole thing: She hated how Alice turned down Hamish, ran off to China and married some man who is always much too busy to visit the family. Mostly, Helen Kingsley hated how Lucy was so much like Alice it almost hurt to look at her.
"But polite is boring….!" Lucy protested.
"Please, Lucy, don't be lippy." Alice said exhaustedly. "Just listen to your Grandmother."
Lucy was sick of listening to her Grandmother. She's done all the polite things, like socialize at tea time and shopped for proper dresses. Lucy cleared her throat. "Grandmother, may I please go outside and play? It's so sunny out and children are supposed to run around!"
Helen Kingsley wrinkled her nose in distaste. If Lucy was anything like Alice, she would be filthy in minutes. "Fine, child, just go change into your playtime dress."
Lucy scampered off.
Helen sighed. "She's so much like you, Alice dear, imaginative and her looks! Simply gorgeous…. Except for that unruly red hair, where on Earth did she get such unruly hair? It's certainly not a Kingsley trait, no, Kingsley's had such beautiful fine hair."
"My husband has red hair." Alice lied smoothly.
Helen sniffed haughtily. "Well, it's certainly not the handsomest trait." Silence descended over the two women. "Alice, you're sure that Hamish isn't the father? His hair is red and six years ago, you were in love with Hamish." Helen Kingsley would quite possibly die if Alice had slept with Hamish, and yet all the signs were right there.
Alice whirled around angrily "Mother, if you're going to accuse me of being a whore, just say it!"
"Alice!" Helen protested, her eyes widening at the vulgar word that her daughter had just uttered.
Alice turned back to the apple she was cutting. Helen sniffed and looked out the windowed, absentmindedly stirring her tea. She spotted Lucy, twirling in the yard. "Her looks really are gorgeous, just like you."
Lucy ran through the gardens, twirling and twirling, with absolute happiness. There was nothing like being outside, in fact, Lucy would live outside if she could. She loved everything, the smells, the flowers and the butterflies! It was simply beautiful.
Lucy nearly rammed into her aunt Margaret.
"Oh! Lucy!" Margaret said, startled. "What are you doing out here?"
Lucy was about to respond with a lippy and impolite retort (She didn't like her Aunt much either), but, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a little white rabbit, wearing a waist coat and pointing to a watch. It hopped into the bushes, disappearing.
Lucy turned her attention back to Margaret. "Did you see that rabbit? Wearing a coat?"
"Rabbit…? Wearing a coat? Lucy, Rabbit's don't wear clothes. That's impossible." Margaret looked concerned.
Lucy saw the rabbit again, this time poking its head through the bush and motioning with its paw for Lucy to follow.
"Excuse me, Margaret, I have to… go see something…" Lucy raced off after the Rabbit.
"Lucy, you can't go that way! That's where our property ends!" Margaret made a noise of worry once Lucy's vibrant play dress disappeared into the bush. Margaret ran as fast as she dared toward the home, she entered the back door, nearly slamming into Alice.
"Oh, Alice! Lucy took off into the woods near the end of our property! I think she was chasing after a rabbit!"
"A rabbit? Was it a white rabbit?" Alice inquired.
Margaret gave Alice a look of incredulity. "What does it matter if it was white or not! Your daughter could get hurt!" Alice blinked, and then took off into the back yard, shouting Lucy's name all the way.
Meanwhile, Lucy was running out of energy. She was beginning to give up. She had been running for what seemed like hours, and she hadn't even seen the rabbit. "Hello?" she called out. "Why make me run all this way, only to disappear from me!" She yelled out in frustration, angry tears clouding her vision.
The rabbit appeared near a tree, but he didn't seem to notice Lucy. "Always running out of time, oh, where is that child?"
"Hey! You can talk!" Lucy cried out.
"Oh!" The White Rabbit jumped, startled. He bounded off towards a tree.
"Hey, wait!" Lucy shouted desperately. "Oh please, Mr. Rabbit! Wait for me!"
The rabbit turned to look and her; he whimpered, and then disappeared down a hole. Lucy wandered to the holes edge and peered into the darkness. "Hello! I know you're down there!" Lucy put a hand against the dirt piled up against the tree trunk, in order to get closer to the darkness, and hoping that closeness would help her see.
The dirt gave away, and Lucy began to fall and fall and fall. Lucy screamed, and clawed at random objects floating by her, hoping she would be able to stop her falling. After awhile, Lucy stopped screaming and started to observe her surroundings. Why was it such a long drop? Oh no! Lucy thought I'm falling to the center of the Earth!
She hit the ground with a thud.
Seconds after Lucy's fall, Alice came to the tree where the rabbit hole was located, covered in sweat. It was sticky outside and she had been running and shouting for what seemed like forever. Finally, she found a tree to rest against. "Oh, Lucy, why must you be like me?" Alice complained, shifting her weight.
Her foot slipped. She caught herself and looked down. She finding her feet precariously perched at the edge of a rabbit hole. "The rabbit hole!" Alice rejoiced.
She let herself fall.
Lucy ran from door to door, pulling and twisting each knob, but no such luck. She was trapped. All the doors were locked. She sat against the wall, frustrated and scared. She began to cry. She wished she knew what to do. "I'm trapped forever and the stupid rabbit isn't even down here!" She wished she had a key. She wished that her mother was with her.
Apparently, her fairy godmother was listening, because at the moment, Alice fell into the tiny circular room. Alice straitened herself up and called out "Lucy!"
"Mummy!" Lucy ran over to Alice and hugged her happily. "Oh, I have never been as happy to see you as I am right this minute! Mom, where are we? All the doors are locked, we're stuck!"
"Lucy, we're in Underland. There is a lot about yourself that you don't know. Do us both a favor, and go lift that curtain aside, will you please?"
Lucy walked over to the wall with a curtain, the only wall she didn't bother to touch. She pulled the curtain aside to reveal a tiny door that only a baby could fit through. Lucy excitedly kneeled to the ground and tried the door knob. Locked, just like all the other doors.
"No such luck, the door is locked." Lucy sighed. She turned around to see that her mother was holding a key, one that's just as small as the door.
"Does it fit?" Lucy asked.
"Well, if I created this room, the key would open the door to reveal a magical garden." Alice said, smiling as her daughter's eyes lit up like the moon.
"Mother! Does it really?" Lucy jumped up and down excitedly. Alice handed Lucy the key and when Lucy opened the door and peered out, she could hardly believe her eyes. It was, in fact, and magical garden that opened up before her.
"But Mother, we're too big." Lucy looked defeated. All she really wanted was to run through the pretty garden and see what other things she could find.
Alice stood up and walked over to the little table. She retrieved the bottle of Pishsalver and two tiny cakes of Upelkuchen. All the while, Lucy babbled. "Is this a dream mother, because this can't possibly exist. I know that we come up with lists of impossible things, but that's why they're called impossible."
Alice crouched next to Lucy, offering her the putrid drink. "You first." Alice said.
"Drink…. Me." Lucy read. She was just learning to read and she was proud that she read that on her first try. Lucy shrugged and took a swig of the drink. She shuddered. "That's disgusting!" Lucy gasped, and then she began to shrink.
She was scared at first, and then she relaxed, because her mother was drinking the drink also. Lucy ran out into the garden with excitement.
"Hello!" The Tweedles said, stepping out in front of Lucy. Lucy screamed, and tried to run back into the door. "MUMMY!" Lucy screamed.
"Oh, look, you scared her!" Dum sighed.
"Nohow! You scared her!" Dee said.
"Lucy, don't be scared, it's just Tweedledee and Tweedledum." Alice stepped out of the circular room, grinning ear to ear. She was home. She was finally where she belonged.
"Contrariwise, He's Tweedledum, while I'm Tweedledee." Dee announced.
"Well, I can never separate the two of you." Alice said defiantly. Lucy still looked terrified. Who were those boys are what are they doing in a place like this?
"Well, McTwisp, not only did you bring the wrong Alice this time, but you brought two too many wrong Alices." The DoDo bird sighed. Lucy looked shocked. Now birds talked as well?
"Hello wrong Alice." The Tweedles said in unison. They turned to Lucy. "Hello wrong Alice."
"Calm yourself Uilleam. This is, in fact, the correct Alice Kingsley, I know it." The White Rabbit straightened his jacket and began to hop off. "Welcome to Underland, Lucy." He winked and disappeared.
"Hey you rabbit! Why didn't you wait for me?" Lucy said indignantly, but the rabbit was already gone.
"Ignore McTwisp, Lucy. He's always late." Dee said.
"Contrariwise, Lucy, he never has enough time." Dum said.
"Here Lucy, take a bite, you'll return to the right size." Alice handed Lucy a tiny cake. Lucy took a bite, and was happy to find that the cake tasted much better than the drink.
Both Alice and Lucy returned to the right size. Alice continued to talk with the talking animals and the round little boys who looked exactly alike. Lucy began to wander, when something tapped her on the shoulder.
"Millicent, will you look at this sweetheart, she's such a cutie." A blue tulip said, nudging a sleeping yellow tulip.
The tulip startled awake, and looked around angrily. "What? What is it?" she noticed Lucy. "Ah, yes, but see, this isn't Alice."
"True, I'm not. My name is Lucy." Lucy curtsied the flowers.
"Oh, she's such a sweetie. Polite too."
Millicent humphed. "Cute, true, but all kids are, until they hear the word 'no'. Then they turn into brats."
Lucy frowned. "I am not a brat." Lucy crossed her arms (Who does that flower think she is anyway? The Queen of England?)
"See what children do?" Millicent growled.
"Oh, quiet you old hag. Hello Lucy, I'm Rosemarie." The Tulip laughed. "Funny thing, I'm not a Rose!"
"How d'you do?" Lucy said, because she liked Rosemarie much better. Millicent humphed again and tried to fall back asleep.
Alice sat on a rock. "Tweedles, where is the Hatter?"
The Tweedles jumped up, "Oh, He's in Snud." Dee insisted. "Contrariwise, he resides in Witzend." Dum Offered.
"Don't listen to them Alice. He resides in Queast." The DoDo said.
"Queast?" Alice's brow crinkled.
"Land to the east." Dee said, pointing to the south.
"But not in the least." Dum said, pointing to the north.
"This way, Alice." The DoDo started down a path.
"Come Lucy, there is someone you must meet." Alice shouted. Lucy turned and followed her mother down a path.
"Mother! It's not impossible! Flowers can talk, Rabbit's do wear people clothes and there really is an Underground Magical World!" Lucy grinned. Lucy crossed those things off of her mental Impossible Things list. Number One on the list remained un-crossed-off: Find my Father.
Things are about to get crazy!