Alice: Inside the Looking Glass
Lady Moon-Chan
AN: Well, here's chapter 4. Hope people like. And I hope someone who's been recorded reading this reviews, because I know they're out there! examines readers under a magnifiying glass.
Disclaimer: If I was Lewis Carroll, I'd be dead, and thus unable to type this now. Thus, I do not own Alice in Wonderland. However, I own the plot details and the Cheshire Cat's smexy human form, even if it is based off Hiromu Arakawa's Ed Elric.
Chapter 4: In Which the Cheshire Cat's Past is Revealed!
"Cheshire Cat," Alice said softly as they headed for the home of the March Hare.
"Yes, Alice?" His eyes seemed like a pair of golden pinpoints in the dark as he turned to look at her.
"When you introduced yourself to me, you said you were called the Cheshire Cat 'in that form'. I was wondering if you could tell me what you meant by that?"
The Cat laughed sikily. "Alice, Alice, Alice. Certainly I can tell you. It's all a matter of whether or not I will tell you."
"Will you?" Alice asked pleadingly.
The Cat laughed again. "Sure. It was only a joke, you know." Alice's only response was to blush in embarrassment.
"Before the Queen of Hearts took the throne, I was an inventor -the inventor- in the court of the White Queen."
"The White Queen?" Alice asked.
"She was the rightful ruler of Wonderland. Under her, this land was peaceful and prosperous." The Cat explained, sounding nostalgic.
"Whatever happened to her?" Alice wondered aloud.
"After she was dethroned, she fled and those who still remained faithful to her hid her someplace deep within Wonderland. The only one who knew her exact whereabouts was the March Hare, and she drove herself insane so that she could never tell anybody where."
"So then why are we going to see her?" Alice asked. "And finish your own story."
"We're going to see her because all of us are on the same side. Because of that, insane as she is, she'll leave clues in her riddle-talk for us to decipher. And as for me, when the Queen of Hearts took the throne, I was much too loyal to the White Queen for her liking. So, she transformed me into the Cheshire Cat and exiled me from the castle." he sounded angry.
"What was your real name? I feel awful calling you by a name that upsets you so much..." Alice said softly, stroking the cat's back.
The cat purred appreciatively. "My real name is Edward. Edward Eldritch."
Alice smiled. "That's a nice name."
"Certainly has more of a ring to it than Cheshire Cat, huh?" Edward asked bitterly.
Alice scooped him up and scratched him behind the ears. "Don't worry, Edward. After the Queen of Hearts is gone, the White Queen can put you right again. And if she can't, I'll find a way."
"Thank you, Alice." he all but purred. "You have no idea how much that means to me."
"It's the least I can do. If not for you, I'd have already fallen into the Queen of Hearts' traps."
Edward purred loudly, though whether from the petting or Alice's praises, it was hard to tell.
After a few more minutes, Edward batted Alice's arm with his paw. "Come on. We should try to get there before daybreak if possible." he jumped down from Alice's arms and she could just see him, moving nimbly through the dark woods.
Alice followed as best she could, putting the poise and balance she learned in gymnastics to use in not making noise as she picked her way through the underbrush.
AN: Here we go, here we go. It's a-starting. But what's a-starting, that I'll keep to myself for now if you can't see it too.