Finally, I was out of the falling atmosphere. I was in an empty room that seemed to be made of concrete. I'm surprised that I didn't break my face when I landed. I guess it just the nonsense of the world that kept my face from turning into a disgusting pudding pile on the floor.

That's sort of disgusting to think of. I should be happy that I didn't hurt myself, when I landed, not wondering why my face isn't a mush pile on this concrete floor. No, actually I should be wondering why I'm in this concrete room in the first place.

Great, that's just another question that doesn't have an answer.

"Well, it's about time you got here," a rude voice says interrupting my thoughts.

I spin around trying to locate the new voice. "Uh..."

She either doesn't notice or doesn't care that I'm not looking at her. "I bet that stupid rabbit got lost again. That darn rodent belongs in a stew."

"Excuse me? Who exactly is talking to me?" I ask spinning around again. I still haven't located the person that belongs to this voice.

She ignores my question. "It really shouldn't have taken that long to bring you here. I needed you two hours ago."

I glace around the room again. Where is the person talking to me? Her voice sounds familiar. I know I meet her last time.

"It's a shame that I already taken care of it. With your help it would have been done much faster," she says unnoticing that I can't find her. "You're nearly useless to me now."

"Does that mean that I can go back to mother?" I ask still looking for the woman talking to me.

She laughs. "Of course not. I may not need your help, but the cook might."

"You're the Duchesse!"

Now, I know why I remembered her voice. She's the lady that had the baby that turned into a pig, and a cook that put far too much pepper into whatever she was making.

I hear her sigh after a pause. "I was the Duchesse."

"Was?" I ask still trying to find her in the empty concrete room.

I hear another sigh. "Lots of things happened after you left. Lots of us lost our titles. And lots of us went missing."

"Was it my fault?"

She sighs again. "I don't blame you. But I probably should. You did make things harder for me."

She doesn't blame me? Does that mean that other people blame me? Was this my fault? What was it? Why are there so many questions?

She continues after the pause. "But some of the wrong people do. Please stay away from them. They're blinded by revenge, and might do something stupid if they find you. You need to be alive for things to change."

"I'm not sure if I understand," I say as a hand is placed on my shoulder. I tense up.

"Please, stay calm." I turn around to face the owner of the hand, but freak out when I realize that nobody owns the hand.

The hand pats my shoulder. And the Duchesse repeats herself, "Please, stay calm."

"What happened to the rest of your body?" I ask assuming that the Duchesse is the owner of this floating hand.

She gives another sigh. "I'm almost one of the missing."

"One of the missing?" That makes no sense.

"You need to solve this."

"Solve what?"

"That stupid rodent didn't tell you?" she asks with her voice returning to its original rude quality. "He brings you late and doesn't bother explaining anything. Worthless animals belong in stews."

"Okay?"

"Go find the cook. She might have a job for you."

"Where is she?"

Her hand points towards a hallway, that I'm sure wasn't there before. "Down that hallway and turn a left."

I don't question her directions.

A/N

Well, the Duchesse is the character that wasn't lucky enough to make it into the movie. She's not as known, so Alice didn't recognize her from her voice right away.

Feel free to point out any silly typos.