I do not own Alice in Wonderland

When Quinn said, 'we go away,' he sure as hell meant 'away'. We had been walking for what felt like hours and the sun still hadn't risen even an inch. I was beginning to wonder if there even was a sun in this twisted realm.

I would've killed for shoes right then, my toes were starting to feel numb. It's not that I mind walking around barefoot for hours in the cold, it's just that…No, scratch that, I definitely mind walking around barefoot for hours in the cold. Just as soon as I began to grumble to myself about cursing that stupid cat's face right out of existence, Quinn came to a halt. He stopped so suddenly that Charles, who was a couple steps in front of me, looking around like a child in Disney Land, walked right into him. He stumbled back and would have fallen if I hadn't reached out and caught him by the arm. For someone who was easily six feet tall, he was very lightweight. Quinn turned sharply, ignoring the fact that he had just become quite the road block, and knocked three times on a tree trunk.

I frowned, wondering if Quinn had just gone off the deep(-er) end.
I certainly wasn't expecting the trunk to swing up like a gull-wing door and for someone to call out, "Intrude!" with a sharp voice like the crack of a whip.

Quinn's monstrous smile took it's place on his face and he grabbed me by the arm, about to lead me inside. Theodore shot him a look that seemed almost threatening. Was he being protective? Quinn seemed to get the message better than I had and he relinquished his hold on my arm and instead pushed me inside. Charles followed close behind and finally, after a one-sided glaring match, Theodore and Quinn did as well. I looked around. It was a huge inside, much bigger than it looked from the outside. Not what you'd expect from a tree, then again, any form of civilized home could hardly be expected from the inside of a tree, let alone something as magnificent as this.

The floor on which we all stood seemed to be made of mirror and was unscratched and spotless, showing a perfect reflection of us and the towering ceiling above us. That, too, was made of the same material as the floor, producing a dizzying double mirror effect. Candle chandeliers hug suspended in mid-air, each individual flame burning a brilliant gold. Two spiraling staircases led up, to what, I wasn't sure and a beautiful grand staircase led to the second floor landing and up again to the third. There was hardly any furniture on the first floor, only a white grand piano over by the wall and a large red rug, on which a white and gold loveseat sat, it's shining legs ending in twisted, clawed feet. My attention, however, was drawn to the person sitting on the small, elegant couch.

It was a young man, sickly pale, as though he hadn't seen the sun in decades, and was sitting cross-legged, facing us, and smoking a purple and blue hookah, casually. He had dark green hair, pulled back in a long braid that hung down over his shoulder, and narrowed purple eyes. He wore a very long, pale blue robe with flowing sleeves like those of the Japanese kimonos that a girl in my class once brought for show and tell. The skin of his chest and arms was covered in white bandages and his loose-fitting tan pants reached only a bit past his knees. His feet were bare and spiraling silvery scars stretched over his legs like smoke. His blazing amethyst eyes bore into mine like he could see right into my mind and dig through my thoughts.

After what felt like an excruciatingly long time, he finally moved. He parted his lips and blew a smoke ring in my direction while saying in that same whip-like voice,

"You have brought her here, Rabbit. Why?" With the last syllable, a smokey letter 'Y' slipped past his lips. I coughed as the sickly smell of second-hand invaded my lungs.

Theodore frowned and waved the smoke away. "I brought her because we need her, Vincent. And you too." He growled.

The man called Vincent nonchalantly puffed another smoke ring. "I told you before, White, that is not my responsibility. I will not be assisting anyone in this. It isn't my place. Besides, what if she is unable?"

Theodore gritted his teeth. "You cannot simply sit by and watch Wonderland fall!"

He only blew several more rings and closed his eyes slowly. "I can, and I will. I only prophesize. I do not interfere."

"No but you can!"

"Yes." His eyes narrowed and grew dark. His emerald hair began to turn a fiery red color at the roots as his temper boiled. "But. I. Will. Not." Each word was emphasized by a burst of smoke in my face.

I scowled, coughing and waving the cloud away. "Will someone explain to me what the hell is going on? Preferably before I get lung cancer?" I put my hands on my hips, and took turns glaring at Theodore and Vincent. Charles set a trembling hand on my shoulder and I calmed down a bit.

Vincent stood up to his full height (which, honestly wasn't that daunting on it's own, he was only about four or five inches taller than me.) and stormed over to me, cloud of smoke following him like a shadow. From the look on his face, I thought he was going to yell at me or beat me to death with his hookah or something equally unpleasant.

However, he did nothing of the sort. He just looked me straight in the face and said with a deadpan tone, "Keep your temper."

He closed his eyes and breathed smoke right into my face before I could go into a rant about how that was the second time today that I had been given the same useless advice.

"However," I coughed and fell back a few feet. My eyes watered and I waved away the smoke.

"However," He continued, seemingly annoyed by my respiratory distress. "since, you asked so nicely, I will tell you what you must do. Come with me." He turned and began walking up one of the small spiral staircases. Charles sent me a worried glance and I patted his shoulder gently.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. You'll give yourself a headache." I gave one glance back at Theodore and Quinn before following behind Vincent.

He led me down a long, narrow hallway lined with colorful tapestries depicting different scenes, none of which I had much time to analyze. I came to a halt in front of one in particular. The background color was a dull, stony gray but the edges were brilliantly blood-red. In the center, there was a faceless image of a black-haired woman sitting on a throne made of sharpened swords and bones on a pedestal of skulls. She wore a golden grown and held a menacing axe in her right hand.

"Hurry up, will you? I don't have all night." Vincent snapped from down the hall. I jumped and ran after him and into a small hexagonal room with mirror walls creating infinite mirror images all around us. He sat down in the center and I, in front of him. He cleared his throat and looked me in the eye, an unnerving Vincent-ism that it didn't take long for me to notice. He stared directly into the eyes of whoever he was interacting with. He took a slow, steady breath and began to speak.

"You must dethrone the Queen of Hearts. That woman who has taken a strangle hold upon Wonderland by no honorable means."
"She came here from the upper-side, as violent, ruthless, pitiless and unstoppable as a force of nature. On her own, she was a devastating weapon of mass destruction. She fought her bloody way to what once was the Castle of Spades and slaughtered every member of the Spade family, except one, a tiny baby, without even a name. Her rule was sudden and viscous, like the bite of a viper. She took control of the vast army and purged the kingdom of any who opposed her, beheading each and every one. Wonderland is falling to ruin but now, now that Theodore brought you here, Alice, you can save this world." He tapped lightly on the ground and pulled a piece of the flooring up to reveal a hollow space which contained a tiny box that could easily fit in the palm of my hand. He opened the lid and out of the container, pulled a large, dusty tome that couldn't possibly have fit if this place followed any sort of logic. Or physics. He set the book in front of me and it immediately opened and flipped to a random page. I frowned in confusion.

The page was blank.

Vincent rolled his eyes, took my hand and placed it on the page. The minute my skin touched the paper, words began scrawling themselves across the frayed pages in dark red ink.

'Ten years past the arrival of the Queen a young girl of the upper-side, enticed by her curiosity, will step through a mirror and fall to this world. The girl will be called Alice and her purpose is to save Wonderland, where as Wonderland's purpose is to save her. She will deliver Wonderland's people from this incredible horror, or she will die trying. For Alice and the Queen cannot coexist. They are opposites, yet they are mirrors of each other. This girl shall rise like a phoenix from the ashes of the bloody queen. She is destined to wear the same crown and rule the same kingdom and deliver Wonderland from the brink of destruction. It is her right. It is her destiny...'

"For Alice is the daughter of the Queen of Hearts." Vincent finished in his stern, cold voice.

My heart nearly stopped as my thoughts raced around in all possible directions.

'My mother...Is here...? She's been here the whole time? That's impossible...but...'

"When I was little...My mother would tell me stories...about smoking caterpillars and...talking card soldiers and a world underneath ours..." I whispered. "They weren't stories...they were all true...My mother is from here!"

"How clever."

Vincent and I both turned towards the door quickly.

The speaker was a tall, blond man with blue-gray eyes and stubble on his chin. He wore an odd looking uniform, the front of which looked like the face of a card. The Ace of Hearts to be exact. That face. I knew that face immediately and all words but one caught in my throat.

"...D-dad...?"

"You were never supposed to come here, Alice. You weren't supposed to ever know. I went through so many measures to ensure you never found out. I packed all the things that may remind you of the stories, I told you that your mother had left me, I even got your grandfather to take down all the mirrors, but apparently he missed one. He always did have a soft spot for you."

I stared at the man that I had always looked up to. The man who had been my childhood superhero. I bit my lip. I had never heard that tone in his voice before. It was mocking and twisted and cruel. It was nothing like my father's. But there was no mistaking him. My heart sent a spike of painful sorrow through my body as he rose a glinting pointed spear to aim directly at my throat. The thin smile that stretched across his face was nearly undefinable. It was nothing but dark, gut-wrenching evil.

"No matter," He continued. "You always were quite the insufferable little pest. I'm glad to be rid of you. And I'm sure Loregin will just love it if I kill you for her."

AN:

ANOTHER DONE! I hope you like it and don't forget to review!

Much Love,

Evan