I pushed branches out of my way with one hand while the other was holding the skirts of the gown up. My hair had come loose and a few strands were hanging around my face, but it made me look less…perfect. The path was not well travelled by so my shoes often sunk into the muddy trail, but it didn't bother me too much.

The palace came into view then and I stopped to admire it. The roof was flat, albeit the round orbs that decorated it on occasion. A path led to the front door so I followed it. A man walked out and held the door open for me, and I walked into the grey hall. I raised a hand to cover my mouth and nose as a foul and itchy smell wafted around me.

I coughed against the wristlet as I made my way further into the room and then I heard gentle music. I followed it into what could only be described as an audience room for a queen. But this was different somehow, especially with no queen to attend to.

The Duchess had spiky purple hair and almond coloured skin, which reminded me of someone from a dream. Her dress was an odd sparkling lavender colour that puffed at her hips as she lifted her head to look at me. A cloud of grey made her fade from view, and the last thing I saw was a beautiful tiger in her lap.

I sneezed and I heard three others mimic me. The cloud of grey faded and the Duchess was still watching me, her gaze bright but the tiger was gone. It was then that the Duchess looked oddly masculine…not quite the woman I had first thought she was.

I looked for the tiger and found a cat, the size of a young boy in his early teens with his arms crossed. He had cat ears on the top of his head the same shade as his hair, a soft navy colour. One of his eyes was a deep blue while the other was covered by a black eye-patch. He was wearing a white skirt under a blue suit with the coat open to reveal the tie he wore underneath.

"Come, cat," the duchess said simply to the cat, "sit on my lap."

"Not in this lifetime, you insolent brat," the cat replied before licking his paw and cleaning behind his ears.

"You!" the duchess called out and I realised she was speaking to me, "what is your name?"

"I…" and it came up blank.

"Alice," the cat simply stated.

"That doesn't sound right," I whispered to myself.

"Alice," the duchess said simply, "what are you doing here?"

"I need help finding someone!" I said loudly, "I need to be with him!"

"Who?" the cat asked and I looked over at him.

"His name is Ciel," I said.

"Who?" the duchess asked and the name faded from my memory, but the cat watched me closely, almost as if he was trying to determine why I wanted to find…someone. He had the same gaze as Sebastian and yet…I didn't know his name. His name didn't seem overly important to me as I rubbed my eyes.

"You should stay for dinner, Alice," the duchess said rather calmly, "my amazing cook is preparing his lovely curry."

"I have yet to add 3000 more ingredients so it may be worthy of your palette…but more importantly, I must add the most important ingredient," the cook said, "SPICY BLACK PEPPER!"

A plume of the powder was put on the room and I coughed as it clung to my throat and stung my nose. I dropped to my knees to hold my mouth closed, hoping the burning would stop soon. The cat moved towards me and held out a handkerchief, embroidered with the letters CP in the same cursive as that of the food and drink here in Wonderland. I used it to cover my nose and mouth before the cat put a hand out to me, holding me close.

"You are a very odd person, Alice," the duchess said calmly, "you dress strangely."

I looked down at the muddy pink dress that had seen my dance on the beach and my walk here….wherever here was. The Duchess stood and took my hand carefully before bringing me behind her chair and into a room. Delicate silks decorated the walls and the wardrobes. She put me on the bed and pulled at clothes before finding something I had worn in a dream. A pair of workmen trousers and a tunic. I put them on quickly and tied my hair up before returning to the audience room. The cat looked back at me, his eye glowing a deep pinkish purple before it returned to its beautiful blue.

"You may sit over there," the duchess said as I walked over to a small chaise lounge. The cat followed and once I had made myself comfortable, the cat curled up and rested his head on my lap.

I ran my hands through his hair, stroking underneath his ears and heard him cry. His hands were shaking slightly but I shook my head, thinking it was something of my imagination.

"Why did you have to leave me, Elena?" a voice asked and I looked for the source, "why did you have to go?"

I hummed under my breath as the mermaid had done for me on the boat. The cat seemed to stop shaking as I closed my eyes, and remembered a dream I had dreamt a very long time ago. A young boy, and I his bodyguard, before an angel threw me over a balcony in the hopes of ending me. But that was not here, nor was it real. Wonderland was real, I could feel the cat in my lap, I could smell the spicy black pepper.

"I almost forgot," the cook said as I looked up, "SPICY BLACK PEPPER!"

I sneezed again, as did the cat who continued to shake as I stroked his head carefully.

"My cat seems to like you," the duchess said simply, "it appears that you have only shown it kindness and thus it offers its affection freely."

"Quite right, duchess. Also….SPICY BLACK PEPPER!" the cook called out.

I sneezed again and the cat mimicked me but it wasn't in any form of annoyance. It must be suffering the effects of the pepper as well. He put his hand in his coat pocket and pulled out a small piece of fruit, before handing it to me.

"Please eat that," the cat said without looking at me, "I want to speak with the real you."

"I am real," I said as I lifted the fruit up and smiled, "but thank you none the less."

I ate the fruit whole and felt like my head was burning. I screamed against the pain and the cat held my shoulders while I cried. Once the pain faded, I looked up at the cat and saw he no longer had ears. That and he looked oddly familiar.

"Ciel?" I whispered and the boy nodded, "oh Ciel, I am so sorry."

He hugged me tight and I wrapped my arms around him, holding him as I cried into his shoulder. I looked up and saw Agni and Soma watching us, but looking normal rather than the cook and the duchess.

"What is this place?" I asked after a moment.

"Sebastian thought Alice's adventures in Wonderland was one of your favourite books," Ciel replied, "so he sat down to read it to you while your soul…was dormant."

"Ciel," and I lifted my hands to hold his face, "I want you to know I'd do it all again. I would save you hundreds of times over, even if it meant you lived on as a demon. I would do it all again, I don't have a single regret. I'm happy that I got to spend my time with you, however brief it may have been. I'm glad I knew you."

"Elena," Ciel said and I wiped away tears, "why can't you hate him? Alois I mean?"

"Because I…." I said before freezing, "because death is like a long sleep and my grandmother always told me to never go to sleep angry."

"But he orchestrated your death!" Ciel snapped and I nodded.

"I knew it would happen," I said softly.

"You knew?" he asked and I nodded, "how?"

"The Trancy household never liked me. I'm surprised I returned to you alive," I smiled as tears ran down my face, "I only wish I had spent those six months with you, not with him."

"This won't last for very long," Ciel whispered to me, "and then you'll be Alice again."

"I saw Elizabeth, Paula, MeyRin, Bard, Finny, Sebastian and Tanaka," I said softly, "I'm grateful to see them at all. I was always told that there was nothing in the afterlife…so to have Wonderland stretched around me."

"Elena," and I looked into his eyes carefully, "I miss you. You'll forget who I am but I'll be watching out for you. Sebastian is keeping an eye out for you as well, though it may not seem like it. He showed me how to get here, so I could see you…alive."

My heart started hammering and I clutched it tight. Ciel held me before lifting me up and bringing me away from Soma and Agni. I coughed before I felt the pain in my head again. Another set of hands were holding me as they brought me to the forest's edge and I fell to my knees. I gasped for air before the shimmering lit my skin.

"Young master," a familiar voice said, "if you wish to stay with her, you must eat something of this dream as well."

"Like the fruit I gave her?" Ciel asked.

"Sebastian?" I gasped and a white gloved hand dropped to hold my chin.

"What is it?" the man asked.

"I have to find him…I have to find Ciel…" and then I dropped into unconsciousness surrounded by white roses…

*Silence*