"Eh!? Wonderland!?" Alice turned and saw that the road from where she came was gone, replaced by a giant gate. She closed her eyes and rubbed her head "I'm just dreaming… this is nothing but a dream…"

Oz poked her back "Really sorry, but you aren't dreaming… You are in Wonderland and there's no way back." She turned angrily and glared at him.

"What do you mean with 'no way back'!? What about my home and everyone?" He sighed and gestured her to calm down.

"I know that this sounds awful and all, but it's true. The only way for one to leave Wonderland, is through the other gate on the other side of Wonderland." While he explained, Alice was more busied with her attempts at forcing the gate to open; with many kicks and punches the gate still didn't open, instead, her hands got hurt.

"How is this happening…?" She fell on her knees and cried; Oz knelt by her side and tried to comfort her "Now, don't cry… I'll help you get there!" Alice looked up to him and he cleaned her tears. She reached her hand out and much to Oz' confusion, she aimed for his head; slowly, she grabbed and squished his furry ears, causing the blond to blush.

The squishing started gently and turned into violent jerks "This is your entire fault!" causing Oz to think to himself "That girl crying a few seconds ago was an illusion!" Somehow, he enjoyed it until the jerks threatened to rip off his ears.

After comforting herself, Alice stopped and the both stood up; Oz rubbed his reddened ears and cheerfully smiled, taking her hand and dragging her with him "Now, we must go and meet my friend Gil, who will guide you to next step." Alice blushed at this and looked away for a bit "W-weren't you going to take me there?"

He laughed "No, no! My job is only to guide you from your world to this land, though I don't even have a choice." The last part he said in a low voice, but it still was audible. "W-wait!" Alice willingly let herself being dragged away by a boy who actually was stronger than he looks.

~some time later…

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After taking Alice with him, Oz finally stopped; the place was isolated and simply had a table and a gate. The gate was very big and it hadn't a keyhole or something. On top of the table, there was a plate with good-looking steaks labelled with the words 'Eat me' while the other plates had rotten apples labelled with the words 'Don't eat me'.

A view so beautiful yet so suspicious; instead of reaching it and devouring it, Alice simply avoided staring at it, ignoring the luring appearance. Meanwhile, Oz disappeared for a couple of minutes, leaving her alone in the room.

Filled with boredom, her eyes darted around the nearly-empty place but she quickly gave up, as there was nothing to look at. The gate was pretty cool – she thought to herself; although, it gave her a very disturbing feeling.

"Alice!" Her thinking got cut as soon as she heard the voice. It was Oz and he was accompanied by a taller man; he had yellow eyes and black, saggy hair. His messy hair was adorned by a pair of small mouse ears.

Alice stopped and turned to them; with a smile on his face, Oz proceeded to introduce each other. "Alice, this man is Gilbert; the friend I mentioned before." His gaze turned to the latter "Gil, this girl is Alice, the new candidate."

The new acquaintances smiled at each but her smile faded into an expression of confusion "New candidate?" She stared at Oz and Gilbert stared at him as well; after reaching a conclusion, he sighed "Oz… you explained nothing to her, didn't you…?"

Oz made a goofy, innocent face "We should share the work, shouldn't we~?" Gilbert sighed again and rubbed his forehead.

His gaze averts to Alice "Anyway… As Oz should explain to you… Every human who gets in here is called 'candidate'; and surviving until you reach the exit gate is the 'game'. There are some challenges on the way but if one manages to overcome them all and reach the gate, the game ends and he/she will return to his/her world. Any questions?"

Alice firstly intended to shake her head, but after thinking twice, she formed a question "Challenges?" A mix of curiosity and seriousness reflected on her eyes.

"There are many gates scattered on this land blocking the route towards the exit, and each of them has a guardian who is the only person capable of opening them. That person will give you a small challenge and if you win, he'll open the gate." He, then, pointed at the table. "This one is my challenge."

Alice stared at the table then at him, without understanding what it could possibly mean. "It's very simple, you're hungry right?" She nodded "Then, just pick something to eat."

She stared the table. It was very obvious that she SHOULD pick the meat but, something wasn't right. Her eyes grew wide after smelling the meat, there was a very disturbing scent filling her nose.

Hesitantly, she took one of the rotten apples, and much to her surprise, it had a pleasant scent. "I'll pick the apples." She said to Gilbert, who seemed rather surprised.

"The 'Eat me' plate has an appealing figure to the candidate but it's deadly. While the 'Don't eat me' plate has a gruesome figure but is the safe one. People usually go by the appearances." He took the plate of steaks and threw it away; when it landed on the floor, it melted into a weird black substance. Alice's eyes grew wide as she thought of what could have happened to her if she chose the meat. "What even happens to those who pick the 'Eat me' plate?" She asked, about to take a bite on the apple.

That time, Oz chimed in "They die, of course. Their bodies will melt too." She shivered for a moment and mentally thanked God for making her choose the right one. This world was very different of what she she read in the book; it was just like a twisted survival game.

All she wanted was to return quickly to her own world before that someone noticed that she wasn't there. She didn't have to worry about Sharon and Lottie; they were older and responsible, surely they wouldn't do anything risky. Her biggest worry was Alyss, her twin sister; she was very clingy and fond of Alice, and also very mentally unstable. Just what kind of reaction Alyss would have…? Knowing her sister, Alice could expect the worst and she hated everything single bit of that fact. "I should just win this stupid game." She sighed and finished her apple.

Gilbert went to the gate, removing one of his white gloves and after touching the gate, a black crest appeared; it represented a raven and a light shone from its eyes. Slowly, the gate started to open and a very bright light engulfed them. For a moment, Alice saw the raven growing bigger and gaining life, and coming on her direction; its yellow eyes stared at her as if it was trying to tell her something. Although that its mouth didn't move, she could hear a low, deep voice whispering:

"You are being watched by the Hatter."

When her wide eyes blinked, they were already at somewhere else. A green forest with some fancy houses, big enough to be called 'mansions'; and a gate behind them. After looking around, she saw many black feathers floating around her. The same feathers that the giant raven had.

"Gil… this…" Oz showed Gilbert one of the feathers; after seeing it, his eyes grew wide and he immediately moved next to Alice, with the White Rabbit hurrying behind him.

"You saw Raven, did you? What did he tell you?" He seemed very worried and confused at the same time; Alice on the other hand, didn't show the same anxiety.

"Nothing much. Just something about the Hatter being watching me." Once she said the word 'Hatter' both Gilbert and Oz' eyes grew wide. They stared at each other briefly as if they knew something. That gesture didn't pass by Alice.

"What? Wasn't he talking about the Mad Hatter? You know, that guy who's always having a tea party? Why is it such a big deal?" It was quite strange for Alice, they live in this world so they should know much more than her, what could be that weird about the Mad Hatter?

Oz smiled one of his cheerful smiles and did his best to move the matter aside "Oh, don't worry. It's just that he usually doesn't observe candidates. This must mean that Alice is a special girl!" He faked a surprised face; after hearing 'special girl', Alice's attention quickly darted off from the matter, she crossed her arms and proudly made comments to herself about being 'important'.

While she fed herself with smugness, Oz moved next to Gilbert and stared at him worriedly. "What is happening?" Gilbert took a cigarette from his pocket and lighted it "I'm not quite sure…" After expelling the smoke he gritted his teeth "I'm not sure of anything that that maniac does! He simply acts on his own and no one is able of understanding a single thing!" Due to his semi-loud words, Oz quickly gestured him to calm down, before Alice could hear them. In response, Gilbert sighed and tried to speak more 'quietly' "How does he even know that there's a new candidate?" Oz' face turned white. "Eh…"

Gilbert sighed again. "Oz… what have you done…?" Oz laughed nervously and then got serious "It's not like it was my fault! I was so confused that I didn't even get the time to hide her before Emily arrived! And you know that she appears out of nowhere." He pouted.

Gilbert shook his head and placed his hand on his forehead "Now, what we can do at least is to prevent her from going on his route." Alice approached them with a cheerful smile on her face, capable of making Oz and Gilbert blushing. "Then, then! What I gotta do next?" Receiving direct or indirect compliments always made her feel better and happy, even capable of erasing any problems on her mind. Of course, she didn't know that Oz managed to trick her through that, either that something was wrong.

"Well, now…" The White Rabbit thought and thought "We should find the Cheshire Cat!" He flashed eagerly, many sparkles surrounding him. Alice herself was eager, despite the Cheshire Cat being rather annoying in the story, he still was one of her and Alyss' favourite characters. They even named their cat 'Cheshire' after him. However, Gilbert showed no signs of happiness or excitement about meeting the Cheshire Cat; in fact, he was scared. "W-why should we take the cat's route? It would be quicker if we used the Caterpillar's!"

Alice's eagerness was slightly struck down. The Caterpillar was very ugly and weird (it smoked on a pipe, and the smoke had many different colours!); but as the previous challenge showed her that looks are deceiving, maybe Gilbert could be right. That, and the fact that the Cheshire Cat was known for being a very big liar.

Oz was also disappointed, but he quickly got next to Alice and whispered in a not-so-low voice "Gil is only saying that because he's afraid of the Cheshire Cat. He's afraid of cats in general." He grinned and Alice grinned as well.

"So the stupid seaweed-head is a coward…" She whispered back, also in a not-so-low voice. Gilbert heard them and got very annoyed; he was red from his toes to ears. "You two…" He hissed in a threatening voice but before he could finish his sentence, Oz and Alice were already walking away. "Hey, wait!" Oz glanced back at him and grinned "The first to the Cheshire Cat's wins!"

Gilbert couldn't believe that Oz completely ignored him and… He did believe that Oz would do something like that. After sighing, he ran after them.