In a flash, Alice was on her feet and pulling Alois up beside her. She turned her head towards him and whispered quickly, "You have to go. The only way to save Elizabeth and Jordan is to go to Wonderland. I wish you didn't have to but wishing rarely serves our family well. There's a special dagger in the bedside table drawer. Take it. You'll need it."
It was a lot for Alois to process but at the moment, his body was running on auto-pilot. He nodded his head jerkily, like a marionette being controlled by some other force. Alice pushed him away from her as Klaus drew something shiny from his pocket. It glinted brightly in the light from the moon. He shone it towards Alice and Alois caught what it was. It was a watch. A large silver pocket watch. The hands began to move faster and faster clockwise but Alois couldn't tell what was happening.
Until he looked at Alice. He gasped in horror. His mother was aging fast. Her skin wrinkled and cracked and her eyes became dull and blind. There were cracking noises as her bones decayed. She reached out a hand to Alois and said one word.
"Go..."
Then it was over in a sickening noise like the noise you get when you crack your knuckles. Her brittle old wrist snapped and her hand came clean off. There was no blood. It had all dried up and become a sand-like rust-colored substance that poured out of the stump where her hand used to be. The second the disembodied hand hit the ground, it crumbled into dust as well. Her entire arm came off next, then her legs crumbled from beneath her and then her head hit the ground.
Soon, nothing was left of Alice Liddel except for a pile of dust and a shriveled, gray heart, sitting in the center of the pile. That too, beat it's last and crumbled into gray dust.
It took Alois a moment to react. Klaus turned to him, putting the watch away, and smirked. He held out a gloved hand. "Well, Alois. I'm the White Rabbit. And it seems you've been chosen. Come along, now, lets not make this difficult."
Alois said nothing. He turned swiftly and yanked out the table's drawer. He snatched up the dagger inside. It was too dark to see but the metal felt strangely warm in his hand. Klaus stood blocking the exit. Alois turned frantically and threw the window open. Klaus shouted in annoyance and strode quickly towards him. Alois barely avoided the snatch of Klaus' hand by leaping clumsily through the window.
He was rolling down hill fast. Twigs and rocks scratched at him as he past. Alice's room had been on the first floor. But Lenox Hospital was built on a hill. The hill that Alois was currently rolling down. A low hanging branch of a tree caught and tangled in his hair. He let out a cry and tried to pull himself free. It wasn't working. The branch was caught tightly in his curls. He struggled painfully for a few minutes until Klaus stood over him. He wasn't sure where he had come from or how he got there so quickly but there he was, casting an ominous shadow over Alois.
He smirked. "How pitiful. Well, at least you were fun to watch." He kneeled down in front of Alois and jabbed him sharply in the shoulder. Alois yelped and felt consciousness leave him. He slumped on the ground, limply as he descended into darkness. Klaus smirked. "At least you put up a fight." He smirked and drew a knife. He cut Alois' hair where it got caught on the branch. It fell to his jaw now. Klaus lifted Alois up and slung him over his shoulder. He snapped his fingers and a dark hole appeared in the ground in front of him.
Klaus smirked at his victory and stepped into the hole. They started plummeting down. Down into the sick world that he called home. Down into Wonderland.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
When Alois woke up, there were heavy manacles around his ankles, holding him to the wall. He struggled into a sitting position and found himself in front of a magnificent throne. It had a silver frame and had glinting red jewels in the shape of hearts set into it. The cushion was also red. On it sat a beautiful woman of about 20 years old. Her hair was long and red and tied up in a black ribbon. Her skin was pale and flawless and her lips were painted the color of blood. But under her beauty, Alois could see something sick. Something dark. Her eyes showed years and years of despicable actions and dark thoughts. Her eyes were black. Black as the deepest void but there was a fire burning behind them. A fire of hatred that was focused right on Alois.
"You've been chosen, have you?" She asked. Her voice was cold and cruel. "Well. I'll make you an offer." She stood up. She was very tall, Alois saw, almost six feet tall, in fact. "You can meet the same fate as the rest of your family and be absorbed by this world. Or you can drink this," She produced a small vile and dangled it in front of Alois between two black-painted fingernails. "It will make you part of this world. This place will become your home. And you may have the honer of serving me for as long as you live. Which will be a long time. Wonderlandians do not age so they cannot die of old age. Not like you pitiful humans."
Alois felt his throat go dry. So it's between death or eternity serving this woman... He thought, Neither sound very appealing...But wait! He reached out for the vial. I can make another option... He uncorked it. I'm going to save my family! He downed the contents in one gulp. It tasted sickeningly sweet and cold as ice on his throat. He felt that cold spread throughout his body. He lowered the vile and let it roll across the stone floor. He saw a satisfied smirk twist the woman's face.
"Very good. Maybe your not as stupid as your family."
Alois jammed his hands into his jacket pockets, trying to warm the spreading sensation of cold. The moment he did that, he felt his hand close around something. It felt like a handle of sorts. The dagger! He thought quick and drew it out of his pocket and it's sheath in one swift motion. He hacked once at each of the chains around his ankles and they crumbled as if they were made of wet sand. He turned and stabbed the woman in the arm. She let out a heinous screech,
"GAURDS! KILL HIM!"
Alois yanked the dagger out of her flesh and leapt to his feet. He ran as fast as he could out the door of the throne room and down the long corridor outside of it, all the while hearing the woman screech and stomping footsteps approach.
There has to be a way out! There has to! He started trying doors. They were all locked until he finally came to one at the end of the hall. He opened it and revealed another, smaller door. then another after that. Finally after three doors, he could crawl through into the next room. When he stood up, the doors slammed and locked behind him. He jumped and looked around. There was nothing in the room. The walls were lined with mirrors. In each one, he saw himself, just as he was then. Except for one. In that one he saw darkness and trees with purple leaves and eyes glinting at him from within that darkness. Many sets of eyes.
Alois nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of banging on at the door. It was hard and loud and probably forceful enough to break the doors open. Alois didn't stick around to find out if that was true or not. He turned, held his breath, shut his eyes and stepped through the mirror.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
When his eyes opened, he was in the scene he had seen through the mirror. He looked around. The trees had dark blue bark and purple leaves. Strange creatures sat in the trees, staring down at him. They were unlike anything he had ever seen. Some had small dark beady eyes and were no bigger than his hand. Others were huge menacing shapes with large glowing eyes and teeth and claws that glinted in the dark. Alois shuddered and started walking along a gray stone path, leading into the trees.
As he went further in, he noticed signs pointing every direction. They were all different colors and hung on the trees. The all read something along the lines of 'this way', 'that way', 'there' or 'here'. The biggest and the one at the top of the tree in front of Alois was labeled 'The Tulgey Wood'.
Alois looked around and sighed sadly. "Now where do I go..." he frowned.
Suddenly he heard a voice very close to his ear and felt warm breath on the back of his neck. "that depends on where you want to get." The voice was smooth and calm, with a definite undertone of mockery.
Alois held in a scream of shock, but just barely. He spun around but no one was there. "Who's there!"
"Must you upsiders talk so loudly?" The voice purred from behind him again. Alois spun around and again, there was no one.
"Come out and show yourself! Right now!" Alois was starting to feel more annoyed than afraid.
And the owner of the voice did just that. A pair of glowing green eyes materialized from within the darkness, right in front of Alois. They were joined slowly by a mouth, twisted into a terrifying grin then a face that was evenly tanned. How do you get any sun in a place like this? Alois found himself thinking. Soon an entire person stood, mere inches away from Alois.
The figure before him was a man with long, midnight blue hair, green cat eyes and a large fang-toothed smile. The rest of his skin had the same even, perfect tan and it was obvious by the way he dressed, that the man was in no hurry to hide it. He wore a black half-shirt with a turtle neck and no sleeves and purple and pink striped suspenders that were latched onto a pair of black pinstripe slacks. There were four horizontal slits on either side of his pants and he wore no shoes. His belly button was pierced and there were intricate tattoos on his stomach, arms and most likely his legs as well. Two cat ears poked from the top of his head and a cat tail swished from behind him.
He smirked down at Alois and Alois looked up at him in shock. "Wh-who are you?"
The man gave a sweeping circus bow and laughed. "My name is Valentine. I am the Cheshire Cat. And you, I see, are our new Alice. How very nice to meet you." He took Alois' hand and planted a kiss on the back of it. Alois shuddered and pulled his hand away.
"Actually my name is Alois."
Valentine laughed softly and straightened up from his bow. He was about six feet tall and Alois felt himself frown. Is everyone taller than me here?
"Alois Liddel? I'm not sure if that was unintentional or just sick wordplay on your mother's part." Valentine smirked. "Well, little Alois. Would you care to play a game?"
Alois blinked in confusion. "...What do you mean a 'game'?"
Valentine raised a thin eyebrow and explained with exaggerated patience, "A game. You know. A silly folly that people partake in for fun and amusement?"
Alois glared, but let it go. "What kind of game?"
"Just a little bet. If you win, then I'll make it so you can be human again and go live on the upside with your rescued parents and have a happy little life again."
"How did you know about my parents. And about that thing I drank to make me one of you?" Alois frowned.
Valentine grinned. "Oh, I'm a huge gossip, darling, and news gets around fast." He returned to his explanation. "If I win...If I win, I get to eat you."
Alois stared at him dumbstruck. "You...you eat people?"
Valentine looked confused. "Well, yeah. We're a little short on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches down here." He smirked. "The conditions are simple. I'll be following you and helping you along here and there. If you cry even one tear, I win." He held out his thin, long fingered hand and purred, "Deal...?"
Alois swallowed hard and shook his hand slowly. "Y-yeah...deal..."
Valentine grinned and his eyes glowed excitedly. "Wonderful. And just in time too! We've got company."
AN: DAMN! The word count on this was like...1,000 more words than usual! HOLY SHIT! Here i am just sippin' on dr. pepper mixed with coke a cola, typin' like a maniac! I didn't mean to!
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