Lost in Wonderland.

Alice Liddell had only been looking into a mirror. It had been a gorgeous mirror, as wide as the length of her arms with a golden frame. She'd touched the glass and had been shocked to watch as the glass flowed beneath the white silk of her glove. It had barely been a second before the silvery material had surrounded her and she'd been transported through the looking glass.

Her skin felt had felt warm, her clothes feeling as if she'd put them on fresh from having taken them off the line on a hot summers day. She'd opened her eyes to find her feel on a cobblestone road she'd never stood upon before, her eyes taking in the strangest of worlds that she'd ever thought even possible to imagine. And this world made no sense. The rode was a thin strip of cobblestone whilst the grass and mushrooms grew far above her head, the flowers smiling at her or crying like rain down upon her shoulders.

She tried to walk back through the mirror but nothing happened. No matter how hard she hit the mirror od threw herself into it, she couldn't walk back through.

This was all so unbelievable. Maybe she'd gone mad…

So she was heading towards the castle in the hopes of finding someone who could help her… do something useful.

"And who are you?"

Alice spun around with a small surprised gasp. Before her was a man in clothes that were just strange enough to not look quite like the suit jackets that she was used to seeing. But he had an interestingly dark look about him that both frightened her and intrigued her, telling her that he wasn't like the men she conversed with at parties or offered their arm to her. He was the type of man that she saw through the window of her carriage or read about in books, the type of man that her mother didn't approve of in the slightest. However, Alice couldn't help but be intrigued. She also couldn't help but feel that small glimmer of hope that this man might give her a chance of reaching her home again… or at the very least hope to find a place that resembled some sort of sanity.

He was still waiting for her to answer though he didn't seem as annoyed as he might have been… maybe he was used to this sort of reaction to him? Maybe he knew that she didn't belong here…

"Alice," she breathed, clearing her throat. "My name is Alice,"

A flower perked up from out of the grass; "Her name is Alice-"

"-Alice-" a giant beetle added.

Another flower perked up. "-the Alice-"

"-the Alice of Liddell-"

"-the Alice of Little-"

"-the Alice of the Little Legend-"

"-the Bigger than Little Legend-"

"-the Alice of the Normally Sized Legend!"

Alice frowned, looking back at the man. "Just Alice,"

"Just Alice," all the creatures surrounding the two agreed. "Just Alice. Just Alice. Just Alice. Just Alice. Just Alice- Just Alice- Just Alice- Just Alice! Just Alice! Just Alice! Just Al- "

"Well," the man interrupted, glaring around at the flower and beetle. "Just Alice. Where is it that you came from?"

"Another world entirely from this one," Alice told him as she glanced around them. "But I have no idea what this world is… or where I am. I just want to go home. I was born in London… London, England?"

The man frowned at her and shook his head. "Sorry,"

She groaned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Wonderful,"

She tried to ignore the way that he was studying her, as if studying a gem in the light or watching a bug under glass. So she started walking down the path again, ignoring him and the sounds of his footsteps as he followed after her. However, there was only so much one can ignore when they are being followed.

"Would you stop that?"

She came face to chest with him, stopping him so abruptly that he nearly tripped into her. She took some satisfaction from watching him right himself before she continued glaring up at him. He frowned at her, dusting off some invisible dust from his right sleeve before looking down at her again, trying to show that he wasn't surprised at all. A mad man he was.

"What is it that you want?" she asked.

"Well, Just Alice. I was following you to see where it was a silly little thing like you was going-"

"I'm not a silly little thing," Alice interrupted, thoroughly insulted.

"-when I realized that you were heading towards the castle,"

Alice looked over her shoulder at the castle in the distance, positioned in the center of a giant maze, blood red hearts sprinkled here and there. It wasn't the most welcoming sight despite the feigned sweetness of the castle but there was very little else Alice could do.

"And?"

"This is a dangerous place and that castle is probably the most dangerous,"

"And where do you suggest I go instead?" Alice questioned him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't exactly have a guide to show me elsewhere,"

He seemed to debate on her words, looking over her shoulder before looking at her again. "I might be able to rectify that,"

Alice waited, looking up at him expectantly before he sighed in obvious annoyance.

"I could help you… offer you my services,"

"And what services are those?"

"I'm a jumper," he told her matter-of-factly, stepping toward her. "I can show you the way out,"

"You mean the mirror?" she asked him, watching as a surprised expression came over his face. "That's the way I came to be here… it wouldn't let me back through,"

"Did you try to walk through it?"

"Yes, of course I did!" Alice exclaimed. "I damn near broke the thing,"

The man rolled his eyes at her in annoyance. "You hit it, didn't you?"

"What?"

"You hit it," he nearly laughed, walking away from her. "You don't hit the looking glass. The magic of the portals can be touchy; it lets you walk through, you don't just simply walk through it,"

Alice rolled her eyes. "This place is mad,"

"To say the least," he muttered before turning on his heels to face her again. "I'll show you back to the looking glass and help you through,"

"You would do that?" she questioned suspiciously. "Why? What do you want in return?"

He smiled, stalking slowly up to her, looking her up and down. "Nothing… Besides, do I need a reason to help a girl in a very wet dress?"

Alice's eyes widened as she glanced down at her damp dress. It hadn't been that way before the last flower she'd met had started crying on her. The man's eyes on her made her uncomfortable but she didn't dignify him with covering herself. She knew he couldn't see anything; he was just trying to bait her. So she turned around, determined to leave him behind and find her own way if he wasn't going to take her seriously.

"Wait," he sighed, trying not to chuckle.

She didn't stop, just kept walking.

"Alice. Stop,"

It was only when she heard the horrible shriek that she listened to him. She looked up to her left to find a large creature perched on a hill, looking down at her intently. It looked like a dragon from the books she'd read but had a head that was not unlike a slug's with gnashing teeth out of a mouth that might not have been there.

"Don't move," he breathed, his breath ghosting past her cheek as she stepped towards her, the warmth of his body at her back.

She wanted to yell at him for not following his own advice but she figured that not moving really was the best option. She watched as the creature eyed her for a long moment, its teeth clicking against each other before it suddenly wailed.

"Run!"

She took off as fast as she could, kicking off her high heeled shoes in the midst of it all. She kept pace with the man, her breath huffing out in great puffs as she did so. The ground shook as she listened to the creature running after them, its wails piercing the air in the loudest of ways. She tripped over her own skirts as she tried to escape in vain, being caught off guard when a great force knocked her off of her feet. She landed on her back, looking up as the creature followed her across the ground, its head snaking towards her curiously. She kicked a foot out, catching the eye with her heel and causing a shriek to pierce the air and for her ears to hurt. However, it didn't keep her from getting up and taking off again, running towards an outcropping of rock she hoped to hide in.

She screamed when suddenly found herself being pulled to the ground by a hand on her ankle, pulling her down into a hole. She would have scrambled back out if not for the arms that wrapped around her or the hand over her mouth as the thundering footsteps came closer. She froze against the man, staring up into his face as he ignored her, his attention solely on the creature looking for them. She listen as well, feeling the vibrations in the ground becoming more and more violent until they began to slowly fade with a few wailing shrieks before it died away completely.

They waited another minute before the man released her, climbing out of the hole. She frowned up at him until he rolled his eyes and reached a hand in for her. She took it, pulling herself up to stand beside him, dusting herself off.

"Thank you," she told him, a bit disgruntled but none the less thankful.

He frowned down at her, but nodded. "Welcome,"

She looked around, trying to ignore the growing suspicion that she would indeed need to endure the man to find her way home. "Fine…" she sighed, not daring to look at him. "And what might I call you?"

"Call me Hatter," he answered, a smirk in his voice.