Hey! Finally, the second chapter is out. I'd like to thank my one reviewer as well as all of those who have faved and alerted this story. I hope it isn't a dissappointment. And I'd like to thank JaseyChevalier for helping me out with this story (she's on quizilla and has some lovely stories that I would definately recommend reading. You can find her here .com/user/jaseychevalier/profile/ ) And I would also like to thank her for my beautiful banner, which you can finde here: .com/stories/17263134/why-is-a-raven-like-a-writing-desk-chpt-2-qoh-dear-not-againq (sorry it's this chapter only on quizilla, but I can't direct you anywhere else unfortunately.)
So, If any of you have suggestions or advice, don't hesitate to tell me. Grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, timing, or advice. I'll take anything you throw at me. (Except insults. I want constructive critism, not flames. Give me advice on how to improve. And that doesn't mean that I'll agree entirely with you either. I will consider what you say, but I might not agree with it.)
With a gasp, Alice sat up so quickly in her bed, her spine cracked in complaint. Once again, her blankets completely fell away from the bed save for the one thin sheet that clung to her sticky skin. This being the result of nightmares. Again.
In irritation, Alice rubbed her soar eyelids and temples. Since she'd been to Wonderland for the third time, her ever present nightmares had left her. That is, until now. It was always the same too. She would find herself on a hilltop, and when she looked down, she would watch the battle between the Red Queen's soldiers and the White Queen's knights. Further away, on a ruinous watch tower, Alice would watch a past version of herself fighting the ever horrid Jabberwocky. When the battle ended, the White Queen would reclaim her crown (courtesy of Chesire) and Hatter would dance. Finally, it would all end with Alice watching herself drink the potion and disappearing.
However, then there was the terrifying woman that would always appear from right behind Alice. Once, Alice looked behind her beforehand, and she had seen no one there. It was clear that the woman was a queen, and very proper and graceful. Although when the queen would mention the Queen of Hearts as her sister, Alice was always caught by surprise. She looked absolutely nothing like her at all!
Instead, she had long, onyx tresses that lay across her back in glorious waves. She must've been nearly six feet tall as well, with a long graceful neck and marble like features. However, her eyes were what really caught Alice's attention. The pupils looked to be of pure obsidian, and they seemed to hide cruelty within them. That, was the only relation Alice could make to the Red Queen: the cruelty.
Now, every night, Alice would awaken from her sleep covered in sweat, and too frightened to try to sleep again. This had been happening ever since Lord Ascot found the answer to Hatter's riddle. That was about three and a half weeks ago. Alice had begun to think that maybe she should talk to someone about her dreams. Only Lorelei so far had any knowledge of them, and that was only because sometimes Alice would awaken with a scream on her lips.
With a groan, Alice looked at the clock that hung on her wall, which had the arrows indicating that it was three twenty-seven in the morning. Alice truly detested waking up so early in the morning that it still counted as the middle of the night. Yet she had been doing so for the past few weeks.
With another sigh, Alice laid her head back onto her pillow in hopes that she might get some actual sleep. It is truly a pity that she didn't, given that for nearly a month, Alice had been having nightmares and all. It seems the poor girl is simply doomed to a sleepless month.
This time, Alice found herself, not by the battlefield, but in a castle. In the garden to be precise. However, the greenery lacked the white trunks of the cherry blossom trees and marble walkways of the White Queen's palace, as well as the strangely shaped bushes and close cut grass that the Red Queen's possessed. No, this one had all sorts of different things. Roses of every color grew in both bushes as well as crawling vines that encircled and attempted to choke obsidian pillars that rose up all throughout the yard. A beautiful pond stretched for about a hundred feet and had willows hanging their branches into the water as if to wash them. Lily pads floated on the surface of the liquid all over the gleaming water, which, without fail, each of them sported a pure white lily on it.
Looking back to the plants, Alice saw that every possible kind of flower was sprouting out of the rich dirt. Bluebells, sunflowers, daisies, tulips, lavender, poppies, trumpet flowers, and anything else you can think of and more. Greedily, Alice drank in the beautiful sight as much as she could. Then she heard the last thing she expected, but probably should have: singing.
Looking back over her shoulder, Alice almost let out a gasp. The woman behind her looked very much like the one she'd seen so many times in her dreams. However, with closer speculation, she realized that the woman was not the queen she'd seen before at all. From what Alice she could see, since she looked to be bent over a plant, she was nearly Alice's age as well as rather short and her skin was pale, but not as pale as the other queen. Her hair was tied at the back of her head, and dark locks fell in little ringlets that Alice only wished she had instead of her frizzy mane. Her song was high pitched and light-hearted. While not the most beautiful voice Alice had ever heard, it was certainly pretty enough to bring a light smile to Alice's lips.
What really got to her though was what the woman was wearing. Not only did not wear a dress, instead she was garbed in what looked to be well worn breeches and a loose, mud-stained cotton shirt, but atop her head, was a silver circlet. It was simple, nothing adorned it. However, in its simplicity, there was power. The humble looking woman in the garden was royalty, just like the queen Alice had seen in her dreams.
Uneasiness crept around in Alice's soul. A mistrust of monarchs had grown within her over the past year. (She really cannot fathom why.) This one, though, seemed harmless. Alice did not want to take any chances though.
"My Queen!" a voice shouted from the other side of Alice. The blond could slightly hear the annoyed sigh that passed through the woman's lips. Masking her displeasure, the queen slid a smile onto her face and addressed the voice.
After having the dream with the other queen for so long, Alice had become accustomed to the fact that no one could see her. Still, she was quite taken aback when a deformed body had run right through her. She didn't even feel anything; he just jogged through Alice as if she were the air itself. Shaking off her shock, Alice looked up at the newcomer as he spoke with the queen. She was surprised to find that it was a flat, rectangular shape. He was a card, like the guards in the Queen of Hearts' castle. However, instead of the bloody red color that the cards had in the Red Queen's palace, this one, had a forest green look to it. Alice could not see the markings of what kind of card it was, for she was facing its back, but she did see the queen's face.
Truly, the woman did look a lot like the queen who had been haunting her dreams for nearly a month. She had the same high cheekbones, the same black lips, but what made it all different, was the eyes. They were not dark and cruel like the others but warm and a deep green. She looked more like the White Queen if anything.
"Are you aware of what day it is?" the guard asked.
"No," the queen answered with a carefree smile. "But I'm sure you'll tell me."
The guard sighed. "How long has it been since you've seen your sisters?" he asked.
"Near a decade I think…" the queen became silent. The guard stared at her, waiting for her to say something else. Alice saw a change in the queen's eyes. They went from carefree and lighthearted, to proud and determined, if a bit scared. She looked the guard straight in the eye and ordered, "Get the troops ready."
The card left without a word, turning back to Alice's direction. The marks on his front surprised her, for they were not hearts. Instead, she saw ten painted clovers. She was so surprised that she forgot to move, and the ten of clubs marched right through her again. Alice shivered and looked back at the queen, who hadn't moved.
The Queen of Clubs looked down at her plants again and sighed, seeming more annoyed and distressed than exited like the other queen. "Let the game begin."
Alice shot up from her bed once again. It was still dark out, and Alice doubted that much time had passed. She wasn't covered in sweat this time, but the cold shiver still remained. She did not understand what was going about in Wonderland, but Alice knew one thing: she needed to find out.
A week later, Alice sat at her mirror with a brush in her hand and a troubled expression on her face. She had told Lorelei that she wanted to be on her own that morning, so she had taken the day off. Alice sighed. In the last week she had tried to get to Wonderland, but she could not find a way. She looked for the rabbit hole in Ascot's garden but found it had disappeared, she looked in her old home's garden and found the hole gone (as it had been for years) as well as the mirror in the foyer which didn't work, she even tried her current garden at home and found nothing there.
As if to make it worse, Alice still had the nightmare of the defeat of the Jabberwocky and the queen behind her. However the Queen of Clubs had not made another appearance. Alice was not sure if she was glad of this or not. That did nothing to change the fact that she still could not shake the feeling that Wonderland needed her help.
Alice sighed again and put the brush down. Covering her face with her hands Alice suppressed the urge to smash her mirror out of frustration.
Which is a very good thing considering what's about to happen.
When Alice looked up, something caught her attention in her mirror. Her eyes widened and she stared at the mirror. "McTwisp?" she muttered in surprise, referring to the white rabbit that was tapping his large pocket watch impatiently by her bed.
Alice turned and found that the fancily-dressed rabbit was not there. Confusion engulfed Alice's expression and she turned back to the mirror. The white rabbit was tapping his foot impatiently by this point and he still looked like he was standing beside Alice's bed. She looked behind her again and there was still no one there. Once again Alice looked to the mirror thinking she was losing whatever was left of her mind.
McTwisp was looking at his watch again and panicking. He looked back up at Alice and motioned for her to hurry, and he disappeared from the view of the mirror. Alice gasped in panic and shouted "Wait!" In fear, she made a grab in the rabbit's direction. It was a very lucky thing that the mirror absorbed her hand, for it would have broken otherwise.
Brown eyes stared at the looking glass in shock, at the arm that had sunken nearly half way through. The glass rippled like water and suddenly Alice understood. After looking around her room to make sure no one else was there, Alice stood up from her chair and lifted herself onto the bureau, not much caring for the few cosmetics that littered the surface. She took a deep breath and plunged the rest of her body through the glass.
Alice did not really know what to expect. Of course she had done something similar years before, but she did not remember much of it. So she was not expecting to see a reversed version of her room. The twenty-year old cocked an eyebrow and looked around, hoping to see the rabbit somewhere close. The only thing she got was a retreating fluffy tail.
As quick as she could, Alice slid off of her dresser and ran out her door (now to her right instead of her left.) McTwisp had already made it down the hall and was running down the stairs. "Wait!" Alice shouted and ran after him as best as she could. The White Rabbit ignored her.
Alice chased her old friend until they reached what should have been her garden, but, to Alice's surprise, it wasn't her garden at all. In confusion Alice looked behind her and found that the door she thought she had just come through was gone, replaced by endless grassland. To the front of her, it was the same. Alice could not even find McTwisp in the knee-high green grass.
"Rabbit?" Alice called, and got no answer. "McTwisp? Where did you go?" No answer came. As Alice walked, she noticed that the grass would flatten at she passed over it. There was no path that was made anywhere else in the field. So Rabbit simply could not have gone through already.
Fearfully, Alice spun around in all directions, making sure that there was truly no one there. There was not even a bottle with the words 'Drink Me' on it. Panic almost seized her heart, but Alice had kept it quelled. She was nearly happy to hear the voices behind her.
"She's here! She's here!" cried a childish voice from behind Alice.
"Hooray! We've waited for ever so long!" said another
Alice turned around to find some of the most frightening people she had ever seen in Wonderland.
Well, I hope you enjoyed it! And I'll be working on the next chapter as quickly as I can. (As soon as I figure out what to do with the next chapter.)