Back once again :) It's been a while, but not too long, right? :P Well, I hope you liked the last one, and I hope you like this one! This one's a bit longer than the last one, I think, and a lot of the plot is going to become obvious in the next few chapters, so be prepared! :) Oh, and thanks guys for all the reviews, they make me so happy ^^ :3 anyhows... Onto the story!

Enjoy!

In the morning, the drink wasn't there. In its place was a tiny white square cake, that had written, 'Eat Me', on the top with curly handwriting with the frosting. Alice took a small nibble out of the corner hesitantly, and flinched. She could taste the harsh pill more easily in this than in the drink. Putting it down, she glanced around. The tiny-tiny cake made her feel huge, as if she could crush something with just a small, short movement. Alice wasn't a big girl by any means, but as the nurse came by and began to lead her somewhere, she found herself trying to make herself smaller.

They walked through white halls Alice didn't recognize before she was ushered into a large room, where others were. Some sat on couches, others sat on the floor and played with small gadgets and toys they'd been given. One boy had a small plastic box stuck up his nose. Alice almost giggled, before she was moved along. A short man with white hair stopped them, and they exchanged words Alice didn't bother hearing, before the nurses disappeared and the short man smiled at her.

"Good morning, Alice. I'm Rich, and I'll be your guidance councilor." Alice looked over the man, his short stature, slightly bowed legs, wispy white hair, slightly bucked teeth, and one thought popped into mind; rabbit. Apparently there had been a silence too long for her to respond, and the rabbit clapped his hands together.

"Alright, well let's introduce the rest of the gang, shall we? Over here, we have the twins, Dee and Dim." He motioned to two red-head boys who looked maybe a year younger than Alice and completely identical; they looked up from their tug-of-war with a doll to give a short grin and nod before ignoring her once again.

"This here is Dolly." The girl was extremely small though seemingly around the same age as Alice, making her try even harder to curl upon herself and make herself smaller, with large brown eyes, short brown hair, and a tiny nose, that Alice couldn't help but be reminded of a mouse.

"So, that's it," the rabbit said, smiling with his buck teeth and clapping his hands together, "Why don't you all get to know each other? I've just got a few notes over here I need to go over before we get started…" Alice gazed around the room, and felt eyes watching her. Her hair stood up on the back of her neck and she turned to meet the eyes of the mad-hatter.

He grinned from his spot on the floor near the back of his room, the red girl beside him, scowling at a plate of food, and the cat beside them, sitting back in a chair with his hands behind his head as another councilor woman talked to him. Just then, as if feeling her eyes, Chester turned and those strange eyes met her, sending a strange chill down her spine and inside her gut. The boy curled his lips up in a smile, his eyes flashing dangerously at her, before one of them closed in a wink.

Alice blinked before glaring, realizing she was being made fun of. The boy burst out laughing, getting a worried look and a scolding from his councilor. Suddenly Alice felt a tug on her sleeve and turned to see the tiny girl, who had her other hand to her mouth.

"I, uh, um…" she drifted in a wispy voice, reminding Alice of wind chimes.

"I'm Alice," Alice offered, holding out a hand and trying to smile nicely.

In the back of her mind, she remembered the conversation with Chester about names; if she didn't have a name, but was still the same person, what would she introduce herself as? Certainly she couldn't simply say, 'Hello, I am Me, and that's all I'll ever be,' because then the world would be just full of 'I's and me's and you's', and it'd be very confusing. Alice cataloged this thought to bring up later in case Chester questioned names again as the girl took her hand in a dainty one, making hers feel like mammoths, and shook it.

"Y-You must be her," she whispered, motioning across the room towards the others, "M-Madd told me. H-He said you were the right h-her. N-No one believed him."

"I'm not sure I do," Alice muttered, getting slightly tired and even more confused about this 'Alice' business. The mouse girl motioned to the empty seat on the couch next to her, and after just a moment of hesitating, Alice sat. The two boys stopped their game of tug-of-war, dropping the doll and seeming to forget about it completely, to lean in close to her, making her back up from the sudden proximity. After a moment one of them grinned.

"It is her." The other one frowned, scrutinizing.

"No it's not." The first one elbowed him.

"Yeah it is!"

"No it isn't!"

"Of course it is! Who else would it be?"

"An imposter!" The one scoffed.

"An imposter? Who would want to copy Alice?"

"An Alice imposter, who else?"

"An Alice imposter idiot!"

"Exactly!"

"I am not an idiot or an imposter," Alice protested, but it fell to deaf ears as the twins fixed each other with harsh glares.

"It's the real Alice."

"It's a fake Alice."

"Real."

"Fake."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is. Not!"

"Is. Too!" As the argument heated up, Alice leaned away to whisper to mouse-girl to her right.

"Should we stop them?" The mouse-girl simply shook her head, and so Alice remained silent. The argument continued on, and Alice glanced at the quiet girl.

"Why does everyone know who I am? Madd said they were expecting me." The girl blinked her owlish eyes.

"We were."

"Why?"

"Why else?" Alice groaned.

"I wish everyone wouldn't speak in riddles." Dolly twiddled her fingers a bit, glancing around before leaning forward to whisper in her ear.

"They told us you were coming," she whispered, sending a shiver down Alice's spine, "They want you. But we won't let them have you. You will stop them, we're sure of it."

"Who—" Alice started, but was stop as a terrified look crossed Dolly's face, and she started over, keeping her voice low, "Who wants me? Who do I stop, and why do you think it'll be me who does it?" The mouse-girl was about to speak, when the rabbit suddenly hopped up, bucked teeth smiling. As he began talking, her mind began wandering, drowning out anything the rabbit-man said. Who was this girl talking about? Who told everyone who she was, and why?

Was it a trick?

Were they just trying to scare her? Alice remembered the terrified look on the girl's face, and doubted this was the case.

Then what? Something suddenly hit her. Her blood turned cold.

The voices.

Did they tell them?

Did they come here before she did, and tell everyone her secrets?

Or maybe they were all crazy, maybe crazier than she was. Alice relaxed a bit at this thought. Perhaps they all thought they knew her. But then… the mad-hatter boy knew her name. The Cheshire had told them it was 'her'. The twins were arguing over whether or not it was her.

How had they known her name before she told them?

How?

What was—

"Alice?" Said girl jumped from her thoughts, back onto the couch, where everyone was looking at her expectantly. The rabbit-man took something out of his pocket, golden and shiny, and tapped it.

A pocket watch.

He was smart.

Alice should get one.

"We only have so much time, dear," he said, smiling.

"I'm sorry," Alice told him, for lack of anything else to say. He slipped the pocket watch back into his pocket, where it belonged, and spoke.

"I was just hoping you would tell us all what you thought of your new home so far." Alice blinked. Glanced at the mouse-girl to her right, who gave her a nervous look. Glanced at the twins, who looked worried.

"It's… um… curious." Rabbit-man leaned forward.

"How so?" The girl next to her was chewing on her nails. The twins were nudging each other without tearing their eyes from her. She could feel someone's gaze on her from off to the left, where the mad-hatter and red girl and Cheshire were. It seemed as if everything was still in the room, holding a breath in wait of her answer.

"It's just… different, from my old home, I guess," Alice finally said hesitantly. The rabbit man observed her for a moment, and the room's lack of breath almost choked her. Finally he smiled and nodded, moving on down the line on his paper. The room let out a whoosh of relief, and Alice found herself physically relaxing, though she couldn't remember when she'd tensed up so much in the first place.

The questions continued, and Alice answered them the best she could while trying to actually pay attention. The room was a lot more relaxed for the rest of the time, but Alice couldn't shake off two pairs of eyes that seemed to be continuously probing her from the other side of the room.

It was lunch time next, and Alice filed in obediently with the others in the line, though now the mouse-girl was beside her. Alice found that she didn't mind, and lead the girl to where she remembered the table being. This time there wasn't a psst to direct her, but Madd smiled widely as they sat across from him. Rose—looking thinner than before, was her wrists always that bony?—sat beside him, glaring daggers and red at her food.

Chester watched her. His eyes unwavering, his smile gone, but face shining with… interest? Alice tried to ignore it. Madd grinned and leaned toward the mouse-girl.

"Hey there, Doll!" Alice watched curiously as the girl's face flushed red—a nice, embarrassed red—and she ducked her head, her chestnut hair falling to cloak the blush.

"M-Madd…" Said crazy boy's grin widened. Alice tuned out the conversation slightly. She felt those eyes on her. She finally met them. The boy's lips twitched as their eyes met, and Alice tore her eyes away from his lips to look at those strange eyes directly. His smile grew, and Alice glared slightly. She didn't know why; perhaps she was still angry for him stabbing her.

That was probably it.

As if reading her thoughts, the corner of his lips curled even more, and in response Alice's glare hardened, though she doubted her eyes were red—they didn't feel red. She'd barely eaten anything, and hadn't released her gaze from his, when the time was up, and everyone started moving. Alice glanced around, seeing Rose's food lay still untouched, though Alice didn't know why she cared for the red girl's food. Just then hot breath touched her ear and her breath caught.

The seat where Chester had been was empty, and the chuckle heated her neck and ran down her spine. Something crinkled in her palm, pressed there by another warm hand encasing hers. It lingered, as did the breath, before suddenly cold air washed over her and she jumped and spun around to find no one behind her and Chester nowhere in sight. She waved an absent-minded goodbye to the surprised-looking mouse-girl before looking down at the folded, crinkled piece of paper in her hand. Slowly she unfolded it, and her eyes alighted over sloppy handwriting written in blotchy black ink.

Meet in hallway tonight. Showing you something... Alice.

:O! Soooooo the Cheshire wants to meet Alice and show her something... What is it? Who was the girl, Dolly, talking about that said they wanted Alice? Not thinking of any other questions right now, so I'll leave that as that :P Anyhow... Umm... Oh! In case you guys like the Mortal Instruments series, there's someone who has a story for you! Type in Ballet Shinigami in the search bar and go on and click her story Misguided Feelings :) Alright then... I got a spider bite from Hades, and it itches, so I'ma go now T.T Review and stuffs, por favor, byessssss!