"Eh... Um... Rus- No... I can handle... I can handle this myself..." Wonderland grumbled, wriggling her legs around helplessly. It appeared that she had gotten herself stuck in the trashcan when Russia left to pay the hospital bill. Wonderland never did well when she was alone. She always ended up burning something down, wrecking an entire era, or getting stuck in something. Luckily, this time she'd only gotten stuck. The last time she was left alone she'd managed to set fire to a lake and all it's fishy residents, which wasn't even entirely possible. But for her, anything was possible. One time she'd played a round of poker and been dealt a royal flush on every hand. The girl put both hands on the tile flooring and tried to push her thin body up and out of the trash bin. She was once again unsuccessful. Wonderland snorted, gritting her teeth. With one big heave she threw herself out of the can, landing lightly on her feet. "Victory!" she cried, pumping a fist into the air.
The door suddenly swung open with a brutal amount of force. Wonderland stumbled backwards, her victory against the trashcan short lived. However, this time her entire body got stuck inside, leaving only her legs sticking out. Wonderland clawed at the thick black bag lining her prison as if it would help. Something grabbed her ankles and gingerly pulled her out of the trashcan. Russia put one arm under her knees and wrapped one around her back and waist.
"Better, da?" he smiled his signature closed eye smile.
"Yay! You saved me!" Wonderland threw both arms into air, accidentally punching one of the lights. A shower of glass and sparks rained down on both of them. Wonderland wriggled away from Russia's chest and let out an ear splitting screech of confusion. "Attack! We're under attack! Save the queen!" the girl dove under her hospital bed and covered her head with both arms.
"A-are you alright?" Russia poked his face under the cot as well. Wonderland let out a nervous giggle, glancing back and forth. She seemed anxious and scared but came out anyways.
"J-just fine..." the girl paused to dust off her hat and take a deep breath. She put on a smile before clapping her hands together. "All good!"
"Do you have a place to stay tonight?" Russia asked, hoping to change the subject. Wonderland confused him in so many ways.
"Hmm... Uh... Can't remember..." she scratched the bandage on her head and tapped her bottom lip. Nothing came to mind. Wonderland's head was so full of fog and confusion she couldn't even remember how long she'd been out of her country. Which wasn't as much of a country as it was another world. She wondered if her amnesia would go away soon or if it would linger and make her even more distraught.
"You could stay at my house if you'd like." Russia suggested. Maybe he could finally make a friend if he got to know Wonderland better. All the other countries were so terrified of him but Wonderland didn't know a thing about Russia's blood soaked past. She didn't know how unstable he was nor how mean he could be.
"You would do that? You're the nicest person I've ever met! ... I think..." she looked up at the ceiling and tapped her fingers together cutely. Russia smiled and ushered her out of the room.
About halfway down the hallway Wonderland stuck both arms out and started making flying noises.
"CRASH!" she screeched. Wonderland threw herself headfirst into the tile, giggling as she pulled her mousy figure back into a standing position. She grabbed Russia by the arm and spun around. The girl broke away, leaping into the air, landing on one foot, and sweeping into a pirouette. Her moment of grace was brutally interrupted by an untied shoelace which heaved her against the wall. Wonderland peeled away and brushed herself off with a laugh. Glancing over at Russia, she realized just how confused he probably was by her.
"It's fine, I like getting hurt. It lets me know I'm still alive." she smiled matter-of-factly.
"You like getting hurt?" Russia inquired. He loved watching other people get slammed into walls but he'd never enjoyed it himself. At least that meant he probably didn't mind getting hit in the head as much as Russia would have expected. Though he was still trying desperately to make up for it by letting the girl stay at his house. It seemed that every time Russia had a chance at making a friend, he messed it up by scaring them or 'accidentally' causing the genocide of their people. But Wonderland may not have even been a real place, there's no way to kill off a race of people you're not sure even exist. And if she liked getting hurt... Maybe Russia could finally have a friend. Even if that friend was insane.
"It lets me know I'm still alive! And it tells me if I'm dreaming or not! That's important." Wonderland declared, smiling. Russia liked her smile; it reminded him of his own, innocent yet hiding something terrible from the world.
"Excuse me, you were in room 34, correct?" a young man in scrubs asked after tapping the girl on the shoulder.
"Depends... What happens if I was?" she replied, turning around slowly to face the scrawny boy.
"Well, when we brought you in you had some... Animals with you." he gulped. The man's tone made it rather obvious that he was terrified of animals.
"Oh! You must have my Jabberwock! And my Dormouse! Yay! Where are they?" Wonderland cheered. She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet and waited for the nervous nurse to form a reply.
"We put a-animals down in the basement in case any of the patients are allergic to them..." he gulped. "I-I can take you down-"
"No need! I saw the pretty button in the thingy!" she interrupted. Wonderland had no idea what an elevator was but it looked like fun to her. She'd been skimming through a brochure for an elderly home before getting stuck in the trashcan and there had been a picture of one under the list of amenities.
'Old people are so cute...' Wonderland thought. She had a very strange love for senior citizens, calling them adorable and giving them hugs whenever possible. Unfortunately, she hadn't seen any really old people in the hospital to talk to about the wars and such. Wonderland especially loved elders with PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. Partly because she had the same issues and partly because it was fun to watch them freak out when a fan turned on. Wonderland was a million times more cruel and evil than she let on.
"Uh... Well... Actually, y-you need a key card to get down there." the nurse whimpered. He held up the small card attached to his scrubs and gave Wonderland and Russia nervous looks. They were both very strange. With Wonderland's top hat and odd clothing and Russia's constant smile, it was hard not to stare. Suddenly, a small hand shot out and ripped the key card off the man's chest. Wonderland turned on her heels and went clumping down the hallway towards a small silver door. Both of her arms were up in the air to express a victory that hadn't really happened.
"Thank you." Russia smiled before setting off to catch up with his new companion. She was very weird, even weirder than Ukraine and Belarus put together in fact, but Russia liked her. Wonderland had so much fun with everything that her joy seemed to envelop those around her. The girl stuck her head out of the elevator and motioned excitedly for Russia to join her.
"Isn't this thing great? It's so... Beautiful. All shiny and chrome and there's music playing from somewhere! Music! And there isn't a band or an orchestra in sight! How is that possible?" Wonderland said. She looked around in a confused manner and cocked her head to the side.
"It's the radio, and those are speakers." Russia explained. He hoped Wonderland's ignorance wasn't a result of their earlier misunderstanding.
"Hm... Radio... Speakers... I've never heard of those before! Or maybe I just don't remember them... Either way, it's very fun!" Wonderland tapped one of the little speakers and smiled. Russia frowned, he felt terrible about what had happened. At first, he hadn't known anything about an didn't have much sympathy, but as the day progressed, he was beginning to like Wonderland. Someone placed both hands on his cheeks and pulled them upwards. Wonderland was standing on the tips of her toes to reach up to Russia's massive height. She was very short, five foot one to be exact. But that didn't stop her from fixing Russia's frown in her own, rather interesting, way.
"No frowns. Only happy smiles and big grins of joy!" Wonderland ordered. She hopped up to pat Russia on the head before skipping out the door.
Gallons of hand sanitizer, hundreds of rolls of toilet paper, and what seemed to be the largest display of towels either of them had ever seen lay across the huge waist land that was the hospital's basement. Wonderland looked utterly confused by all of it, head pounding from all the new things she saw. Boxes of latex gloves and liters of liquid soap were sprawled out in every direction. There was even and entire room filled with nothing but brooms and mops.
"This place is so big..." Russia muttered under his breath. The basement of a hospital was something he'd never seen either. Both of them just sort of stood outside the elevator, staring up at the ceiling in awe. Wonderland was first to break away and start exploring. She noticed Russia was following we rated closely to make sure she didn't get into any trouble. This made her very grateful because getting stuck in something didn't sound like much fun at the moment. Wonderland took a sharp turn past the towel display and came across a small box with a few tiny holes poked in the sides and a full size dog crate. 'Mouse' was written on the box while 'Lizard Thing' was scrawled on the crate. The girl let out a squeal of excitement and dashed over as fast as she could.
"Jabberwock! Dormouse!" she cried. The girl started ripping the box apart feverishly, dropping down onto her knees.
"What is in the crate?" Russia inquired. He was secretly hoping it was a pitbull, Russia liked pitbulls. They were so ferocious yet so innocent looking, they reminded him of himself.
"Russia, I'd like you to meet Dormouse and Jabberwock." Wonderland said. She lifted her hands up to show him a very small mouse with a furry tail in a tiny red coat. The girl tucked the mouse under her hat before turning around and unlocking the crate. She pulled out an enormous, scaly, lizard with sharp teeth and huge claws. It was the single largest reptile Russia had ever laid his eyes on.
"What is that?" he asked.
"This is Jabberwock. He's a Komodo Dragon and, quite frankly, my best friend in the entire universe." Wonderland declared. She wrapped her arms around the lizard and let it lick her cheek with it's creepily forked tongue.