AN: Sorry it took me awhile to bit to get this chapter out to you guys. I had a bit of trouble with the rewrite... although now as I look back I can't for the life of me think of what the problem was, lol. This chapter is more like the original in length and content, unlike the first two. Enjoy!

Chapter 3-Return to Wonderland

"Alice? Alice, are you alright?"

The voice that was speaking sounded familiar, but for the life of her, Alice couldn't remember why that was. Oh how her head ached... what had happened to her? Was she lying down? Well, she did remember falling asleep on her bed a few hours -- was it a few hours? -- ago, but nothing more than that. And what she was lying on was most certainly not her bed, and that voice was not one belonging to either of her parents. Oh yes, her parents... Alice mentally groaned. They would be ever so mad with her for what she had done... but really, could they truly blame her? It wasn't her fault that she didn't want to marry some stuck-up, arrogant, annoying, rich boy. She knew her parents could and would truly blame her though.

"...Alice?"

Who was that, and why did he keep speaking to her, Alice wondered. She tried to open her eyes, but they didn't seem to want to cooperate. She tried to speak, but found that she got roughly the same result with her mouth.

The person seemed to realize what the problem was though, for they laughed. "Oh, sorry. I didn't think that the entry was going to be this much trouble. Humans..." he muttered the final word as though it were something disgusting.

Alice blinked, or would have if she were able. Why did he seem to hate humans so much? Wasn't he a human himself? Wait, was she dreaming? That would explain all of this... well, except for her headache anyway...

"You need to try and open your eyes again, Alice. We're still running quite late. We'll be yelled at if we don't get there soon."

Late? Yelled at? It all came back to the young woman in a rush. Waking up and finding a strange man staring back at her from her mirror, being told that she hadn't just imagined Wonderland -- that it was real, and.... Her eyes flew open.

"Cheshire!" Alice yelled, pulling herself upright hastily. "What on earth were you thinking, pulling me into a--"

She broke off as she looked around. This was most certainly not her bedroom... The sky was dark gray, the color it gets right before a rainstorm, and she was sitting on hard brown dirt, the reason why she had felt so uncomfortable earlier. She couldn't see much else except for the man squatting next to her, and the forest that surrounded them on two sides. Where were they?

"Where...are we?" she asked curiously, her words mirroring her thoughts. "Is this... Wonderland?"

Cheshire nodded. "That's right, Alice." He grinned. "Welcome back."

Alice felt her stomach reel. This wasn't possible... it just couldn't be. She felt a surge of anger rise within her. If this really was where he said, then Wonderland was real. But if that were true, then why hadn't she been able to return all those times when she had so longed to? She should have been indignant to have been forced here again, but she couldn't seem to even manage to get upset. Her life in her normal world had never been very good, and had steadily progressed to 'bad' over the years. When she had visited Wonderland five years before she had experienced something amazing... something that showed her that she could have more than what she did. Even though she had thought it a dream, she had believed that with her whole heart.

And now that she was really back... she had a chance at being truly happy once more.

"I... I can't believe I'm really back," Alice murmured, a smile spreading out across her face.

"Yes, it's amazing what one can do with a bit of magic, isn't it?" Cheshire asked her, cocking his head to the side.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Yes, very. Now.... what did you mean by we're running late?" She smirked. "If I recall you said you were spending too much time with White... does that mean the two of you get on now?"

Cheshire mock gasped. "Why Alice, I cannot believe you think I would associate myself with that scatterbrained man." Seeing the annoyed look she gave him he rolled his eyes. "No, he and I don't 'get on'. Circumstances have simply brought the two of us together more often than either of us would like."

Alice heaved a sigh. "You really should try to be friends with him... has he ever even done anything to make you upset with him?"

Even as she said this Alice knew it was a bad idea. His strange gold eyes glowed with... what was it, anger, maybe? So 'upset' was a mild term for what had transpired between the two men.

"Perhaps... perhaps not," Cheshire responded cryptically. "Now, we really should be going." He made to stand up but a hand on his stopped him.

"Why do you do this?" Alice asked him. "Answer questions like that I mean."

Cheshire smirked. "Maybe you just need to try and look at it differently," he said, just as cryptically as ever.

Alice sighed again. She would never get anything out of him this way, and her head hurt far too much to try and think of another way to get him to talk to her. She would have to wait until later to think of something.

"So... we're going then?"

Cheshire nodded, and pulled himself up before helping her to her feet as well. "Yes, and we need to be quick about it too." Still holding her hand in his he turned. "Let's be off."

With that he began to pull her off to only God knew where. Alice stayed silent, staring at her hand. Why was he still holding it? Not that she really minded... the contact gave her a warm sort of feeling deep inside. It was comforting, to say the least. She hadn't really felt warm in a long time. All the same, it was quite strange that she would get such a feeling from someone whom she knew next to nothing about. She could always try to learn more about him though.

"Um...Cheshire?" Alice began, interrupting the silence.

Cheshire glanced back at her. "Hmm? What is it?" he asked.

"I realized that I don't really know much about you..."

"Not much to know," Cheshire said, shrugging. "I am who I am." He let go of her hand. "That's just how it is."

Oh, he was doing it again! Alice frowned, folding her arms across her chest. How bothersome... why couldn't he be straight with her? She had thought that they were friends... well, sort of anyway. They hadn't really been close the last time she had come here. In fact, they had been anything but close. They had talked a little, he had teased her, and then he had sent her off to go bother someone else. At least... that was what it seemed like he was doing.

Clearing her throat Alice tried again. "So where are we going exactly?"

Cheshire looked up at the sky and quickened his pace, forcing Alice to quicken hers as well to keep up. They would need to hurry if they were to get to their destination before the others did.

"You'll see later," he told Alice.

Alice mentally groaned. That wasn't fair! Why did everyone want to keep things from her? Did they think she was still just a little girl who knew nothing of the world? So alright, what she knew was from books, but that was better than nothing at all. She wanted to argue, but she also didn't want to fight anymore.

"Oh... I see..." Alice said dejectedly.

Cheshire sighed. "It's not what you think. The place we're going is a surprise." He looked back at her and grinned. "I think you'll like it there."

Alice returned his smile. "You think so?"

"I'm certain you will," Cheshire said.

This got Alice really curious. So they were going to a place that he thought she would really like... but what sort of place would that be? She liked almost every part of Wonderland. And even the places that she thought poorly of were only thought that way because of the people who lived there... such as the Duchess or Hearts. She paled. It wasn't possible that Cheshire was taking her to see one of them, was he? As some sort of joke? Now that she thought of it that definitely seemed possible. It sounded like something he might do.

"We're not, by any chance, going to see the Duchess or Hearts, are we?" Alice asked timidly.

Cheshire stopped walking and turned to face her. "Why would you ask that?" he demanded, his eyes hard.

Alice gulped, flinching slightly under his gaze. "Well, it's just that... I thought you might be planning on playing a joke on me... by um..." She hesitated. "...taking me to them?"

"No, I'm not." Cheshire shook his head. "Why would you think that I was?"

"W-well, you are the Cheshire Cat, and from the time I spent with you last time, I could tell that you like to play jokes on people."

Cheshire sighed again. "I've changed, Alice. I'm not the same as I was back then." His gold eyes saddened. "I think there's something I should warn you about."

Alice felt herself become nervous. Why was he being so serious? This wasn't like him at all... Cheshire was a happy-go-lucky type of person. The type who thought only of how to amuse themselves at the expense of others. So him being serious was, well, troubling.

"What is it?" Alice asked, taking a step toward him. "Cheshire?"

"There are going to be some differences between this Wonderland and the one you remember. Everything is different now, almost nothing is even the same as it was five years ago." Cheshire ran a hand through his shoulder-length hair. "I won't tell you, because you don't need to worry about that yet. It's not time yet."

Alice tilted her head to the side. "Time?"

Cheshire nodded. "Yes, time. It's not time for you to know what's been going on yet," he explained.

"Oh... um... alright then," Alice responded, although it really was anything but alright.

She wanted to know what was wrong... what was he afraid of? Was he afraid that what he had to tell her would upset her too much? If that were true, then things must really be bad... Alice bit her lower lip to keep herself from asking the questions that ran through her mind. If Cheshire really wanted her to know than he would eventually tell her.

Seeing her face, Cheshire said, "Don't worry Alice. Everything will be clear in time."

As they started walking again Alice remembered the note she had received earlier. That had said that she would one day understand that not everything is as it seems... maybe the note was referring to the same thing as Cheshire? Oh, she hoped she understood soon...

--

Alice didn't know how long they had walked, or what time it was. All she knew was that when she left her world it was night, and here...well, it was hard to say. Looking up at the sky now all she could see was a dull gray. Actually, the color of the sky reminded her very much of the color of George Faraday's eyes. She grimaced at the thought of him... how narrowly she had escaped marriage with that creep!

Another thing she knew was that she was very tired. The small amount of sleep she had gotten earlier had obviously not been enough, for now she felt more like a member of the living dead than a real living person.

She didn't even notice Cheshire stop walking until she had backed right into him. Letting out a breath of air she took a step back, rubbing her nose. "Why'd we stop?" she asked him.

Cheshire turned to face her. "We've arrived," he said cheerfully.

Alice blinked. Here? What...was here? Looking around all she saw were small huts made from tree branches. "What is this place?"

"This? Oh, this is the village of the wood fairies," Cheshire explained, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Wood fairies?" Alice questioned uncertainly. "But... wouldn't they live in a forest?"

Cheshire snorted. "You'd think so, wouldn't you...."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alice demanded.

Cheshire shrugged. "Nothing," he said. "Now, we need to get you settled." His eyes ran up and down her petite frame. "And get you into some different clothes."

Alice looked down at herself. She was wearing a dark brown dress that hugged her small figure perfectly. On her feet were simple black shoes and white stockings that came most of the way up her legs.

She raised her head back up and stared indignantly at Cheshire. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

He held his hands up in defense. "Nothing, they're just a bit dirty." He sniffed. "And smell funny too."

Alice blushed. "I don't smell funny!"

"So you say," Cheshire said with a shrug. "But you don't have an extra good sense of smell. It's only the beginning of a smell."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Oh, only a beginning... so what exactly do you expect me to do about it?"

Cheshire smirked. "That's why we're here. Well, part of the reason anyway. Come, follow me."

With that he began to walk off again, leaving Alice with no choice but to follow him. It really was starting to bother her though... he was constantly leaving her behind, expecting her to follow. It was quite rude, really.

The two soon stopped once more, this time in front of one of the small huts. This one, like the others, appeared to be made out of tree branches. The roof seemed to have moss growing on top of it, and there was a tree out front. It was cute, in a very modest sort of way, and thought it quite charming.

Cheshire opened the door for her, and bowed slightly. Rolling her eyes, the teenager entered the house. It was just as cute on the inside, she found. There was a small table by a window in the corner, a few bookcases, a small kitchen, and some stairs going up to the second story. She turned back to Cheshire and looked at him questioningly.

"What exactly do you expect me to do here?" she asked him.

Cheshire's eyes twinkled. "Go upstairs, take a bath, get some rest." He smirked again. "I'll be back later on to check up on you."

Alice's eyes widened. "What? You're just going to leave me here and go gallivanting off wherever you want?"

"Well, I do have business I need to take care of." Cheshire crossed his arms. "And I'm not going to just wait around here for you."

Alice glared up at him. "Fine! Do whatever you want. I'll see you later!"

Just before she slammed the door in his face she could have sworn she heard him mutter 'have fun'. Now what could he possibly mean by that? Alice really wasn't sure she wanted to know...

And so she headed up the stairs, having to duck a little to avoid a beam that sunk lower than it should. She smiled when she saw the upstairs of the house. There was a bed up against one of the walls, and a partition separating the bathroom from the rest of it. She looked longingly at the bed, but decided that she might as well take a bath first. She didn't want to have to deal with Cheshire later, should she smell any worse than she already did. Which, she thought was ridiculous, since she didn't smell at all now.

--

Alice let out a low moan, and shifted slightly. She shivered, and moved around again, but got the same result. Why was she so cold? She mumbled something incomprehensible, before she let her eyes flutter open. What she saw though, was something she was expecting even less than seeing a man reflected in her mirror.

A man was staring wide-eyed at her, and she was completely naked.

EN: Again, yet another bad ending spot. Lol I think I like cliffhangers or something. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and hope you continue to read! Any guesses as to who the man who walked in on Alice bathing is?