Chapter 5-Tweedles Hal and Al

When Alice awoke in the morning she was very confused indeed, for the room that she now found herself in wasn't the one in which she went to sleep in. The girl jerked into an upright position as she looked around nervously.

The room was painted a dull green, with frilly black curtains on the windows and on the canopy bed she was lying on. The sun was shining in through the windows, but something seemed strange.

Alice stood up from the bed and made her way over to one. When she got close enough she gasped in disbelief. There were windows on the bars? Why? The bars only proved to make the girl even more worried. Running to the door she tried the knob, only to find that it was locked from the other side. What was going on? Why was she locked in this strange room? Was Hatter playing some sort of joke on her? If he was, it was most certainly a horrible one.

But no, this wasn't his style. He was mad, but not this mad. And besides... Alice doubted he would do something like this to her after what had happened the night before when he... Her cheeks flushed red just thinking about it. Hatter had kissed her... the thought was so strange... She had never seen the man in that sort of light before, but... now she couldn't seem to see him in any other sort.

She turned from the door and moved to the bed, flopping down upon it. A green blanket, a darker shade than the one on the walls, covered the bed itself. The pillows were the same frilly black.

"What an odd combination," Alice murmured. Sighing she flipped over so she looked up at the ceiling. "Oh, I really wish I knew where I was..."

"Oh, but it is much more fun this way," a voice said cheerfully.

Alice jumped at the sound of it, sitting up to look around for it. But... there was no one here. "Where are you?" she asked, though she had a feeling it would have been better to ask 'who are you'.

The voice laughed. "I'm on the other side of the door."

"The other side..." Alice's eyes widened and she lunged toward the door. "Oh, please open it!"

"Why should I? It's fun to have you locked in here."

"Well I don't find it fun," Alice muttered.

"Well I do."

Alice frowned. Maybe it was Hatter playing some sort of trick on her... she would have thought that anyway, had it not been for the fact that the voice on the other side of the door was most certainly not his.

She decided it may not hurt to at least try to get more from this person. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Not going to tell."

"But why not?" demanded Alice, suddenly angry. Honestly, this was quite absurd.

"Because that would ruin the surprise."

Alice was pretty sure she didn't want to know what the 'surprise' was. She had had enough of surprises in Wonderland. They had almost always ended badly, and she feared this would be the same. It only made sense that this would be the same. Although... nothing in Wonderland ever made sense to her, so that was really meaningless to think that.

"So... I just have to stay in here?" she asked tiredly. There was no reply. "Hello? Are you there?" Still no reply. "Oh great..."

So now she was locked in this room alone again. Well, she had still been technically alone when the person was speaking to her, but at least she had had someone to talk with. And now... Her eyes widened when she heard the distinct click of a lock being opened. As the door opened inward she took a step back to avoid being hit, while at the same time trying to catch a glimpse of the person on the other side.

What she saw made no sense to her. Who was this? She had never seen him before...

The man was short, probably only an inch or so taller than her, and had blood red hair. His hair was medium long, and hung loosely onto his forehead. He had bright green eyes that looked almost the same color as the dreadful green walls around her. He wore a pair of red dress pants with a black shirt with a frilly collar tucked into them. And he wore suspenders that were a brilliant shade of yellow. He was round around the middle, and to Alice's best guess, was probably somewhere in his mid-forties.

Alice hesitated, not wanting to appear rude, but still curious. "Who are you?" she asked at length, when the man didn't seem eager to speak first.

He smirked. "Really Alice, are you thinking?" She looked at him in confusion and he sighed. "I'll take that as a no. I'm someone who is one, and yet two, and yet still one."

Alice blinked once. One, and yet two, and yet still one? What could that mean? Her head began to spin, so she decided to just give it up and hope that he simply told her.

"So... where am I?" she inquired.

"Ah, but where is a relative term. It is more a question of 'who' am I."

Alice only began to feel more confused. "What does that even mean?"

The man shrugged. "It means what it means." Reaching out he took Alice's hand and dragged her from the room before she could protest. "Now, we really must see my brother."

Alice's eyes widened. "Brother? Wait, then you're-"

She was cut off when she ran into a doorframe. She let out a small yelp of pain, but the man pulling her didn't seem to even be paying attention. When the spots in front of her eyes cleared the two were outside, standing in a small courtyard covered in a thick layer of leaves. There were various piles of discarded items here and there, reminding Alice of the last time she was here. She smiled when she saw the man who had brought her move so that he stood next to an identical man in identical clothing.

"I knew it," she exclaimed. "You're the Tweedle brothers!"

The two men nodded, and at the exact same time spoke. "You guessed it."

One of them took a step forward and bowed. "I am Al."

The other brother did the exact same thing. "And I am Hal."

Alice giggled softly. "Al and Hal?"

The two men sighed. "Yes," said Al. "It is a shame that our parents thought it would be funny to give us matching names."

"No, I think it's cute," Alice said with another light laugh.

Hal grinned. "Cute? Alice, you are the one who is cute."

The teen sighed. She always hated it when people called her that. She was past the cute age now, or at least she was pretty sure she was. But most people didn't quite seem to be able to call her anything more than cute. The twins watched as a frown formed on her pretty face.

Al slapped his twin upside the head. "Now look what you've gone and done, you ninny!"

Hal glared at his brother. "Me? You're the one who started the whole thing by bringing her here!"

"Yes, but you are the one who asked me to," Al retorted triumphantly. "Besides, Alice likes me better."

"She does not!" yelled Hal indignantly.

Alice watched the two as they continued to fight. Was this really happening? They were fighting over something so ridiculous... actually, she wasn't even sure what they were fighting about at all. They seemed to be fighting over her, but...why? It just didn't make any sense to the girl.

"And, you were the mistake!" With that Al, or at least Alice was pretty sure it was Al, shoved his brother.

Only he seemed to have miscalculated, because Hal went flying into Alice, knocking the girl to the ground. He kept going as well, landing on top of her, with his lips pressed to hers. The girl flushed, her eyes wide in shock.

Al quickly pulled Hal off of her. "Look what you did!" he screamed. "You hurt our dear Alice!"

"Me?" Hal questioned. "You're the one who knocked me into her." He looked over at Alice, who was still on the ground. "Do you need a hand up, my dear?"

Alice shook her head quickly, her brain still trying to process what had just happened. "Um... no thanks..."

Hal nodded, and turned on his brother. "You are so selfish! Do you even realize that you could have hurt her? What would you have done then?"

Al clenched his fists. "I was being careful, dolt! You are the one who wasn't watching where you were falling."

"Watching where I was falling?" Hal asked in disbelief. "You have to be kidding me."

"And why would I be kidding you? I don't even like you."

Al bent down and picked up a broom. "That does it. It is time for us to settle this the right way."

Hal nodded in agreement. "Yes."

By now Alice had stood up and was trying to brush the dirt off of her black dress. Wait... black? Since when was she wearing a black dress? She hadn't gone to bed in this... but that would mean that one of the brothers had changed her clothing, and... She felt her face flush again and she suddenly had a tremendous urge to go and hide somewhere. No, she had to stop thinking about that.

"Um... what is the right way?" she asked hesitantly, trying to get her mind off of them changing her clothing.

As Al put a tea pot on his head he glanced over at the girl. "A duel, of course."

Alice froze. "A duel? You can't be serious..."

Hal put a metal bowl on his head, and what appeared to be a round metal plate attached to cords on his chest. Picking up a rake he stepped toward his brother. "A duel," he said.

"Duels are the only way to solve things," Al commented, also moving toward his brother now that he was once again armed with his broom.

"Oh my..." Alice sighed. This was going to give her another headache. "But why are you going to duel?"

"Because we need to settle a dispute," Hal responded immediately.

The two brothers rushed at each other, their makeshift weapons colliding. The two beat at each other for a few moments, neither seeming to gain any leverage against the other. Finally Hal's rake hit Al across the head, knocking the teapot to the ground. And with the pot fell something else... his hair.

Alice had to bite back a laugh. He was wearing a toupee! Well, they both probably were. Her thoughts of laughing were quickly diminished as Al glared menacingly at Hal.

"How dare you do such a thing," he cried.

Hal smirked. "It was for your own good, dear brother."

"You need to learn some manners!" Al lunged at his brother, knocking them both to the ground. The men rolled around in the dirt, exchanging blows, both seemingly oblivious to their audience.

"Um... excuse me," Alice said timidly.

Nothing. They were still fighting, and one of them got a bad blow in the nose. Alice flinched as she heard the sound of bone breaking.

"Tweedles?" Still nothing. "Al? Hal?" They still ignored her, both still fighting their pointless little battle.

It was then that Alice noticed a butterfly hovering near her head. Was it just her imagination, or was it trying to get her attention? The red creature was flying this way and that to her side. It certainly looked like it wanted her to do something. A flicker of recognition ran through her as she remembered that another of her friends was quite friendly with butterflies. Could it be him?

Yes that had to be it. Caterpillar must have sent this butterfly to bring her to him. Her blue eyes looked back to the brothers, just in time to see one knee the other in the stomach.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go now," she told them, though they ignored her once more. "Oh well, they'll figure it out eventually."

And so she walked off, following the red butterfly deep into a dark forest.

E/N: Sorry it's a bit short everyone. I thought this might be a good place, considering the next chapter is a lot longer. And to clear up any confusion about the brothers, Hal was Tweedledum, and Al was Tweedledee. If you have any more questions just ask me.