Sorry 'bout the longer wait, I wanted to type a little something up for Alice in Wonderland's Writing Challenges forum. Fun, fun, and all, but of course I can't leave you guys hanging! So without further a due, Chapter Four, right down there for ya.

Disclaimer: One of these days, maybe, but as of this moment I own nothing of AiW.

Inspirational Song: "Yesterday" - Beatles

. . . . .

Absolem didn't say anything for a while. He stared at her intently, sure, but didn't say a word for at least a minute or two. Slowly, he took a puff from his hookah, eyes still trained on Alice.

She could stand it no longer. "What-"

"Do you have any limits at all, Alice?"

Alice's brow furrowed. "In what way?"

He gave her his 'you-are-such-a-stupid-girl-how-could-you-be-our-Champion' look, causing Alice to blush. "Limits. As in, how far you will go before you stop."

"I know what limits are! I just don't understand what certain limits you're talking about, is all." Alice folded her arms across her chest. She wasn't a complete idiot. Or an idiot, in general.

Absolem might've disagreed, but he didn't voice it (for once). "I'm talking about how far you'll go when it comes to being Underland's Champion before you either wear yourself out or decide that things have become too rough for you." His words might've come off as rude, but if anything, his tone was. . . worried. Protective, even.

Alice sensed this, but couldn't help but feeling slightly offended. "Is it because I'm an Otherworlder you think I'm not capable of danger?"

Absolem shook his head, looking at the trees behind her.

"Because if you by any chance have forgotten, I was the one who slew the Jabberwocky. I was the one who fought off Hamish a month ago before I brought him back to his senses." She was getting worked up now. "I was the one who decided to come back to Underland on her own!"

"Yes, yes, I know," Absolem said briskly. "But if you do recall, you only managed to kill the Jabberwocky with the power the Vorpal Sword gave you. Hamish was also an Otherworlder, like you." Alice's eyes narrowed dangerously, but Absolem sped on before she could interrupt. "But despite what you are thinking, I am not questioning your willpower by the fact that you can't handle yourself in a hazardous situation. I do not care that you came from the Otherworld."

Alice sighed, exasperated. "Then what are you getting at?"

"You have to start making choices that ensure your safety! What if you were the next one to get your head hacked off, stupid girl? What if it was your heart that was soon to be stabbed?" Absolem threw down his hookah in all his frustration, not even flinching at the thump that came from his prized possession hitting the ground.

Alice remembered to close her mouth, before wondering. . . "Absolem, are you. . . worried for me?"

If butterflies could blush. Absolem's eyes scanned the ground, though Alice could tell he was simply averting his eyes from hers, and not looking for his hookah. "No, no, of course not," he muttered. "Simply have to look after Underland's Champion, is all."

Alice still wasn't convinced. Absolem seemed to sense this, for he looked up at her with open eyes and sighed. "Dark times are nearing. I need- we all need to know our Champion is safe."

Alice met his eyes readily. "I'm not exactly trying to injure myself here, Absolem." He didn't say anything, so Alice continued. "I can promise you that I'll do my best to remain all intact, but I must also tell you that my duties for Wonderland come first."

He seemed to know that his argument would do no good here. He smiled wistfully. "Still calling this place Wonderland?"

She smiled back. "Always."

They sat there for a moment, just listening to the birds in the trees, contemplating. Alice didn't dare ask Absolem what dark things were to occur. She knew she wouldn't get an answer. She'd learned by now that Time was sensitive and only shared things with certain people, and that those things should be kept secret by those certain people.

The thought of Time brought a question to her mind. "Absolem?" His eyes drifted back to hers. "What did you mean earlier, with Chessur and Hatter here, when you said that Time had chosen to ignore you?"

Absolem's small smile turned into a slight frown. At first, Alice assumed she wouldn't get an answer. Then Absolem seemed to study her. When he was ready, he told her, "I am the oldest creature of Underland to have ever lived."

Alice was barely able to suppress her gasp. Absolem ignored this and continued to speak with a faraway look in his wise eyes.

"Underland has survived under the Otherworld's feet for so many long years. You know from experience that Time treats the two differently, of course." Alice nodded. "Well, sometimes Time made things go faster than average, and other times he, or she, mind you, made it go slower. Either way, I was forced to watch the ones I had befriended age, cripple, and die."

Alice blinked hard to force tears back. "That must have been horrible," she whispered.

Absolem nodded slowly, with that same look in his eyes. "Yes, yes, it was. . . After a lifetime or two, I began to question why I aged so very slowly while others' life spans sped ahead. That was when Time itself handed the Oraculum to me."

Alice gasped. "You've met Time?"

Absolem's brow furrowed. "I wouldn't call it a meeting. Time really is only a living idea, you should know this. One day I was simply sitting there, on my leaf, pondering my existence, when a glowing figure approached me and placed the Oraculum at my feet." He chuckled. "I probably would've died of shock right there and then if I could have." He sighed. "But I didn't."

Alice could only stare at Absolem's regretful tone. She knew right then and there that he wanted to die.

"Being the intelligent little caterpillar I was, I soon figured out the Oraculum's function. It predicted events within time." Only now did he look back at Alice with his hardened eyes. "Many would consider immortality a gift. They are foolish to think the torture as pleasurable, never being able to rest. They, of course, have no idea of the pain." His tone was deep, and grave, as he spoke from experience.

Alice blinked back more tears. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely.

He shook his head. "Don't be. You'll get your rest." All of a sudden, a light switched on within him as he came back to the present. "But not too soon, stupid girl. Right now you have tasks that need accomplishing and a milliner that would crumple inside if you ever left him."

Alice nodded and stood up. "What should I do first?"

"Go to Marmoreal and tell the White Queen all I've told you about the situation concerning the Looking Glass. Take the Oraculum, it'll come back to me at nightfall," he instructed her.

Alice took the Oraculum delicately, but felt the need to question this order. "But, won't it take us too long to get to Marmoreal for this sort of news? It's much too urgent, and I have no idea where Bandy is right now, and-"

"I have a way of transporting you." Alice thought Absolem would explain that way, but he simply blew two puffs of smoke from his hookah, which at some point had mysteriously made its way back to him. Unlike the other blows that vanished in the air after a moment or two, these two clouds of smoke swirled away, through the surrounding trees to where Chess and Hatter had exited.

Alice raised a brow, but was only answered by Absolem handing the blow piece of the hookah to her. She felt an uncomfortable pressure as she awkwardly declined. She waved his offer away. "Oh, no. . . I don't really. . . "

Absolem shook the hookah in front of her face. "Do it."

Still feeling uncomfortable, Alice took the blow piece in hand. Absolem was the wisest being in the land, was he not? She set her mouth upon it and inhaled.

She had anticipated an awful taste and scratchy feeling as she drew the smoke in, but the complete opposite occurred. She felt very warm as the sweet-smelling breeze drifted gently down her throat and throughout her entire body. Her fingertips tingled by the sensation of getting into a warm bath. She sighed in a blissful contentment and smiled drowsily.

All of a sudden, a billow of smoke completely clouded her vision. She heard Absolem say, "Fairfarren for now, Alice," when she was turned on the spot and felt herself falling through air. She had just been standing on the grass in the Mushroom Forest a short moment ago, but now she was weightless and flying through an endless fog. She tried to waft herself around, but the wind was too strong.

With a surprisingly soft landing, Alice felt her feet hit a tiled floor, taking note that the Oraculum was still in her hand. Alice waved both her hands about and soon enough the smoke cleared away, vanishing in thin air as it quit circling around her body. "Why, I believe I felt just as the Cheshire Cat would. . . " she pondered.

"Ahem."

Alice turned around with a start to see said cat floating in mid-air, waving a paw lazily at her. Hatter stood directly next to him, still having trouble getting the hookah smoke off him. He swatted at it and was grinning madly as he turned in a circle or two. He caught Alice's gaze once she giggled and the smoke immediately drifted away.

"Oh, my!"

The high-pitched cry earned Alice's attention and she finally took the time to gather her surroundings. She, Hatter, and Chessur were all standing in the Throne Room of Marmoreal. The pearly white walls around them led up to the High Throne of the White Queen, circled by bright, stone pillars. Here is where Mirana half-stood and half-sat, staring at the trio with wide eyes. She quickly composed herself, however, and excused herself from the many White Courtiers that merely looked at them with curiosity. Mirana quickly, but always as elegantly, made her way over to them.

"Well, I can honestly say that this is a surprise."

"It is one to us, also, Your Majesty," Hatter admitted while holding out his hands helplessly.

Alice nodded at Mirana's bemused expression. "Absolem sent us here after-"

"Ah, that'll account for it." Mirana sighed. "I take it you're seen the Oraculum, then?" The three of them nodded. "This way," she said. Without any explanation, the Queen turned on the spot and walked into an adjacent corridor leading away from the Throne Room.

Chessur floated past Alice's ear. "Not too quick on your feet, love," he whispered before swirling after the Queen. Hatter and her followed silently behind, wondering where they were heading. Hatter squeezed her hand reassuringly. She could've sworn a little bit of the hookah smoke was still trailing out of his sleeves.

They passed up ten doors, two ballrooms, and a glittery alligator before they reached the Silver Staircase. Mirana told Alice that the Silver Staircase was the only staircase in all of Marmoreal and that all doors to separate levels simply led directly off the stairs.

"You have been on it once before, actually, but the situation was too tense for me to give you the details of the structure." Alice's brow furrowed at her remark. Yes, it was familiar. . . but she was currently in too much pain to concentrate on what that situation had been.

They kept going higher and higher. Alice's legs began to sore, Hatter's breathing had long turned ragged, and the White Queen was actually clutching her sides. The grinning Chessur, of course, floated on lazily, the blasted thing. They walked for what seemed like several, agonizing hours.

"We're here," Mirana gasped, once they had reached the highest door. Hatter opened it graciously, allowing them all to clamber in before him.

"That was a nice bit of exercise," Chessur said before silencing himself at Alice's glare.

Turning away from the pesky cat, Alice took in the familiar room. She finally found the memory she'd been searching for. She had climbed that staircase before (although it couldn't have been that tall last time) with both the White Queen and Hamish. She smiled to herself, remembering all the complaining Hamish had done.

The room they stood in was completely bare, but there was a single window on the wall to the right of the door they'd just came through. Yet, they were not alone. There was one other door, on the wall to the left, that was currently being guarded. Alice was pleased to see that one White Guard was a chess piece and that the other was a playing card. The card had been painted white after swearing its loyalty to the White Queen only days after the Frabjous Day. They stood at attention, on either sides of the door, once the White Queen had walked in. Her arms had immediately shot up once through the door way. She nodded respectively to the two White Guards.

Alice now knew why they were in that room. Beyond the guarded door lay the Looking Glass in a room the size of a closet.

"As you can see," Mirana said, "the Looking Glass is currently being guarded. We've never had to do this before, but. . ." She indicated the Oraculum in Alice's hand with a tilt of her head. "Under the circumstances, we believe this a necessity. Now all we must know is if the image in the Oraculum has changed."

"Changed?" Hatter asked. "The Oraculum, changed?"

Mirana nodded. "The future is constantly changing, Tarrant." He paled at his seemingly obvious question. "But it was an insightful thought," she comforted before going on. "If we have been successful in our actions, the Oraculum should present itself a new image, where the Looking Glass hasn't broken."

Feeling all eyes trained on her (even the White Guards'), Alice lifted the Oraculum and opened it, spreading her arms wide so as everyone get a clear view. Hers and everyone else's hearts dropped.

The image showed that the Looking Glass would still be shattered.

. . . . .

Rachel: That one felt longer than usual and I apologize if it seemed complicated in any way. I read it over and thought that, tweaked it a bit, to no change.

Insanity: I want a Silver Staircase. . . It'd be so fun to slide down. . .

Rachel: . . . Yes, it would.