Alice and What Came After: Between the Glass
Disclaimer: Elements from SyFy's Alice belong to SyFy and Nick Willing. Other bits belong to Lewis Carroll. Rex, Sid, Nancy, anomalies, Helen and other Primeval bits belong to ITV/Impossible Pictures. I'm only responsible for Sarah, Connor, Damon, and Chase.
Chapter Six: New Allies & Old Enemies
Mary Elizabeth Heart stood in the throne room of her new palace. After a short time in prison, she had been released by her son. Jack Heart was loyal to her still and he proved his loyalty when he lured both Alice Hamilton and the Mad Hatter back from her world.
Her plan to marry Alice to Jack worked without a hitch. Jack even managed to get rid of the Hatter. No one had seen or heard from him in almost thirty-five years.
However, they never considered how an Oyster would survive in Wonderland. Or at least survive childbirth.
Alice, her little puppet Queen, who she kept sedated through drugs and teas, died in childbirth close to seven months after marrying Jack. She went into premature labor with the twins. Jack's first and only children with Alice.
There was one girl and one boy. Alice lived long enough to name them. Jessica and Kyle Heart. Both the twins had Alice's dark hair, but their hair was a bit unruly compared to their mother's. Mary Elizabeth had her own thoughts about the twins' heritage, especially as the boy got older. He took after the missing Mad Hatter a bit too much.
Not that it mattered. Alice's children were long gone. Jack had remarried shortly after Alice's death to the Duchess. She presented him with two blond sons—Damon and Chase. They were the heirs to the throne of Wonderland. In fact, Damon had already ascended to the throne on his twentieth birthday.
It was on his twentieth birthday that Damon disowned his half-siblings, denouncing them and banishing the twins from the palace. Back then they'd still lived at Heart Castle, which Damon mostly destroyed as he threw them out.
He was a powder keg, her grandson. He was a true Heart. She was proud to have him on the throne.
Damon's first fifteen years met little resistance. Dodo perished in a raid, one that also destroyed what remained of the Great Library, and killed several others. Hunting down those scattered members of the resistance took a lot of Damon's focus.
He had just recently ordered the execution of the Dormouse and the Ratcatcher, two old allies of the Mad Hatter's. They kept watch over the tea shop for him, despite the fact that it was rundown and abandoned. Even to this day, they remained loyal to the Hatter, and more frighteningly, to his lover's children.
Jessica and Kyle disappeared in Wonderland with little more than the clothes on their backs. There was a rumor that Kyle was organizing a resistance to take down his half-brother. His sister was reportedly dead, though no one had discovered her body, or that of the Hatter's.
Only Chase seemed to care about his half-siblings. Jack didn't mind that Alice's children were gone. He had a son on the throne and another son waiting in line. He had a gorgeous wife on his arm, or at least he had until a Scarab crash killed them both shortly before Damon took the throne.
Before their tragic deaths, Jack had already begun the arrangements for Damon's coronation after naming him his heir instead of Kyle or Jessica. He'd stripped the twins of their titles, removing them from the Heart line. Damon finished what his father started.
"Your Majesty," a Suit said, sweeping into the throne room.
"What is it?"
"Sources say that the Mad Hatter has returned to Wonderland. He's been seen twice today—once at the Looking Glass Hall and another time crossing toward the old palace."
"The Looking Glass Hall?"
"Yes, ma'am. He apparently dove through the mirror when confronted.
"The Looking Glass hasn't worked properly in ages. What the devil was he doing there?"
"No one knows, Your Majesty."
She glared at the Suit. "Find out, or it will be your head!"
The Suit nodded, backing away quickly. She might no longer be the official Queen of Wonderland, but she was still a very powerful person and her grandson listened to her. He had inherited her temper and thirst for blood.
Mary Elizabeth Heart smiled as she sank onto the throne. She had her own throne chair beside Damon's, but she still preferred the highest chair—a chair fit for a King or Queen. She missed having power over all of Wonderland. She missed the old days before the Looking Glass broke.
Tea had become a rarity since the Glass began to malfunction. The Stone of Wonderland had vanished, the Glass behaved erratically—sometimes bringing Oysters through without the Stone to power it—and other times not functioning at all.
The few Oysters that still remained were carefully monitored in order to get the most out of them. The price of Tea jumped dramatically with the lack of Oysters. Only a few royal houses had access to Tea now. The Hatter would have done well in this economy had he not taken up with Alice Hamilton.
She sighed, enjoying her throne. In another hour or two, Damon would take his seat on the throne and began the day's business. Until then, she would recline, while images of dead Wonderland rebels danced in her head.
*~*~*~*~*~*
"We have to find Connor and Sarah. Now!" Alice cried, still staring at the bodies of her husband's only allies.
Chase touched her arm. "I'm sure they're fine. They're not lying here dead, now, are they?"
She shook her head. "Oh God… what if they've been taken? To be executed?"
"I don't think so. Damon's long gone. I'm sure my mother and her successor wouldn't resort to the old ways…"
"Chase, does this look like the Wonderland your parents and I fought for? Does this look like the Wonderland you knew as a child?"
"Wonderland is always changing—"
"This time it's for the worst. I've never seen it look this bad. And somewhere out there are my kids. My only kids, Chase. If you ever cared for Sarah, you will help me find her."
Chase swallowed. "I still care for Sarah. That never changed."
"We need to find her and Connor before something happens. Promise me, Chase. Promise me if anything happens you will get them back home."
"Nothing's going to—"
"Promise me, Chase. I need to know they'll be safe."
He nodded. "I promise, Mrs. Hatter. I'll do whatever it takes to get them back home."
She gave him a thin smile. "Thank you…"
*~*~*~*~*~*
Back in London, Connor Temple drove one of the silver trucks, with Sarah in the passenger's seat, and his two friends from earlier in the back. Another truck followed behind them.
"Did you pack the closing device?" Connor asked one of his friends, the darker-skinned woman.
"Of course. I never bothered to unload it from the truck after the last anomaly."
"Thanks, Sarah… oh, this isn't gonna work."
Sarah Hatter stared at this older version of her geeky brother. "If you call me Jess, I might have to smack you."
"Who's Jess?"
"My middle name."
Connor nodded, going around a corner. "I guess we'll just keep calling you Sarah and Sarah Page will just be Dr. Page. Dr. Page is an expert in Egyptology. She's been helping us figure out how long anomalies have been opening and whether or not mythical creatures were real."
Sarah turned around and shook hands with Dr. Sarah Page. "Wow, that sounds like something my brother would do."
"Where is your brother?" the man beside Dr. Page asked.
"My brother, Conn, is missing. We got separated. I guess I fell through an anomaly and he didn't."
"Sarah, meet action man… Captain Becker."
Sarah shook his hand. "Nice to meet you… action man."
"You can call me Becker."
"Okay… so where are we going?"
"To close an anomaly," Connor said.
"Then why do we all have guns?"
"Sometimes creatures come through, and they aren't as nice as Sid and Nancy or Rex. Trust me, raptors don't make good pets."
Sarah smiled to herself. Try convincing my brother of that… he loves all dinosaurs.
Connor put the truck in park. "Here we go."
*~*~*~*~*~*
Helen Cutter walked into the throne room. It was painted in red, one of her favorite colors.
She walked straight up the podium to where a heavyset woman and young blond man sat on separate chairs. They each looked vaguely bored.
"Well?" the Queen of Hearts asked.
"The girl is stranded in the future. The boy is gone. Neither one of them will be a problem. In fact, your Looking Glass should be working soon. All I need to do is take care of one little nerd…"
"Excellent," Mary Elizabeth Heart said with a cruel smile.
Helen Cutter smiled back. Humanity would end up in this… Wonderland, leave her world, her future to the animals and evolution. There would be no future Predators. Instead, she would have the world to herself. She just needed to finish off what remained of her late husband's team and restore the mirror-based anomaly opener.
She knew just the man for the task. He just needed a little convincing.
Luckily, Helen knew just how to be convincing.
Author's Notes:
How's that for a twister? In case you're wondering why Helen would work with the Queen, just remember her partnership with Leek for a moment. But Helen is still in control and she's got big plans for some of our heroes.
What does everyone think about the timeline changes—this alternate Wonderland of sorts? Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please let me know!
