Goodness, it's taken me over a week to update. I feel awful about it, since I was so frequent in the beginning. There's no legitimate reason, really. I was really, dreadfully lazy (it was spring break). Moreover, I bought the new Pokemon game, SoulSilver, and am super-obsessed. I am a dork, I know. But it's been something I have done since I've been little. Anywayyy... Here is finally stuff in Underland! I always pull stuff from the original books and you may notice the occasional references to Johnny Depp's past characters along the way. It's something fun I like to throw in. Lastly, before I stop my little rant.... Thank you so so so so so so so so much for all of the lovely reviews! They are super-motivational and all that good stuff. Keep them coming. I heart you all bunches.
Oh, one more thing I guess. I'm thinking about maybe naming the chapters, since "Chapter insert number" is really boring. Does anyone object? I'll do my best and cute and witty, haha.
I own nothing of Alice in Wonderland.
She still continued to hack dreadfully. Her eyes were pressed shut, unable to handle the severity of the force. Her hands waved around to find something to hold onto to steady herself. It was a short moment before they grabbed onto a fabric of some sort and a light metal object. Neither did her much good, as they were not sturdy, and her body still forced the smoke from her lungs in a most violent fashion. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. She could scarcely catch her breath!
"Alice, would you care to quell that with some tea?" a voice asked.
She tried to withhold her coughs, nodding. The cool, smooth surface of a teacup came to her lips and she drank immediately. The liquid nearly went down the wrong pipe, which only would have meant more dreadful hacking. The tea tasted a bit strange, she noticed, and it was rather lukewarm. It was bitter and had no sweetness to it. She frowned, brushing the wetness from her eyes. Alice then opened her eyes to see exactly where she was.
The first thing that came into her vision was the Hatter. Or rather, his wild hair caught her attention. He seemed a bit concerned, his feathery eyebrows crunched together. His captain's suit was long gone as he now wore the familiar garb that she had known him to don in Underland. Moreover, his complexion returned to its rather ghastly state. Funny how his "normal" skin above ground had seemed odd.
"Are you quite all right, Alice?" he inquired, pulling the empty teacup away.
Alice swallowed, only being able to nod. Luckily it seemed that her clothes were no longer drenched, one thing to be quite grateful for. However, she now noted that she sat upon the tea table itself. More specifically, right on a tray of scones. Uttering a sound of disgust, Alice hopped off and brushed the back of her dress. Her eyes shifted back to the table. The scones she had been sitting on were actually quite moldy and repulsive. On most items there was a fine layer of dust. The scene seemed to have been untouched for days, maybe even weeks.
Alice finally found her voice. "Where is everyone…?" It was unsettling, like a Christmas tree without presents.
The Hatter bit his lip slightly, his suit a rather dull color. "Frankly, I haven't a clue. It seems I haven't been here in a while." He turned his attention to the stout house behind them. "But…I haven't looked inside."
He went off in the direction of the house at once, leaving Alice behind. She quickly went after him, hoping to find her friends within the home. The door had already been ajar before the Hatter went through, nearly off its hinges. She stepped within the atrium, seeing a flash of orange turn a corner. Rather than dashing after him again, she began to walk elsewhere.
She found herself in the kitchen-area. There were all sorts of teakettles everywhere, most of them on hooks on the ceiling. A burnt tray of muffins sat quietly on the counter beside her. Other baking items were strewn over the counter tops, such as a fallen bag of flour, rotten eggs, and chocolate chips. All things were either dusty or in some stage of decay. Alice peered inside a pot on the stove. A frog promptly jumped out at her and croaked. She let out a yelp of surprise and jumped back.
The little frog hopped into the flour, then upon the floor. It was most displeased with itself. Alice carefully picked the amphibian up, headed to the sink. She must have frightened the poor thing, too. After turning the knobs of the faucet rather forcefully, she managed to get water to pour into the sink. She brought the frog under the water, cleaning it quite nicely. It jumped up and gave her a thankful, slimy little kiss on the cheek before bounding out the kitchen window.
She turned around to start looking elsewhere, but she found herself running into the Hatter who stood rather close. He looked around, alert.
"Is there anything dangerous in the house?" he asked in a hushed tone. His eyes traveled back to her, checking for any harm done to her person.
Alice giggled at his seriousness, a hand over her mouth. "Oh, yes! A dreadful frog was about to swallow me whole!"
The Hatter paused for a brief moment, just looking at her with his previous expression. It unsettled her slightly, but he quickly began cackling himself. His clothes weren't so dull anymore, she noted, and he had to put a hand on his chest to contain himself. How contagious his amusement was! Alice found herself unable to continue laughing and her chest became quite sore, too. How silly they must've looked to others, if anyone was around. She did her best to try to compose herself, holding the guffaws in, since they really did start to pain her. She never really remembered laughing so vehemently! A giggle escapes her lips. She quickly clasped her hands over her mouth.
"A frog!" he repeated, as he had said this between spurts of laughter. "I can't breathe!"
Alice did her best to speak quite seriously. "All you have…to do…is…think of not…so happy things."
"Like what?" he sputtered.
"Like…" She paused to think, a frown soon taking the place of her Cheshire-like grin. "Perhaps…why we're looking about."
His laughter slowed steadily and he found his voice with more ease. "That's not pleasant at all…" The color faded from his suit, and it made Alice all the more morose.
"Well, I couldn't properly find the others with you succumbing to asphyxiation." A small smile, not quite as grand as her previous one, tugged at the corners of her mouth. She wished to drift away from the last subject and was eager to do so.
The Hatter sighed, still rather gloomy. His nose crinkled, now looking at the mess in the kitchen. Despite their search, he sidetracked from this and began to tidy things up. Oddly enough, however, he put dirty dishes into the cupboards. They still had all sorts of mold and gooey filth all over them.
"Hatter, what is it that you're doing?" she asked, thoroughly confused. "They're still frightfully dirty!"
He seemed more confused than her, stopping his self-appointed task. "Why, you're always supposed to put the dishes into the cupboard, then you wash them. What exactly do you do?"
Alice shook her head, just smiling to herself. How silly to think logic here. It was rather frustrating, though. "Oh, nothing. Still a bit woozy from the trip, I imagine."
He nodded, finding this to be a suitable reason.
"Hatter," she said suddenly. This caused him to pause, so she resumed. "Shouldn't we continue looking…? It would be awful if they were in any sort of danger." She fiddled with her dress as he put a saucer down. "Do you know where they might be, besides here?"
With both hands on the counter top, the Hatter bowed his head, racking his brain. This was a tiring process, as most of his thoughts were jumbled and hard to navigate. So much so, in fact, that he didn't notice Alice walk over to stand beside him, curious as to how he was doing. His brows were right next to each other, as if he had a unibrow. His eyes darted around, racking his brain, but not looking at anything in particular. She waited patiently until a smile broke across his face and he straightened his posture.
"Oh, yes! I know just the place!" He put his hands together, palm to palm, in excitement at his epiphany.
Her eyes widened and she stepped closer, seeming to want to know his idea more than anything all of a sudden. "Where? Where is it?"
Her face reminded him of her child-self that had visited years past, but his excitement got the better of him and he pushed the thought aside. "I think they may very well be at the duchess's cottage!"
Confusion spread across her pretty face, eagerness wilting ever so slightly. "The duchess's…" It wasn't quite a question. She said it aloud to herself, searching for any memory of such a place. Underland memories (she found herself using the citizens' name for the place now) were sometimes foggy for her, she noted. The only thing she could salvage in her mind was that it had been a rather unpleasant place. Her nose crinkled slightly.
The Hatter explained further, his feet now carrying him out of the house now that he had a destination. He was a rather tall man, and even while he walked she had to be lively on her feet to keep up! "You see, our problem most times is that they pick up our scent, such as when Bayard came that one day to our tea party, accompanied by the Knave! You remember this, correct?"
"Yes!" If he kept this up, she would be out of breath yet again.
She was not so lucky. He continued on, "Well, the duchess is very, very, very fond of pepper. In fact, her cook practically makes pepper with soup, rather than soup with pepper! It reeks of pepper all day ever day, and all around the cottage as well. No one comes for miles. On top of that, there's the most awful sound coming from it."
The wheels slowly began to turn in her head. She remembered something about a pig. "What sort of a sound?"
"If the stench weren't enough to drive people away," he still said excitedly, "then their ears simply would not abide listening to the wailing coming from that place! The duchess has a child, an heir to her estate. It never seems to grow up, however. All it does is cry and wail and scream and bawl and-"
"Hatter!"
He frowned for a few seconds, and then went on. "Well, in any sense, it's the perfect place to hide. It will take but a day's time to get there, I reckon."
"A day?" With that, Alice stopped jogging all together. "Hatter, will all due respect…" She inhaled deeply. "I simply can't walk that fast for an entire day!"
The March Hare's home was far behind them, only a speck. She marveled at the idea of how fast he might be able to run! The dark trees of the forest were overhead, their looming branches reaching over the path. Moss dangled from their slender fingers and leaves. What was left of the sun (as it was growing dark) could scarcely be seen through all of this foliage. She half expected to see Chessur at any moment.
"…then perhaps it will take a little longer than a day. A day and ten-sixths." He nodded, confident in his calculations.
Alice thought the fraction over for a bit, frowning deeply. "But…that would be over two days!"
"But not as precise!" He pointed his finger at her.
"You know, I could have sworn that when I was younger it was far closer than it is now," she stated, confused.
"Dear Alice, if you were a path, would you like to go to the same two places every single day?" the Hatter inquired.
"I suppose not…"
"Well, neither does this one! It doesn't go to the duchess's today. I think it leads more towards the sea, you see. And that would not do us much good, seeing as thought our companions would not seem to be there." With that, he started off again deeper into the forest. Luckily, he did not walk quite so briskly.
Letting out a huff, Alice went after the madman once more. The journey was to be an eventful one, she imagined.