Woo, another installation! I hope to buy the DVD soon, as I've been craving to reference it for ideas, characters, and all that good stuff. I nearly encountered a bad block here, too. I'll begin planning for the distant and not-so-distant future of this now before I really get in a rut. Oh, I also became a little annoyed by the fact that Alice in Wonderland was given a new category in movies. I'm reluctant to take it off of the book-area since it hadn't been there when I published this. Ah well.

I own nothing of Alice in Wonderland.

Very carefully Alice followed behind the Hatter, holding up her dress a bit and watching the ground with each tentative step. There were all sorts of nasty things that would either dirty it up or latch onto it if she didn't pay it any mind, and if she wanted it to last her entire journey then she had best take care of it. The Hatter was paying no concern to the ground, stalking through the woods with only the path and his narration on his mind.

"Well…" she said, stepping carefully over a fallen log, "why is it that people don't go to Underland's borders? What could be out there?"

He finally paused, pulling away some branches in their way. There it was, the pathway they had been journeying along. Alice was startled for a moment, having not paid attention to their progress in the woods to consider the thought of almost being to the path. Eagerly then she stepped out of the bushes and trees, the Hatter following. He walked past and she saw his gaze, fiery with a dark emotion very much like the one he held as he recited the poem of the Jabberwocky. She shivered.

He finally replied, voice murky with its Scottish brogue, "Simple. No one ever has returned."

She swallowed. How was it then that the Red Queen came back, presumably unscathed? "Do you know what it was that she found there?" An awful sort of tension filled the air, causing Alice to be very quiet.

"Well, only she knows for sure what she saw…but there are rumors." The forest as they walked was becoming increasingly muddy. Alice wrinkled her nose in disgust, continuing to hold her dress off of the ground. "The most prevalent," he spoke, "are that she came upon a hideous, bloody field. But the blood had seeped into the ground from years that had past, leaving only rotten skeletons with garish, sunken eyes accompanied by their dead steeds. It was such a monumental scale, too, that she herself was nearly frightened out of her wits."

Alice had seen destruction and towns laid waste in Underland, but these images he spoke of… It wasn't as if they were fallen cards like what she had experienced on her tame battlefield, as it now seemed.

"Alas, she went on. Maybe, she thought, these wreakers of death would be close. She would never be able to show her face in Underland alone, without any protection, you see. Not after her horrible reign. The Red Queen feared the people, not her gracious sister. Sure enough, encamped on a hill a ways from the field, were two legends of Underland. The sorts of legends children tell late in the night to frighten one another."

Alice glances over to him, but only for a moment. "The Lion and the Unicorn."

"Right you are. Now, she would never have imagined the history that she shared with these merciless creatures. As soon as she stepped foot into their encampment, the pair immediately recognized the spawn of their age-old foe but she hadn't a clue."

Mist swirled around their feet. Alice looked ahead, now seeing a bubbling swamp before them. Putrid swamp water flowed over a narrow path that cut through it, only allowing people to travel one before the other. Green moss dangled limply from branches and bugs thrived. The Hatter, unaffected, went on. Alice coughed at the stench.

"As it was said by Absolem, these two forces fought the father of the Queens for control of Underland years and years ago. Clearly, the King won and forced the Lion and the Unicorn to the farthest corners of his realm, banished. He never really did defeat them…"

"Then…" Alice carefully stepped over a bubble, undoubtedly filled with stench, "why would they even help her? They must hate her family dreadfully so."

"Yes, they do…" He began treading to the rest of the path on some peculiar stones.

She furrowed her eyebrows, thoroughly confused. "Is that it? Is that all you know about them?"

He whipped around, eyes still molten. It nearly scared her out of her skin. "I know what they have done." With that he eyed her strangely before resuming going about his way. She scarcely had seen his face through his talk, though his eyes were always surveying their surroundings. "Atrocities that made Iracebeth's crimes look childish…"

Her voice was soft once more in her uncertainty. "Like what?"

"Hmph."

It was rather rude, she had to admit, though she wasn't about to try the Hatter's patience. She didn't dare ask him another question and it became painfully silent. Well, there was always to be squelches and other obscene sounds from the swamp, but nothing was said between the two. Then there was always with the trees, blocking any sort of light when they were going about their way. Alice couldn't tell if it was noon, afternoon, early morning, or what have you with all these trees. A plain, dusty field would almost be welcomed. She even thought that she could feel the swamp juices seeping into her shoes, a shiver traveling up her spine. Disgusting!

Was he even still angry? It wasn't as if she could tell, since all she could see was his back. As the minutes passed, which surely became hours, boredom reared its ugly head. On top of this, she felt thoroughly icky. Trudging through thick mud, swatting pesky bugs, pushing past putrid moss… A bath was soon at the top of her priority list. The question was, would it take getting to the Duchess's before she could even get one? This seemed increasingly likely.

But did she dare try to talk to him again? His moods were always shifting, so maybe he was in better spirits? She pondered what exactly could be used as a proper conversation starter, something that would elevate his spirits…

"Hatter, do you know what a platypus is?" she piped up, finally breaking the horrid silence.

"Plat-y-pus… Why, I haven't the faintest idea." She sighed in relief, hearing that his voice was normal again. "What kind of creature is it? Is it tasty?"

She laughed. "I don't think so. It lives in this place called Australia, and it is the most peculiar looking creature. It has the bill of a duck, has brown fur, black beady eyes, four duck flippers, and a beaver tail!"

"Oh, how splendid! It sounds adorable. How far away is Australia?"

"Too far, I'm afraid…" She bit her lip. "Oh, they lay eggs, too."

"I do wish I had a pet platypus. I would keep it in my hat." He paused, ceasing to walk as well. Alice noticed this before impact, luckily. "Look there! We're just about out of the swamp! I wasn't looking forward to a mud bed myself…"

He turned around, green eyes filled with glee. "Come on, come on!" The Hatter grasped her wrist, dashing straight for the swamp exit. She brought her arm over her eyes, the sudden light simply too much. Once her eyes could focus, the sight before her left her breathless.

Everywhere, as far as she could see, were daisies. All were the purest of white, small yellow suns nestled inside each and every one. Oh, and how wonderful they smelled! A gentle breeze tickled each flower, causing soft waves across the field and lifting the fragrance to her nose. She wanted to drink it in like a sweet wine and become drunk on it. While firmly planted where she stood in the soil, the Hatter meandered into the flowers, plucking a few that he fancied.

Alice was only awoken from her daze when the Hatter appeared before her, towering over her form and shadowing the sun. Smiling in glee, he stuck a flower in her hair and went elsewhere. Blinking several times, she turned to watch him only to find that he'd practically created a daisy wreath upon his hat. Goodness, he would be attracting butterflies…and dreadful bees.

Carefully, Alice treaded into the flowers herself, not wishing to crush a single one. She bent down, picking out the long-stemmed ones, and started tying them together. It wasn't terribly long until she had fashioned herself a long daisy necklace, going well down to her bellybutton. She placed it over her head, around her neck and was quite satisfied with herself. Now, she thought, she could smell these as they went along…until they wilted, that was. She was quite surprised that the flowers hadn't protested, as the only ones she knew of were perfectly animate.

"My, I never thought we'd cross through here!" the Hatter exclaimed, suddenly behind her. She gasped in surprise, turning around.

"You have to stop scaring me like that! You're never in one place for very long are you?"

He frowned. "Sorry. But, look what I did!" He held up his hands, each with a daisy ring.

Oh, she did try to stay upset. She was giving an expert stern look, if she did say so herself. After all, he always seemed to sprint ahead, he dragged her everywhere, he was always sneaking around… He sounded more like a misbehaving child than anything, really. Her "anger" didn't last very long. All it took was for her to meet his energetic face, eyes filled with excitement and maybe even some innocence, and she no longer could keep her frown. She was laughing again.

"Better, much better!" He began to look around, a hand on his chin in thought. "Well, now, which way to go… Our pathway sort of just delved into this field and I haven't the slightest idea which direction we're going, so…"

"Of course…" she mumbled to herself, laughter fading. "Well, what about that way?" She pointed her arm in some direction. "Wouldn't hurt, right? It'll get us somewhere, and then we can figure out things."

"Excellent plan! I pray this doesn't set us back."

He was off again like a hound on the hunt. She sighed briefly, then dashed after him through the flowers. Her feet went as fast as she could carry herself and she became wildly unable to control them anymore. It was then, of course, that she lost her footing and ending up face-first into a clump of daisies. Alice had definitely tripped over something, and it had felt so large…

Before she even had a chance to look back and discover what had been in her way, the Hatter lifted her back onto her feet and began guiding her elsewhere. He wasn't going the way they had agreed, but rather in the complete opposite direction. It wasn't as if he was helping, she felt, but rather he was forcing her to go a certain direction. A small feeling of wrong entered her stomach.

"Why are we going this way?" she asked, forcing a sense of normalcy. How much she hoped he hadn't entered a dark place…

"It was, ah, the wrong direction. Yes. I noticed it very, very quickly. A river in the way, the…what was its name…the Woolloomooloo River!" He began going a bit faster and Alice could feel he was rather tense. "If we were to cross it, why, we'd be in the complete wrong side of Underland. It's a, er, divider, if you will."

She startled to try to wriggle out of his arms, finding it to be incredibly difficult. He was very strong, she discovered. It wasn't necessary, however, as soon they encountered another lump on the ground which caused them to both topple over. Luckily she was not pinned under his body, allowing her to crawl away to stand and observe what had been their hindrance. There, at the feet of the Hatter, was a person. He was putting his hands under him to push himself onto his knees in order to rise, unaware that she had taken notice of it. Timidly, she walked closer to it.

Undoubtedly it wasn't a living person, just lounging there. The eyes were gone, picked away by scavengers, leaving gaping, putrid holes. The skin was beginning to peel from the muscle and bone, discolored and rotten. She put a hand to her mouth in revulsion. The tattered clothes this person wore were thin and moved with the breeze, revealing other horrors underneath. They had surely encountered two of these things, but were there more…?

She caught sight of the Hatter's eyes for only but a moment. She knew at once he would subjugate her again in a desperate attempt to protect her, she guessed. Alice wouldn't be satisfied, though. She ran away, back to where the Hatter had seen whatever he had seen and whisked her off.

"Alice!" he shouted out. Was it worry she heard, or anger? It mattered little. What was so horrible that made him get the idea of forcing her to someplace else?

She certainly did find it after a good couple of seconds of running. They had been on some higher ground, it seemed, over another expansive field of those daisies. The difference, however, that this other field was abundant with not just flowers. It bloomed with innumerable dead and rotten corpses, blood gone and deep within the ground. Her legs felt weak. Were they, those flowers, tinted in some other color, something more sinister?

A hand touched her shoulder. Alice let out a terrified scream, mind swirling with thoughts of the dead before her, sure it was one of them. Looking up, she only saw the face of the Hatter. He was forlorn, but not enraged. He brought her close, feeling her trembling frame.

He was quiet, not wishing to break this kind of haunting silence. "I was hoping we wouldn't encounter the real Underland so soon… We were lucky in those woods, so sheltered…"

"Did we really have to-"

"Well, yes… But we can detour." He glanced back to the lower field. She simply nodded, face hidden.

The Hatter then turned them around, leaving the garish scene behind them. For once he kept at a slow, steady pace, Alice close at his side. She suddenly wasn't quite so mad that he insisted on being ahead anymore. She remained silent, unwilling to look down at the ground.