Author's Note: Hello again! Thank you for the kind reviews and story follows! I still can't believe people are reading this story! To answer some of the questions that popped up in the reviews (without giving too much away), my story will mirror the events of the show as much as possible. Some aspects may change to suit my characterizations of Cyrus and Alice (as well as the fact that Alice's pregnancy necessarily changes many components). However, the major details of the show stay the same in my story. Cyrus is still alive and a prisoner of Jafar, etc. I hope you all enjoy this new installment. Thanks again for the support!

Disclaimer: I still have no rights to either the plot or characters of "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland."

aaa

"Will?" Alice was completely dumbfounded by the presence of her long absent friend. It was impossible. She hadn't seen Will since that awful day and so much had happened since then. Yet, here he was standing outside her cell door, his hands coolly clutched around its iron bars.

"Hello, love. Fancy staging a jailbreak? Although, these are some lovely accommodations you have here. I could understand why you might want to stick around…" Will ended his typically cocky speech by nudging her afternoon lunch tray through the bars with the tip of his black boot.

"But, what are you doing here? How did you find me?" Alice's head ran in endless circles of questions, yet a tiny glimmer of hope flared in the back of her mind. Maybe, just maybe Will was her ticket out of this hellish prison. Maybe he could help her and her baby, just as she had helped him so many years before.

"Believe it or not Alice, this wasn't my idea. I was snug as a bug, ready to tuck into a nice cup of coffee when this mangy fellow showed up." With these words, Will took a small step to the left and revealed the diminutive presence of the White Rabbit.

"Rabbit!" Upon seeing another of her old friends, Alice jumped up off her mattress. Her earlier nausea had suddenly disappeared, overridden no doubt, by this sudden turn of events. There was truly only so much her body could process at once.

At Alice's words, the Rabbit inclined his head towards her then quickly removed his pocket watch. "We must be leaving Alice. Time waits for no man—ahem—or woman in this case."

"Where are we going?" Alice felt her guard rise up and that tiny burst of hope began to flicker. This was all too easy. It couldn't be real. Friends you haven't seen in months, don't suddenly turn up—in a different realm, in "Bedlam" of all places—to rescue you the very moment you decide to hatch an escape plan. The more likely scenario was that she had actually gone crazy locked inside these walls. Will and the Rabbit were just figments of her desperation.

"Where are we going? What a ridiculous question, Alice! Why to Wonderland of course. To rescue Cyrus."

All her breath was knocked out of Alice at the mention of Cyrus's name. No, not just his name, but had the Rabbit truly just said "rescue?" Rescue—that meant Cyrus was alive and Alice knew that wasn't true. She saw him fall. She felt her heart stop with the sight of her love plummeting towards those infernal Boiling Seas. A sharp prick of anger brought Alice out of her thoughts. Both Will and the Rabbit were staring at her expectantly. They were just gawking at her outside her cell bars like some pitiful animal in a zoo.

"How dare you!" whispered Alice in a cold fury. She looked both her friends in the eye, hoping to convey the depths of hurt she felt in this moment.

"Alice…" began Will, slowly raising one hand in protest, as if he were all too familiar with the reaction they had just provoked.

"No," stated Alice shortly. "Don't you even start. Who do you think you two are, coming here—to this awful place—and daring to talk about rescuing Cyrus? He is gone. I saw the Red Queen and her guards kill him—take him from me—with my own eyes. And now here you are, months later, telling me I have to return to Wonderland to rescue him? Why? Why would you do this? Do you think this is funny? Is this some twisted Wonderland riddle I once again will never understand?

"Alice," started Will in a tone meant to calm her. He glanced up and down the hallway nervously.

Alice briefly understood that she had perhaps been too adamant in her sentiments, but that didn't remove their anger.

"We aren't lying to you, love."

"Yes," added the Rabbit hastily as he fidgeted with his glasses. "Cyrus is alive, but he faces a danger that only you can rescue him from. Here, perhaps this will convince you."

With these words, Alice saw the Rabbit remove a heavy pendant from his pocket. Her heart stopped as the Rabbit swung the pendant around to face her and Alice saw the warm, glowing red of her and Cyrus's intertwined hearts.

"Cyrus." Alice whispered. Seeing the pendant, Alice felt her mind go numb. The edges of her vision blurred and the constant din of the asylum faded to nothingness. Cyrus, his name echoed slowly in her head. She needed to sit down. Groping blindly behind her, Alice slowly backed against the wall. Was it possible? After all this time, was he alive? Alone and in danger? With this sharp blow of reality, Alice's mind suddenly returned to her cell. The Knave and Rabbit were both looking at her—heads cocked to the side, though the Rabbit was agitatedly glancing about the hallway as if expecting someone to pop up any moment.

"All right, Alice?" questioned Will. "Listen, I know this is a bit of a shock…"

Alice didn't let him finish. "Where is he?" she demanded as she strode back to the cell doors.

Will looked at Alice and answered, "To be honest, we're not entirely sure on that one. But," Will raised a finger at Alice's incredulous look, "the Rabbit here saw him at the Mad Hatter's not a few days back."

"That makes no sense at all," cried Alice. "If he were alive, Cyrus would be looking for me, not drinking tea with some crackpot haberdasher!"

"I didn't say he was there of his own volition, Alice" murmured the Rabbit darkly.

Alice turned away at this point. In a gesture becoming increasingly familiar, her hand found her stomach and began gently rubbing the slight bump. If Cyrus were truly alive and in need of her help, where would he be? Alice closed her eyes and a vision of Cyrus during the first night they met surfaced: "There is a man named Jafar…" Alice's eyes flashed open. She had a sinking feeling that her questions were answered.

"Well, how are we getting to Wonderland?"

"Aha!" cried the Rabbit. "That is where I come in of course. Once I start digging, a portal back to Wonderland will open—just as it did when you were a child. Though, much has changed since then."

Alice couldn't help but smile at that. He didn't know the half of it.

"Are you sure you're ready Alice?" asked Will, a genuine note of concern in his voice. "Once he starts digging that thing, we have to move fast. I don't know if you've noticed, but the people here aren't exactly friendly. They may not take kindly to you're leaving so suddenly."

Alice let slip another smile. This was the chance she had dreamt for their child—a chance turned into a dream come true with the news that Cyrus was alive. "I'm sure," she answered resolutely. "I will find him and we will be together again. Rabbit?" Alice looked commandingly at their furry companion, who quickly began tracing a hole on the ground.

As promised, the magic was quick. The cell bars vanished into a loud swirl of color and sound. Nodding at her friends, Alice jumped feet first into the portal, not even deigning to take a second glance at her "home" of the last few months. Before she could even open her eyes, Alice felt her bottom land firmly on soft grass. Glancing around, she let out a quick sigh of relief as she saw the Rabbit and Will land in the same emerald green field. As portals went, that was the gentlest landing Alice had experienced yet and she was grateful for their baby's sake. Looking down at her stomach, Alice whispered, "I do think our luck may be turning around, little one."

ccc

Many miles away from Alice's landing, Cyrus awoke from a troubled sleep with a sudden jolt on the bottom of his cage's cold floor. He felt his heart twist warmly in a way it hadn't for some time now. Before he could dare whisper the name of his heart though, he was overcome with a sudden, startling vision…

He felt the welcoming heat of Agrabah's desert sands once more. Home. No, he thought. Not truly home anymore. Home could only be where Alice was. At this thought, as if on cue, Cyrus heard the laughing tones of his love singing softly. Opening his eyes, he found himself in a modest desert home. While this room looked comfortable, decorated with cozy lounges and paintings of faraway cities, his Alice was nowhere to be seen. He could still hear her though. Now she was just laughing and Cyrus's heart ached to hear that beautiful sound. It had been so long. Cautiously he called out, "Alice?"

"In here!" she responded and Cyrus followed her sweet voice to an adjoining room. This one was obviously a bedroom. As Cyrus walked in, he saw a large bed in the center of the room, piled high with pillows of a dizzying array of colors…and a small white, standing bassinet off to its side. His Alice stood by this basket, cooing to a purple silk bundle cradled in her arms.

"Ali…"

But before he could finish her name, a commotion sounding from the guards ripped him out of this vision. Cyrus found himself far from Agrabah and once more in his silver prison. His heart was still beating out the knowledge of Alice's return, as well as the miracle of what the vision had revealed. However, before he could truly process this incredible news, Cyrus saw what the guard's sudden noise had been about. Jafar, cloaked in an angry red and black, was striding down the stone walkway leading to his cage.

Slamming his golden staff on the ground, Jafar looked coldly into Cyrus's brown eyes. "It seems your Alice has returned to Wonderland."