Well, I finally got around to this chapter. My apologies to any of "Hysteria Unbound"'s Followers and Favoriters; when my idea for "WonderShock" came on, I was just inspired by it. My mind was bursting with ideas for it, and my two main stories were put on the backburner. That's probably how it's going to be. I write on stuff when I have inspiration for it, and that nothing some you can just force on yourself.
Please feel free to leave a review telling me what you thought of this chapter.
With that out of the way, please enjoy chapter 2 of "Hysteria Unbound"!
Chapter 2: Dark Side of Memory
Alice stared up at the ceiling as the gurney she was on was wheeled through the hall. The regularly-placed lights shined on a dirty floor made up of brown tiles. The lights weren't strong and so the hallway was a sequence of light, shadow, light, shadow. The doors to the patients' room lined the hallways. Out of some of them a crazed visage would occasionally peer out. Nothing but screams and moanings would come out of others. This had been her home for the past month now.
"Leechin' now, is it?" The orderly pushing her gurney asked with a tone of revulsion. "I 'ate the nasty things. They wriggle 'round in those jars, looking for something or someone to suck the blood from. Gives me the willies."
"'Least you don't have to touch the slimy little worms. If it wasn't impossible to load a coin, I'd say you're cheatin' whenever we flip it," the other one responded. "That's the fifth time this week I've 'ad to attach 'em."
Alice didn't respond as they came closer and closer to the bloodletting room. She didn't know what was going on and she didn't care. She had been like this ever since the fire, through her physical recovery at Littlemore Infirmary and now here. She would sit unresponsive all day and all night, not knowing or caring about her surroundings. The nurses and orderlies had to care for all of her needs.
No stimulant could grab her attention. Not noise, not sight, not heat or cold. Not even a lit match could provoke a response from her. The only thing that indicated that she was alive was her heartbeat and the not-quite dead look in her eyes. It was a subtle sort of horror, that look in a child's eyes.
"Here we are," Orderly Two announced as he pushed through the doors into the bloodletting room. It would've looked like any other room if it wasn't for the cabinets full of jars of leeches lining the walls. The incredibly large parasites swam around in their jars, their soft bodies brushing against the glass in a revolting fashion. Nurse Pris Witless stood in the center of the room by a bed.
"Alice Liddell's here, doctor," she said. Dr. Heironymous Q. Wilson looked up the paperwork on the desk and stood to his feet. He was a large man whose hair and beard were just starting to turn white. His expression could be called melancholy as he surveyed the young girl on the gurney. He seemed to care somewhat for her and the sad state that she was in. He shook his head slightly and his facial expression returned to a neutral, businesslike countenance.
"Very well then. Bruce, Harry, put her on the bed and give her half a dozen leeches, three on each arm. Nurse Witless will supervise. I'll be in the other room if needed." He got up and left the room. Apparently the sight of leeches being allowed to feed on a person disturbed him.
Not so much with Nurse Witless. She seemed to be truly looking forward to this "treatment."
"Right," she barked, "you 'eard the doctor. Get her on the bed and get those leeches on her. A little less blood to her brain just might do the trick." When Bruce and Harry's backs were turned, she quickly took a bottle out from her hat and took a swig.
She put it back as Bruce none too gently lifted Alice off the gurney onto the bloodletting bed.
Harry grimaced as he picked up an open jar and carefully slid his hand inside. He made a face and then withdrew his hand, revealing the squirming leech that he grasped by the tail. He lifted the thin creature above its transparent home and touched its mouth to Alice's left arm. As soon as it had fastened on, he let go of it. The leech quit moving around and just sat there as it began to fatten off of Alice's blood. Bruce looked a bit green, while Witless looked satisfied.
After the repeating the process five more times, Harry and Bruce looked on as six leeches grew large and round on Alice's forearms. There was no change in Alice's demeanor, but there certainly was a difference in her complexion. The first one finally let go and Harry had to scramble to get it back into its jar. Bruce applied a wrapping to the sudden wellspring of blood that blossomed on Alice's arm where the leech had been. He prepared more as the leeches began to slow in their feeding.
"You think she's feelin' any of that?" he asked nobody in particular.
Witless shrugged. "Whether she feels it or not isn't any concern of mine. Once the leeches are off, take her back to her room." Witless took another pull at her bottle.
Alice could feel the leeches drinking her blood. She just didn't care. Her family was dead because she hadn't been able to save them. She had lived while they had been burned alive or suffocated. She didn't care what happened to her anymore. The ones she loved were gone and there wasn't anything for her now. Her family was gone and she was all alone.
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August
Alice shot up in bed, gasping for breath. She hurriedly lit a candle by her bedside and looked all the room. It wasn't the bloodletting room at Rutledge, it was her own familiar, comforting room in the Red Kingdom. No orderlies, no Pris Witless, and no leeches.
With a sigh, Alice set down the candle on her nightstand and hugged her legs to her chest. This was getting tiresome, fast.
About a month and a half ago, she had begun having flashbacks and dreams about her time in the orphanage and in the asylum. She'd have about two or three of these for approximately a week, then they'd disappear only to return about one or two weeks later. Every time they stopped, she'd breathe a sigh of relief, only to have it all dashed when they came back.
The memories were amazingly vivid in their detail; they could have happened just yesterday. The sights, the sounds, the smells, and the sensations were all just as real as they had been when they occurred. It was incredibly similar to the memories that Tooth had given her, except these were of the dark times in her life. The decade she had spent in that awful asylum, her journey to save Wonderland from the Red Queen, her recovery and move to Houndsditch, her sessions with Bumby, and her stand against the Infernal Train and its atrocious conductor.
Each particular one would start out as a flash of images and sounds before proceeding to the finely cut images such as the one that she had just experienced. So far there had been none of the fire and she hoped it stayed that way. She had long grown out of her fear of fire, but she still hated thinking about the launch of her voyage into madness. It was something that would always haunt her, which was a little discouraging considering she was immortal.
"Nightmares, Alice?" Alice was hardly surprised when the Cheshire Cat appeared in front of her, grinning as usual. She had had far more time than necessary to get used to his sudden appearances and disappearances. "Perhaps you shouldn't take tea directly before bed."
"It's not tea, Cat," Alice replied while stifling a yawn. The flashbacks that occurred during slumber weren't often (being a spirit, she didn't need to sleep as much), but they were eating into her rest time like the Walrus devoured unfortunate oysters. Over a hundred years and he hadn't changed a bit in his revolting habits.
"There's no direct cause as far as I can determine," she continued. "The flashbacks are almost random in their occurrence. Day or night, no triggers. Two to four of them within a span of ten days, then nothing for the same period, and they repeat. They're slowly growing in occurrence, but the period in which they occur is a constant."
"Anything else?" the Cat inquired, licking his paw lazily.
"They start as brief, flickering images, then slowly evolve into the most vivid visions I've ever experienced. A perfect record of my tormented past, laid out for all of my senses to see, smell, hear, and touch. It's excruciatingly awful."
The Cat ceased his grinning and cocked his head to one side in thought. "What was the one you just woke from of?"
Alice sighed. "The first time that the Rutledge staff drew blood through the application of leeches. The visions, they're also going further and further back. The first ones were of when I discovered Bumby's true nature during the Dollmaker's Siege and killing him. Then the Siege itself, my time at the orphanage, my defeat of the Red Queen, and now the asylum. At this rate, I'll be reliving the fire in a few weeks."
That thought was alone was too much to think about. She had spent the last one hundred plus years recovering from all of it and she had no desire whatsoever to relive the fire which took her family and destroyed her life. There were some things that, no matter how much time passed and how much healing was done, that one didn't want to revisit.
"Hmm. Have you informed the Guardians of your symptoms? They'd want to know of something like this." Alice looked up in surprise at Cheshire. Most of the time, he advocated self-sufficiency and reliance on one's own skills and ability. This was nothing like him.
"Cat, when have you ever advised going to someone else about my own grievances? This is most unlike you." She saw a chance to snipe at him for his comment about her after-dinner tea. "Perhaps you could afford to reduce your intake of catnip." She knew that he kept a stash of the plant somewhere and would use it whenever he thought that no one was looking.
Cat gave her a look that bordered on a glare. "There are some things that nobody, not even you, can handle on their own. There is something lurking in the dark, Alice."
Alice could have groaned out loud. He always did this; whenever something was out to get Alice, he'd always make a riddle out of it. If it wasn't for that psychotic grin, those eyes, and that penchant for unneeded riddles, he would be quite sane. As it was, she'd deal with it as she normally did.
"I've always been able to take care of myself. What is lurking in the dark, Cat? What evil monstrosity of my mind's dark recesses is hunting me now?" She made sure to sound helpless and pleading to mock him. He hated that.
Sure enough, he lay his ears back against his head. "It is not a product of your twisted imagination that threatens you now. This one is of the outside world and if my intuition doesn't deceive me, is far more manipulative than the Boogeyman and is at least as devious as Bumby ever was. Far more patient, but just as much an atrocity."
"I don't which which is more taxing, Cat: Your riddles. which are almost indecipherable, or North's belly. Next thing I know, Jack will be making fortunes based off the cracks in his staff." Alice wasn't in a good mood to begin with, and Cat wasn't making it any better.
Cheshire gave his own equivalent of a shrug and turned to go. "Both me and his protruding abdomen have been proven right in the past. Ignore me at your own peril, and that of your friends."
Alice looked up sharply at that. "What do you mean by that, Cat?"
He looked over his shoulder at her. "This one thinks that the best way to get to you is through the Guardians. Intelligence is a trait most unwanted in enemies both known and unknown." He disappeared without a sound or another word.
Alice groaned and flopped back on her bed. This was just perfect; she was getting flashbacks of her darker past which disturbed her during the day and kept her up at night, and now some kind of new enemy was on the rise. She would have to tell the Guardians about this new threat, that was for certain. As for her disturbing memories, she could work through those on her own. Those were something personal while this "patient Bumby" was out to get her by going after the Guardians.
Alice tried to remember if she had offended anyone in the outside world. As far as she could determine, she had made no new enemies in the outside world. Besides Pitch Black and the Red Queen, she didn't really have any enemies. There was the occasional Ruin, Madcap, or Bolterfly that would attack her mindlessly, but those were easily taken care of. She remembered that a few spirits were disappointed that she wasn't allowing visits into Wonderland, but they didn't seem the type to want to destroy her and the Guardians out of something as petty as disappointment.
She glanced towards her clock and groaned a second time. Four-thirty in the morning and it was very unlikely that she would be able to go back to sleep after her nightmare/memory. The nights when those occurred were sleepless ones after she awoke from them. She might as well get on with the day.
Alice looked at her calendar as she changed out of her nightgown for her dress. In a few days, there would another Guardian meeting at Santoff Claussen and she would tell them then. It was unlikely that this new foe would attack without her around. Why did they think the best way to hurt her was to hurt her new friends? Over the past year and a half, she had come to view the other Guardians as friends, almost family.
There was one of them that she wasn't sure how she felt. Jack Frost. She had to admit to herself that she found him…attractive. He also seemed to have a calming effect on her. There were times though when she wanted nothing more than to clout him over the head with her Hobby Horse. The completely idiotic things he would do and say had the same effect on her that they had on Bunny: Frustration and headaches. She would usually call him "Frost" until he had somehow managed to work his way back into her good graces. Interestingly, those periods when he was just "Frost" were becoming both shorter and less frequent, and he seemed to be learning how to avoid raising her ire. Those were the times she quite liked his company.
Alice shook her head hard before attending to her shoe buckles. Jack Frost was a friend and a fellow guardian, nothing more, nothing less. Besides, what did she know about romance? She had skipped the preteen and early teenage years during her time at the asylum, voiding those formative years just before adulthood. She knew that others found her attractive, but her prospects in 1870s London hadn't been sunny, not by a long shot. She was destitute, orphaned, and a former asylum inmate. Any real chances she had at a relationship like the one between her mother and father were gone before they had a chance to manifest. There were few decent men in the part of London where she lived and those few didn't see her as someone they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with. So she had just gotten use to the idea that she was going to be alone for some time, possibly for the rest of her life. Which suited her just fine.
By the time she had left for Wonderland, she had had enough of the world and its inhabitants. Most of the wickedness of the world was created by them and now she had a way of escaping it all, physically and not just mentally. Now though, she had a reason to go back. She had seen that innocence and childhood were one of the few things worth protecting in the real world, that there were good people who wanted to do the right thing and help others. Man in the Moon or not, she was a Guardian of Childhood and she would be so until either she was killed or the world ended.
She finished dressing and tidying up and prepared for another day in Wonderland. Hopefully this day wouldn't be as hectic as the last. If she had to listen to the Duchess's complaints about the smoke from the Hatter's domain, or to another of the Dodo's long-winded, nonsensical speeches again, she'd probably scream. Oh well, that was life as the pseudo-Queen of Wonderland for you.
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A few real world days later
Jack Frost was right where he had always wanted to be, and right now, where he didn't want to be: He was in Santa's Workshop and he was stuck in yet another Guardian meeting.
He honestly loved the place where North made his home, which was also the location the Guardians used as their unofficial headquarters. He had tried to break in once every few decades ever since he had learned that Santoff Claussen existed and where it was. That had probably been about twenty years after he became a spirit. Of course, the yetis had always been there to stop him. Phil's father and grandfather had always managed to give Jack the boot every time before passing on the job of Workshop Security to him. He remembered the time when Phil's father, Bartholomew, or Bart, had chased him across the yeti village, swiping at him with his own staff. Phil had watched from the family doorstep, cheering on his father until Jack had been able to grab his staff and fly off.
It was far from his proudest moment, but Jack had found it funny a few hours after the incident. Even today the memory never failed to bring a smile to his face.
"Hey Frostbite, pay attention. We're havin' a meetin' here."
Jack groaned as Bunny unceremoniously dragged him back into the most boring part of his life. "I was paying attention," he protested.
"No you weren't," the pooka replied as Tooth continued her report on the teeth gathering. Her ever-present group of Baby Teeth twittered and giggled over her shoulder at the interruption in Jack's daydreaming. By now Jack had gained a reputation for arriving at the very last minute and then losing himself in his thoughts during the meeting. The only reason he arrived on time at all was thanks to Alice and her threat involving the Sack of Kidnapping.
Jack forced himself to pay attention to Tooth and not to the new toys that were being tested only a dozen yards to his left and a story down. One of the things that he liked to do when in the Workshop was to watch the yetis test North's new ideas. He just wished they would actually let him help. Just because he was Jack Frost didn't mean he couldn't be careful when he wanted to be. Or when he tried to be, that is.
"To conclude, everything's just fine at the Tooth Palace," Tooth finally finished.
"Very good, Tooth." North inflated his barrel-sized chest for his report. "My yetis have finally finished repairing damage done by Night Ruins, and toy production is ahead of schedule. For once." North's expression turned both worried and perplexed. "There is slight problem though."
Sandy gave North a questioning look while a question mark appeared over his head.
"Let me guess." Jack held up a hand. "The elves figured out they really don't make the toys and are planning a rebellion." Bunny groaned out loud while Jack tried his best to hold back a snicker.
"Nyet, the elves are planning no such thing." North glanced towards a group of elves attempting to sew up a poor teddy bear. It looked like a laceration victim whose wounds had all been stitched together. "I hope. Sadly, it's the yetis."
"What's wrong?" Tooth hovered higher and looked around the Workshop. "They've been flossing, right? Toothaches can be incredibly painful or so I'm told."
"Nyet," sighed North. "I do not know what it is. About year ago, some of the yetis began to see psychiatrist. They were seeing something or someone out of corners of eye, but whenever they turn to see what it is, nothing's there."
Sandy created a sand model of a yeti laying down to sleep.
"They've been getting enough sleep. That was first thing I checked, nor has work been harder." North rubbed his eyes. This problem was getting incredibly frustrating.
"Why didn't we hear about this before, mate?" Bunny asked, raising an eyebrow. "If it started a whole year ago, you should have told us sooner."
"I tell you now because nearly every yeti in workshop has seen this prizrak, and I am at end of rope trying to figure it out." North leaned back in his seat and sighed heavily.
"Alice, what do you think?" Jack asked. He looked over to their newest Guardian and was surprised to see her head bowed. "Alice? Alice!"
Alice shot up and looked around hurriedly. "Oh, my apologies. What was the topic of discussion?"
Jack couldn't help but give her a weird look. Most of the time she was incredibly attentive to the meetings. In fact, if it wasn't Bunny prodding him to pay attention, it was Alice. Falling asleep at their meetings, that was something that not even he dared to do. The last thing he wanted to do was experience one of Bunny's boomerangs colliding with the back of his head.
"The yetis have been seeing something, a prizrak, out of the corners of their eyes, but there's nothing there when they turn to it," Tooth explained quickly.
Alice scrunched her face in thought. "What does your yeti psychiatrist think of it?"
"He is as baffled as I," North replied. "Worse, he begins to see it shortly after last meeting."
"Have the elves been experiencing anything similar?" Alice inquired, deep in thought. If they could identify which group or groups was experiencing these…visions, they might be able to find a common stimulant or cause.
North frowned. "Not that I know of. I will ask them later."
"And why do you call it a prizrak? What is that specifically?" North had a habit of substituting the words of his native language when his English failed him. It was an interesting way to learn the language.
"Closest English words are 'ghost' or 'spirit.'" North answered, stroking his chin in thought. "Some of the yetis say it looks like person. One even said it looked like human woman before he turned to get better look."
"I bet he tried to get a better look," Jack said, winking. Bunny and Alice both gave him their respective "you're-an-idiot" looks while Tooth shook her head at him.
North cleared his throat. "I will ask elves if they have seen anything. Hopefully, it won't take too long. Now, how are things with you two?" He gestured to Alice and Jack, smiling. "I hear two new Guardians are getting more believers."
"Thank the Burgess Bunch," Jack grinned, leaning back in his seat. "They're the ones spouting the good news about us." He narrowed his eyes in thought. "Just wondering, how did you guys get kids to believe in you in the first place?"
"Most of our first believers were children that we were friends with before we became spirits," Tooth explained. "They told others about each one of us, and our stories spread throughout the ages. They changed, obviously, but it was always enough for the belief in us to continue."
North nodded in agreement. "And how is Wonderland, Alice?"
Alice's head had been starting to nod, but she jerked it up when she heard her name. "It's well," she slurred. Shaking her head, she continued more clearly. "There's still been no sign of the Red Queen, and I've finally gotten around to cleaning up the Looking-Glass Line."
Bunny muttered something under his breath at the mention of the Red Queen, to which Alice took no notice. Jack couldn't help but notice the slump in the girl's shoulders, along with the bags under her eyes and the red coloration of the whites of her eyes. She looked pretty awful, but he knew better than to tell her that.
"Any unfinished business?" North asked. Alice was the only one to raise her hand. "Yes Alice?"
Alice cleared her throat as quietly as possible. "Cheshire recently told me that 'there is something lurking in the dark.' Apparently, we have a new enemy, one that is targeting me specifically."
The other Guardians stared at her for a moment. Finally, Tooth spoke up. "Did he say who it was?"
"Only that our new adversary is of the real world, that he or she is more manipulative than Pitch Black, and is as devious as the Dollmaker while being far more patient." Alice thought about what else Cat had told her. "They also prefer an indirect method of attack, as they think the best way to harm me is through all of you."
"Oh boy," groaned Bunny. "Alice, please tell us this was recent and not a year ago like whatever's goin' on with the yetis."
Alice gave the pooka one of her infamous "looks." Usually it was Jack on the receiving end. "As a matter of fact, it was a few real world days ago that Cheshire told me this. I would have mentioned it sooner, but I've been sleep-deprived."
Jack decided to pipe up. "You know, if you want to sleep, I'm sure Sandy wouldn't mind lending you some of his dreamsand. The stuff is pretty potent."
"From past experience, that is very true," North commented. Sandy floated up to Alice and held out a ball of dreamsand to her.
Alice gave the little man a quick smile. "I'll take some after lunch, thank you very much. Now," she returned to the previous subject, "what can we do about this enemy? Could it be someone that we already know?"
Tooth began to float up and down, her fairies mimicking her. She always found this conducive to thought. "If you're the target, what is the motive? You've only been an official Guardian for a short while now. Besides Pitch, I can't think of anyone that would hold a grudge against you."
"Maybe it's some relative of Bumby's that became a spirit or something," Jack suggested, rubbing the wood on his staff thoughtfully. "Or it's one of those spirits that wanted to see Wonderland."
"I think we would have heard about a new spirit by know," Bunny retorted. "Far as we know, Alice is the newest spirit in the world. A relative of Bumby's would have had to show up before or after she came along."
North was glancing at the six-pointed star in front of the globe controls with great concern written over his face. The star was basically a mural of the Guardians and also housed the only real method of communication between them and Manny. Before anyone could notice, he shook his head and turned his attention back to the others.
"We all have our duties which draw us apart, making us easy targets. If we stay at the Pole to keep safe, we can't be there for the children," Tooth reasoned. "If this enemy is going to target all of us, we need a method of quick communication. The question is, what would work?"
There was a moment of silence as everyone considered this. Sandy suddenly shot up in the air, smiling. He floated over to Tooth and formed a few sand fairies over his head, gesturing to them. Tooth didn't notice, she was thinking too hard. Sandy dissipated the sand fairies and pointed to her fairies, trying to get her attention.
"I got it," Bunny yelled out. "Tooth, you remember how you knew from your fairies when Pitch was attackin' the Tooth Palace, through that telepathy thing of yours?"
Tooth gasped. "Aster, that's brilliant. I can just send some of my fairies to each of our homes to keep watch. If anything happens to one of us, I'll know and so will the ones at everyone else's." She finally noticed Sandman standing next to her. "I'm sorry Sandy, did come up with something?"
Sandy shrugged his shoulder disappointedly and shook his head. It was really hard being mute sometimes.
"I think Baby Tooth has me covered," Jack said, looking nervously at the fairies over Tooth's shoulder. The instant Tooth finished Bunny's idea for him, they had all started chittering amongst themselves excitedly and looking towards him. Their collective crush on him was cute at best, but he didn't need a swarm of Baby Teeth crooning over him twenty-four/seven. Baby Tooth chose that moment to fly over to Jack and position herself over his shoulder. Disappointed, the other fairies all lost a few inches in elevation.
"They couldn't go to Wonderland, though," Tooth remembered. "I lost my connection to Baby Tooth when she was in there."
"Wonderland is isolated from the real world." Alice yawned, hurriedly closing her mouth. "I don't think whoever we're dealing with will have the slightest notion on how to infiltrate it."
"So," North began, "we let some of tooth fairies in each of our homes until we catch villain, except for Wonderland. If villain attacks one of us, we all learn about it and come down on his head." He cracked the knuckles in his hands. "Villain will not know what hit him. Problem solved. Now," he boomed out suddenly, "who wants to adjourn meeting and go to lunch?"
"Any more unfinished business?" called out Bunny. Jack had to groan to himself. The rabbit always made sure that was their meetings were as procedural as possible. When no one said anything, Bunny nodded. "Meeting adjourned. Let's go get some grub."
Jack banged his staff against the ground like a judge's gravel before shooting off towards the dining room. Bunny rolled his eyes as the others followed him.
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Alice nearly fell asleep twice during the brief luncheon. Between that and the paper she doodled on in her waking moments, she contributed very little to the conversation, which ranged from possible enemies all the way to the health benefits of peppermint.
She couldn't help but curse her drowsiness. The flashbacks that occurred during sleep were the worst ones as it was difficult to turn her mind to other things afterwards. The one she had before coming to the meeting had woken her at least five hours before she had wished to rise. It had been of the day when Dr. Wilson had started with preliminary tests, attempting to get an idea on how to cure her. The memory itself wasn't traumatic, but it wouldn't be long before Littlemore Infirmary, and then the fire. If the flashbacks continued to go further and further back into her past, that is.
'If it gets to that degree, I'm going to talk with Tooth about my teeth. I shouldn't be reliving these memories to the extent that I am.'
Alice had already gone through the memories that Tooth had given her, hypothesizing that her bad experiences had somehow found their way into the purity and innocence of her childhood. The search had been utterly fruitless, which part of her found to be a relief. She didn't want those beautiful days sullied by her worst nightmares. They were far too precious.
She didn't notice what Jack was saying to her until she heard her name repeated. "Beg pardon, my attention was elsewhere. You were saying, Jack?" Alice rubbed the sleep from her eyes. This was getting ridiculous very quickly.
Jack gave her an odd look. Spirits weren't supposed to get sleep-deprived. They didn't need as much as mortals did. He supposed that if an immortal went for a while without rest and then crashed, an unwanted wake-up could cause the drowsy symptoms Alice was showing.
"I said, 'you want that dreamsand now?'" he repeated. The first time he had asked, he had meant it as a joke.
"After lunch," Alice muttered.
"I think we're about done," Jack told her. Alice looked up to see that the Guardians were ready to disperse. Bunny was tapping a foot impatiently against the ground as Tooth ordered groups of fairies to each of the Guardians' homes. Alice had to smile at the idea of Bunny being accompanied by a swarm of tooth fairies throughout the Warren. The only thing more entertaining than the idea of the grumpy pooka being followed around by the brightly-colored, chirping creatures was what would happen if Tooth sent a similar swarm to Jack's instead of just Baby Tooth.
Personally, she was glad that the little creatures couldn't follow her to Wonderland. It wasn't that she didn't like them, quite the contrary. She just didn't want to have to go through the trouble of protecting a dozen or so tooth fairies when she had a hard enough time protecting herself. Wonderland was no place for the inexperienced interloper, let alone ones their size.
"Let me guess," Jack suddenly interrupted her thoughts. "You saw Cheshire grinning just before you went to bed."
Alice stared at him for a moment before it clicked in her head what he meant. Jack was trying to guess the cause of her insomnia. The winter spirit could be very nosy when he wanted to be.
"Hardly," she replied. She was finding it hard to piece together sentences. "I highly doubt that his manic smile would ever be the cause of my restlessness. I've seen far worse things. Additionally, I've had over a century to accustom myself to his facial expressions and to him. The latter is still a bit of a challenge sometimes," she admitted.
"With him, everything's a challenge," Jack muttered. "What's been keeping you up then? Dreams of me?" He gave her a grin of his own.
Alice suppressed the urge to groan. Part of her liked the attention (which she would never admit of course), while that part's polar opposite wanted her to slap that grin off his smirking face.
'He's not as bad as those sailors that frequented the Mangled Mermaid, thankfully,' she reflected.
Alice considered rebuffing him for asking, but decided to give him a watered-down version, along with a quick lesson in etiquette. "Excusing how rude it is to enquire of a lady's sleeping habits, I had a flashback of my time at the asylum while I was asleep. It wasn't troubling in and of itself, it just reminded me of the other things I endured there."
Jack craned his head trying to get a better look at what Alice was drawing. "If those squares are days, that's a lot of days." He gave her a searching look. "If that's a record of flashbacks…."
Alice picked up the paper and folded it in half, frowning. "It is, and it's nothing that you should concern yourself about. I've dealt with stuff like this before. Besides, these are Wonderland days: A few hours here are a few days there." As she got up from the table with the paper firmly in her hand, Alice decided that Jack needed to be teased for once. "I never would have pegged you as the absent-minded type, Jack. That's my specialty as you should know."
Jack's head snapped up. "I'm not absent-minded. I'm busy… with a lot of things," he finished rather pitifully.
"Yes, I suppose Jack Frost is frightfully busy flying around and freezing windows," Alice retorted sarcastically as she walked up to Sandy. "Sandman, would it be possible to put your dreamsand into a jar or other such container? I believe that I'll take a nap in my guest room." She really needed to rest.
Jack tried to think of a good comeback as Sandy happily nodded and formed a ball of floating sand within a teacup and gave it to Alice. The other Guardians began to disperse, bidding each other farewell and leaving for home (except for North). They all had about a dozen of Tooth's fairies hovering over their shoulder (which was normal for Tooth), except for Jack (who had Baby Tooth) and Alice.
"Hooroo, Alice," Bunny said as he tapped his foot against the ground, summoning a hole. "Anythin' odd happens in Wonderland, you give us a holler."
"Yes Bunny, though I doubt I'll need to," Alice replied, giving him a quick smile. It wasn't like there were that many ways into Wonderland, something for which she was grateful. Besides, who would be idiotic or insane enough to attack her in her own world, surrounded by all manner of dangerous creatures and perils? This enemy either knew of Wonderland's dangers, or they were just plain sadistic, seeing as they were going after the Guardians to get to her. Either way, they would regret going after the Guardians much more than making of her an enemy without just cause.
"Just wondering," Jack saw fit to break her train of thought right then, "Why is time in Wonderland like that? A few hours here is a few days there."
Alice thought about it as she began making her way back to her room for a quick nap. Jack's questions about the nature of Wonderland were sometimes irksome and stimulating at the same time. Irksome because it seemed that he would always come up with a new question soon after the last was answered, stimulating because it gave her a reason to think why something was the way it was. She remembered when she herself asked a lot of questions in her childhood. Deep down she was still curious about things, she just kept them to herself now.
The time discrepancy between her old make-believe world and the real one made for some interesting thought. "I suppose it's that way because I dreamed it up first. Dreams have a tendency of lengthening the time one is asleep, as least from the perspective of the dreamer."
Jack nodded in thought. That made sense, which was strange since they were talking about Wonderland of all places. So far he and Bunny were the only Guardians to brave the pocket dimension. He knew Tooth secretly craved a visit ever since Baby Tooth had presented her with that huge golden cuspid from Wonderland. Tooth had been ecstatic to learn that Wonderland used teeth as its main currency, something which Jack found a little weird. At least, the teeth had no blood or gums on them. That would be just plain disgusting.
Jack suddenly grinned as a thought came to his mind. "Lengthening the time, huh? This has some interesting implications." He floated ahead of Alice, subtlety (in his mind) noting all getaway routes.
Alice noticed his smirk and his eyes darting all over the place, plotting out his escape. 'Men. They honestly have no idea just how obvious they are.' She stopped in the middle of the hallway and fixed him with a look. "Jack, I suggest that you either spit out whatever inane witticism is going through your head, or keep it to yourself."
Jack raised his hands in surrender. "Alright your highness, you saw right through me. If Wonderland days are hours here, and you spent over a century in there…." He stopped and smiled.
'Not that idiotic smile again. I didn't think it possible for anyone besides Cheshire to develop a facial expression as infuriating as his.' "Yes?" Alice crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at Jack.
Jack lowered his voice as though he was telling her a secret beyond imagining. "It means that you're really old, maybe older than Sandy." As Alice's mouth dropped open, Jack shot away down the hall and out a window, laughing.
"Jack Frost, you despicable, little cockroach, get back here at once," Alice yelled after him. She turned to Baby Tooth, who was about to follow Jack in his retreat. "What in heaven's name do you see in that weasel?"
Baby Tooth paused to give Alice a short lecture in her birdlike language before heading off after Jack. To Baby Tooth's mind, there was no one more attractive or charming than Jack Frost. It wasn't her fault that the mean girl couldn't see that. It was what Jack saw in Alice that had Baby Tooth puzzled.
Alice glared after the winter spirit and his fairy admirer before continuing to her guest room. The story of her relationship with Jack: Getting along while bickering and sniping at each other constantly until one of them went too far. She would refer to him as "Frost" while he called her "Lady Liddell" or some other such rubbish. This would continue until one of them apologized, after which they would repeat the cycle. It was a wonder that they hadn't torn each other's heads off. The periods where they were angry with each other were getting progressively shorter and shorter, however.
Alice finally came to her room. She closed the door behind her and faced the bed, almost smiling in anticipation. "I'll have to find an appropriate way to thank Sandy after this," she sighed. She so desperately needed to sleep. As far as she could tell, the period where no flashbacks occurred had just begun, so she didn't have to worry about any of those disturbing her slumber.
She sat down at the foot of the bed and held the teacup in her hand. 'Off to the dream Wonderland. Then again, I could do without any real dreams, thank you very much.' Alice was about to pour the dreamsand over her head when it happened.
She was sitting up in bed, having been awoken by her alarmed Wonderland friends. She could smell smoke coming from somewhere and she could hear the crackling of wood burning.
She was standing by her bedroom door. She barely registered how hot the door handle was before she was looking into the inferno that was the hall, just as a blast of fire followed the stream of fresh oxygen directly to her.
She was at her bedroom window, screaming as the flames licked at her nightgown and at her. She could hear her parents crying for her to get out and for Lizzie to wake up. She could hear their pain in their voices, the pain of them burning alive.
She was in the snow. Bunny was standing over her, trying to comfort her as her house burned. She could see the flames licking at the roof directly behind him. She realized that her parents and Lizzie were dead. Bunny vanished before her eyes and she slid down into the snow, utterly alone in the world.
Alice gasped out aloud as the vision passed before her eyes. The teacup shattered on the floor as she sat on her bed, trying desperately to breathe. That…that shouldn't be happening. The fire, the deaths of her family, she was reliving them right now! What was wrong with her? Was she starting to lose her mind again? Those memories were locked deep within her mind, not in some magic baby teeth box with her happiest, brightest days. This. Wasn't. Remotely. Possible.
Catching her breath, Alice had enough presence of mind to reach down and grab some dreamsand before it could dissipate. She managed to gather up the shards of the cup without dropping what sand remained, earning a few small cuts on her palms and fingers. She left the pieces of the cup along with the chart on her desk as she ran into the bathroom. Within moments, she turned the mirror into a portal to Wonderland and disappeared into it.
She reappeared in the Looking-Glass chamber deep in the Red Kingdom. As the swirling kaleidoscope of colors that was a Wonderland portal turned back into a floor-to-ceiling mirror behind her, Alice alternated between running and dodging to her bedroom. When she got there, she sat down on her as she tried to catch her breath. A few tears made her way down her face as she went over what had just happened.
'I'm not insane. I recovered. I'm fine. My time as a mental asylum inmate is done. Then WHY are these images from my past haunting me now?! All I want is to live my life in peace without these horrific reminders of the worst period of my existence. All they do is wound my heart and soul and mind.'
Shaking, Alice lifted the dreamsand above her head, prayed for a deep sleep without dreams, and released the precious cargo. Her head hit the pillow an instant later. No figures made of golden sand danced above her head, no dreams afflicted or eased her slumber. Alice was dead to both of the worlds, alone. The only movement in the room was of her steady breathing and of the tears that slid down her face and ruined her make-up.
Something's up with Alice's memories. Is it happening on its own, or are Lyssa's vile hands at work here? I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review telling me what you thought. If you have any ideas or suggestions of your own for this fic, a PM is also acceptable for that.
Until next time, strange crossover-lovers of the world!