Chapter 3

"Who are you?" the girl holding the knife demanded. "And what are you doing in my Wonderland?"

Jack looked the girl over before replying. By saying it was her Wonderland that meant she was most likely one of two people who could make such a claim. And since she didn't have any red or hearts on her, she could only be Alice.

Jack knew the story fairly well thanks to Cupcake. Her youth theater group had cast her as the Queen of Hearts in the play version of the story, and Cupcake had insisted that she and all her friends (including Jack) watch every Alice in Wonderland movie she could get her hands on so she could research her role. The girl had practiced her 'Off With Their Heads!' line for weeks.

In most of the media versions of Alice, she was portrayed as a young blond girl in a blue dress and apron. The girl in front of did not match that description at all. She was a teenager about the same height as him, dressed in an all-black steampunk style dress, and black knee high boots with several buckles. She had long dark hair, and angry green eyes that contrasted with her pale skin.

Despite the knife she had in his face he grinned at her. Why make enemies when you could make friends? "You don't look much like what I'd expected you to look like," he said in a friendly and disarming manner.

Alice was so startled by that response that she lowered the Vorpal Blade just a tad. It was no longer pointed directly at the intruder's face, but was still aimed at his chest should she need to stab him.

If she was perfectly honest with herself, he was not what she had been expecting either. When she'd heard there was something new in Wonderland she had thought it would be some new peril to overcome.

She did not think it would be a skinny, tatty-dressed, teenage, shepherd boy who looked like he had been bathed in bleach. One who greeted her with friendly smiles, and nonsense remarks in a Yank accent. While the boy before her was clearly not normal from his icy pale skin, to the frost that decorated he neck and cuffs of his strange blue shirt, he was clearly not of Wonderland origin. He wasn't nearly strange enough or mad enough to be from there.

Still, she'd gotten there in time to see him dispatch the Hatter (though, the fool had been asking for it), so clearly he could still pose a threat. No matter how friendly he seemed.

She glared at him and said, "That does nothing to answer my question. What are you doing in my Wonderland? I shall not ask again." She held her knife closer to his heart for emphasis.

The pale boy took a step back and raised one of his hands disarmingly, the other still clutching his staff. "Whoa, whoa, Sorry. I didn't mean to come here, honest. I took a wrong turn in one of the Warren's tunnels, and came here by accident. And once I got here I didn't think it'd hurt to take a look around. I didn't mean any harm, and I only froze that guy after he attacked me first."

She raised an eyebrow at his ludicrous response. "A warren? What were you doing in a rabbit's hole?"

He shrugged, and took another step back so that he was out of the knife's range unless Alice lunged forward. "The Bunny who made them is a friend of mine," he said simply.

Alice was rethinking her earlier conclusion that he might not be mad enough for Wonderland. But still it did explain how he could have gotten here. Down a rabbit's hole is one of the few ways into Wonderland.

But no matter how he got here, the fact that he was intruding on her Wonderland, and that was inexcusable. Who knows what sort of havoc he could cause. Alice knew she would find out exactly where and how he got in, and then she wanted him out.

However before she could continue her line of inquiry, the Hatter decided to cut in.

"You miserable, malicious, moronic, maggot, can go right back down the dark pit you crawled out of and-!"

Whatever the Hatter had been going to say next was cut off. The boy seemed to have decided he'd had enough of the Hatter's rambling, and had created a snowball in his hand and thrown it at the mad man with great accuracy. The snowball had become lodged in the Hatter's mouth, stopping his rant in its tracks.

This set the March Hare and Door Mouse into another frenzy of laughter, and to Alice's surprise she felt her lips twitch a the sheer hilarity of the scene the Hatter currently made. She quickly schooled her expression, and shot the boy a pointed glare.

Seeing it he gave a sheepish shrug. "What, it shut him up didn't it. Besides, all this ice will melt within the hour. Especially with how hot it is around here."

She gave him a searching look, but grudgingly conceded his point. "Then it would be best if you are far away from him when that happens."

He flinched at the thought. "Good point."

He began making his way towards the exit, and Alice followed him. While this strange boy didn't seem hostile at the moment, she was not about to let her guard down.

"You never answered my first question, boy," she said sharply as they left the room. "Who are you?"

The boy turned to her and gave her a bright grin. "Oh, right, sorry. My name is Jack Frost. It's nice to meet you, Alice."

Jack had to admit; the surprised look on Alice's face was priceless. Thus far, the only expression he'd seen her make was a disapproving scowl that let him know she was a person who took things way too seriously. Seeing a new expression on her face was refreshing. He floated backwards ahead of her to get a good look, as they picked their way back through the factory to get out.

"Jack Frost?" she asked, startled. "You look much too young to be Old Man Winter."

Jack made a face at that remark, but was still relived she had at least heard of him. "Yeah, no idea who gave me that title, but I'd like to meet them and give them snowball to the face. But still, I am over three hundred years old, so I guess the Old Man part is a matter of opinion."

Alice gave him a disbelieving look, before rolling her eyes.

Jack grinned and continued to float backwards until he ran headfirst into a wall. He let out a yelp of pain when his head collided with the metal, and he fell to the ground. Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his head before giving the wall a dirty look for being in his way.

When he glanced back at Alice he was certain he saw her lips twitch in amusement, before going back to the scowl she had been wearing almost the entire time he'd seen her.

Jack took this as a challenge.

There were few things that Jack Frost took seriously. In fact the list could be counted on one hand. His duties as a Winter Spirit and Guardian among them, as well as keeping children from danger, and snowball fights. However since discovering his center and past there was something else he started to take more seriously, the spreading of joy and fun. And meeting someone who was as serious as Alice seemed to be, he couldn't help but want to see if he could make her laugh.

And so the game began.

As they went the rest of the way out of the factory, Jack filled the air with chatter, sharing some of his more amusing adventures and mishaps to see what got a reaction out of her.

Alice for the most part kept silent, and seemed to ignore him as she picked her way through the tea and metal death trap. But she didn't tell him to shut up, so he considered that a something at least.

When they reached the area where the cable car was supposed to be, Jack found himself pausing in mid sentence.

The cable car looked like it had crashed upon entrance to the factory, and now lay in a smoking heap of rubble. He was now very glad he'd chosen to walk on the cables rather than use said car if it was going to do that.

He glanced over at Alice, who was glaring at the heap as if it had insulted her.

"What happened?" he asked.

She huffed and said, "The cable car always crashes on impact when I come here. Hatter then fixes it, only for it to crash again. I believe he hopes to kill me with it one day."

Jack found it more than a little disturbing that she was talking about someone plotting her death like it was the weather.

"Would you like me to fly you back across?" he offered.

Far from being grateful, she glared at him for the offer. "I can do it myself, thanks," she said sharply. "And don't even think about going ahead of me. I wish to see this rabbit hole you came here through."

She then climbed up the heap until she could reach the two cables that ran parallel to each other and climbed up on to the lower one, using the upper one to hold onto. She then began to shuffle sideways back across the bottomless chasm.

Jack shook his head in bemusement. Then he hopped onto the upper cable, and walked along it behind her. Being careful not to frost the part Alice was holding on too.

They were silent as they slowly made their way across. Jack didn't want to distract the girl in front of him and make her fall, and Alice seemed content to make her way in silence.

As they neared the other edge, Alice suddenly jumped from the cables.

Startled, Jack was about to jump after her, but instead he saw her floating on ahead of him to the cliff with a flurry of butterflies swirling around her.

Giving an appreciative whistle, he jumped after her and flew to the cliff edge.

Once he landed, he noticed that Alice had gone through a wardrobe change. The steampunk dress had been replaced by a simple royal blue frock and white apron (though he was slightly disturbed by the bloodstains that were splattered near the aprons pockets). She still wore the same boots over her now black and white striped stockings.

He grinned. "Now you look more like an Alice."

She glowered at him. "What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

He gave her an innocent grin, which only served to irritate her more. However he stopped when he saw her hand twitch towards apron pocket where she'd stored her knife.

Giving a nervous chuckle, he said, "Come on the hole is this way."

He led the way to the rabbit hole he'd used to come to Wonderland, where it was hidden just out of sight behind some rocks.

Alice bent over and examined the hole, before straitening up. "It's awfully big, but it was definitely made by a rabbit," she concluded. "I suppose your story was true then."

"Actually it was made by a Pooka, but close enough," said Jack flippantly.

"A what?" she asked, bewildered. Then she turned stern, and pointed at the hole. "No matter, it is time for you to be on your way, Frost. You have long overstayed your welcome."

Jack blinked at that abrupt dismissal. "Er, okay, I guess I'll be going then."

He turned to leave, but before he could go he spotted something in Alice's eyes. For the briefest of moments he saw a flash of loneliness in her eyes, and loneliness was something he was very familiar with, and wouldn't wish on anyone.

Alice lived in Wonderland, a world full of the insane, and deluded. How long had it been since she'd had a descent conversation with someone who was even halfway sane?

With that realization, Jack got a new idea and jumped on it.

"I'll come back to visit sometime soon," he said cheerfully. "When I do, I'll tell you what a Pooka is. I promise."

He then dove down the hole before Alice could reply.

*A*A*A*

Alice was once again startled by Frost's abrupt statement. Then the boy darted down the rabbit hole before she could rebuke his offer.

She fumed as she glared into the darkness where the boy had disappeared, but she did not call after him. She was also trying to make sense of the churning feelings inside her. Frost had seemed harmless enough, and if nothing else he was new and interesting. However, letting people from the outside world into her Wonderland was just asking for trouble, and she had had plenty of that to last a lifetime. But niggling in the back of her mind was the question, did she really want him to never come back.

"You could always seal up the entrance, if you do so wish for him to never return," said a voice behind her.

She turned to see the Cheshire Cat fade into existence behind her.

"I know that, Cat," she snapped. "I was simply considering the best way to go about it. Unless you believe he should be allowed to return. Do you think Frost is a threat?"

The Cat looked smug. "That boy is as foolish and careless as any imp could be, but it seems he means no harm for the moment. On the contrary, he was nearly the cause of the closest thing to a genuine smile from you in years, twice. Who knows what further scandal could happen should he return. Still, it could be best to err on the side of caution, but the choice is up to you."

With that said the Cat disappeared, leaving Alice to her thoughts. Eventually she left to see if the Hatter had defrosted yet.

She left the tunnel untouched.

*A*A*A*

And there you have the first meeting between Alice and Jack. I don't do love at first sight. It's a cute concept, but I have my doubts of it really happening. I want the two of them to be friends first and foremost, then things develop from there.

Special thanks to Scorpiofreak for beta reading this chapter.

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Disclaimer: I own nothing