Leverage

Never before had Alice been so grateful that the Red Queen had a remarkable track record for hiring stupid people Not once, in all her years running from her guards, had they ever thought that she would make use of Wonderland's shrinking mushrooms for an escape. So, while they debated whether she went left or right, she was busy thinking of a place to hide until this all blew over because while she doubted that they would find her, it never hurt to be cautious.

She didn't want to risk the unpleasantness that would likely occur should she go deeper into the hedges. She'd already witnessed them eating two of the less fortunate guards during her time with the Knave. Given her mission, she was less than eager to be their next victim as going home would be rather difficult. There was a better option though. Through some stroke of luck, there was an ornate bottle hidden just within the hedgerow. It was just a matter of opening it up and waiting inside for the guards to give up their search.

Once she stepped into the bottle, she immediately wished she hadn't. She almost couldn't believe what she was seeing, neglecting that inside the bottle was actually rather cozy and almost home-like. She looked down at the bit of mushroom in her hand to make sure it wasn't the kind that made you see things because this had to be a hallucination. Seated on a cushion on the other end of the bottle was a familiar young man she hoped never to see again.

"Alice?" He sounded equally disbelieving. That voice was all the conformation she needed that this was unfortunately real.

"You!" she exclaimed, taking a firmer grip on her bag and taking a step back towards the bottle entrance. Of course, he had the exact opposite reaction.

"Alice, it really is you!" His face lit up like the dawn and he practically leapt to his feet. She decided that the safety the bottle offered was not worth the annoyance Cyrus brought and turned around to leave. "I cannot believe it, of all the people to find my bottle, you clever…wait, where are you going?"

"I don't know, but neither will you," she replied, her skirts ruffling as she stepped out of the bottle.

"But you can't…you're my new…" he stammered. "Mistress mine, my will is thine, tell me your wishes three." Something sharp cut into the palm of her hand, she glanced down for a moment to see three shining rubies.

She turned back the young man in the bottle, still looking at her with a hopeful expression. She had no idea what had just happened, but if she had any knowledge of Cyrus, and she had more than she wanted, it was nothing good. She didn't want to know how he'd made three, likely stolen, jewels appear in her hand, she didn't want to know how he'd wound up in that bottle, or in Wonderland for that matter, or why he was being so friendly towards her, she just wanted to get him out of her life. For good this time. Yet it appeared that that would be easier said than done.

"Bloody hell," she muttered, walking back towards the bottle. Earlier she'd hoped Will would be right in his assessment that she wouldn't be alone for long, but not like this. Never like this. "What are these?" She held the jewels out to him.

"Your wishes. My circumstances have changed considerably since we last saw each other." He paused and his expression clouded. Something darkened in his eyes. If she didn't know it was an act, she would have felt almost sorry for him. "I've changed considerably since we last saw each other." Given their last meeting, she was fundamentally disinclined to believe anything he had to say on the matter of anything, let alone his moral standing.

"If you think I'm going to believe that, you're madder than…"

"I'm not mad. I really am a genie," he said, rolling up his sleeves to reveal two gold cuffs. "See?"

"I see you found yourself some new jewelry," she said, crossing her arms in front of her. "You couldn't just fool me once. You had to follow me through time and space to finish the job."

"I know it's difficult to believe…" He was impossible to believe. "…but I've changed. I'm a genie, you're my mistress, and those are your wishes."

"Even if you are telling the truth, I want nothing to do with you or these wishes. I don't understand why you can't just leave me alone," she said.

"Because, against all odds, you're my mistress and I can't…"

"Of all the mad things to happen to me in Wonderland, running into you again has to be the maddest," she said. "If I am your mistress, and I'm not, then I'm telling you to go and do whatever it is that you do, away from me, because I want nothing more to do with you." With that, she turned and walked away under the safe cover of the hedgerow, hopeful that this time, she was rid of him for good.

X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X~*~X

"What part of, "Go away, I want nothing to do with you," is difficult to understand?" she said, ducking under a tree branch. When she noticed somebody following her through the Tulgy Wood, she'd hoped it was one of the guards. Unfortunately, a quick glance over her shoulder proved otherwise.

"I am away from you," he said, ducking under the branch. "Alice, I don't think you understand the severity of the…"

"Five feet away from me is not away from me. Away from me is away from me," she replied, pushing a branch away from in front of her.

"You don't understand. You're my mister…" she let go of the branch and it smacked him in the face. "Wishes are complicated things and, even if you don't use them, you have to be educated about them. I've seen havoc wreaked from a man wishing for coffee and…"

"I'm sure you have. Because you're an all-powerful genie right?" she said, turning around and glaring at him again. She didn't know what kind of angle he was trying to work, but she wasn't going to fall for his genie trick. "How many people did you tell that story to? How's this one go? You're a poor, helpless genie, trapped in a bottle, and you need their help to be free and just when you get them feeling sorriest for you, you con them for everything they've got. Well, it's not working on me. Not again."

"It wasn't a story," he insisted, picking pine needles out of his hair. "What do I have to do to convince you that I've really been turned into a genie? I don't know how long it's been for you…" Not long enough. "…but I've been tethered to that bottle for over a hundred years…" She didn't understand how he expected her to believe it. She had to admit though, he was putting on a good show. If she didn't know what a conniving ass he was, she might just believe it. "…and it's hard to believe me but I really am trying to help you."

"Like you helped those students?"

"What stu…" his words were slow and confused, as if he really couldn't remember what he'd told her. "Oh Gods those…I'm so sorry, it's been a very long time, my memory's not always the be…"

"Save it for someone who doesn't know you."

"You don't know me," he said. "You met me for a few hours, eons ago…"

"A year ago." She'd seen and heard a lot of very unbelievable things in her time in Wonderland, but how he could keep pretending he was a genie when she very clearly didn't believe it was completely beyond her.

"For you. It's been longer for me. Tell me what I have to do to make you believe me and I will do it," he said. He looked almost sincere. It looked like the only way to get rid of him was to humor the madness.

"Fine. You have one minute to tell me everything you need to tell me," she said, setting down the bag and loosening the strings so that if the situation turned unpleasant, at least the Rabbit could get away.

He was still and silent for a moment, no doubt thinking of how best to spin the story in his favor, before saying, "Your wishes Alice, they are very powerful and very fickle things. They bring great misery just as often, if not more often, as great joy. There are however a few rules, I can't kill anybody, I can't bring anybody back to life, I can't change the past, and I can't make anybody fall in love. All the proof you need to know I'm telling the truth is right there in your hand. Make a wish, any wish, and it is my command."

The fact that he wanted her to make a wish was enough to dissuade her from doing so. The gems were probably cursed to make something awful happen to whoever made a wish on them. Every time he spoke he came up with something even more unbelievable. She pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. It was like he wasn't even trying to lie anymore.

"Just leave me alone and go back to your bottle." As the words left her lips, a cloud of orange smoke formed around Cyrus' feet. Her eyes grew wide in shock as the cloud swirled and enveloped him. When the smoke vanished, so did Cyrus. "Oh my. Rabbit?" She looked down at the ears now sticking out of the bag. "I think he might've been telling the truth."