Chapter 4: A Home For Alice
'Great. Just Great.'
I think to myself as I head down yet another path in an attempt to find my lost friend. Well Grell probably knows where he is but me on the other hand has no idea where I am at now. All I know is that one minute I am walking beside Grell with him boasting about his love for his White Rabbit(Sebastian). And the next I am on a barely lit path that has line of dead or nearly dead weeping willow trees. And if it wasn't creepy enough there are broken dolls, puppets, and even a few dressing mannequins littering the ground around the trees. The path itself is made of what I guess used to be brightly colored stones that the paint has been worn off from years of being ignored. I let out a sigh and continue following the path feeling like this is the right way to go for some reason.
"Okay what now?" I ask aloud to myself when a fork in the road appears, making it now a three way path. The path on the right has a sign with the White Rabbits symbol on it making me think it leads to his home possibly, Grell did say that most of the paths lead ether to someones home, a shop, or to any of wonderlands main landmarks/areas. The left sign has a small black door painted on it along with a pair of rounded grey ears and a thin tale.
"That must lead to the Dormouse's (Ronald's) home then." I say to myself stepping up to the middle path to search for the sign and finding none. "If there isn't a sign does that mean it leads to a empty house?" I shake my head scolding myself for talking to myself so much. I decide to follow the path and if I can't find anything at the end I will head back and see if Ronald or Sebastian can help me find Grell. Or at least take me back to the Hatter's place so I can wait for Grell to show up again. The trail of broken dolls and toys continues as I walk down the path and seems to be increasing as I do so. When I get to the end of the path I can't believe my eyes as I stare up at the massive building in front of me. Like everything else in this world it is something out of a fairy-tale. Well the evil side of the fairy-tale. It is a large victorian style mansion that is painted black with a dark purple tile roof, porch, and windows. A tall spiked metal fence surrounds the whole perimeter of the front yard and wraps around to the back of the house. I don't know why but I feel as if I was meant to find this house, as if something has drawn me to it unknowingly.
"Midnight~" someone purrs wrapping their arms around my neck causing me to jump and my tail to flatten against my leg in fear. I turn my head slightly to see the grinning face of Grell and let out a sigh of relief. "What are you doing here this place is one of the creepy spots I warned you about." he says looking at me with half lidded eyes and frowning slightly.
"I don't know actually all I remember is getting separated from you. I just followed the paths trying to find you again and ended up here." I sigh leaning into his chest slightly and staring up at the old house with curious eyes. I feel Grell shift his arms to be around my waist and blush slightly. 'What is he doing now?' I think to myself as he rests his chin on my shoulder.
"Looks like you have found your house then doesn't it." he purrs before pulling me back down the path away from the house. Well when I say pull I really mean he has me thrown over his shoulder again and is running down the paths with ease. I just sigh and literally hang there as he maneuvers down the paths with his cat-like grace. After a few minutes I hear the sound of something breaking and instantly blush bright red. 'Tell me he isn't going to -' I don't even get to finish my thought before I hear an angry yell.
"Sutcliff! What in the world are you doing!" Will yells a blush of his own appearing as he pushes up his glasses nervously. I hear Undertaker's muffled giggles and a stuttering that can only be from Ronald. The reason for this you may ask is simple. Grell has seem to forgotten that while I am hanging over his shoulder my skirt ends up pulled higher. And at the moment I am currently flashing everyone in front of him. (well behind me technically)
"What in Wonderland are you talking about Willie~?" Grell asks still not putting me down and his tone making me wonder if he is joking or just plain stupid. I tuck my tail between my legs in an attempt to push my dress skirts down if even just an inch more.
"G- Grell." I stutter out not even trying to hide my blush anymore as I tug on the older cheshire's hair slightly.
"Yes~" he purrs in response but still not releasing his hold around my waist even a little bit.
"Can you please put me down..." I pause trying to think of the right words that he would understand. My ears perk up slightly when I finally think of something that I hope will work. "A lady should not show certain area's to a man that is not her mate or husband."
I feel Grell's shoulders stiffen as he hears my words and in an instant I am back on my feet. Grell is stuttering out randomly about how sorry he is and that he should have noticed this for he is a woman himself. I just watch as he starts running around dramatically while posing at random intervals in between. I am so distracted by his antics that I don't hear someone come up behind me until it is too late. Suddenly a pair of strong arms pulls me backwards and into someones chest. I struggle slightly until Hatter's giggling sounds next to my left ear making it twitch and hit his nose. This in turn makes him laugh even more as he starts to rub his cheek on the spot between my ears affectionately. His long silver hair falls forward and tickles my sensitive feline ears causing them to twitch even more. It is at this moment that Grell decides to snap out of his little drama show.
"Hatter! Stop doing that to Midnight Cheshire ears are very sensitive!" He shouts pulling me out of the madman's arms and into his instead but placing his chin on my shoulder and not my head. He then jumps up clapping his hand together excitedly while spinning around in a circle on his heel. ('How he does this in his heeled boots I'll never know.') "Well Midnight has great news don't you darling?" I raise an eyebrow at him confused about what he means and he rolls his eyes. The only thing I did was find a house to stay in so I decide to tell them that.
"I found a house to use while in Wonderland, is that what you wanted me to tell them Grell?" I say calmly but the others all smile widely, well except Will he only nodded his head slightly at me.
"Well then lets go and see the place eh~ Hehihihi~" Hatter giggles motioning for me to lead the way. I sigh and head off down the path that me and Grell just came from. It only takes about 10 minutes to get to the start of the creepy doll path. Without another thought I head down it still trying to get my blush to disappear. 'Oh how I wish I could disappear after that embarrassing moment.' I hear all of them stop walking and look over my shoulder to see what is wrong. I feel my eye visibly twitch at the sight of the four men looking around like crazy. Hatter is even picking up the rocks to look under them.
"What are you all doing?" I ask crossing my arms over my chest and turning to face them fully. Grell floats over to me but goes right past me still looking for whatever it is they all lost. 'Their minds?' I think to myself while snickering lowly.
"We have lost you Midnight darling~" Grell says seeming to give up on finding 'me' and lounge in the air on his stomach. "You have turned invisible on us completely meow~"
"Eh?" I exclaim looking down at myself and 'seeing' what he said is true. "Okay then can I borrow your ribbon Grell?"
"Eh? Sure but why do you need it?" he asks holding out the stripped ribbon for me to take. I take the ribbon from him making the tips of my fingers brush his hand slightly. I hold the ribbon up at eye level and it looks as if the small length of fabric is floating in the air.
"How are you all to follow me if you can't even see me?" I say tying the ribbon to my tail and letting it swish side to side gently. "So until I can become visible again just follow the ribbon." I start off down the path again with Grell walking right next to me on my left. Hatter is on my right with Will and Ronald just behind me both being almost deadly quiet. When we get to the part of the path with all the broken toys and things Ronald whimpers slightly. I slow my pace and wrap an invisible arm around his shoulders as a way to comfort him, Grell's ribbon on my tail being at level with his shoulders. When I look back towards Grell and Hatter both of them have angry or jealous looks on their faces. I ignore it and think it is only them being silly as per usual. When we get to the end of the path I let go of Ronald and walk up to the front door. I jump back in surprise when the door opens by itself but there is noone on the other side.
"An enchanted house I thought they were all destroyed in the war?" Will states pushing his glasses up and helping Ronald down from a tree, the poor little guy was so scared by the door that he jumped into the tree branches above the pair. "These kind of houses are very picky about who they allow to live in them. They are made of spirit trees and,as long as they are taken care of, will last practically forever."
"So I basically have a living house?" I mumble scratching my cheek as my mind tries to comprehend everything. Giving the dark entrance of the old house a slightly fearful look I go over my options. One: go in and check it out and possibly get scared or Two: go live with Undertaker and get scared on a daily bases. I straighten my invisible shoulders and swish my tail in determination. Walking past Hatter and the others kinda glad I am invisible and they can't see how scared I really am. "Well if the door opened for me it can't be that bad could it." I say getting nervous glances from Grell and Ronald. Taking a deep breath I walk inside and into what appears to be a entrance hall or something. (It is pretty much the same layout of Ciel's mansion is.) Without turning my head I call out for the others to follow me and that it's safe. Heading for the massive staircase really hating my trait for being overly curious of new places. I hear the others footsteps echoing on the marbled floors and aim my ears towards the sound. Looking behind me I see they are all looking around the room with wide eyes. (well except Hatter who still has his eyes covered) I swish my tail effectively getting their attention and start up the stairs again. They follow with Grell using his levitation powers to catch up with me easily. Giving him an unseen smile and purring slightly as I walk down the long carpeted hall.
'Wait why did I purr like that to him?' I ask myself stopping and causing Will to run into me and I end up falling to the floor with a loud mewl. (think like when a cat is scared and makes the loud screeching noise)
"Midnight are you alright?" Ronald asks walking towards me and accidentally stepping on my tail. I yowl in pain and shoot up off the floor clutching my now sore tail to my chest. My ears are lain flat against my head as small tears and sniffles escape me. I turn my head to send a nasty glare at the small mouse and let out a small scream.
"What the heck!" I yell as I stare down at the others with wide frightened eyes. I am now floating above their heads right next to one of the large lamps hanging from the ceiling. Grell's ribbon has come undone and is laying on the floor next to Ronald's feet. Hatter seems to find all of this highly amusing for he has a large smile on his face again. "G -Grell!" I stutter quickly as I literally start doing cartwheels in the air, I have become visible again and am holding my skirt down as best I can.
"Yes darling~" he purrs as his ears twitch slightly at the sound of my voice. Using his tail to pick up his ribbon and tying it back around his neck he looks up in my general direction. A small mischievous smile crosses his lips as he floats up holding his hands out in front of him. "Just grab hold of me darling and I'll help you down." I make a small purring noise as I grab his hands and am pulled down to the floor again. "I think after we explore we should try and master your powers more." I link my tail with his causing him to blush slightly but think nothing of it as I link my arm through his.
"Agreed." I say pulling him along with me as a living weight to keep me from floating off again. At that time I was completely unaware at the strong sense of jealousy coming from the others. Nor did I notice now smug Grell was acting as he tightened his tail around mine.