Chapter 16

It's Mother, Alice

She was trying to get her attention, the room around her closing in.

"Mother!"

Her mother was staring straight ahead, never looking down at her own daughter. Her eyes were glass, face pale as the moon, her hands holding her dress at the side like she was in pain.

"Mother!"

Alice was trying to shove her mother, trying to wake her up. Why wasn't she waking up?

"Mother please wake up! Mother I'm here! MOTHER!"

Her mother looked down at her and grabbed Alice's face. "Alice run! Run Alice, run!" Her face started cracking like a porcelain doll that has just been dropped. Her cheeks started chipping away, falling inside her face. "Run Alice, run!" Her hands cracking and falling apart into dust. Alice got up and started running, running from whatever her mother told her to run from. A long mirror stood in front of her, her father smiling at her inside it.

"Insanity isn't a sickness, Alice. It's a gift that should be taken for granted. We can see things others can't, sweetie. We can dream monsters other people would never even think of, or make friends with the beasts of the wild."

"No… no…"

"Jump through, Alice. Join me, daughter. I'll catch you. We can live through the insanity together."

Alice took a step back, her father's smile vanishing from his face. "Why do you do this, Alice?"

"My father said insanity never existed, our imaginations were merely trying to bleed into reality but it was okay… because everything was just a dream and one day we would wake up…"

The mirror shattered, cutting Alice's face and showing a long staircase behind it. Alice picked herself up and kept moving forward up the stairs. They seemed to continue forever, the wallpaper around her tearing and falling apart each step she took. The world around her was turning black and as she reached the door, she looked in the mirror next to it and saw her eyes and hair were black as well. The eyes… are the windows to the soul… Alice opened the door and saw Sebastian sitting in the middle of the room on a black chair. Behind him was no other than Ragnarok himself.

"Your father never believed in insanity, your mother… was afraid you would fall into it. Your little love puppy is filled to the rim of this beloved liquid called crazy." He lifted Sebastian's face to show Alice that Sebastian's face was fixed. His eyes pure black, his smile so big it was literally tearing his face letting blood seep down and stain his white collar shirt. "You can't run from fate, Alice. It was your destiny to become insane."

Alice was screaming on the inside, her head telling her to do awful things. Kill people, KILL!

"Accept your fate, Alice. It could… kill hundreds of people. People you even love. Even if… they're all just a dream." Ragnarok's voice fading along with Sebastian and the black room. Everything was turning white… A dream? What if this was all a dream? What if Sebastian and Aaron were just a dream and I was stuck?

"It's just a dream, Alice. It's just a dream! Wake up, Alice! WAKE UP!" Alice screamed grabbing her ears trying to block out the loud ringing in her ears.

"You're not dreaming, sweetie." A warm, compassionate voice said. The words wrapping around her, soothing her as the ringing eased. A figure appeared and wrapped Alice in her arms and hugged her tightly.

"Mother?"

"Wonderland isn't a dream, sweetie. You have to battle the demons, Alice. Your father was right; you're not insane at all you're just gifted to help everyone even if they seem like a dream." Her mother's brown eyes and blond hair made the whiteness around them seem less bright, less frightening.

"Mother… I can't fight the demons."

"Yes you can, Alice. You're special, honey. Those boys need you more than ever to defeat the demons. You can do it, baby. I believe in you."

"When will I see you?"

"Very soon, honey. Very soon."

Alice's father showed up behind her mother, his messy brown hair, and warm smile punctured her heart.

"Can you die in a dream, dad?"

"Only if you let yourself, death only happens on your hand, Alice. You may not control it in reality, but this is that sorcerer's game and we have to play it by the rules. Whatever happens you never think of death as the last option."

"If I die will you be there waiting for me?" Alice asked, her eyes welling up in tears. Her father caught one of her tears and hugged her.

"Always."

Alice woke up quickly, breathing heavily. She looked over at Sebastian and noticed he wasn't showing a smile but more of an annoyed look. She smiled and ruffled his hair, her heart beating loudly in her chest. She never thought about her mother since she fell down the rabbit hole until now. This whole time she only thought of Sebastian and defeating Ragnarok but never once the women who made her who she really is.

Who she really is…

Alice quickly got up and threw on her blue dress and shoes. She quickly ran down the stairs and grabbed a lantern near the double doors before making her way through the back door of the castle to the horse stables.

"I hope I can remember where that caterpillar was." Alice said, her hands shaking as she tried saddling up a horse.

"You don't even have to bother packing a picnic for me, Alice." Absolem said crawling up a large green vine. "Hatter told me Nicolas was back in Wonderland and that he was looking for me, but I never expected you were looking for me as well."

"I have the answer to your question." Alice said, looking at him and lifted her hand to him.

"I don't accept rides on foolish humans. Essssspecialllyyyy dumb and fearful onessss."

"I know who I am now."

"Ooohhhh?"

"I'm Alice, the key to destroying Ragnarok. I'm fearless, brave and adventuress. Like my mother I fell in love with a broken man but slowly I fixed him to become a warrior for Wonderland. I'm not afraid anymore, Absolem. I want to fight and kill Ragnarok and save Wonderland."

"And thhhaaattt is the Aaaallliccee I knowww." He smiled as he fixed his eyeglass before hopping on her palm and she carried him inside and up the stairs into Sebastian's room. Sebastian was still fast asleep when she closed the door. Absolem jumped off her hand and crawled up the bed and held Sebastian's nose until he woke up gasping for air.

"Alice I already told you I'm not into that pain sh-" He looked at Absolem and then at Alice. "What's the smoking caterpillar doing here?"

"We have one day until the moon is full and the battle begins. I'm here to take you to retrieve the book that Ragnarok took from Nicolas, you balloon full of lust." Absolem spat.

"You know where he's hiding it?" Sebastian asked getting out of bed, taking the covers with him into the bathroom.

"Of course I do, monkey."

"Who else is going?" Alice asked him.

"Just Sebastian and I. Ragnarok won't kill him juuuusssttt yettt."

Alice looked up at Sebastian who was busy throwing on clothes. Absolem patted her knee and smiled. "He'll return safely and when he does the real battle and danger willlll beeegggin. Be warned, Alice. The horse feeds off of fear, never show an ounce of fear in the eyes of danger."

"I promise, Absolem." Alice said crossing her fingers. She looked out the window and saw the clouds moving away from the moon, the sky twinkling with stars.

Always, Alice. Always.