~Author's Note~

For all the Fullmetal Alchemist fans check out my new FMA fanfiction: Fullmetal Alchemist: Devil May Cry! A twist of the story you can't resist (unless of course you're a shrimp size Elric who is too young for tattoos)

Thanks!

Chapter 23

Home Again, Alice?

"How are we going to get back?" Sebastian asked Alice as they walked with Alice's mother back into the house. Alice shook her head.

"He blocked the passage off. I don't think we can go back." Alice whispered.

"What are you two whispering about?" Alice's mother snapped as the maids took Sebastian away to get cleaned up. "Alice, dear… Has Lord Charles treating you kindly?"

"Of course, mother. He's fine but…" Alice looked through the window where she saw the large oak tree where the rabbit hole was under.

"But?"

"I can't explain… You wouldn't understand." She looked at her mother and bit her lip. "We shouldn't be here right now…"

"Whatever do you mean, Alice? You two have been out there for the past hour!" Her mother cried.

"Hour?" Alice asked, her face puzzled.

"Why of course! We thought you two were just talking and I find you both covered in mud and dirt. Whatever were you doing? Dirt will ruin your fingernails, Alice. Just look at them!" Her mother said and grabbed her hand as she examined her daughter's dirty nails, mud and dirt embedded underneath her nails. Alice pulled her hand away and glared at her mother.

"See? You don't understand anything like Seb… I mean Charles does! Charles understands my dreams and he's perfectly fine with them. I fell down a rabbit hole and I went back to that place Dad was always talking about and I met Sebastian… and…"

"You hit your head, dear Alice. You're talking nonsense!"

"No! Sebastian is Lord Charles! His hair is really black and white! He's under a curse and if we don't find a way back to Wonderland he'll die!"

"ENOUGH!"

"Alice!" Sebastian yelled as he rushed down the halls wearing only a towel. Alice's mother covered her eyes.

"Lord Charles… might I suggest wearing at least pants?" Her mother asked but Sebastian ignored her.

"My lady! The dirt isn't coming out of his hair!" One of the maids hollered at Alice's mother.

"What?" Alice's mother looked over at Sebastian and felt his hair, not a speck of dirt fell out or left a mark on her hand.

"…You're not Lord Charles! IMPOSTER!"

"Oh shut it will you?" Sebastian demanded. "Alice… we need to find a way back now! Look!" He showed her his chest and the skin covering his heart was a slightly different color, a slight darker color. "The curse is turning my heart black… Once its midnight it'll be pure black and I'll die." Alice pressed her hand on his chest and he flinched in pain.

"What is going on here?" Her mother demanded. Sebastian only muttered curse words before explaining everything to her. He started off explaining about how he tricked Alice by changing her dreams and planning of kidnapping her but Aaron and the Hatter ruined his plans by pretending to be Charles and his friend. He told her about the kidnapping and Ragnarok and the battle and how now they're stuck here because of him and finally he explained about the curse that Ragnarok put on him and Aaron and that both of them will die at midnight unless they kill Ragnarok. Her mother listened intently and nodded her head.

"Charles… he doesn't exist?" Her mother asked.

"No… Aaron and Hatter found a way to get here and trick you two into coming here." Sebastian replied.

"I… I don't know to believe…" The mother said.

"I don't care what you believe." Alice snarled at her. She grabbed Sebastian's hand and pulled him out of the house and back to the oak tree, her mother following them screaming at them. The maid ran past Alice's mother and handed Sebastian his clothes and the gloves. They stared at the rabbit hole and Alice touched the necklace Sebastian gave to her that was hidden inside her dress.

"Sebastian?" The maid asked. Sebastian turned and saw the girl smile at him. Her eyes glittered in the light green color like Hatter's, her hair falling in orange curls around her face and her pale cheeks glowed.

The area surrounding them was cloudy and dark as the scene changed around them into Alice's first nightmare of Ragnarok. The white landscape was blinding them and around them stood bodies upon bodies of their friends and family members. Ragnarok stood in the middle of the hills of bodies, a river a blood rushing past him from the waterfall in the distant. He turned and flicked his silver hair back as he tapped his hat towards them.

"Pretty sight isn't it? I always wanted Wonderland to look like this… A land where nightmares really do exist." Hatter's hat floated past them down the river and Alice picked it up. "There is no more happily ever afters."

"You're wrong…" Alice said and flung Hatter's hat at him. He shrieked and a dark cloud swallowed them up and she felt the hard ground beneath her before her legs gave out and she fell onto the hard cold surface. She heard another thump next to her, Sebastian. Alice lifted herself up and saw the hallway of paintings, the dream she dreaded most. Sebastian flung himself up and looked around.

"Where are we?" Sebastian asked.

"My nightmare." She responded before heading down the long dark hallway. "For some reason… he's trying to scare me… he showed me returning home, Wonderland in ruins and now…" She saw the paintings bleeding red and they took off in a run until they saw the last painting ahead of them. The painting of her and Ragnarok. She opened the familiar door and they fell into the marble covered room where she saw a boy sitting in a large chair wearing a black suit, a red cape dragged across the arm of the chair as he sat with his feet dangling off the other.

"So… you're the pure, Sebastian." The boy muttered as he lifted his feet off the chair and slammed them against the ground, his hands grabbing the arms of the chair. The boy lifted himself up and stood in the light where his dark coal eyes and evil grim smile made Alice shiver. The heartless Sebastian stood there gleaming at them as he pulled on his gloves and chuckled. "Stupid… so stupid for working alongside spineless fools." Ragnarok walked out from amongst the shadows and smirked as he noticed the dark spot forming on the real Sebastian's chest.

"He's dying… what a pity." Ragnarok laughed. Alice glared at him and saw Sebastian's dark spot growing darker. He didn't have much time left… Alice saw the heartless Sebastian edge closer.

"Alice… why are so in love with this coward when you can have me instead? He rather see Wonderland form into some fairy tale happy go lucky state! Together we can turn Wonderland into a kingdom of riches and power!"

"Just think… all you have to do… is kill him." Ragnarok said and handed her a silver dagger. "Think of all the money in the world you can have and how much power you'll have with your fingertips…" She held onto the dagger and felt a deep cold covering her heart. She saw a drop of blood splash onto the dagger. She squinted and saw her reflection on the blade, her eyes were bleeding as they began to turn black. Heartless Sebastian grinned and the real one spun her around.

"Alice… Don't listen to them!" A portrait appeared behind him as Sebastian's eyes were painted black and Ragnarok stood behind Alice who sat in a chair, her hand holding Sebastian's while the other grasped a staff. Her clothes were pure black like the other twos and her eyes… were black and dead. The coldness in her chest increased and the dagger was tempting her, whispering her too stab Sebastian. The pleas and cries of the blade rushed into her skin soothing the cold making it seem pleasurable. She held the dagger and smiled before lifting it, the sharp point towards Sebastian's heart.

"Do it!" Ragnarok hissed and he grabbed her shoulders from behind her. "You're Wonderland's last hope." It was that moment however when Sebastian looked away, the pain on his face shattering her soul as she sent the dagger flying. Her hand froze just as the dagger nicked his skin when something felt hot on her skin. She screamed in pain and dropped the dagger, her hands pressed against her chest as the necklace Sebastian gave her burned her flesh shutting out the cries of the dagger and Ragnarok's words. The blue and red spirals on the necklace protected her and the whispers of her friends echoed past her.

Why fall for someone like me? I'm as mad as Hatter.

I am seducing madness aren't I?

Say you love me, Alice.

Always…

"Always…" Alice whispered and grabbed the dagger, the cries from it shut out against her. She turned and saw Ragnarok and the Heartless Sebastian staring at her, their faces in shock and pleading to kill the real Sebastian.

"Alice…" Sebastian said touching her arm. She replied by kissing him briefly.

"To symbolize our love for eternities to come." She cooed and turned towards the other two. "You're not real… none of this is real… Returning home, the waterfall and this place is all nightmares to me." She took the dagger and stabbed the portrait, the Heartless Sebastian screaming in pain as a stab wound in his stomach started to bleed black smoke. Alice looked at him and then stabbed the picture again.

"STOP ALICE! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" Ragnarok shouted over the clouding Sebastian.

She kept stabbing the portrait until pieces started to fall off and vanish into thin air. A dark heavy smoke covered them as Ragnarok came at her with a dagger and Alice closed her eyes, she was ready for death.

Wake up, Alice…

Wake up!

Be brave, Alice...

She jolted awake and saw the green eyes of Hatter and sparks flying across his head.

"Alice?"

"Hatter…"

"She's awake!" Hatter cried out to the others and she lifted herself up just as Sebastian coughed and opened his eyes. She cried out in relief as she grabbed his arm and helped him up. He looked at her and her face in his hands.

"You… How did you know?"

"Your voice." Alice replied and saw the dark spot on his chest wasn't there.

"Are you guys okay?" The Fairy Queen asked over her shoulder as she blocked one of Ragnarok's spells. Aaron and Mary Beth stood beside her blocking spells and fighting away his soldiers. Alice pressed the necklace into her chest and the feeling of loss after seeing her mother. It felt real to see both her and Sebastian in the same place… but the chances of that were slim. She was afraid to wake up and not see any of her friends ever again. Absolem's message… The final act of the spell. She knew what she had to do. She pulled off the necklace and looked at the red and blue spirals entwined on the heart. Tick tock, Alice. Ragnarok's weakness wasn't his hat, it was love. He was never given love and for that he has always feared it. She grasped the locket and picked up her sword that Sebastian gave to her.

"I'm ready."