Alice in Wonderland IC [Irell Starling and Zitacamron95]

[Irell Starling]

PART I

Chapter 1
Sentence first - verdict afterwards.

The woman stared around the empty holding room. White lights glared up above and reflected off the smooth metallic walls of her cell. Everything had had such a dream-like quality but she had long given into the reality of the situation. After all, hadn’t it been just yesterday when she had been typing up her term paper?

The woman felt terribly scared and terribly frustrated. She had been abducted (never mind if it was an accident or not) by some crazed man with white rabbit ears permanently fixed to his skull! She had no clue where she was or even how to get back home and to top it all off everyone around here seemed to be suffering from some mental disease. The tears she had been fighting back for hours welled up again.

----

Martius reached into his shirt pocket and retrieved the little glass vial he housed close to his heart. Lifting up the stopper, two thick amber drops slowly fall into the drink below. ”It really does serve her right,” he mumbled to himself, ”No such thing as applesauce-coffee? Who does she think she is?” Picking up a tiny silver spoon, he tries to stir the drink.

The saucer and teacup shake violently together making a terrible clinking noise as the Hare brings the cup to his trembling lips. In a few moments, the violent tremors are over and Martius feels his body slip into a blissful state of relaxation.

”Such a weird child,” Martius continues, ”What sort of parents would want an all human child anyways? Where’s the fun in that?” Reaching up, he begins to stroke his own velvety-soft ears. ”Still, I feel bad for her.” Martius wasn’t sure which was worse, being forced by Jack to serve on the jury or watching the poor girl cry crocodile tears. The picture of a different person crying out for help comes to mind, and then quickly fades into the recesses of his brain.

”I don’t understand.” The vial twinkles us at him wickedly, ”You’re supposed to be helping me forget. Then why do I remember?” Pocketing the object again, Martius stands up from the table. The restaurant around him, the Golden Afternoon, remains empty but since it’s well past closing time, he wasn’t expecting any customers.

Grabbing an old-fashion umbrella, Martius steps out into the windy night. His goal is to find the one person in the world who can keep his mind off everything, his good friend Ethan, and perhaps even inform the man of what befell the poor human child they ran into yesterday.

[Zitacamron95]

Ethan stood in his small cabin in the woods, it was a simple home, only consisted of three rooms, a bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom. Ethan enjoyed the simple things in life, or more like he enjoyed having simple things while he stole quite elegant and quite luxerious things from others. Some people would call it a problem, that he had kleptomania, but he would rather call it entertainment and a way to afford the things he couldn't when he was young. His main room served as just his bedroom, it wasn't like he was supposed to entertain guests at his house, so it was quite average. There were only a few people that ever stepped foot in the man's house and lived, so entertaining guests wasn't in the man's nature.

Ethan was looking at himself in the long mirror placed in his bedroom. He stepped back as he straightened his red vest and pulled the long sleeves of his purple button up shirt down to his wrists. He looked at himself once again and then proceeded to stuff his brown trousers into his black boots. He enjoyed wearing a lot of colors, though it was mostly in the shirts he wore and the layers that went over them. He tied his deep blue sash around his waist letting the ends hang past his knees, and finally his favorite thing in the word went on top of his head. His hat was the one thing you'd never get to see Ethan without, it was always on top of his head and he wore it proudly. Nobody really knew what it was with Ethan and that hat, but it was special to him for some reason.

"Now, what to do today..." Ethan muttered as he straightened his hat, on top of his head and walked across the room to grab his sword. He looked at it for a few moments, inspecting it for the longest time before it was set back down. "No, it's gotten quite boring attacking the queen's army, they're getting too slow." Ethan sighed as he looked about the room. "Something new...different...not boring..." Ethan muttered as he turned around and walked once again towards the mirror. He concentrated on the wall as he thought about what he was going to do. It was already sun down, and it was always the perfect time to attack the queen's efforts just for a good laugh.

The silence in the room was interrupted by a sudden knock at the door. Ethan snapped out of his deep thought and grabbed his sword before answering the door. He was always a cautious one, didn't need any problems with being accused for things they had no proof of. He only opened the door a crack, before realizing who it was and opening the door all the way. "Oh, hello, Martius." Ethan grinned, "Please, do tell me you come with something entertaining."

[Irell Starling]

Martius smiled up at his colorfully clad friend. The Hare’s outfit, usually consisting of a black vest with black slacks, seemed the polar opposite. Stepping inside, he found the place was decked out as usual. It never surprised him the amount of glamorous things the Hatter had managed to cram into such a small house. Martius, himself owned an apartment a few storied up from the restaurant, but the place seemed huge compared to this.

”Not really,” he said, choosing to sit down in an overstuffed arm chair, his usual spot whenever he visited, ”I was hoping you had something entertaining for me. Something to take the damn edge off. I just got back from one of the queen’s trails- and before you can pester me about it, I only went because Jack practically blackmailed me into it. Thanks to all the taxes her highness has been collecting lately, I’m up to my ears in debt and I’ve got particularly long ears.” Martius pointed to his extremities to emphasize his point. Impulsively his hand went to his shirt pocket but remembering that he had just taken a few doses on his way over, he changed his mind.

”It was that know-it-all girl we met yesterday, you know the one who said her name was Alyssa… no wait that’s not it…Abigail? You know, something classic, well anyways… the queen said she stole something and you know how her majesty gets at times… personally I think she’s upset the girl’s here in the first place. Do you think she was telling the truth? About Jack stealing her away? Still, what does it all matter? I’m sure they’ve got her all locked up nice and tight now and that girl’s going to be killed first thing tomorrow. Decapitation’s such a messy affair.” Martius paused for a bit. Ethan was really the only person Martius felt comfortable around which is why he let his thoughts run on and on.

”You know she cried? She seemed to be fine until she noticed I was sitting in the jury box and then she started crying. Ethan, it’s just killing me…” Martius looked around the room, ”Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a strong drink would you?” When his eyes finally settled on his friend, Marius groaned. ”What now? You have that look on your face. What are you thinking, Hatter?”

[Zitacamron95]

Ethan watched Martius sit down in the chair and make himself comfortable. A normal thing when it came to the March Hare, the only person that would get away with doing such a thing in the Hatter's house. Ethan closed the door and started to pace while his friend continued on and on about that girl they had met the other day. Ethan only chimed in when Martius had been trying to figure out the name and corrected him by muttering, "Her name was Alice." It wasn't like Ethan had a good memory or anything, but it was quite hard to forget the strange girl. It had only been a day ago that they had met the girl, so the name was still in his memories.

As Martius rambled on about the problems he was facing and what to Hatter sounded like complete guilt for what had just been done. Most of the time the two would stay out of these situations, it was best to let the queen have her way so there were no fits and the two didn't also end up with their heads cut off. Ethan already took enough risks with the way he acted and how much he really didn't go by the queen's rules at all. He was certain though, the one thing that he did that angered the queen the most was when he breaks people out of jail. He was always entertained by doing such things, but it came with high risks, and he only did such things when he was in the mood to feel like he was about to die.

As martius continued to speak though, Ethan stopped in his steps and looked at the hare with a smile on his lips and a plan in his mind. "Drinking isn't going to help, my friend, no the only thing that will help you is doing the right thing to ease your conscience. We're going to be playing with a huge risk tonight," Ethan grinned as he walked behind the chair that Martius was sitting in and the hatter but his hands on the hare's shoulders and leaned in as if someone could be listening to their conversation. "We'll just have to break her out," He whispered, "It's the only way to make you feel better."

[Irell Starling]

Chapter 2
Six Impossible things Before Breakfast

Martius shuddered inwardly as the Hatter’s words tickled the back of his neck. The warmth from the hands on his shoulders sent delicious tingles down the Hare’s spine. These sensations almost clouded Martius’s thoughts. Almost. But not quite.

“We can’t break…” Marius shouted and then looked around him, his voice lowering in a paranoid fashion, ”We can’t break her out! That’s… Ethan you can’t be serious! That’s crazy!”

Martius turned around to face Ethan, their noses almost touching in the process. His heart fell when he saw the look on the Hatter’s face. ”You are serious aren’t you?” Martius groaned as he yanked his ears down to cover his face. ”Who would have thought today could have gotten any worse!?”

Perhaps reasoning would work? ”Come on Ethan, just let the idea go. I’m fine! Really! Besides, we don’t even know which cell she’s in. Or…or… how to get her out. And getting her safely will be the least of our problems if the queen catches wind of this. You’ll probably get lucky- she’ll just lop off your head and be done with it but not me, she’ll probably let Jack torture me first.”

A sinking feeling settled into the Hare’s stomach as he peeked at the Hatter. No matter how much Martius had begged, whined, and pleaded, the Hatter had always gone on with his crazy schemes and ever the faithful friend, the Hare always plodding along after him. Life wasn't fair though. The Hatter always seemed to get off scott free while the Hare had bills piled up through the roof, thanks to the queen's tax collectors. After all, someone had to pay for the soldier's ruined uniforms.

[Zitacamron95]

The Hatter looked at the Hare as he turned around and tried to talk him out of it all, and it would have worked...if the Hatter hadn't been extremely bored. He just looked at the Martius, with the smile still on his face and eyebrow raised as he listened to the rabbit go on about how it was such a bad idea. Once he got something in his head though, it was hard to actually stop it from happening especially if it had something to do with his friends. He obviously could care less about the young lady who had gotten herself into a lot of trouble by running around the kingdom and expecting not to have anything happen to her. There was always something that the queen wanted and to not allow the queen to haver her way forced terrible things on other people.

Once Martius was done with all the excuses they could use quite easily to get out of doing something good and a temporary fix for Martius' poor conscience. Ethan just sighed and stepped away from his friend and headed over towards his sword. "Well, Martius, if you don't want to come, you could always just simply not come. I am going, and I am going to show Queen Red that she doesn't always get her way. Besides, I'm not going to let a friend sit here and stress about something that really isn't his problem but is going to be blaming himself forever about this," Hatter sighed as he lifted his sword and turned to look at Martius once again.

"There's whiskey in the cupboard in the kitchen if you still need that strong drink. I'll be gone a while, need to cash in a favor before I head off to the dungeons," Ethan stated as he looked at his friend. He didn't mind if Martius wanted to stay behind, he never told The March Hare that he had to go, he just went all the time. All it took was a simple no, I'd rather do something else, to get out of any of the Hatters wild plans for the day. He really didn't understand why Martius continued to come even after all the times he took the time to make excuses as to why they shouldn't do something.

[Irell Starling]

It never seemed to work. Martius sighed heavily into his ears. ”I know I don’t have to come,” he said and then let go, allowing them to spring back up on their own, ”Just… please don’t use my feelings as an excuse.” Martius made a show of checking the guns strapped to his waist. There was so much more he wanted to say.

”Silly Hatter, how could I not go?” he thinks to himself, ”You seem to get a kick out of it all. Damn it, Ethan I don’t understand why you’re so reckless all the time. Is it something you have against the queen or do you just like to tempt fate? If I weren’t around and something happened to you- I could never forgive myself.”

Sweat beaded on his forehead as the seriousness of their plans weighed heavily on his shoulders. This wasn’t some minor irritation to the queen’s armed forces, this was a direct assault to her power. ”If we don’t manage to sneak in and sneak out unnoticed, that stupid girl won’t be the only one dying in the morning.”

Martius pushed a button on the device on his wrist. A small holographic screen appeared announcing the time. ”It’s already 2 o’clock in the morning. We should get going.” Without looking back, the Hare walked out the door.

Outside the barely visible stars twinkled away as Martius reached for his pocket again. He was furious at the girl, at Jack, at himself, but none of his anger appeared in his features. When Ethan appeared next to him all the expression in the Hare’s face was gone, replaced by a stoic mask. The longing, the guilt, the fear were gone replaced by soothing nothingess that held the aftertaste of almonds. ”So this ‘friend’ or yours who owes you a favor, he got a name?”

[Zitacamron95]

Ethan smirked when Martius decided to join, he figured that much would happen, since his friend always came. "Fine, I won't use your feelings as an excuse, I'll just say I felt like being the knight in shining armor tonight for the girl. Can't let the queen excute the poor girl without a real reason," Ethan shrugged. He didn't mind changing his excuse for what they were doing. He knew what the real reason was and that was all that really mattered. He could change the reasons all he wanted out loud, but the reason in his mind always stayed the same. That was a good thing though, he would hate to always have to change his mind about what he was doing.

When Martius walked out the door and asked about the friend that owed Ethan a favor, the smile on the Hatter's face disappeared. "Well, you probably know him, everybody does. He's a cat with that mischievious smile always on his face. Alexander, or The Cheshire Cat," Ethan sighed. He hated to admit that they were going to see someone just as dangerous to talk to as their mission at hand, but there was always one thing good about the Cheshire Cat. If he owed someone a favor, it was kept and in the most loyal of ways, but if you were asking a favor of him, he would backstab anyone in the heartbeat if a better offer came along.

As they walked through the night in the quiet forest, Ethan stayed cautious and was more than just aware of his surroundings. Finally, they hit the large cabin owned by Cheshire, a nice place that was probably paid for by all the inventions that were actually marketed and sold. Ethan went to knock on the door only to have it open as the back of his hand tapped the wooden object. The door made a horrible creak as it slowly opened by just that small tap and stopped about halfway. Ethan pushed it the rest of the way to reveal a study room, the place was packed with machinery, chemicals and equipment that may not even come with names. There was no sign of life only a brown cat that stared at them with his green-yellow eyes.

"No games, Alexander, time to pay up on your debt," Ethan demanded as he stared at the small cat.

It seemed like the cat and the Hatter had a staring match as the two stared at each other from across the room, as if trying to burn the other with their minds. The cat finally pounced off the table and dashed off into another room. It didn't take long for a man to come back out of that same room looking at the two. "What is it you want, Ethan, I'm very busy."

"We're going to need your help breaking out a girl from the dugeon." Hatter informed.

[Irell Starling]

Martius glanced around the scientist’s house. Machinery parts, tools, odds and ends placed here and there. To the Hare, the arrangement seemed haphazard at best. Not to mention the fact that the placed reeked of machinery, oil, and chemicals. His sensitive ears even picked up on the ever incessant hum of electricity while his mind tried to come to terms with what had just happened. He had hoped that Ethan had been pulling his leg. There were three things everyone in the know knew about the Cheshire Cat: 1) he’s an inventor of sorts 2) he works for the queen 3) he’s best avoided at all costs.

”Why not?” Martius mumbled darkly under his breath at the Hatter, as the cat scampered away, ”Because really, breaking the girl out of jail wasn’t dangerous enough. Let’s just fraternize with the ‘lap cat’ of the Queen in the process. What’s next? Summoning the bloody jabberwocky? Or maybe next we’ll stop by the Duchess’s place for a nice round of croquet?”

Cheshire appeared then in person, his presence chilling the air. Martius glared over at the scientist. There was just something about the man. Maybe it was prey instincts but no matter how charming Alexander seemed on the surface, there seemed to be something brewing deep down and not something the Hare cared to ever be mixed up in.

After Ethan explained why they had come, Martius spoke up again, eyes distant. ” You remember her, don’t you Alexander? The all-human girl with long, golden hair and raspberry-cream eyes? She talked about meeting you during the trail today. Talked about you and your charming smile. Come to think of it, I thought I saw her eyes light up a little bit when she said your name. The Queen's decided to kill her tomorrow-” Martius shook his head and sighed, the clouds in his eyes disappearing into empty pools, ”but I’m sure you already knew that.”

[Zitacamron95]

Alexander sighed, "I told the girl to stay away from the queen, she just couldn't listen could she?" The Cheshire cat shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at the two men that stood in his doorway. Most often the cat would have killed anyone that tried to come into his house, but he did owe a big favor to the Hatter, one that couldn't be taken lightly. He was in debted to the Hatter, and sadly that meant that if there was something that Ethan needed done, it would have to be done. He wouldn't be able to make a deal with someone else to get out of this favor. It was just something he couldn't wiggle himself out of like he normally did. "So, you want me to help break the poor girl out of the dungeon? Why me?" Alexander asked.

"You know exactly why you. Now we don't have that much time to talk so either you help us out or I am taking back my part of the deal." Ethan growled. Alexander's eyes snapped up to Ethan's as they stared at each other in silence for what seemed like a few minutes when it was actually only a few seconds. It was as if Alexander was challenging Ethan to see if he would actually do such a thing while Ethan was answering that question just by standing there with his arms crossed. It wasn't like a glaring contest or as if there were sparks flying between the two, it was more like Alexander was weak and pleading with the Hatter had the upper hand.

Finally, The Cheshire Cat sighed in defeat and broke the eye contact. "Right, we should get going then," Alexander grabbed a few things before he pushed the other two out of his house and started to lead the way to the dungeon. "You'll let me take care of the guards, all you have to do is find the girl and get out," Alexander informed as they got close to the dungeons. Ethan nodded and looked at Martius for a moment before looking back at Alexander, who was fiddling with his watch. "Try to keep up you two," The Cheshire Cat smiled as he disappeared right before their eyes and headed forward towards the first two guards taking them out easily.