Alice in Wonderland IC [Irell Starling and Zitacamron95]

[Irell Starling]

Martius followed behind Ethan, peering up at the wall of bushes surround the castle. Mentally he went over the directions to get through the maze. Early that evening, he had spent hours having the others recite them over and over again. The plan was to have Alice and William distract guards outside the gate while the Hatter and Hare stole inside. The Hare still instisted that everyone know the way so that the others could escape safely into the maze if need be. He had everyone recite the directions so much that any of them should be able to make it through blindfolded, only feeling their way. Martius hoped it didn’t come down to that but at least they were prepared if it did. Without warning the security lights blinked a few times. The bulbs went out row by row starting in the east and making their way westward, like the setting sun, one by one until the entire area was engulfed in darkness.

A screech went up then from deep within the maze and it wasn’t long until the very ground began to shudder under the monsters weight as it came closer. The Hare pressed himself against the bushes, trying to make himself as invisible as possible as a giant creature emerged from the entrance. Not too far off a hooded figure in black unsheathed an iridescent, purple sword. The weapon seemed to glow with an inner light and the giant creature was momentarily transfixed.

Martius turned tapped the rim of a pair of glasses he was sporting and the world before his eyes lit up. Now, at least they would be able to see their way in the maze just like the other creatures of night. The Hare glanced one last look back at Alice before passing over the threshold and began heading deeper in the maze. He felt the Hatter’s presence nearby and was glad to have his friend close to them. Martius liked the girl well enough but he would never have been able to leave Ethan behind. "She'll be alright? Right?"

----

Alice swallowed hard as the light from her sword cast shadows over the monster’s features. Nothing the three had said to her could have prepared her for the sight of the Jabberwocky. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Animals walking upright and humans with attached animal parts were one thing but this being was from an entirely different part of Wonderland. No one knew just what the Jabberwocky had been before the experiments. Human? Beast? Insect? All that was certain was that the twisted mind from which the idea had once spawned was long deceased.

Most of the creature's body was dragon-like, including its gigantic wings, scaled tail, reptilian hind feet, and its long neck which reminded her of the mythical Hydra’s. The Jabberwocky’s front limbs were furry with dagger like claws as long as her sword. From its head grew long tendrils and in its mouth were teeth larger and sharper than a tigers. Not that Alice had ever been particularly close to the teeth of a tiger for comparison.

The creature stood watching her, transfixed by the light the VORPAL blade produced. Alice used this opportunity to steel herself. ”There won’t be any Hares to help you out this time,” Alice whispered to herself and began to sway slowly, trying to distract the Jabberwocky as much as possible while Ethan and Martius disappeared into the maze. ”Nor men with funny hats and blue skin.” The monster open its mouth and a long black, forked tongue pooled out onto the pavement below. When it hit, a hissing sound emitted. ”When you fall, there will be no cats to pick you up.” Alexander’s face briefly appeared before her eyes. The Jabberwocky hunkered down, preparing itself to lunge. ”And time is running out.”

From the shadows, white fangs rushed towards her but Alice was prepared. She countered the strike with ease and then did the unpredictable. She shielded her sword and plunged the battlefield once again in darkness. The Jabberwocky was heavy beast and although Alice could not see, she could feel and hear the slow shifts of his body. Trying to adjust, but not wanting to wait too long for fear the monster’s eyes were better suited to the darkness than hers, Alice planned out her next move. The blade flew. Lighting struck and then faded. A roar went up as black blood flooded to the ground. But the girl had only managed to slash off a single claw of the great beast's hand.

The Jabberwocky was hurting and very, very angry.

[Zitacamron95]

Ethan watched the lights go out and looked around for a moment before heading straight into the maze, there was no time to waste. They had to move quickly through this place before they were caught. There was little time to worry about others, and it was all about getting to the end of this mission. It was time to take care of the Red Queen and then be happy about the end coming to a close, they would be able to rebuild this place into something absolutely better, or at least back to its former glory. They had so much to do in such a small time, as long as William was able to make sure there was no way to repair the power box and he was able to keep the guards from finding out exactly what was going on inside of the castle, they would be fine. Hatter was sure that after the power outage, all the guards would be forced outside to keep her safe on the inside, so they had just enough time to run through the maze and into the castle before they were overpowered by the other guards.

Ethan paused when he heard the screech, the Jabberwocky, the terrible creature that protected the terrible queen. He just stood there for a moment staring at the figure, with wide eyes. He felt just a bit of doubt and guilt when he saw Alice attack, he had left a girl that only understood the basics of sword fighting to fight the gigantic beast. He absentmindedly placed a hand on top of his head as if reaching for the brim of his hat that should have been on top of his head. When he realized that it wasn't there he almost started to panic, not that it would be able to save his life or anything, but it was his hat. The Hatter was nothing without it and he had completely forgotten that he was even in the middle of trying to bring down the monarchy of Wonderland. It was enough to send any insane man attached to one specific item into a panic.

Ethan calmed down slightly when he heard his friend's voice, and was brought back to reality. He quickly caught up and continued to go through the maze. "She'll be fine, she's small and quick, the Jabberwocky will never know where she's going or where she came from," Ethan muttered as he looked ahead. They were at the end of the maze and at the entrance before they knew it. Ethan quickly grabbed Hare's arm and pulled him back when he realized there were two guards waiting one on each side of the large door. They hadn't noticed the two yet, but it was possible that they were heavily armed and would be able to kill both of them at a large range. Before they did anything, there was a sudden crash, and in the blink of an eye, one of the guards laid unconscious and the second one was looking about to see what had happened. Ethan pulled Martius even more behind, as if making sure that at least the Hare wasn't seen by the guard. Though, as soon as the guard had spotted The Hatter, the back of his helmet was dented and he was on the ground just as fast as the first one.

Ethan blinked at what had just happened, either it was a stroke of luck or there was something more powerful out there trying to kill them. He looked about, his grip tightening on Martius' arm like a scared child clinging to something that they wanted to keep safe from all harm. He felt something brush past him and quickly turned but nothing was there, then a mutter, "Go." The familiar voice put Hatter at ease as he released his grip from the Hare and stepped towards the entrance, staring up at it as if it was the last time he would ever see this castle. He just had to go after the queen and make sure everyone else got out of this alive. He took a deep breath and stepped towards the castle quietly, pressing one had on the door and pushing it open in silence. He pushed Martius forward and pointed in the direction that the Hare had to go to find his cousin. Jack would be somewhere away from the queen at this time, which just made their jobs even easier.

Once Martius was gone and after The White Rabbit, Hatter took a few moments to prepare mentally. He stood in the empty red entrance room for a good long while just hearing himself breathe. There was so much chaos that it was almost hard to concentrate on anything other than the fight he was just about to start. He had no idea what he was going to do or what was going to happen, but he was sure the rest would be able to make it out alive. He had a safety net in place if anything were to happen, they might have not noticed it, but he was sure now more than ever that it would work. He thought about Alice and how hard she must be fighting, she had only spent a few hours practicing with the sword and then she was pushed into battle. Then there was William, who had to concentrate on fighting while worrying about his brother in the dungeons. Lastly, there was Martius, who must have finally gotten to the second floor of the castle quietly making his way to where Jack would be safely hiding.

Finally, Ethan moved forward and found his way to the throne room, there sat the Queen Sophia all alone. Ethan looked up at her, "Your reign is over, you have two choices...fight or resign from your position."

[Irell Starling]

Alice panted. Even in the cool night air of Wonderland she could feel dampness on her skin. She didn’t know how long she had been fighting- seconds, minutes, hours? Did it matter? It felt like she had swung at it dozens of times but the monster was catching on. Every time light exploded the creature dodged out of the way. She could count the times she’d managed to hit it on the fingers of one hand: once across its serpentine neck, once down the length of its tail, once across the hand. She drew the blade once again but it fell short, only grazing across a monstrous flank. Alice instantly sheathed the sword and dodged. It wasn’t quick enough. The Jabberwocky’s leg bumped into her, sending her tumbling to the ground. The creature in a fit of rage, unsure about her location began to stop all four feet. The ground shook all around her and in a panic she rolled left and then right uncertain of where safety lay.

As if sensing her panic, the Jabberwocky called out in joy and increased its speed. Caught, cornered, and certain death awaited her at any second, Alice turned to the one thing that might save her. Afraid to move but also afraid not to move, Alice pulled out the VORPAL blade and stabbed upwards. Screams rang into the night and it took Alice a few seconds to realize one had also come from her.

----

Martius pressed a button on his watch as light shown around the room. Jack’s room was empty except for the incessantly loud do to the clicking of various time keeping devices around the room. The Hare would have to wait and bide his time.

Frowning to himself, Martius took in the room. Everything here was either pristinely white. White shelves held white clocks. A white rug was laid over a white carpet. White sheets where folded neatly on a white four poster bed. For someone so viscerally evil, it seemed ironic to Martius that Jack favored the color. ”Perhaps,” he mused to himself, ”It’s because we all want what we can never have.”

The only window in the room was open and the sheer white curtains rustled in the night breeze. On the table below it was a giant hour glass with about three-quarters of the sand still remaining. Stepping closer, Martius carefully examined the object and found it had a tiny placard on it which looked, compared to the rest of the device, relatively new. Alice.

”Damn you Jack!” Martius cursed out loud and then he opened up his lungs and began to yell, ”Come here you coward! You’ve always wanted a chance on me! Well now’s your opportunity!”
Silence echoed back and so in a rage, Martius pulled out his gun and began to shoot various objects. First he shot the large hour glass, then he turned on a collection of whitewashed grandfather clocks. It was also sickening the amount of joy he was having, as if somehow destroying the Rabbit’s collection would make up for his and Ethan’s lost homes.

Martius turned his trigger to the various shelves in the room as he started the line shooting one after another. But something caught the corner of his eye, something that didn’t belong. On a shelf, pristinely displayed by itself was a pink teacup with a disturbingly familiar crack running down its side. Before Martius could process this, a feminine scream reached his ears. Turning, the Hare dashed towards the window only to be greeted by a pitch black scene.

”She’ll be fine.” But those words weren’t spoken by Ethan this time. Brilliant white teeth gleamed at him out of the darkness. ”Too bad,” Jack continued, ”I really wanted something different for her, but the Jabberwocky favors short quick deaths. But then, we’ve all got to eat.”

----

Alice had, as she had hoped to, stab the Jabberwocky in its soft underbelly but what she had been unprepared for where the consequences. The VORPAL blade fell from her hand as pain ratcheted through her body. Black blood oozed from the wound and puddled onto Alice’s right shoulder down below. A sickening smell emitted as screaming indicated it was slowly eating its way through her flesh. Barely able to concentrate through the haze of pain that was enveloping her mind, the grabbed the blade and crawled out from beneath the beast’s flailing body.

Alice gave up trying to sheath the sword again, her arm was so weak that she could barely stand to hold the blade. Transferring it to her left hand, she stared into the large black eyes filled with hate as a roar emitting from the Jabberwocky’s cavernous mouth. A familiar feeling fell over Alice. She had only felt it once before, on her very first night in Wonderland. She had no clue how to use a sword with her left hand although she would try her best. Certainly by now the Mr. Hare and Mr. Hatter had made it inside the castle and once the Queen and Jack were destroyed, even without his heart, Mr. Cat would live. She had done her best and if she were going to die, which she knew she would, she could at least take down the Jabberwocky.

A yell escaped her lips as she charged towards the Jabberwocky. She parried once, twice, and swung barely missing outstretched claws. It was difficult work, dodging away from the monster’s claws and teeth. Every time she though she saw an opening, she struck, only to find her blade missed again. Four things were against Alice. First, her left hand was slower and weaker. Next, she hadn’t trained with Ethan on fighting multiple opponents. Third, she was in excruciating pain and finally, she had completely forgotten all about the tail.

The wind was pushed out of her lungs as she was thrown, like a doll, to the ground. A crushing weight settled on her torso, as the Jabberwocky’s tail pressed down on her. Alice struggled painfully to breath but air refused to come and the VORPAL blade was gone, knocked clean out of her hand. The Jabberwocky’s twisted face was lit by a distant light as its face loomed above her. Alice had the fleeting thought that the creature was somehow smiling before everything went black.

[Zitacamron95]

An invisible being was being quite irritating on the battle field, any guards that tried to get near the entrance found themselves either dead or unconscious. Oddly enough, the guards were attacked with what could only be described as claws. None of them passed the door and soon gave up on the target when they realized there was no way to see this invisible entity no matter what they did, it was too fast. They tried everything from trying to smear blood on it to looking out of the corners of their eyes to catch a glimpse of a moving target. The guards started to retreat and head for the more visible target, William who was fighting off everyone he could see with a very blood thirsty look in his eyes. Some of the guards were smart enough to actually get as far away from the place as possible, seeing soon that they weren't going to win either way. Soon the invisible being was just standing among a pile of bodies waiting for someone to try again.

Before anyone could gain the courage to try and be a hero to their queen, the being heard a scream. It was quite a familiar scream, it knew exactly who it belonged to. Without a moment's thought, it left its post -not that anyone would have noticed- and rushed straight for the Jabberwocky. It didn't even bother with the maze, instead it used a more direct rout of climbing over the hedges, which was a lot faster than going through the entire maze.

----

Ethan picked himself back off the ground, blood oozing from a bunch of different cuts that tore his outfit apart. It didn't even seem to matter how much armor he had worn, it was getting torn to shreds and cut through just as easily as his skin. Though, he was in bad shape, he was doing quite well. The queen was just as much out of breath as he was, she had just as much blood coming out of her cuts as he did, but at the moment it looked like the queen was winning. Ethan charged again, attacking with the precise moves that years of practice had given him. His eyes never strayed from their target, no matter how many times he fell to the ground. He was constantly getting back up and Queen Sophia was starting to see how hard it really was to defeat The Hatter. Out of years of screaming and yelling at her card soldiers for not being able to get rid of The Mad Hatter, she now knew that it was truly a difficult task.

Ethan got another blow in, but it was once again slightly dodged by the queen, enough to make it just another deep and useless cut. If it continued on, they would both just drop from either exhaustion or blood loss, The Hatter guessed the latter. There was no sound in the room apart from their heavy breath, and metal clashing against metal. The Queen didn't exactly fight with a sword, it was more like a sharp scepter. It was an interesting weapon, even Ethan would have thought so if he wasn't fighting against it. It looked just like a scepter that would be used by an evil queen but it acted much like a sword with a few different components. This thing was able to blow Ethan back a good few feet and knock him to the ground, it could burn him with fire or even blast him with lightening. He was starting to see how the rumors of their queen actually being a witch came about.

The two enemies danced to the music of metal clashing and clanging for what felt like hours. Neither one giving up and neither one admitting defeat or succumbing to exhaustion.

----

The being grabbed Alice by the arm and pulled her away from the Jabberwocky's range. He made sure she couldn't be seen and was perfectly fine. There was a small sound of buttons being pressed, before it was seen that the invisible being was the only one who discovered how to be completely invisible to anyone and everyone, The Cheshire Cat. He was still completely fine, maybe a little sleep deprived but fine. His tail swished back and forth of out anger and frustration while his ears stayed perked and alert ready to hear the next sound of attack. The scientist stood at his full height, The gloves he wore along with his outfit was stained with blood that wasn't his. His claws were fully out and ready for more flesh to be put between them, everything about him screamed executioner. He no longer looked like the careless, mischievous cat he had been before Alice had come into his life.

Cheshire turned quickly to the Jabberwocky, glaring at it, not just in the way of it being his next victim, but a glare of accusation for hurting Alice. Alexander leaped forward towards the VORPAL blade that laid on the ground, and grasped it into his hands. It only stayed in his hands for a few moments before it was placed next to Alice's unconscious body in case she woke up and needed to protect herself, he never enjoyed using swords in a battle. Cheshire finally looked at his new target, ready to play, but he was going to play it his way, he was a small cat going after some dragon like creature that wanted nothing more than to kill anything in sight, gladly it's sight wasn't too good otherwise they would all be in trouble.

----

Sophia gave one last gurgling shriek as she dropped the floor, her own scepter pierced into her heart. Ethan smiled weakly in victory and limped towards the door. He didn't make it too far before he was on the ground unconscious himself.

[Irell Starling]

The bedroom door behind Jack clicked into place. He situated himself between Martius and the only feasible exit in the room, but the Hare had other ideas than merely escaping. Martius lunged, reaching out to grab the collar of Jack’s nicely pressed white vest. The rabbit scooted out of the way with ease, laughter in his eyes.

“Come now old buddy,” Jack taunted, “You’ve never been much of a hands on person. But everyone knows how much you like…men.” Martius tried for the Rabbit again but Jack dodged just in the nick of time. ”Or it is just my wonderfully good…” The Hare’s fist slammed strait into Jack’s jaw. Then it all happened too fast. Martius was drug to the floor as Jack hooked an arm around his waist. The two men kicked and wrestled as arms went flying. Black met white and bloomed crimson. Jack’s right eye was turning purple and he boasted a fat lip. Martius’s ear was crooked and his clothes were badly ripped. But neither of them cared; this was personal. It had started when Martius’s mother had died and he was forced to move in with Jack’s family. Hatred between the two had grown although the Hare could never really understand why. But it didn’t matter anymore. There could be no excuses for Jack’s inhumane behavior.

A knock sounded on the door startling them both. Jack, seizing the opportunity wiggled from the Hare’s hold and bounded away. ”What do you want!?” Jack snapped, whipping blood from his mouth.

”Sorry to disturb you but the Queen…. she… she’s been…he killed her.”

Jack’s face was blank as he took in the news. Within a few seconds he was off again, walking towards one of the various shelves, leaving Martius on the floor to watch him. ”I’ll be right out!” Jack snapped at the door and then turned towards the Hare, his voice dropping lower. ”It seems you two have been busy.” His eyes surveyed the chaos of his room and the various items blown to bits around him. Stooping he picked up the pink teacup on a lone shelf. He turned around to face the other man, only to see a gun pointed strait at him.

”I was hoping for a bit longer but this will do.” Martius said removing the gun’s safety and aimed for Jack’s heart.

Jack’s smile didn’t waver as he beamed down at the Hare. ”Well this was fun! Too bad about Sofia… she was such a good… companion after all but I’ve always been in this for the long run. Do tell Alice good-bye if she lives, not that she’ll really remember me.”

Martius pulled the trigger but the beam from his gun merely carved a hole into the wall. Jack was gone, teacup, time machine, and all.

----

Alice gasped for air, struggling to breath, unable to get any air into her lungs. Rolling onto her side, she coughing as her mind whirled trying to figure out what had happened. The VORPAL blade lay beside her, casting shadows that her eyes still were adjusting to. She struggled to make sense of everything. Perhaps William had finally finished with the electricity and had decided to come join her in the nick of time.

A nearby roar told her that the Jabberwocky was alive and kicking. Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed the VORPAL blade only to have pain rush down her right arm. Stifling a moan, Alice transferred the weapon to her other hand. She could just barely make out the figure that was fighting it only… he appeared to have cat ears.

-----

The Hare rushed down the hallway towards the Queen quarters. A few Card soldiers got in his way only to be blasted out again. He eyes fell onto a limp body on the floor right outside Sophia’s room. Wet red pools soaked into the already red carpet.

”Ethan!” Martius called, trying to choke back sobs. Jack’s disappearance, Alice’s scream, even the Queen’s death were complexly forgotten as he skidding to a halt, knelt beside the Hatter, and looked for any sign of life.

[Zitacamron95]

Alexander jumped out of the way of another breath of fire. Though, the experiment may have gone wrong, he was still happy that had done such an experiments because now not only could he turn into a cat, but he had the agility and reflexes of one too. He never really thought of it too much, except for in these sort of events, when they were needed more than ever. He always made sure to direct the attention of the Jabberwocky away from Alice and onto him, who had tried to get farther and farther away from the girl, just in case. He hadn't even noticed all the other soldiers retreating into the castle, and the beast he was fighting wouldn't have noticed such a thing either. It was just the two of them, and the girl who, for the purpose of staying focused on the battle, was considered still unconscious to The Cheshire Cat. He didn't look back at her to see if she was actually awake or anything, it was more important that the area around was safe for her when she did actually wake up.

After confusing the Jabberwocky with using his invisibility watch, he ran under it to claw at the wound that Alice had made. A terrible screech came from the beast as Alexander's turned him visible again. He rolled out of the way as fast as he could, though he cut it quite close and ended up with a nasty burn on his right shoulder. Another thing he was glad about, the fact that he was ambidextrous, he didn't need his right arm as long as he had use of his left. The cat had gotten lucky though, the Jabberwocky had started tumbling down flailing about as it did so breathing fire everywhere. The beast caused quakes in the ground and bushes that were filled with red roses to burst into flames, the maze was already getting eaten up by the flames as the fire drifted from one thing to the next. Alexander stood to his full height and looked back for only a moment, a thought came to his head that made him finally lose focus, Alice.

The cat saw her laying there, but he could see even through the night that her eyes were open, once again another cat like ability. He walked carefully over to her hoping for just enough battery in his watch for one last thing. He went invisible once again and pulled Alice up into his arms. He was behind her, his right arm firmly wrapped around her waist and the other held her left hand in his, they both carried the VORPAL blade. "Don't be frightened it's only me," Alexander whispered into her ear, his head close to her's and so close to her ear that he was sure she could feel his breath. "Just trust me with what I'm about to do alright? You're the one that deserves the final blow of this beast, you're the one that had the courage to pick a fight with it. We're going to walk really slow and if you need to, just lean all your weight into me." Alexander got them both moving one step at a time, closer and closer towards The Jabberwocky.

The two stopped right at the chest as the beast laid there, no more power left in it to struggle. Alexander raised Alice's hand with the sword and then plunged the sword into its chest, right where its heart should have been. There was one last squirm left in The Jabberwocky and a screech, then there was nothing but silence and the limp body of The Jabberwocky. Alexander's watch decided now was the best time to lose battery, he stood there for a moment looking at the beast one last time before releasing Alice and pulling the sword out himself. "Nobody needs to know that was all me, Alice. You killed the Jabberwocky, as it should be," Alexander said as he now actually looked her in the eyes. "That creature has tormented countless villages and towns, it needed to be put down just as much as the queen."

----

Ethan opened his eyes just for a moment, as he breathed weakly, "M-Martius...I-I..." He struggled to breath and push the words out of his mouth, "l-lo-v-" The words were cut short with The Cat walking in and taking over on the situation. He quickly ordered Ethan to keep his mouth shut before his energy was completely taken up, and pulled Martius away demanding he looked after Alice and William. The Cheshire Cat didn't even have to flirt with any of the maids or female servants to get what he needed out of them, it was a lot easier when they already knew him. He fixed Ethan up and had him brought up to one of the few bedrooms that wasn't completely red or completely white. He stopped Martius before he could even think of following the servants that carried the unconscious Mad Hatter away concerned about his wounds too. It didn't matter how much The March Hare fought, Cheshire was going to bandage him up one way or another. After it was done, Alexander gave Martius the directions to where Ethan had been taken to.

He fixed up William quickly and quietly told him of a good place to be alone for the time being and then he finally got to Alice. "Alright, deary time to have a look-see at your battle wounds," he muttered as he checked her right arm and tried to do as much as he could with it. "You're gonna wanta see a real doctor for that one, deary, but later. I'm sure The March Hare up there could use some company, don't want anyone losing their minds again, we'll getcha checked out first thing in the mornin' after you get some sleep."

[Irell Starling]

Jack stood up an brushed some sand off the fur on his ears. He absolutely hated the stuff. It always managed to wriggle its way everywhere. Pulling a pocket watch out of his vest pocket he check the time, date, and year. Perfect. It was only about five minutes since he’d had the scuffle with Martius. Pressing a hand against his busted lip, the Rabbit swore he would make his cousin pay, but now was not the time.

Flicking the watch shut, he began to trudge across the beach. Not everything had gone quite according to plan. He hadn’t expected the Hatter and Hare to act quite so quickly but then, it should have been expected with the capture of Leon. He also had hoped that Sophia would have turned on Alexander, at the last moment, and crush his heart to smithereens. Well, you couldn’t have everything all at the same time.

The Rabbit continued to head east towards a cove, where he was hoping a particular ship was being docked. Since the thing tended to travel around a bit, he couldn’t be certain. The time had come to call in a favor, that man owed him. After all, not everyone knew how to find the perfect clock to stick into the belly of a crocodile.

----

Alice shrugged out of her black clothing, revealing a blue knee-high sun dress underneath. Fortunately, it had thin straps that were out of the way of the Jabberwocky’s saliva that had managed to eat its way to her skin. She eyed herself in a nearby mirror, more concerned about her wound than anything else. Peaking under the bandage the Cheshire Cat had just finished wrapping she saw that her skin was spotted and dark in certain areas, like over-large darkened freckles.

”Thank you,” Alice said after finishing her assessment. She said it about his work on her arm, but underneath she was also thanking him for his actions concerning the Jabberwocky. Up until now, she had let herself be carried by the flow of events but as things around them began to settle down emotions started to pop back up again. She wanted to ask him why he came but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the real answer, even if there was one. Smiling awkwardly she turned to him and said, “Yes. I’ll go check on him. You should get that arm looked at too.” before rushing out into the corridor.

Her footsteps echoed on the dyed red marble floors below. Most of the castle’s soldiers were gone, escaping with the news of Sophia’s death. The servants, those who had stayed, were, for the most part, back in their beds. It didn’t take her long to climb the stair and locate the room with Martius and Ethan.

The Hatter was lying in bed, his body heavily bandage while the Hare sat in an arm chair keeping vigil. Martuis's skin had paled and was a stark contrast to the black outfit he was still wearing. His eyes looked sunken in although they all had slept before the battle. He looked up as she entered and a corner of his mouth lifted briefly. ”Hello Alice.”

-----

Martius watch Alice walk across the room and sit down in a chair adjacent to his. Aside from the bandaged on her right shoulder and some minor cuts and bruises, she seemed to have escaped the ordeal relatively unharmed. The two of them sat in silence for a while, each of them deep in thought.

Alice broke the silence first, her soft feminine voice hardly more than a whisper. ”Has he awoken yet?” Martius shook his head slowly in response. ”It’ll take time. He’s been pushing himself too much lately, first with the side injury, now this.” Alice seemed to process this for a while before she added, her voice seeming sad, ”What happens next?”

The Hare looked at her, a little shocked that she would forget. ”In the morning we’ll start looking for the time traveling devices and send you back home.” Alice looked taken aback and then nodded once, her eyes not meeting his again. ”Yes, of course. How could I forget.” Her voiced sounded a little… uncertain.

[Zitacamron95]

"You're welcome," Alexander sighed quietly as Alice was already halfway up the stairs. He just wanted to make sure she possibly couldn't hear it, since he wasn't used to being thanked and saying you're welcome back was two strange words for his mouth to form. He looked at his burn wound after a while and took care of it, there was no way it wouldn't leave a large scar on that side of his body. It didn't matter too much, that is what he got for being the sort of person he was. Once it was taken care of, he slipped his way to a different room, where a few old outfits of his were kept. He pulled out some of the clothes and went to get everyone situated into a room and then he wanted to go to bed himself. He wasn't too sure what he was going to do about everything, but he was certain that he could figure out what to do before everything else was lost, and they had nothing left for anyone to repair.

The next few days Alexander had taken over for the time being, but in the sort of way where he was still riding in the backseat and could leave any time he wanted to. He made simple suggestions that seemed like good ideas. They had a short funeral for Leon, during the attack, it seemed one of the card soldier guards had gotten frightened and killed Leon. What exactly had happened in the dungeons and what was said, would be a mystery to everyone. William disappeared after day one, he was nowhere to be found, but if he had wanted to be found, he would have stayed. On day one, Alexander had everyone left in the castle searching for the time travel device, it did take a bit of convincing and a bit of flirting, but after a while everyone in the castle was looking in every corner of every room. They failed in finding the device though, and Cheshire made sure there was a group looking for it every second of every day until it was found.

During one of the days, Alexander slipped out of the castle and came back with Ethan's hat, which he gave straight to Martius, and new clothing for everyone. He got Alice a few nice dresses, The Hare got some more black clothing, Cheshire got himself a few more outfits and the other mismatched colorful articles were for Ethan. While everyone stayed at the castle, Alexander had the servants respect them as if they were royalty, the ate food made by the staff and their beds were always made when they were ready to sleep. The cat had gotten a doctor in for a house call, he had Ethan hooked up to a bunch of different machinery, and had everyone else looked at as well. Alexander also let word spread that Queen Sophia was gone and defeated by The Hatter, but whenever news paper reporters came around to ask for interviews with Hatter, Alexander had them sit down with Alice for a better story, on how she killed the Jabberwocky.

----

Ethan didn't stay completely unconscious the whole time Alexander was in charge. He woke up every now and then, but they weren't for very long. He opened his eyes during random periods of time and sometimes people were able to get some sort of babble out of him, but other than that, he was completely out. He wasn't in the best shape, Sophia had been a better fighter than Hatter had ever thought, though he would have never admitted that sort of thing. He still defeated her in the end and that was all that mattered, there was peace now, at least for a small while. They wouldn't have to run away or hide from anyone. Alice could finally go back home and everything could finally be over once and for all. That was all he could think about, all he would allow himself to think, he didn't allow his mind to wander on the facts for very long not even anything as simple as rebuilding his house.

After about a week, Ethan opened his eyes and looked around a lot more awake than the first few times. He still looked confused as if he wasn't too sure what had happened or where he was and his mouth stayed shut. He first looked at the machines that were connected to him, his arms were covered with needles injecting things into his blood stream and a heart monitor kept a steady beat. He saw that it was day time, and that was only evident because of the light that was streaming through the window, other than that he had no idea what time it was. He wasted no time though, as he attempted to push himself up into a sitting position and further investigate on where he was.

[Irell Starling]

PART II

Chapter 14
What it Really Meant was that They no Longer Believed

Alice had been on the same page of the same book for the last two hours. Sprawled out on a bed in a guest bedroom (which was becoming more and more her own as the days passed) the woman limply held the second volume of The Wonderful World of Wonderlands: History of the Kingdom and Surrounding Areas in her hand. It wasn’t that the book was terribly boring and she did like to read but her mental state was not cooperating as had been the case over the last few days.

She was terribly, terribly lonely. She continued to morn over Leon, although she had known him for such a short time, but more so the disappeared William. If anyone noticed her moping about though, they didn’t let on. The others were continuously busy- Alexander trying to run the kingdom after Sophia’s death, at least until a new ruler could be found, and Martius keeping watch over the healing Hatter.

Sitting up further, Alice reached out and placed a slip of paper in the book to save her place. Although torn it was folded neatly so that the phrase, “I love you” was prominent. It was all she had left of her past.

Immediately after the Queen’s death Alexander had the entire castle searching about everywhere for Sophia’s hidden cache. As of yet, they hadn’t found it. Although Jack’s hourglass was destroyed Alice could still feel the pieces of her past memories falling away, until at last, everything was gone. In some ways it was a relief as the permanency of the situation solidified. She didn’t have to worry about the what-ifs and was trying her best to cope with her new existence. Most of her days were spent cleaning up various rooms in the castle as the staff tried to restore them to their former glory. At first everyone had been too busy, even Alice as she was a popular person with the Wonderland media but as the days went on, Alice started to avoid the men entirely, unsure of to explain two important details. One, how despite their best efforts, her memories were now gone and two, how without them she felt no desire to go back.

Leaving the book lying on her bed, Alice wandered over to the door and peered out into the hallway. Satisfied that it was empty, she walked until she reached a giant stairway and descended to the floor below where she quickly skittered into the library. Perhaps if she could find something lighter to read, she could keep her thoughts occupied a little longer.

-----

”Please be careful,” Martius’s voice sounded hoarse even to him. It was probably because he really hadn’t used it over the past few days. Walking over he grabbed a fluffy pillow and placed it behind Ethan’s back so that it would help him sit up. Next he poured a cool glass of water from a crystal pitcher and handed it to his friend. ”You’ve been out for a while.” the Hare tried to explain, gesturing to the medical equipment attached to the Hatter. "They were worried your body might start shutting down.”

Over the past week the Hare had developed large circles around his eyes and his clothing was beginning to visibly start to sag, although he hadn’t gone back to take drugs just yet. ”How are you feeling?” he asked, forcing a smiled so unsure of what to tell Ethan. The twin’s fate would have to wait until later although he still hadn’t worked out how to break it to his friend. ”It’s been a week since you killed Sophia. Alexander has been taking over in the meantime. It’s not ideal and he doesn’t seem thrilled with the job but at least the country is continuing to function for now.” Martius fought the growing urged to ask Ethan what they should do next. The Hatter had always been the one to come up with the schemes and the Hare had dotingly followed along. Instead, the Hare leaned in and gently kissed Ethan’s cheek. ”I’ve been worried.”

[Zitacamron95]

Alexander checked through his list once again, he had been making plenty of them as he had taken over charge. He hadn't really used much of the power he really could have abused, but he had changed quite a few things. Most of it was towards the education system, and taxes, but he was hoping to do a bit more good so that everything in Wonderland started to become slightly better. People were still not permitted to enter the castle, but for more obvious reasons this time. It was under repair, but after that was all taken care of they would start recruiting soldiers, cooks, and servants. A lot of them had left and they were especially in need of more soldiers and guards. Wonderland hadn't changed much yet at all, it was still Wonderland, but there were small details that were starting to form a whole new life and hope for those that were still growing up in a dark place.

Suddenly, Alexander's back straightened, the list had been completely taken care of. He quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching and the moment he saw nobody paying attention he sat the list down and quickly walked away. In the middle of his strides he disappeared and the only thing left was a cat and clothing that Alexander was wearing. The cat made a mad dash out of the throne room and towards anywhere that would be great for hiding. He was just happy to get out of doing any kind of work for the time being. He ended up in the library, and spotted a certain girl that he knew quite well. Without even thinking he rubbed up against her legs like any regular cat would do and looked up at her with his green eyes. He let out a soft meow, as if to say he was sorry for everything that was going on, as if it somehow were all his fault and there was nothing more he could do to help. He had seen her looking depressed all the time, but he couldn't exactly figure out any sort of way to make her smile.

----

Ethan looked up at Martius for a long moment concerned already with his appearance. He didn't say anything though as the man spoke about what was going on and all that. When Martius kissed him on the cheek and said something that actually mattered, Ethan leaned on him instead of the pillow while he was still close. He wouldn't allow The March Hare to go any further away from him. He figured this was the best way to make sure he stayed close, if he stepped back The Hatter would fall out of the bed and he knew Martius didn't want that. He didn't exactly know what he wanted to say at the moment, his mind was still spinning as if everything that had happened should have been a dream and that he should have just been back at the insane asylum. He felt like he was there with all the machines hooked up to him. He just expected his doctor to walk through the doors any moment and tell him all of this was just a hallucination.

The Mad Hatter looked up at The March Hare and finally decided that the words were never going to come to his mouth and actually make sense. He moved his bandaged arm up towards Martius, the needles in his arm started to tighten and though, he should have just put his arm back down he allowed them to get pulled out as he reached for The March Hare. He pulled Martius towards his face and kissed him as if to answer the question on how he was feeling without using the words that were coming to him. Though, it really wasn't the right answer at all, but it was the one he probably would have said even if it was a lie. He wasn't going to tell Martius that he was still in a lot of pain and even a small bit of movement was killing him, and he certainly wasn't going to tell The March Hare about the feeling of this all being a hallucination or how he already knew there was something wrong.

His arm finally dropped and the loud screech of the heart monitor had finally come to his ears though it had started the moment he had ripped it out. "You need to eat and get some sleep," Ethan finally spoke up, "Being worried about me shouldn't mess with your own health."