Return to Wonderland

Return to Wonderland
based on "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass"

Disclaimer:
The original story belongs to Lewis Carrol (god rest his soul) and I'm only borrowing the characters.
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Return to Wonderland
AJ Angelique

Chapter 5: Out of the Rain

Alice and Chesire Cat made their way through the dark rain, guided only by the cat's ability to see in the dark. It wasn't long before the two reached their destination and Alice began to recognmize the familar outline of a spindly loking tree with a large door set into it. Chesire Cat reached out and opened the door but instead of the Queen's garden, Alice was surprised to find herself entering a cozy little cottage...or treehouse by the loks of the bumply looking wooden walls. He led her into the small abode as the door closed safely behind them.

"I don't suposse you have anything dry I can change into?" she asked.
"I can look, why don't you sit down for now," he said as he gestured to a small chair made of wood sticks that were tied together by a floosy looking rope in some places and woven together in other places. Alice approached the chair and carefully sat in it only to be surprised by the fact that it held her weight. She looked up to see him pawing through one of the wall drawers filled with linens, so as he continued his search she decided to look around a bit.

The area was pretty big, possibly 20ft by 15ft in size. The celing was pretty high but it looked as if there wasn't a second floor. Several small round windows peered out into the night as several bolts of lighting tried to compete with the lights already on in the room. Alice rubbed some the chill out of her arms as she sat by the fire, thankful to it and the various candles lit around the room on the few handcarved tables and peiced together chairs. Other than those few peices of furniture, only a few fadded rugs covered the floor, their orignaly bright colors now fadded away from the torment of the passing sunlight of the day. There were various shelves in the walls, lined with jars of what Alice took to be dried herbs or a sort of preserve...undoubtingly some of meat for the cat to chew on later. To her left were the shelves in the walls, across from her was the door and to her left were the two sets of four drawers in the wall. Alice noted that these drawers were set on each side of a bed knook built into the wall. It was as if the whole place was planed so as to keep the floor clear for some reason.

Yet before she could muse on this furthur, Chesire pulled a dry dress and robe out from the last drawer. Once he had the garments, he closed the drawer, walked over to Alice and handed them to her. She took them with a smile and the two looked at each other for a moment.

"Well?" she asked.
"Well what?"
"I can't change with you watching me like that."
Chesire Cat thought this to be very odd but the look on her face told him that she was serious so with a roll of his eyes he turned his back on her and crossed his arms. It was Alice's turn to roll her eyes as she stood up and stepped far enough away from him so as that neither her or the fabric brushed him as she changed into the dry cloths and out of the wet cloths which she placed on the chair she had previously sat in.

"Done?" he asked, sounding impatient.
"Yes," she said and he turned around.
"Where were you running from?" he asked curiously as he handed her the towel that he slung over his shoulder moments before he found the cloths. She took the towel and began to fluffy her hair in a attmept to dry it.

"The Hatter's," Alice said quietly as she picked the wet cloths.
"The Hatters? Those cloths are from his place?"
"Yes but..." she started but was cut off when he snatched the cloths out of her hand and threw them in the fire. Alice could only stand there and watched as the fire hissed for a moment before it finally took control once more and ate the cloths as it was a straving creature.

"What did you do that for?" she demanded.
"Because, I will have nothing of his in here or on you," he said.
"What about in me?" she asked and he raised an eyebrow.
"Why do you...Alice, what happened back there?" Chesire asked, almost grimly. Alice frowned and sat down in the damp chair with the towel now in her hands. Chesire crouched down and bidded his time as Alice gathered her thoughts and slowly retold her tale to him. He wisely held his tounge as she told him about the arguement with her uncle, the Crawcus race and all that had occured at the Mad Hatter's house.

"I was so scared, I don't know what would have happened if they hadn't spoken to me," she said at the end, wiping a tear away from her eye.

"They?"
"The girls he killed, they all spoke to me in the end and warned me about him...but the voices came from their lifeless bodies and they all spoke at once. It was horrible," Alice said as she gripped the towle in her hands.

"Alice, you don't have to worry about that any more. You're safe here with me, he won't hurt you anymore," Chesire said as he shifted to an eye to eye position as he rested his right hand on her shoulder and his left on her cheek. Alice looked back with sad eyes that looked ready to burst with tears.

"I never thought that he of all..." she started but was silenced by Chesire's right index finger on her lips.
"Shh, just don't think about it anymore. Let's talk about other things...like the last time you were here," he said with a grin which slowly spread to Alice's face as he began to recount their first encounter in the Duchess' house, how the lady's boy turned into a pig and croquet with the queen.

"Wasn't it a whoot when the queen ended up on her bum? She looked like a little kid having a tantrum with her fists all balled up and that pout on her face," he said.

"Yes, I nearly lost my head over that," Alice said as she rubbed an uneasy head around her neck.
"Well you got alive, didn't you?" Chesire asked.
"Yeah, barely. Why did you do all that stuff?"
"To protect you."
"Protect me? From what?"
"The Queen of course."
"The Queen? I understand she's a bit more crazy than anyone out but how were you protecting me when all you were doing was getting me into trouble?" Alice asked and Chesire glared at her.

"Trouble? You thought that..." Chesire started and let out a low growl that sent cold shivers of fear up her neck.
"Maybe there's something about the Queen you should know about," he said. Alice was about to ask what he meant by that when she shifted from his place and found herself standing in the queen's garden as the sun creasted over the horizon. Alice looked around her surroundings in surprise when her eyes fell on the one person she least expected to see...the Queen of Hearts who stood no more than 20ft away from her.

The two stood there and started back at each other as the sun continued to rise, the Queen with a pure lok of surprise and Alice with this look of shock & the feeling of fear hammering away in her chest.

"A..Alice?" the queen asked and Alice could only nod. Alice was surprised when the Queen let out a joyful noise, dashed over to her and embraced her.

"Air, need air," Alice chocked and the Queencklyckly let her go.
"Oh sorry, I'm just so happy to see you. Where have you been all this time? Oh never minhd, you're here now. Come, let's head to the castle and get some decents cloths on then we can have some breakfast and really talk," the Queen said as she guided a highly confussed Alice out of the gardens.

Next) The Queen's Court

PS:
Look out for some of my Alice in Wonderland art at:
The Tangled Web
www.angelfire.com/ok5/tangled_web