Of all the seven worlds where magic lives, the oldest and most magical of them all was Wonderland. Wonderland was a mess. It had not always been a mess, but it always would be forever more. Once a land of happiness and wonder, it had been turned into a land of darkness and danger. It was the place that magic came to be, be nothing and everything all at the same time. It was a land run by magic free to create and evolve. It was a land not meant to be inhabited by anyone, because magic so intense was enough to turn anyone mad.

---

Alice's eyes snapped open. There had been a rustle in a bush behind her. She wondered how long she had been sleeping for because time was a non existent concept in Wonderland. There were no days, months or years, just lightness for some period of time and darkness for another. Alternating for eternity.

The bush rustled again, she pulled her sword from her belt and held it out awaiting attack, her senses on high alert for the beast lurking in the darkness. A rather large fat cat walked out slowly, staring at her intently. She relaxed instantly at the sight of her old friend. The cat took a few more steps, and as he did, he grew into a full sized man. He was tall, around six feet, with long black and blue hair on the human half of his head, but the other side remained the face of the black cat he had just transformed from. Alice nodded at him and put her sword away. They sat down in the small clearing where they had been making camp for the last few days deep in the Backwards Forest.

"Did you find out what his plan is?" Alice asked the cat quietly, catching a bread and butterfly for both of them to share. As she handed him a wing he looked down at his hands, clearly hesitating before telling her something important. "Well, did you?"

"No..." More hesitation in his answer. Alice's eyes narrowed. She stopped eating her bread and butterfly wing and pulled out a small pocket knife.

"Tell me what you're hiding cat, if you've gone back to his side, I'll have your tail." She moved closer to him holding her knife out. The cat held his hands up defensively and backed away as Alice began closing in on him.

"No of course not, Alice! Put the knife down and we can talk!" she hesitated, giving the cat the chance to carry on, "I just didn't know how to tell you what I saw..." He gestured towards the logs that they had been sitting on and they both took their seats again.

"When I was prowling around in the shadows, there was a rumble under the ground and a flash of light on the west side of Wonderland. I went to see what it was and it was someone else who had made it through alive. There is someone new in Wonderland." Alice's eyes widened and she went to stand, but the cat grabbed her arm, "He has not come through untouched though, the magic changed him like it changed me... He came through and turned into a... a Beast of some sort... magic that strength... well..." Alice finished the cats sentence for him.

"... Attracted the mad hatter quickly." She sat back down in despair with her head in her hands. The Mad Hatter was the evil villain who had taken over Wonderland and any substantial magic sources that arrived in the realm. He had not always been 'The Mad Hatter' though.

---

The young girl stood waiting for her father on the corner of the busy street. She wore a green lace dress cut off above the knee with knee-high, white socks and smart black shoes. Her ginger hair was curled and lay perfectly down her back, she wore minimal make up and she looked more innocent than most eighteen year olds. A man with white hair approached her from behind.

"Are you ok, girlie?" he asked in a mysterious voice, placing a thin hand on her shoulder. She looked at this face, and a chill went down her spine. He wore a monocle and a three-piece suit, far too formal for the busy streets of Colchester in 2009. He looked like he was from a different time altogether.

"Um... yes... I'm fine." Stuttered the girl as she shrank away from his hand, but he took a step closer.

"My name is Mr. Rabbit, and I was wondering would you be able to spare some time to help an old man?" Alice was about to politely decline when the man carried on, "I dropped my wallet in that manhole over there and I can't see because of my eyes not being good," he gestured towards the monocle, "so would you be able to just reach in and grab it for me?" he smiled a crooked smile. Alice hesitated before agreeing and cautiously stepping toward the manhole.

"I can't see it?" she said peering in. Mr. Rabbit knelt down next to the hole and looked inside.

"You can see it when you get down here dear, I'm looking at it right now." He said. Alarm bells were ringing in Alice's head but she decided to ignore them, after all he was only an old man, what could he possibly do, she thought. She leant down over the hole like Mr. Rabbit had done, she looked in and she still couldn't see the wallet. She couldn’t see anything at all, the hole was a pitch black.

"I can't see it, sir, are you sure it went down here?" she asked the man as he began to stand up.

"Why yes, girlie, I saw it myself from down there, you must not be at the right angle."

"What's going on here?"

Alice heard a voice behind her, but before she had time to look back to see who it was, she felt two hands push hard on her back and suddenly she was falling. She screamed as she fell, expecting impact after the first few seconds, but impact never came. After a while she stopped screaming, and got used to the feeling of falling in the dark. She wondered if she even was still falling or if this was just what death was like. Then she saw a light beneath her. She was confused, how could the light be coming from below her? As she fell closer and closer the light got so bright that it hurt her eyes. She shut them and seconds passed before a white hot burning sensation went from her feet to her head in a flash and then she felt ground underneath her hands and knees. She opened her eyes and couldn't believe what she saw, she was most definitely not in Colchester anymore.

A second later she heard a thud behind her and there was a man. He had brown hair that was covered by a hat, looked like he was in his early thirties and had a terrified look on his face.

"Where are we?" he murmured quietly. Alice shrugged and stood up, brushing the dirt off her dress. He stood up and joined her side, the pair of them looking around in amazement. They stood on a beach where there were dodos walking around at the edge of the water as it frothed up and down the on the sand. The sky was a brilliant orange, dotted with birds and some kind of animal that seemed to have bread and butter for wings. Alice didn't believe that such a place could exist but here she stood looking at it with her own eyes.
"How did we even get here?... And how do you think we get home?" The man spoke again. Alice looked up at the sky where they seemed to have fallen from and would decidedly most likely be unable to get back through.

"I don't know, I was just waiting for my dad... my poor dad who will have no idea where I am... and then that man, he pushed me!" She sniffed back a few tears as she thought about her father looking for her around the busy streets, where he would never find her. The man put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"It's ok, my name's Johnny, I'm the hatter from the shop across the road from the man hole. I thought that guy looked a bit shifty when I saw him with you through the window, and when he pushed you, I jumped in afterwards to make sure that you were okay." she smiled at the kindness of the man as he continued, "and even though we don't know where we are, we have each other and we will do our best to get home."

---

Alice stood up from the log, and the cat looked up at her.

"We have to save the untouched before the Hatter's trance is complete." She said defiantly as she grabbed her emergency supplies bag and threw it over her shoulder, "You're either coming with me, or I go alone, but I am going and there is nothing you can say to stop me, Cat." He sat still for a second before nodding at Alice and transforming back into his cat form.

They ran through the forest so fast the branches felt as though they were whipping their faces, towards the boarders of land that the Mad Hatter had claimed in his rise to power. As they got closer they knew that they would have to be careful of the Hatter’s guards who were always patrolling the borders. His guards were made up of creatures who had come into Wonderland over the years... those who had been touched by magic on their way through, and deformed, like the cat.

They stopped to catch their breath in the shadow of a large oak tree near the entrance to the gate. They peered round the tree to count the guards and gage their best way in. There were two either side of the gate and one marching back and forth in front of it.

“His castle is dangerous Alice, it’s mad, like him. The doors disappear and the hallways like to play tricks on you. It might look simple, but it’s one big maze that changes all the time, even the guards don’t know their way around, which will be an advantage for us, should we be spotted by one when inside. The Hatter knows though, and its like the castle is connected to him, he will know as soon as we step foot inside that we’re there. So we have to be careful, and quick.” The Cat warned. Alice nodded silently at the cat who began to climb the tree, watching apprehensively until he disappeared into the leaves, they were about to try and pull off one of their most dangerous encounters with the Mad Hatter yet.

She pulled her hood over her head and began to sneak closer to the gate in the shadow of the trees. Removing her slingshot from the pouch on her hip, she found a rock on the floor loaded it and waited for the cat’s signal. The cat mewed loudly, the three men looked up raising their swords to see what the movement was, and as they did Alice aimed and shot rocks rapidly at all three, knocking them out. The cat jumped down and regained human form to open the gate from the inside for her.

They ran through the entrance of the castle, the Cat went one way and Alice the other, believing they would have more chance at finding the Beast this way and that at least one of them would make it out alive. Alice ran down a twisted corridor and through a door at the end.

The air in the room had a chill and Alice knew instantly that the hatter was close, and that he knew she was here. She took a few more steps into the room and the door behind her disappeared. She was trapped in a room with no doors. Alice pushed the panic in her stomach down and tried to think of a rational way to get out. The wooden panel walls showed no signs of another door appearing anytime soon, beginning to feel desperate, she scanned the floor and ceiling looking for a trap door that may have appeared instead. Nothing. She had never felt more alone in her life. Until she heard a sound that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, reminding her that she was very much not alone.

The Mad Hatter’s cackling was resonating around the room and it seemed to be bouncing off of the walls and coming from all directions. Starting quietly, it got louder and louder until she felt like there was more than one of him and the room and she just hadn’t seen them yet.

“Alice… Have you come to play?” he began taunting her, his voice coming from behind her, she turned around and pulled her sword, but no one was there.

“Did you drop by for some tea with your old friend?” this time the voice came from the right. She swung her sword for it to go through nothing but air. His laughter began seeping through the walls again, he was mocking her, and she was playing his game just as he wanted. All of a sudden the room went dead silent. So silent that she could hear the sound of her blood pumping through her veins and her heart fluttering inside her. She stood deadly still in the center of the room, her eyes shifting back and forth, waiting for the Hatter to make his next move.

“Hello Alice.” This time the voice was a whisper next to her ear. She spun around and jabbed her sword forward. The man before her merely smiled at her feeble attempt as he held out his hand and Alice was suddenly thrusting forward a bunch of flowers. The flowers were a rich orange like the man’s wild hair that stuck out in all different directions from under the large top hat he wore. His skin was pale against his hair and his blue eyes seemed to shine with madness. He reached out and took one, pressing it to his nose he inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. In anger, Alice quickly dropped the flowers and went to retrieve her pocket knife, but before her fingers even touched the handle, the Hatter had flicked his hand out and she flew across the room and into the wooden paneling. The Hatter opened is eyes and watched as she began scrabbling to her feet to try and fight him again. He rolled his eyes and held out his hand so she was pinned against the wall.

“Why must you be such hard work. For once, you and I want the same thing, and you are making it difficult for me to let you have it.” Alice fought hard against the invisible grip on her chest, but the more she fought, the tighter it felt. He sat in front of her with his legs crossed, twirling and waving the flower around and continued speaking, “You want the beast. I want you to have him. Purely business of course, the Rabbit came to me and said it was time.” He pointed to a wall, and a door appeared. “You will go through that door, that leads to the room the Beast and your feline friend are being trapped, another door will appear and that will open back into the forest.”

Alice in her shock and confusion stopped struggling and the pressure on her chest released. The Hatter stood, with a smile on his face, looking again at the flower he had taken from her before. Without drawing his eyes from it he spoke again.

“There’s a boat at the beach, if you want to leave Wonderland, I suggest you get on it.” Before Alice could learn more about his intentions and why the Hatter was behaving in such a way he had disappeared, leaving behind a fading echo of his laughter and one final menacing whisper, “See you soon, Alice.”

Alice had no other way to get out of the room so she went through the door cautiously, knowing that the Hatter could have just been lying to trap her in a room that was even worse. She pushed the door wide open and peered in, making sure that there was still a part of her in the original room. The room was almost a direct replica of the one which she had just been in, except as the Hatter had said, the Cat and the Beast were standing in the middle of it. She walked in, letting the door close behind her, and it instantly disappeared. Another door appeared on the opposite wall as it did, just like the Hatter had said that it would.

“We need to go out through that door, the Hatter told me it leads into the forest.” Alice said. The Cat looked at her in shock and held her back.

“And you believe him? Are you crazy?” Alice gently pulled her hand out of the cat’s grip and shrugged her shoulders. She thought she must be mad trusting what the Hatter had told her.

“No, I don’t believe him, but the worst that can happen if we open the door is that we end up in another room similar to this one.” She walked across the room and took a deep breath. Turning the knob, she pushed the door open, for fresh air to hit her instantly. She peered through the doorway and realized she was looking into the forest. Turning back to the cat and the beast, she motioned for them to come through the door as she took a step out.

“Where do we go now?” The Cat asked Alice once the castle could no longer be seen in the distance. She thought back to what the Mad Hatter had said about leaving Wonderland. Her dream since she had first arrived in Wonderland was to leave and now knowing that there was a possibility she would be able to, she had to take it.

“The Beach.”

They arrived at the beach and just like the Hatter said there was a boat. Although it wasn’t a boat, it was a large wooden ship with large white sails. The three of them stood there, mouths gaping at the sheer size, when they had been expecting a row boat. Alice was mostly mesmerized by the wooden mermaid who was carved into the bow. She couldn’t help but think she was beautiful. She looked so powerful at the front of the boat, looking out to the sea ahead, with her hair carved to be flowing back behind her.

“Have you ever seen a boat on the beach before?” The cat whispered in awe.

“Never, in all the time I’ve been in Wonderland, the only way that people have arrived here is through the crack in the sky.” Alice peeled her eyes away from the boat to look at the Beast and then turned to the cat, “The Hatter said that the Rabbit had told him it was time, and that’s why he just let us get away with him.” She whispered so the Beast couldn’t hear.

“Time for what?” his eyes went wide and flickered back and forth from the Beast.

Alice shrugged and shook her head. She then walked over cautiously to the ship to get a closer inspection incase it was trickery of the Hatter. She walked round to the side of the ship, running her hand along the smooth wood as she did. Looking up, she saw that there was a name on the side of the boat but from the angle where she was she couldn’t quite read it.

She began backing away slowly, nearly falling as her feet sunk deeper and deeper into the wet sand. Alice backed up far enough to see the name. “The Jolly Roger?” she read aloud. Suddenly she felt cool metal pressing against her throat, she tried to move her head back instinctively and backed into the man wielding the sword that was against her neck. Her breathing became shallow and she could feel his breathing against her neck.

“Who are you and what are you doing lurking around my ship.”

“My names Alice! The Hatter said you would take us away from Wonderland!” she gasped as the blade pressed a little harder, any harder and her throat would be cut.

“The Alice of Wonderland?” The voice behind asked, loosening his grip and freeing her.

“Who’s asking?” she drew her sword and pointed it at the man before her. He had long brown hair loosely curled, stopping just below his shoulders. He couldn’t have been any older than his early twenties but his green eyes had a sparkle that said he had seen a lot in his short life. He wore a white baggy shirt, brown trousers and black boots. And a pirate hat. Alice moved closer with her sword out, she had never encountered a pirate but knew from stories back home that they were not to be trusted. “You have three seconds to tell me your name pirate or this sword goes through your chest!” she snarled, taking a step closer so that the point was touching his chest. The pirate didn’t even flinch. Instead he smiled showing a set of dazzling white teeth.

“You should know better than to cross swords with a pirate. Name is Styles, Captain Harry Styles, and you Alice, are exactly who I was looking for.”

Notes

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Lola xo