I DO NOT OWN ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Chapter 1
It was a bright and cheerful day outside. The breeze was blowing, the sun was shining and clouds scurried across the sky. As usual, Alister and Austin were both inside playing video games. They were in the very last round of Super Smash Bros and neither were about to give up, not even when their mother screamed at them to play outside. Alister smirked “You’re going down, Austin.” Austin glared back at him “In your dreams Ally!” Alister threw his controller to the ground “For the last time Austin if you have to give me a nickname then call me Al!” The screen beeped three times and yelled “Game over.” Causing Alister to flop in his bean bag in frustration “I hate you, so much,” he growled while Austin howled taunts in his face. “Yeah, yeah, yeah says the twelve year old,” Alister grumbled. Alister was thirteen and Austin was actually fourteen, although his facial features suggested otherwise. “Do not call me a twelve year old,” he screeched, tackling his younger brother. Alister easily overpowered him, but Austin continued to struggle. “Boys, if you don’t go outside this instant I am taking the video games away,” their mother shouted once more. Alister and Austin took off down the stairs and out the door. “Okay, went outside,” he yelled over his shoulder, but his mother didn’t reply. “Hey look,” Austin called to him “A deer!” Austin and Alister lived in a relatively large house in the middle of a nature reserve. They often saw a lot of bizarre things in their backyard like freakishly large footprints, or caught glimpses of multi colored wings. Of course, being the skeptics of supernatural beings that they were, they often dismissed them as tricks of the eye. Alister brushed off his brother’s comment and pounded on the, now locked, back door. “Mom, you are a lunatic!” With that he trotted over to Austin and grinned widely. “You know what we should do Austin?” Austin turned from the deer to stare at him. “Oh no, we aren’t doing that again,” he protested “You remember what happened last time.” Alister’s smile widened “You’re not scared are you,” he asked, now grinning ear to ear. “N-No I’m not scared of anything,” Austin stammered turning to look at the woods again. Their house was surrounded by dark looking woods that are said to contain a waterfall at the center. “Come on, I’m sure we’ll find it this time, and there will be hot mermaid babes.” Austin batted at him “You idiot, there isn’t any such thing as mermaids.” “Says the little twelve year old who still believes in fairies!” “I do not!” “Do so!” The two brothers broke into a fight yet again. The house was usually total chaos with their constant bickering. “I used to believe in fairies when I really was twelve , but I don’t anymore!” Alister scoffed “You’re so gullible, I never believed in those stories.” “Yes you di-,” Their bickering was interrupted by a flash of fluffy white fur. “A bunny,” Austin yelled, pointing. Alister rolled his eyes “Yes Austin, a bunny.” Another flash of brown and black tabby fur followed it. “That’s weird,” Austin stated “We don’t usually see feral cats around here.” The bunny and the cat were racing as quickly as they could across the yard and to the woods. The rabbit didn’t quite make it though; the cat caught it before it could reach its destination. “Should we… Help it,” Austin asked, turning to Alister for reassurance. “No, let nature take its course.” The two boys watched as the cat snapped at the rabbit’s neck over and over, but the rabbit never let it strike. The rabbit finally kicked away from it and bolted into the woods, leaving the cat sitting alone in the clearing that was the boy’s backyard. Rather than look stunned, the cat just sat staring after the rabbit with an almost smug expression on its face. Alister and Austin stared at each other, puzzled. Why didn’t the cat keep up the chase? The cat’s head turned, slowly, toward them. A distinct smirk was plastered across it. Its bright green eyes glinted in the sunlight; it was almost as if it was inviting them to play. Austin took a cautious step forward, and called to the cat. It raised a paw, almost in disgust and began to head into the woods again. “We should follow it,” Austin suggested “Have you ever seen a cat smile like that?” Alister stood back in reluctance “Really Austin, you say it smiled at you? Don’t be such a little girl!” Now it was Austin’s turn to grin ear to ear “You aren’t scared are you?” Alister instantly fell in beside Austin “I’m not scared of anything.” “Good,” Austin laughed and picked up a jog into the woods. The forest really was dim; the only light within it was the faint glow of the occasional sunlight that flitted through the thick branches. “Austin, are you even sure we’re going the right way,” Alister asked “That cat is probably long gone.” “Long gone,” Austin scoffed “Look ahead of us.” The cat was lying on a low hanging branch, smirking happily down at them. Its tail waved slightly and it rose to its paws. It jumped down from the tree and began bounding down a small, cleared path. Austin and Alister glanced at one another before following the suspicious cat. The cat picked up a faster gait as the sound of rushing water thundered through the air. “Al, you were right,” Austin murmured in awe “There is a waterfall in the middle of these woods.” The boys were confronted with a pond and waterfall that glowed a faint turquoise in the dim light. It turned Austin’s blonde hair blue and made Alister’s brown hair black. The cat’s eyes were glowing as well. The rabbit from earlier was standing precariously close to the edge of the pond, two rings were fastened around its neck. The cat bolted after it, causing the rabbit to jump in. “Did it just-“ Austin cut off when he noticed that no bubbles rose after the rabbit sank. The cat waved to them with its tail and then dove in after the rabbit. “P-Please tell me that wasn’t a figment of my imagination,” Alister stammered. Austin shook his head “I-It wasn’t.” The boys stared down at the glowing pond for a moment more before glancing at each other again. “I wonder where they went,” Austin pondered, leaning over the edge to get a better look. “Don’t stand so close,” Alister warned, but he was too late. Austin slipped and plummeted down into whatever awaited below, screaming the whole way. Alister glanced around frantically debating. What were you supposed to do if your older brother fell into a bottomless pond-pit? If he told his mother, she would never believe him. If he just left him, then he might never see him again! There was only one thing to do, Alister jumped in after him. The pond wasn’t wet at all; it appeared to be an endless drop into nothingness. Just before he hit some dark colored grass, an oddly strong updraft broke his fall. Austin was sitting next to him, obviously still stunned from his drop. “Hey, are you okay?” Austin didn’t answer, he just sat with his mouth agape. He appeared to be staring at something. Alister turned to see that he was staring at a girl who appeared to be about their age with long brown and blonde streaked hair. She was wearing a black leotard with fishnets and sharp looking high heels. Not to mention the brown and black tabby ears and tail the she sported. “Welcome,” she greeted in a rather monotone voice, her glowing, green eyes appearing to burn into one’s soul. She strode confidently over to them, a smirk forming on her face. Just before she reached the brothers, she vanished in a small puff of red smoke. “Sh-She’s gone!” Austin took a step closer to his brother, searching for comfort. “Finally,” a girl’s voice sighed. A dark skinned girl in a white leotard and red fishnets dropped from the trees above them. Her bunny ears twitched irritably and her bunny tail was fluffed up in a flustered fashion. “That cat is nothing but trouble I tell you, trouble.” Alister and Austin glanced at one another again. “And, who is she exactly,” Alister asked boldly. The rabbit girl turned to him “Its name is the Riddler and it is an absolutely hideous creature. She is a member of the Cheshire, an organization set on reforming the Heart Kingdom.” Austin and Alister stared blankly back at her. “I’ll explain later,” she scoffed in frustration “But, it isn’t safe here. She’s probably still watching us.” The bunny girl bolted, abnormally quickly through the underbrush “Wait, so the members of the Cheshire are evil,” Austin queried. The bunny girl didn’t reply, she simply led them further and further away from the spot that they sighted “The Riddler”. Eventually, sunlight began to drift through the canopy. It increased gradually until they came to a very happy looking village. Small people with mouse ears and tails scurried about, carrying baskets of food and what not. “Look everyone, the Timekeeper has returned,” one of the mouse villagers called. “The Timekeeper?” A blonde girl in a pink hoop dress and white ears and tail burst from one of the small cottages that lined the outskirts of the village. All of the mouse people bowed in respect. “Mouse princess, I have brought to you the humans that you foretold, now please explain to them why they are here.” The mouse princess motioned them inside of her cottage and slammed the door behind them. “You have been brought here to help us stop the Cheshire!” Austin began to protest, but the Timekeeper hushed him. “I had a vision that two otherworldly creatures would come to help us defeat the Cheshire, and you two seem fit for the occasion.” “How are we otherworldly beings,” Alister asked skeptically. The mouse princess looked him up and down for a moment “You don’t have ears or a tail that seems pretty off to me.” Was that disgust that Alister caught in her expression? No, he must have been imagining it. “You must know the urgency of the situation,” the Timekeeper exclaimed “How could you leave us in this state? People are disappearing into the forest and never coming back! You must save them.” Austin was now hugging Alister’s arm. “B-But, we can’t, we aren’t from around here. We don’t even know which woods you’re talking about.” The princess and the Timekeeper glanced at one another. “You mustn’t doubt yourselves. Anything is possible in this world if you just believe in it,” The princess urged “You must do this.” Austin and Alister silently pondered their options. “I’m sorry, but there isn’t anything that we can do to help you.” “Oh really,” the princess asked angrily “Then I guess you’ll never go home again.” “Guess not.” The princess looked shocked for a moment, but quickly recollected herself. “Fine then, stay here forever!” Alister drug Austin out of the princess’s courters and slammed him on the ground a few feet away. “I guess we’ll have to start by learning our territory, we’re going to have to set up camp around here anyways.” Austin raised a timid finger “M-Maybe we should help that little mouse thing, she probably has a place for us to stay.” Alister smacked his hand down “ No Austin, we’re men! We can do this by ourselves!”
The next three days were complete hell for the brothers. They had no shelter, no food or water and of course they were banned from the mouse village since they hadn’t agreed to help them. “Au-Austin,” Alister mumbled, shoving his younger sibling “Wake up.” Austin sat up with a dazed expression on his face. “Huh, what?” “Look.” Just beyond the place that they had been sleeping, a basket with food and bottled water was encased in thick, black briars. The boys crawled to it, and watched as the briars retracted. There was a small tag on the side of the basket that read “With love.” And had a bizarre symbol that resembled a cursive C. Austin gladly dug in, but Alister hung back. “Austin, I get that you’re hungry and all, but should you really be eating that. We don’t know who made it or where it’s from.” Austin turned from it with water and bread crumbs all around his mouth “Who cares? I’m starving here!” Alister eventually and reluctantly started to nibble on a few shortbread cookies and drank a few sips of water. It didn’t seem to be contaminated by anything and, letting his guard down, he tore into the food as viciously as his brother. After they had completely demolished the basket and the food, the boys sat back with satisfied, full stomachs. “That was amazing,” Austin exclaimed “I’d like to thank who ever gave that to us.” Alister nodded “Maybe one day we can. After we find our way around this hell hole.” The boys hadn’t been exploring their surroundings very much. Of course they had intended to, but when they had their sudden shortage of a place to stay they had been thrown off track. Now they sat just outside of their only hope for survival, watching the blissful villagers fall into increasing panic. The strange black thorns that had encased their food had been popping up all over the place lately. Some were even curling around the mouse people’s homes. Mouse children were being kept indoors and the adult mice were collecting boards and things to shield their houses. The princess would occasionally come out of her cottage and glare hatefully in their direction, but even that had ceased in the past few days. They seemed to be giving up hope. Today, only the Timekeeper was in the clearing, she was glancing around nervously. It was as though she expected to be jumped on at any given moment. “You know, I do feel kind of bad for them,” Austin commented “All they really wanted was for someone to help them drive out those “Cheshires” or whatever they called them.” Alister simply nodded, he had no words due to an odd noise that he heard in the distance. It was quite faint, and yet it was loud at the same time. It was a gentle purring noise, he felt something as soft as a feather brush his leg even though nothing was there. “I’ll get you my love,” it whispered “I shall find you, and you shall love me forever.” “Al, what’s wrong,” Austin interrupted “Oh, uh, nothing. I was just thinking of something.” Austin’s eyes flashed with irritation “Well, when you come back down to Earth let me know.” Alister recoiled at Austin’s sudden bitterness. It was unlike his brother to snap at him in such ways. Maybe this whole situation was just getting to their heads, yeah it had to be.
