Worlds Apart | Book 1 Wonderland | Jungwon X Reader

003

"You're late," the Caterpillar said, blowing rings of smoke from a hooka set between his lips. "But also early." There was a moment's pause. "No, no it's neither. But you're not on time at all."

His quip made you groan, and you dismounted your mare with a huff. "Spare us every possibility you juggle and give us the information we need."

"Surely that can wait, I've put eighteen pots of tea on the stove for eighteen different arrivals. No, twenty. But two went cold and I've put them out in the garden." The Caterpillar took another puff from his hooka, the smoke ring hitting your face this time. "I'd appreciate at least one getting to meet its purpose."

Jungwon dismounted from his horse behind you, tipping his patchwork tophat towards the Caterpillar politely. "Heesung old friend, we'd love some tea." His eyes drifted to you. "Wouldn't we?"

A stiff smile set itself upon your features like stone. "Of course. It's bad enough nineteen will go to waste."

The Caterpillar's eyes fell on Jungwon. "It's ironic that you and your father have already figured out something no one else has...perhaps insanity has done you good. Or, perhaps, you were never insane." A blank look filled his eyes as he leaned against the frame of the door. "I suppose we'll...oh no. There goes another pot of tea." The Caterpillar rushed inside leaving the door wide open. His version of an invitation.

Jungwon bowed to you, smiling. "Ladies first."

-

The outside of the brick house was nothing but thick forest and the occasional stream, but the interior was fully electrified. There was nothing but light in the room, too much to make out anything but vague shapes and colors.

The Caterpillar had settled into a green, velvet chair facing you and Jungwon. His eyes were searching for something or many things. You couldn't tell.

"You've come to the Archives with questions of the future," the Caterpillar said slowly, sipping from his fine porcelain cup. "Questions I can't answer. But you know this. And instead, you've come to look through the past." He quirked his head to the side. "But the current past will do you no good. Catching the Rabbit now gives you nothing but the headache of losing him again. He's not your main priority. Your priority should be getting out."

You fought the urge to scoff at his utter vagueness. "Getting out of where?"

"Here, there, everywhere." The cup of tea disappeared in the Caterpillar's hands. "But to figure out an exit, you must first find where you entered."

You blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Think big," he went on, ignoring your comment. "Big as a house. Or small, small as a mouse. That rhymes doesn't it?"

Rhyming didn't matter. What mattered was what he meant.

"Alice," Jungwon breathed. "We start with Alice."

Confusion contorted on your face. "Alice?"

"Your first memory was of the potion and tea cakes, right?" Jungwon said, slowly. "Alice's journals described them as making her 'as big as a house,' then shrinking her. I remember we went through them together."

"But why must we relive Alice's fall to catch the Rabbit?"

The Caterpillar huffed with frustration, his hooka once again between his lips. "Forget the Rabbit for now. He is needed, yes, but later."

Jungwon glanced at you. "Y/n. Rabbits never stray far from home. And where did you and Alice fall?"

Then it clicked. "The Rabbit hole. His Rabbit hole. He's there."

"Stubborn," The Caterpillar murmured. "Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn. Wonderland is doomed. No, everyone. Everyone is doomed." He inhaled, and exhaled, a smoke ring hitting you directly in the face yet again. "Would you like to view the Archive of Alice?"

You took a moment to think, then nodded, slowly. "Yes. Yes, we would."

The Caterpillar rose slowly from his chair, snapping his fingers. You were now in a different area of the house, surrounded by bookshelves, all dusty with neglect. Another snap and a book appeared between you and the Caterpillar. Its title, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

"I cannot show you everything," He said, blowing dust from the cover. "The end to her story has already been written."

"I know," You said. "The end to every story has been written."

"It's the path chosen that matters," The Catapillar whispered.

He instructed you and Jungwon to hold hands, the floating book between you glowing. It's pages flipped to the very first line, the letters turning gold. Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do...

Suddenly, you were there. Sitting beside two blonde girls, one sickly, and the other blooming with radiant beauty. The thin, frail girl peaked over her sister's shoulder every once in a while, still weaving a crown of snow-white daisies in her hands, before noticing an even whiter rabbit in the brush.

It began to speak, "I'm late!" it, no he, wailed, pulling a pocketwatch from his waistcoat. Alice, the sickly sister, stared in bewilderment, following him down the rabbit hole under a hedge.

The Caterpillar smiled, appearing next to us as the scene changed. "Watch."

It was Alice's fall.

As she fell down the hole her beauty grew, and her ash skin gained color. The sickness within her became less and less until it was forgotten entirely. Now, she looked like the regal Princess of Hearts she'd become.

"How-" Jungwon breathed. But he was silenced by the Caterpillar.

When she hit the ground, it was soft and graceful, like a feather. But to her dismay, no Rabbit.

Just like how it was with you.

No Rabbit.

This had been where your memory had started. Falling like feathers to the floor of a dark hall, with only a table, a key, and a door much too small. That, and the feeling you were missing something. Something important.

"Walk with me." The Caterpillar took your hand in his. "We must walk deeper into her true story, for everything here on out is a lie." You clung to Jungwon's hand like a lifeline as the Caterpillar unlocked a tall, red door, swinging open its wide open mouth.

Inside, there was nothing. Blackness and more inky dark were all you could see. There was no floor, no sky, no ceiling.

But the Caterpillar dragged you in with no regard for your terror.

You fell. And fell. Clutching onto the tails of Jungwon's waistcoat for you'd lost his hand.

Until you reached the floor. A garden floor.

Alice sat there picking the petals from the daisies growing in a small bed off to the side, a little Caterpillar on her shoulder. "I can't find him," She said, placing down the flower. "He led me here but has not told me why." The Caterpillar climbed down her arm and onto her finger, staying at its tip obediently. "Do you know why, Sunghoon? Perhaps you do, for you are a garden creature, and life is but a garden of growing trouble. Perhaps you know all we endure. I do wish you did."

A wish.

Wishes were very powerful in Wonderland. Utter a curse in anger, and regrettable things could occur.

But as Alice set the caterpillar down, walking down the path, it began to grow, and grow, becoming the man who stood beside you now.

Sunghoon.

Not the Caterpillar.

Sunghoon.

A sly smile crept along his features when Jungwon turned to him. "I told you that you and your father were onto something."