White Rabbit - A Criminal Minds Fic

Thirteen

Ally and Rebecca had been at the compound for a while now and had both slotted in quite nicely. After their first breakfast with Marnie, she'd taken them around, introducing them to the other residents going about on their daily chores and explaining all of the things that went on each day.

Well, not ALL of the things. Ally didn't find out until a lot later that there was a much darker side to Wonderland, the side that had made her run. But for the most part, their first three years there were good. Unlike the rest of the teenagers, they'd been invited to stay in the main house rather than moved to the dormitories where the unmatched but of age girls and boys slept. Lewis had explained matching to them one evening when the girls had accompanied him to the stables to get the horses that they kept, settled for the night.

"Matching is like our version of being wed to someone, except someone might not necessarily have just the one match. Marnie for example has two right now and I've had multiple matches in the past although right now I only have the one. If you want to be matched with someone though, it has to be declared. We have a ceremony to celebrate it and then if the person you're matched with doesn't have their own hut to live in, your brothers and sisters here will build you one."

Initially Alice had thought this had sounded off and creepy, but the more it was talked about and the more Alice saw how happy Marnie was having essentially two partners, the less weird it seemed.

Lewis always captivated Alice, there was something about the way he spoke to the two girls. Not treating them as if they were teenagers or silly little girls the way some adults back at home had. He spoke to them as if they were equals. Some nights when Ally found herself unable to sleep, she crept out to the front porch, sitting out under the stars and watching them. Lewis would almost always be out there too, looking up at the sky. It was one of those nights out there that he explained to her how Wonderland had come to be and what it's true purpose was.

Alice had been shocked and disbelieving to begin with, but the more Lewis had spoken about his past... well the future really, the more she found herself wondering if what he was saying was actually possible. All of adults here at Wonderland knew about his story and accepted it, all believing that they were there for a reason, to help prepare for the world to fall, preparations to be able to repopulate it so that their group would prosper in a time of war and famine. He painted a terrifying picture of the world, one she didn't want to be a part of.

"We don't normally tell the children until they're eighteen, Alice. It can scare them somewhat, especially as the children here will be the elders of that world and it will be their children that will be responsible for recreating it." He'd leant forward and brushed a piece of her brown hair back so he could see into her deep green eyes.

"Why are you telling me then?" Ally asked quietly.

"When Charlie told me he'd met a young girl named Alice, a girl who seemed so lost; I knew it had to be you. I knew you'd find your way here to me at some point, they'd said you would, my people from my previous life. But I'd lost the memory of how they said you'd come to me."

He locked eyes with her, his sparkling blue eyes staring deep into her soul.

"You're special Alice. The most special one. It's our children who will rule when the world falls, our children who will lead. And you'll help. I won't be around for it and neither will Marnie, but you will. You'll teach them, you'll lead them, you'll train them. People don't see how truly exceptional you are, but I do."

Ally was speechless, she felt warm and lightheaded. All her life she'd wanted to hear that she was special, because she was. She knew it. She knew she must have had a purpose in life and this must be it, her brains and wits weren't going to go to waste after all. She was here for a reason. But...

"Our children?" She whispered seeing Lewis smile.

"Yes, my darling Ally. Marnie knows you're the one too. She's heard the stories about the woman who will take over from us, she's pleased it's you, she adores you. On your seventeenth birthday we'll take part in a matching ceremony, if you'll consent to it. Marnie will perform it and Charlie will give your hand to me, he bought you to me after all. Will you consent, my dear sweet girl?"

Alice took no time at all to nod. She'd been taken in by him completely, intoxicated by his words, his prophecies of the future where she was a leader, a teacher. And Lewis was beautiful, long brown hair that fell to his shoulders in messy waves and piercing blue eyes. He was twice her age at least, the soul inside of his body even older still, he had come from a different time after all. But age didn't matter. What mattered was that she integral to the future of the Earth.

She smiled at him warmly. "I consent."

...

On the other side of the two way glass, Ellen Manchester had her hand clasped to her mouth as she listened to her baby sister telling her tale.

"Robert.... Are you you hearing this, is this even legal? She was seventeen."

"Sixteen is the age of consent in the state that the Bluedove National Park falls in. Their marriage won't be legal if she went ahead with it, but technically if it was consummated, they won't have broken any laws." Agent Hotchner told them, studying Alices body language.

She was telling the truth with everything she was saying, he could read that much. The younger version of the woman in front of him had been fully taken in by this man who claimed to be from the future. Aaron did find it odd that he'd been so fixated on her though. Alice was an attractive girl but Rebecca Olson had been more conventionally attractive. And that little bit older. It seemed this man really did believe that him and Marnie Goldstein did have a higher purpose, and that Alice was somehow involved in it.

"It's time we took a break. You need to compose yourself before you speak with your sister again, Mrs Manchester. You can't be seen to be shocked or disgusted by anything she's revealing to us."

"Im... I'm..." Ellen stuttered, unable to take everything in.

"Robert, there's a cafeteria on the first floor. I'll have someone escort both of you there and bring you back when the interview resumes. It's better if Alice doesn't see her sister struggling with this information."

Robert nodded, understanding what the Agent was saying and taking his wifes hand. He too was having a hard time digesting all of this information his sister in law coming out with, all of these stories of what had happened to her. It was no wonder her behaviour had been strange and bordering on eccentric. It was no wonder she'd been terrified of everything and anything when she'd first come home. Poor Ally. He followed the Agent that SSA Hotchner had summoned, leading his wife away and looking back to see him entering the interview room.

"It's time to take a break Alice. You've been doing really well. We'll get you some food, anything you want and then this afternoon, we'll need to know what happened after the matching ceremony. Why you're so certain that these bodies came from Wonderland."

She nodded and let out a huge breath, blinking a few times.

Spencer turned to her, smiling at her softly. "What do you fancy for lunch, Ally?"

"Pizza." She told him, colour returning to her cheeks which had paled as she'd been recalling details of her missing years.

"My favourite" the Dr told her.