Follow Me Down, Alice

Chapter 3: Rose Gold Hair

 "You know, you could stop trying." Cheshire yawns as he lazies about. Yeah right Cat. You could help me too, you know. I want more answers, but you're apparently tired. I'll have to get them from someone else now.

I walk out of his sight, but I can still hear him. I'm not stupid. If there are monsters that can attack me out here, I could try and fight them with a stick, but Cheshire would probably know how to deal with them better than I would. And so he could actually help me.

I look around. If I were a caterpillar, where would I hide? In trees? In leaves? With flowers? If I were a real caterpillar, I'd hide out of view of humans or predators. I'd avoid being stepped on or stolen by birds. So, if I were a caterpillar, I'd blend into the trunk of a tree, where no one can step on me and no predators can swoop over and take me easily. But then, I guess someone could just squish me by misplacing their hand.

"Oh! Hello miss. Are you lost?" A girl walks up to me. She is a very short girl. She barely reaches my shoulders. Her hair reaches her shoulders, but it's so fluffy that it may as well be a cloud on her head. It's also a really, really weird color. I think it's called rose gold. Her eyes are like a caramel brown, maybe a bit brighter thanks to this poor lighting. In fact, the fact I can discern what she looks like in this exceptionally poor lighting is an amazing feat in itself.

"Uh, can you stop staring at me now?" She stares up at me concerned. Oh. Oops.

"Sorry. I was just looking for Caterpillar. Whoever that is. You wouldn't happen to have seen her?" I ask. Wait, Caterpillar is supposedly a girl...

She smiles as I realize who I'm talking to. "I'm sorry." I apologize sheepishly. She giggles.

"No offense taken. I take it you're Alice then?" She asks. I nod. "Good. Toroko did find you then. Now, do you know why you're here?"

"No. I have so many questions about what's going on." I groan in annoyance. She shrugs.

"That's fair. You shouldn't know, to be honest. You're not suppose to be here." She smiles sweetly. Well then. That explains why Toroko was freaking out at least. If I'm not suppose to be here, then she could, I guess, get hanged for helping me enter Wonderland. Some things between worlds never change.

"If I'm not suppose to be here, then why am I here?" I ask ever curious. She giggles. Okay, she giggles creepily. Playfully? Either way, it isn't welcoming to me anymore.

"Come on. I can tell Cheshire is up ahead. We- No, I should probably explain everything fully to all of you." She begins walking back to Cheshire. Sure. I guess that works- Wait, Toroko is still asleep. Eh. She'll figure that out once she gets there. And it's still nighttime.

"Yo, Caterpillar." Cheshire opens one eye. He was slacking off? He did have to carry Toroko all the way out here. I'll cut him some slack I guess.

"Hi. Toroko is asleep. I guess I'll wait until morning to explain everything." She sits down criss cross applesauce against a tree nearby. "I'll at least introduce my name to dear Alice since she doesn't know my real name."

"Is that safe? Didn't your grandfather tell you not to do that?" He asks confused. Not concerned, confused. If it's not safe, shouldn't he be concerned and not confused?

"It's fine. The Queen needs to be taken down soon if she wishes to live. I'm sure Toroko has delivered many messages from Mystics around Wonderland warning her of her downfall, yet she still refuses to listen. The Jabberwocky will not protect her forever. In fact, it can't protect her forever. She herself has been lacking in all necessity ruler skills: combat, natural ability, strategizing." Caterpillar crosses her arms. "The only thing she's actually good at right now is terrorizing Wonderland through forces of power. That isn't effective ruling. That's asking for a revolution."

"Hmph. So this is what this is about." He huffs.

"Anyway, sit down Alice. I'll answer some of your questions but not all of them. There are some questions are best answered by your own experience than someone else's definition." She motions. "My name is Elizabeth Sakuraba. Feel free to call me Eliza, Beth, or whatever nickname helps you remember my name."

Okay. I guess I'll sit down. "Why am I here?" I ask first. Seeing as I'm not supposed to be yet I am, the only reason I can think of is because I followed the rabbit down the rabbit hole.

"Why are you here? I don't know if I can answer that one. I knew you would come, like all of them do, but I don't know why you came. You aren't suppose to be here. Thus, I wouldn't know why you actually are here." She answers simply. How helpful. She doesn't know. Well, I don't exactly intend on going back to my world yet.

"Who is the Queen?" I ask. "Why is she so important other than being the governmental figure of your world?"

"Well, the history of Wonderland is a bit on the... complex side. I'd rather skip that and go straight into the basics. The basics being what do you know about Razora as a universe and how Humans relate to it." She leans back staring sternly at me. "Let's play a round of modified 20 questions. I'll ask you 20 questions and you answer to the best of your knowledge. Then, it'll be your turn. Cheshire, you wanna add anything?"

We look over to the cat person. He's already asleep I think. His eyes are closed and his breathing matches Toroko's rhythm. Surprisingly I guess, he does not snore. For some reason, I expected him to. I wonder if I snore.

"I guess not. Shall we?" She asks. I nod. We should've started with this. That way, we both exchange information and it doesn't take up much time.