Deck of Cards

Chapter 3

The rabbit hid behind Alice cowardly, despite Alice not being nearly tall enough to actually defend him. Still, she couldn't deny the fact that the garden was frighteningly ruined, and had a ghostly and abandoned atmosphere to it.

"I-I suppose... The Red Queen did this..." He whimpered.

"And why would she do that?" Alice narrowed her eyes at the rabbit, before she began walking down the somewhat damaged stone path in the middle of the garden.

"W-who knows... This used to be part of the Red Queen's garden but... I-I have no clue as to why it has been deduced to ruins..."

Alice spun around quickly, placing her hands on her hips. "If the Red Queen was supposedly here before, wouldn't it be foolish to go through that door? What if she was still here and saw us coming!"

"F-for heaven's sake I'm not that stupid, silly! I already knew she had abandoned these parts, I just didn't think she'd come back just to destroy it..." He said, obviously in deep thoughts.

"That was still a ridiculously risky move!" Alice groaned, frustrated how impulsive and irrational the rabbit's decisions were. It was clear that the stress and anxiousness had begun taking its toll on her, but she had no plans on falling back right away.

"W-well to be fair, this was the only door the key would open..." He shrugged, quite frightened by Alice's small outburst.

"Well now that we're actually here, where are we heading to?" She said, completely ignoring the rabbit's counter-statement.

"Logically speaking... W-we should start heading to the White Queen. I'm sure she knows exactly what we must do to help you break the curse! A-again..." He sighed, realising how naive of a thought that was.

Alice rolled her eyes at the thought. "I still have no idea if I'm even able to do such a thing." She grumbled, looking at the half-painted roses down the path. It seemed that the longer down the stony path they went, the darker everything became. Eventually, rose bushes were replaced by tall and dark trees, that refused to let in too much sunlight.

"None of us know! B-but you're our only hope for now..." The rabbit's voice was shaky, as he nervously looked at the trees surrounding them. Alice couldn't help but focus her vision on a rather big tree. It was much thicker and taller than the rest, but just as dark. It was quite beautiful, but she didn't get to view it for long, as the rabbit seemed to be quite in a hurry to get out of the old forest.

Alice didn't exactly know what to say about her being their only hope. After all, she had no idea how she had winded up in this situation. Just a day or so ago, she had been working in a small café. She had been venting with Dinah. She had been receiving odd letters from her sisters. And now, she was following a talking rabbit down a dark forest that supposedly led to a queen.

Eventually the stale awkward silence was broken by the Rabbit's shaky and uneasy voice.

"Y-you really don't remember anything from here so far?" He asked, as his ears turned towards Alice.

Alice shook her head, letting out a sigh. "No, I don't."

"Hmm..." The Rabbit mumbled something, but Alice didn't catch on. She was quite distracted, as she noticed a big tree.

Wait.

Alice stopped in her tracks, causing the rabbit to abruptly stop as well, before he spun around to look at Alice. "S-something wrong?" He asked, as his nose began to twitch at a faster pace.

"I could have sworn that we just passed by this tree..." She sputtered, looking at the rabbit intently. "We must have been walking in circle but... I'm pretty sure we've been walking straight ahead this whole time, right?"

The rabbit peered towards the tree, before reverting his gaze back towards Alice. "Y-you're right..."

"My, oh my... I must say, I didn't expect to find a cursed bunny rabbit and a non-cursed human girl around these parts." said a quiet and unfamiliar voice.

Alice turned around quickly, her face puzzled as she questioned where the voice had come from. "hello?" She called out cautiously, and the rabbit made sure they both stuck close to each other.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance" Said the playful voice again, before a smile appeared right in front of Alice. Then, a body began revealing itself as well. Much to her surprise, it was a human one, and much taller than her, because of Alice's new size.

"Wait- You're a human!" Alice exclaimed shocked, looking up and down at the person in front of her.

The man frowned slightly, but somehow managed to keep his mischievous grin nonetheless. "Not quite I'm afraid. But unlike most civilians here, I have magic of my own that I can use to my advantage to appear mostly human." he confirmed, adjusting his dark lavender shirt.

The rabbit was noticeably annoyed, and eventually decided to speak up.

"Not all of us are blessed with that luxury, Cheshire!" He frowned, thumping his foot impatiently.

"Oh, yes you're right bunny." Cheshire chuckled, crossing his arms mockingly. It was quite clear from their exchange in looks and words that they didn't get along well.

"Now if you don't mind, me and this silly girl have to pass through here. So move it." The rabbit huffed stubbornly. But Cheshire didn't seem like he intended to move at all. "Speaking of the silly girl, who is she?" He asked, pointing his finger towards Alice.

"Alice Lockhart." She replied, somewhat bothered that he didn't just ask her himself. "And you are Cheshire?"

The man grinned amused, and gave a prideful nod. "I am. Probably the strongest wizard in all of Wonderland!" The rabbit rolled his eyes at Cheshire's declaration.

"Keep telling yourself that." He said, with a cold voice. Alice eyes widened with excitement at the word wizard.

"A wizard? That's wonderful! Then perhaps you can help us out of this forest!" She said with a hopeful smile, and Cheshire tilted his head playfully.

"Not so fast. All magic has it's price. And just like I have to pay my price for using it, you have to pay your price for borrowing it." He said with a gleeful chuckle, leaving Alice confused.

The rabbit's ears lowered slightly, and he quickly jumped into the conversation.

"Nonsense! There is no reason for her to pay you anything! We don't need your stupid troublesome magic!" He huffed, now very angered and worried.

"Unfortunately thats not your decision to make, bunny." He said, a hint of mockery in his voice. He then held his hand out towards Alice.

"So what do you say? I'll help you out of this forest, and you will owe me a favour. Deal?"