Once Upon A Time In Brooklyn

Chapter Four: Down the Rabbit Hole

"Do you think he's awake?"

"I don't know. Maybe that's what awake looks like to him?"

"Shhhh. He can hear you! Look, he's moving!"

"I'm pretty sure that means he's awake..."

Magnus sat up. He knew he should feel groggy. No matter if he had been healed or not, he should feel worse for wear right now. He'd been shot in the chest! With an arrow! He put his hand to his chest, expect to find at least bandages.

Rich fabric met his fingertips.

He looked down at himself.

His suit seemed to be made of purple glitter, and paired with a lime green shirt and a red waistcoat. There was no arrow sticking out of it, but also, he wasn't sure he owned anything that looked like this. Well, he owned things that looked like it, but not these particular clothes.

He also realised there was dirt beneath him, not the bed he had been expecting if he had been rescued. He looked around him.

Oh.

This wasn't Brooklyn. Or at least wasn't any part of Brooklyn he was familiar with. Large, lush green plants rose high up into the sky. They were almost impossibly big. So big, in fact, that Magnus was pretty sure they were unnatural. Only magic could have made them so large. So either he had shrunk or the plants had grown to the size of skyscrapers.

"He's definitely awake!"

Magnus turned towards the voices and did a double take. Those things were... Not human. Though they seemed vaguely familiar.

"You're faeries. I've seen you at my parties," Magnus said. The two creatures were not as he remembered them. Where their feet should have been were instead long roots and when he looked closely he saw that what he'd thought were tasteless bonnets were infact petals attached to the Seelies heads. They were... flowers?

"Oh god, am I hallucinating before I die?" He asked, clutching his head. The flower fairies bent down, looking at him strangely.

"Hallucinations?"

"Die?"

They repeated after him before looking at each other. He stared at them, willing this to make sense. Ali Baba, the skeletons, Alec dragging him towards the Hudson... And then nothing. No recollection of how he ended up here at all.

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

Magnus blinked, looking up. The flower fairies were cowering now.

"Oh... Oooo! That's why you are talking about dying! The Queen of Hearts is after you!"

Queen of Hearts?

Oh lord, was this Alice in Wonderland? Had the curse taken his dying brain and transported him into one final torment before he died?

Or was it somehow worse than that? Was this reality?

"Run, Mr. Hatter!" The flowers screamed. Magnus got to his feet. There was no pain, for that at least, he was grateful. He began to run.

As he ran he tried to assess his situation.

Of course, he'd be the Mad Hatter. The Mad Hatter threw parties and talked in riddles and was quietly subversive towards the system. If his brain was going to create some twisted dream before it died, it would make sense for him to cast himself as the Hatter. One point for this being his own mind playing tricks on him.

He darted through blades of grass taller than trees, weaving through them until he could no longer hear the screams of the Queen of Hearts. He had no doubt that she was still pursuing him though. From what he remembered of the Lewis Carroll tale, she was not the forgiving kind.