Return To Wonderland

Chapter 13: Madness?

**Outlands** 

Alice awoke to darkness, a tiny ray of sunshine came through a crack in the wall but that was it. A stench filled the air like something had died and the walls had patches of moss growing. 

"W-where am I?" Alice muttered, taking in her surroundings then quickly rose, running to the cell door, "Hello?! Can anyone hear me?!"

Her yell echoed through the tunnel but it was so long and dark, she started to doubt anyone could hear her. 

The sound of a door unlocking filled the room along with a massive amount of light, which stung her eyes so she shielded them, turning away. A dark shadow approached her, their footsteps were heavy and hit the floor, everything went still and cold, sending a chill down her spine, making her back up and sit against the wall.

"Take it." A voice grunted and it belonged to (ladies and gentlemen, presenting the horrendous) Stayne who slid the tray under the door. 

On it was some kind of mashed food and a piece of bread, thankfully some water but not enough, at least she probably wouldn't die of hunger or thirst. The only thing was that she shook her head, stayed where she was but kept quiet.

The cell door flung open and Stayne stomped inside, forcefully grabbing her by the arm. His look had frustration, anger and evilness. 

"I said..Take It! Iracebeth needs you alive.. for now." Stayne threw her hard onto the rough stone floor then sneered, "Like I care, I'd rather let you die, you're worthless."

He slammed the door closed and when he was finally gone, Alice arm's shook as she tried to pull herself up, she put one hand to her forehead where some blood was dripping. There was only enough strength for her to inch slowly over to the tray and eat.

"They'll come for me, I know they will." Alice whispered to herself, devouring the food so she could regain her energy and hopefully come up with a plan to escape. 

**few hours later**

The large metal door creaked open again, this time there were normal footsteps followed by three new shadows, two of them were at the side and looked the same but the one in the middle had a small body but an abnormally large head.

"Hello Alice." A stern but familiar voice said, all three people halted right in front of her cell.

"Iracebeth.." Alice stood there, grabbing the bars of the door that separated them and glared, almost face to face with the evil red queen.

"Aren't you supposed to be preparing for..oh I don't know..a war?" Iracebeth smirked, tapping her foot slower than the water dripping because of the dampness.

"What do you want from me?! You were the one who kidnapped me and took me here!" Alice yelled, no longer thinking about keeping calm.

"No need to yell champion..your testing my anger but I'll let it slide for now." She could see Iracebeth turn slightly red then back to her natural color.

Taking in a slow breath, Alice said through gritted teeth, "What do you want..?" 

"You know exactly what I want." Iracebeth pointed at the top of her head, "Something's missing here! I want what you took from me!"

Alice knew what she was talking about. The red queen that was defeated on Frabjous day wanted her crown back, wanted her power back but most importantly, she wanted to be queen of Underland again.

"I can't do that, even if I knew how to, I still wouldn't do it. Besides isn't your head big enough?" Alice smirked then muttered under her breath, "Like your temper.."

That triggered the time bomb like woman, everything went so fast that before Alice had time to process what was happening, Iracebeth's rage burst and she lunged herself towards the door, swinging her hands around to grab the girl.

"You little..!" She managed to slap Alice in the jaw, knocking her to the ground. It took a while for the guards to pull her away and calm down their 'leader.'

Alice held her jaw carefully, wincing when she touched where she had been hit  Even though she had seen a small portion of the red queen's rule over Underland, she started to understand more of why everyone hated her.

"Off with her-!" Before Iracebeth  could yell her infamous words, she quickly stopped and seemed to remember the reason why she was keeping the champion alive.

"You got lucky this time but next time, I'll have your head and all of your little friends' heads too!" The evil red queen spat out, "Ta ta."

Alice watched her and the guards turn and walk out, Iracebeth's haunting laugh echoing through the hall like a ringing in your ear.

When they fully disappeared and there was complete silence, Alice looked at her reflection in a tiny puddle of water which glistened slightly when a small stray ray of light hit it.

What she saw was strange and the person staring back at her would almost be unrecognizable if she hadn't realized she was the only one there. Her appearance changed. Her blond hair was now tangled with dirt, her dress had rips and more dirt on it. A bruise was starting to form where the bloody red queen hit her.

The only thing she noted as the most different was her face, she stared back at the mirror image of herself. Chapped lips, small bruises and a little dirt but her eyes was the huge difference. Eyes that used to be bright and fierce were now sunken and hollow, bags under them and they no longer sparkled.

Alice sat in the corner of the cell, hugging her knees and focused on the floor. She tried to stay brave and strong but now, it felt like the last bit of sanity she held onto was slowly slipping away.

"Down with the bloody big head..." Alice breathed out.

She had gone mad.

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I'm sooooooo sorry this chapter took longer than expected but I finally was able to do it. I'm also sorry if it's a little short, I was on writer's block for a while but I'll try to keep coming up with new ideas!  Fairfarren all!