{for lydia for her wonderful stories and tgtg involvement and overall amazing-ness}
OF THREE THINGS Alice was absolutely certain:
One. Wonderland was terrifyingly, unbelievably real. And she had been there.
Two. Everyone was a liar.
And three. Sanity was merely an illusion; everyone was mad.
Illusion. She liked the taste of the word on her tongue. She remembered where she first heard it. Even now she could see the word spiraling out of his wicked grin, emerging from a puff of smoke.
"Alice," he'd whispered through his teeth — the only visible piece of him, apart from a floating nose and keen, almond shaped eyes. "Everything is an illusion." She'd stopped him then, concentrating, sifting through her vocabulary for a definition.
Eventually, she came up empty handed. Though Alice knew many, many words, illusion was not yet one of them. He'd explained it to her impatiently. "An illusion, Alice, is a deceptive image, really."
She'd instantly taken a liking to it. A deceptive image. She found nothing more fascinating than the thought of being deceived by something so clearly shown in front of her. Betrayed by her own eyes. Alice had tucked the word away in her mind, keeping it safe for later use.
She hadn't known then, of course, that the predicted 'later' would be in such unfortunate circumstances.
"Alice," he had purred, "Everything is an illusion. And yet, nothing is. Fantasy and reality are one, my dear, you'd do well to keep that in mind." He'd hissed then, solidifying into an actual creature, lunging at her. She'd screamed, but he'd disappeared long before his claws could graze her skin.
Alice, an obedient child by nature, had done as told and kept that in mind.
not really edited so i apologize for my mistakes and the absolute horror that this probably is
Jules
