EPILOGUE, OR A FALL IN XOFORD
The chariot of the Sun was drawn across the sky with a trail of a twinkling sound behind.
Oh, did I say twinkling?
Sorry, it was just a message tone. Eun-soo forced her jaded eyelids open and dragged her Samsung Galaxy Ace 7 (the third version was so popular, they decided to make more versions of it) closer to her face. The screen displayed a message.
From: So-called Konstantin Jung
Good morning, Eunnie~:)
She knew more than anyone else that it was morning already. The message was nothing significant. So, she pulled her thick blanket to her chin and went back to sleep. Then, the twinkling returned. Uttering a string of half-awake curses the author wished not to speak of, she stretched a long arm towards the nightstand and grabbed her smartphone again. Another message. Fancy that!
From: So-called Konstantin Jung
Haven't you checked the refrigerator?
Dear God, since when did Kris have an affection for refrigerators? Oh, Kris. She glanced at the digital frame on her nightstand. It consisted of a slideshow of pictures: her own family back home, the strange creatures of Wonderland (her friends mistook them for creepy but good-looking cosplayers) and the pictures taken during Ace's first birthday party. Ace, the birthday boy, was smudging the cream of his almost-eaten birthday cake on the tip of Kris's nose. Next, Eun-soo threw some confetti on Ace to give the naughty child a lesson. Kris retaliated on his son's behalf by blowing a noisy party horn to her face. The fight was ended with the two of them laughing and eating cake.
The last picture was of Kris and Ace sleeping that she'd taken during her last day in Wonderland. A vision of innocence in madness. Sometimes, Kris could be so random. Perhaps, he had an important issue regarding the refrigerator that he desperately wanted to discuss with her. Maybe the refrigerator is kaput.
So, why not?
Eun-soo walked to her refrigerator and tugged the door open.
A tin of spaghetti sauce fell down to hit an end of a mini see-saw made with a ruler and a book. At the other end of the see-saw, a rubber ducky flew up from the impact and hit a ping-pong ball on her coffee table. Quack! The ball rolled on the table to drive a toy car down a ramp. Off the ramp, the toy car went along in a straight line to press the 'ON' button of a toy robot that pulled down a pulley. The rope on the pulley pulled a drawer slightly open and a tea-bag dropped down on her head.
Eun-soo yanked the tea-bag by its string. Written on the tea-bag was "What's that on your laptop?"
She checked her laptop. On it was a piece of paper. "This way" it said, with an arrow underneath. She followed the direction of the arrow and arrived by her kitchen. On her cabinet was another piece of paper. "That way" it said, with an arrow underneath. She followed the direction of the arrow and arrived by her television box. On it was, you're right! Another piece of paper! "Check out your mailbox!" it said.
Gullible Han Eun-soo went outside. What kind of elaborate prank is this, Kris? Why does it need the involvement of a miserable Rube Goldstein machine? She grunted and slammed her mailbox open.
Something was inside.
It was a brown, ornamented letter that smelled like strawberries. It was a decent letter, if not for the childish handwriting on it:
Dear Eun-soo,
Meet me at the Christ Church Cathedral at 3 o'clock sharp!
Waiting,
Kris
The letter was signed by none other than Kris himself. At the end of his signature were a single wing and a heart-giving dragon drawn in a cute and simple way, if not clumsy.
'Twas seven years since the coronation of the Ace of Hearts as the rightful King. Within these seven years, Han Eun-soo had matured herself into a fine student furthering her studies in theoretical physics in the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. People often said that what she's studying is highly unconventional but she was adamant to pursue her passion. For the time being, her course included the evolution of galaxies, dynamical models of galaxies, and the occasional collider physics. For most people, they sounded too mind-blowing, but out of love, she'd aced them all.
Oxford is a place made famous by legends. Some said that the rabbit-hole of Alice in Wonderland is situated in Christ Church, Oxford. But no one knows. Since the time of the Alice's Queen of Hearts, the hole was sealed and no unlucky, rabbit-led girls had fallen in. What about Eun-soo? At least, she was abducted to Wonderland...
Several hours and three drawers of dresses later, Eun-soo went out of her apartment in a loose blue dress with white trimmings, her hair held back by a black band with a black rose on top—and wearing a pair of black mary-janes. Wasn't her outfit rather too young for her age? The thought of Oxford's rabbit-hole brought back the fond memories of her young life, so it was fitting for the occasion! Kris will meet her there. What would he want now? A stroll? A date? Oh, how silly! He was too busy for a date! And he asked her to go to a cathedral!
The only way to find out is to come there herself. For Kris, she had sacrificed about eight pounds. The Christ Church Cathedral stood amidst college buildings, so that place wasn't so foreign to her. Its striking Gothic design reminded her of Hogwarts in her favourite Harry Potter movies. By examining the rich details around her, she felt as if flying on a broomstick. I already have an experience in flying, she chuckled to herself. Not many people came to visit today and Kris hadn't arrived yet. To while the time, she took a casual walk around before she saw a horse chestnut tree behind a great wall—and the rectangle grin that floated on its branch.
"Baekhyun? Is that you?" she asked automatically in Korean. In reply, the grin faded, and the branch became a normal branch.
Poof!
Eun-soo stepped back and shielded her face with her arms. A cloud of grey appeared before her. She wobbled forward like a toddler and tried to catch a bit of the cloud. She couldn't. The grey wafted away. Something familiar began. To her, the curtains were pulled for a show. There was a bronze-skinned man in a waist-coat, holding a pocket-watch in front of her. Suddenly, Kai appears!
What should Eun-soo do? This is what she did: "Kai, is that you?" she asked him.
Kai nodded.
Kai used TELEPORT!
Kai fled.
"Wait!" she shouted to the hazy air. Strange... What is Kai doing here? Something related to Kris, she assumed. She whirled around to find any trace of Kai's presence. Not even a speck of dust.
However, that wasn't the end of it.
"Oh, my black-rimmed eyes! Oh, my Gucci! I'm late for the King!" a shrill voice cried out. As expected, it was Tao, all alarmed by the sight of his pocket-watch. The watch was similar to that of Kai's. "Oh dear, oh dear! I shall be very, very late!"
They're Above now? The Wonderlanders were making fun of her, weren't they?
Tao looked up from his pocket-watch and saw Eun-soo. They stared at each other for several seconds. After all, is it normal to see a panda loitering around a cathedral in England? Tao shoved his pocket-watch into his coat pocket. It took his time-keeping instinct to break the stare. "No, not now! Or we shall be horribly late, my guest!" he shouted, running further from her.
"Tao, don't leave me, too!" For the sake of her burning thirst for information and her current confusion regarding Kris's intention, she ran after Tao across the field. She kept running and running, the grass under her spinning, the winds had her lagging—only to see Tao jumping into a rabbit hole under an old, leaf-forsaken tree.
Should she jump too?
Who cares!
In this carefree spirit, Eun-soo fell down the rabbit-hole. She was free-falling after all. She felt no fear whatsoever—just the thrill of her late teenage years. (Almost) Only the force of gravity act against her. (Almost) Complete weightlessness. Falling in a straight line. Geodesic! Awesome! The rabbit hole is a gateway tunnel! She knew what will come after this, but she didn't know exactly how.
The hole was lined with bricks and shelves. On the shelves were books and books without any pictures. Eun-soo frowned. They should at least have time-velocity graphs. But, there are also propaganda posters from the Queen of Hearts' era. A big 'MAMA' was painted above the Queen's portrait. Hmm... Chanyeol had his grandmother's eyes. The posters were pinned to the shelves. In the other shelves, there were also clockwork automatons playing a violin, the name 'Henry' etched onto their forehead. The Henries were playing Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy'.
"Look, she's falling!" said an ostrich.
"Wow! She's falling!" said a monkey.
"Help me, she's falling!" said a moose.
Not only a normal rabbit-hole, this tunnel was also a dungeon, holding political prisoners in. Bone-thin animals rocked their grills, shouting, hands clawing out for Eun-soo to free them...
"Free us, old child!" said the monkey.
"Free us! Free us!" said the moose.
The more time passed, the more their pleadings sounded annoying—and there was nothing else to do. She remembered her childhood days in the classroom when the teacher pushed a mini-trolley down a runway with a ticker-tape fixed on it to measure its acceleration. (Between her thoughts she was able to evade a falling sewing machine) In the case of her fall, she needed a very, very, very long ticker-tape (at this point, she was evading a giant falling elevator) and a very, very, very big ticker-timer.
Heh, she's not falling for this.
Thump!
The fall was over and she landed on a big trampoline. That way, she was shot forward into a hallway of doors she'd remembered as the inside of the Mourning Tree. Ow. She had bruised an elbow. Eun-soo brushed all dust from her dress and aimed for the little door behind the curtain leading to the Castle of Hearts. Alas, Alice! The door was small and locked! She couldn't even pass her head through. Her forehead was jammed. Pulling and pulling, she managed to free herself with an extra ring across her face. How foolish for an Oxford student! But she still couldn't get through.
Suddenly, she came upon a three-legged table made of solid glass. On it was a bottle of the 'DRINK ME' potion and a golden skeleton key. And suddenly, she was smart to unlock the door first, then drink the potion. In the matter of seconds, the door was open and she was shrunk to the size of ten inches. This reminded her of the White Rabbit's house seven years ago before Xiumin—
Past the door, she returned to her original size. In front of her was a beautiful garden garlanded with marble fountains and white blooming roses. In the middle of the garden was a large, long table. Her Wonderland friends were seated around the table.
There were cupcakes, (baked by D.O, obviously) in the shape of mushrooms, pocket watches, playing cards, crossed hexagons and hexagons the shape of mosquito coils. The teacups and plates were mismatched in colour. Or perhaps more than just colours. Luhan himself was drinking from a very large cup resting on a very tiny plate.
"Welcome to Xoford, Key of Fire!" Lay greeted Eun-soo with a bow.
Eun-soo was dumbfounded. "This is Wonderland... And I thought that I'm still in Oxford... And what's with the XO?"
"Up there, it's Oxford, but upside down in the southern hemisphere, it's Xoford!" Suho climbed out from the water fountains.
"Five minutes late!" Luhan gazed at Eun-soo with his peculiar golden eyes. "Your timepiece needs fixing!"
"Or do you want Yixing's Fixing Potion?" suggested Lay, holding out a bottle of foul-smelling mixture.
The other members covered their noses. Chen ducked under the table. Sensitive Luhan was shedding big, fat tears. "For goodness' sake, do away with such abomination, Lay!" he bawled out.
"No, it's not Lay." Lay cleared his throat and adjusted his shirt collar. "It's..." he struggled to remember, "Sir Lay."
"Yah! We're all Sirs here!" the Resistance and the scientists corrected him.
After peace was restored to Wonderland, all the Resistance of Shuffling Decks and the two scientists were knighted by King Baekhyun. To the King, they deserved to be awarded for their deeds and bravery. Since Baekhyun was too busy at that time, Chanyeol was chosen as the master of the ceremony. While dubbing the knighted fighters on the shoulder, Chanyeol tried to restrain himself from swinging the sword from a different angle. Especially when it came to Luhan who had unwittingly sent things flying in the castle.
"But at least I got richer!" Lay defended himself.
Lay, Tao and Kai embarked on a new career with their own travelling medicine show—Sir Lay's Merry Caravan Musical Medicine Show. Their merry caravan had travelled all over Wonderland, making this trio very famous throughout the kingdom. Tao will entertain the audience with his martial arts moves and Kai will perform unthinkable dance routines, while grinder Lay will sing and distribute samples of his infamous Yixing's Fixing Potion, an exotic potent brew allegedly possessing an ability to heal all ailments, including epileptic fangirling sprees and firework diarrhoea. The potion worked like magic, and more people bought it in bulk amounts. Tao had learned to swallow a sword without severing his oesophagus, Kai did a great job balancing on unicycles, balls, ropes, Tao and other miscellaneous items, and Lay used his ability to help people. They are rich now, but...
"No way! I'm the richest among you all!" Suho crossed his arms and leered at Lay.
"Oh, even richer than the King himself!" Baekhyun laughed, followed by his two brothers.
According to the wish of their father, Baekhyun was named as the King of Hearts, Chanyeol was named as the Prince Regent of Hearts and Sehun was named as the Chancellor of Hearts. After a tragic decade, they are more experienced in holding internal conflicts. The new era was the Golden Age of Wonderland. Chanyeol became a more pragmatic military advisor. Sehun became a kind leader who cares about his people more than himself. And who said that leadership is beyond Baekhyun?
"So, the Hearts Princes are invited, too?" Eun-soo asked.
"Yes! Including one special guest!" Chen pointed at a man approaching Eun-soo from behind a rose tree. Kris was clad in a black tuxedo, his blond hair slicked back. He was holding Ace who was also in a matching outfit: a black tuxedo with a pink bow-tie.
“Meep~” Ace greeted everyone in the party although his father was silent.
"Come here, Kris! Join us!" beckoned Tao. "We really missed you since you left Wonderland!"
"I can't stand standing people!" Luhan pushed both Kris and Eun-soo to their respective seats next to each other. "Have this for a change," The hatter poured his guests some tea—one cup for Kris, one cup for Eun-soo, one cup for me and none for you.
"Can I have more tea, hyung?" Sehun begged Luhan with big starry eyes.
"Here, Your Excellency!" Luhan poured Sehun some tea.
"Actually, I have something to ask." Sehun sipped his tea. "You're cooperating with the scientists, right?"
"Yes indeed." Luhan nodded, his hat rattling.
Luhan, Chen and D.O had teamed up to develop new technologies for Wonderland. Upon the release of Samsung Galaxy Ace 4 in late 2014, Eun-soo switched to the new model and Kai had secretly donated the old model to them. Using the smartphone as a reference, they recently had developed the civilian edition of the Report Card under Sehun's command. It was well-used in Wonderland soon after, and long-distance communication could be established. The underground had never been more connected.
"Now, I want to ask you a favour..." Sehun said to Luhan. A serene expression passed over his face. "I'm trying to develop the newly-discovered steam technology. But, I don't have any expertise. The steam-powered wheelchair had been a great help to my brother. I heard that you're a great inventor now. Can you, with the help of Chen, develop the same technology to create wonders to rival the wheelchair? You can now work in the Chancellery—"
"Me? In the Chancellor's Service? Oh boy-oh boy-oh boy-" Luhan hopped into the plates of soup on the table as if they were water puddles after a heavy rain, "Oh boy-oh boy-oh boy!"
D.O watched in sheer horror as his precious cooking was desecrated by Luhan's expression of joy.
"Hyung," Sehun turned to D.O and asked, "Are you okay with the exclusion?"
"It's alright with me. I'm quite busy these days..." D.O smiled shyly. "I'm taking care of my wife."
Consequently, tea was sprayed out from everybody's mouth.
A fortunate case of dialling the wrong number (he was testing his new invention) had brought D.O to a lady named Ingrid Bjornsdóttir who lived in the same village as Kris. After a long time admiring each other's voices, they decided to meet in person. A year after, D.O and Ingrid were married. She's expecting their first child, and D.O was too excited to be a father.
"Kris brought us some knödel~!" yodelled Chen, hoisting a plastic bag. He placed it on the table. The attention was shifted to the mysterious 'knödel'.
"What is a knödel?" asked the hungry Kai.
"Is it imported?" asked the human-legged Suho.
"Knödel is German for dumpling." Eun-soo explained.
As soon as Eun-soo said the word 'dumpling', white powders fell in the air. The sky seemed to sparkle. The Wonderlanders looked up at the spinning crystals. It was snowing.
Winter.
Snowfall.
Snow.
Snow fell to the ground and memories fell into place.
The Wonderlanders began reminiscing and chatting among each other, but Kris walked over to Luhan's seat and whispered of a clandestine pact, "Lulu, where did you put that thing?"
"I remember it well in my head, sir!" Luhan took off his hat and plunged his hand into it. The hat was given a shake. He pulled out a live dove (which flew away) and an unending string of tied colourful silk handkerchiefs. "Oh, where is it now! It was here last week!" he fretted while pulling the handkerchiefs over and over again.
"LUHAN!" Kris yelled at the mad hatter. This wasn't the right time for hat-tricks. "Why do you have to do this to me?"
Blue, red, yellow, pink, black, orange, brown, white, green...
"Aha!" the string of handkerchiefs was ended by a vanilla cupcake tied onto the last one. "Let me fix this!" Luhan untied the cake from the handkerchief and passed it to Kris. "Here's your cake, sir!"
"Thanks to you!" Kris snatched the cake from Luhan. Luhan just poured some tea from his hat and drank his cup calmly. Kris ran his fingers through his hair. He would accept no more delay. "Come, Ace!" he ushered his dutiful son and tapped the nearby Eun-soo on the shoulder.
"Yes?" she whirled around and faced him.
Kris held her hand and tinkered her dainty fingers. "Umm... Let's walk to the Tumtum tree...?" he suggested. The tone of his voice was dissonant with his purpose.
She found it cute for Kris to behave that way. Her glee blossomed into a smile. "Sure!" she said.
So, Kris and Eun-soo rested by the Tumtum tree. They both sat on two red giant mushrooms beneath the tree. Its branches hung low like harp-strings with leaves as shiny and transparent as glass shards. Kris plucked a leaf and slipped it behind her ear. "Oh, thank you!" she felt the leaf's smooth veins with care.
"Mind a little snack?" Kris passed her his little vanilla cupcake with a doll-house spoon on top. The words 'EAT ME' was written on the cake in chocolate chips.
"Thank you again!" Eun-soo scooped bits from the cupcake and tasted it. Not too bad, though the cake was somewhat too hard and its chocolate filling was somewhat too bitter.
"I baked it myself." Kris later revealed.
"W—what?" Eun-soo stabbed her spoon into the cake and hit something hard. It wasn't the cake... It was a dense solid of the inedible sort. She scooped it out. Under chunks of cream-white sponges, it was glittering—a gold ring adorned with a key-shaped diamond.
"Han Eun-soo, will you be Ace's mother?" Kris knelt down and asked in his rich husky voice. His hands cradled the ring protectively. "Only a strong woman could bring a warrior down to his knees."
She stood awhile, lost in her thoughts. The warmth from his words brimmed in her cheeks. So, he had prepared all this for her? From the morning until now? Can a girl even dream to be proposed in Wonderland? The idea was almost theoretical. Almost Alice.
"Meep?" asked Ace with anticipation.
The rustle of falling snow spoke to her ear:
Just say yes, and be happy forever. Resistance is futile.
Confusion be gone.
Her heart knew what to say.
"Yes, I will..." Eun-soo nodded, streaks of starlight escaping her eyes.
Kris stood up and slipped the ring through her finger. Fingers and hearts were interwoven. His eyes glowed amber, radiating innermost bliss. The dragon's darling fair-haired maiden had accepted his love.
"Já~!" Kris screamed and flung himself to the heavens with a whoosh and a wham. His speed was so fast, she could hear the sonic boom from under the tree. He was above, but his happiness stayed with her. It was like watching a plane's aerobatic show during an Air Fair. She swore that Kris was even doing an Immelmann turn up there!
"Yehet~!" the other Wonderlanders cheered and raised their teacups to toast the happy news.
"Kris! Get back down!" Eun-soo yelled at him.
"Alright, Eunnie minn..." Kris landed back on his two feet and smoothed his messy hair. "Thank you for accepting me."
"You're welcome..." Her fingertips glided across her damp eyes. "Still, will you wait for me to graduate first?"
"Gladly." Kris held her cheeks. He tilted his head and closed the distance separating them—
"Yah!"
Suddenly, a rectangle grin materialised out of the air-space between Eun-soo and Kris, singing:
"'Twas brillig and the slithy toves,
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe..."
The couple took a look behind the Tumtum tree to find Baekhyun and Chanyeol laughing and rolling on the grass. Fine powders of snow were shimmering on their royal attires. They are the rulers of a kingdom, yet they acted like little boys.
Baekhyun panted from laughing too much. He raised his hands in an act of surrender. However, once he caught his breath, he spoke with authority. "As the King of Hearts, let me tell you of a rule: no further gestures before marriage in Wonderland!"
Chanyeol nodded, agreeing, and made a chopping move using his long arms. “And rules are rules! Or else be off with your heads!"
Baekhyun gave Chanyeol a friendly smack to the head (Chanyeol rubbed his head and elbowed Baekhyun in return). "No, no, both of you are pardoned. Your heads are safe. We have bestowed our royal blessings." Then, Baekhyun gave the couple two thumbs up. "Now, continue. But, no further gestures! Save the best for last." And he gave them a wink.
The rectangle grin drifted away. This time, Eun-soo saw Kris, his eyes of flame; the man who came whiffling through the maze of her heart, and burbled as he took his place!
"I love you." he whispered.
"I love you, too." she returned.
Kris and Eun-soo held Ace up between them and kissed the little alpaca's chubby cheeks at once instead. Love, like sound-waves, travels through a suitable medium.
Thus concluded another quaint tale: Alice fell down the rabbit hole, fell out of luck and fell for the Jabberwock.
What a place is Wonderland, where nothing is what it seems...
At first sight.
A/N: The ending failed me! Excuse me, everyone. I failed at romance and fluff.
All awesome things in this piece came from God, while the sucky things are my fault~:P
This little fic is all I can pull out from my head... Honestly, I'm not a good writer and I rarely read fantasy novels, so I'm sorry if I couldn't deliver the contents and premise as good as you'd expected them to be. I'm also sorry for making this fanfic too mild for those who are expecting a twisted adaptation of Alice. What I wanted to convey is the carefree feel of the original, and given that this is a piece of juvenile literature, it should be kept less than PG.
Thank you for braving nearly 100 pages of half-cooked madness! I didn't expect this much support from readers of different fanbases, especially from EXO and the original Alice. In fact, I'm very honoured to have readers from outside the EXO sphere! Aren't you guys perplexed by the changes? To say the truth, this is the only adaptation that pairs Alice with a dragon (Jabberwock to be exact), because usually in any film/novel/game etc. Alice will end up slaying the dragon, not loving him! And this is the only fanfic that gives Ace Wu a speaking role. LOL.
Speaking of the Jabberwock, the world still needs a dragon~ *winks*
XOXO,
Helena C./HCLandsteiner/HCl