The sun shined brightly as he went into the mushroom woods. He found himself astound by everything.
With a smile he was greeted by large fat lightning bugs that curled around him and lit his way in the easing darkness.
A bunch of smoke filled the air very soon. He coughed, it smelled of burning petals and leaves, he couldn't help but waft it away with coughing followed shortly after.
He couldn't see through the thickness and bumped into a large wing falling over on it.
"Oh, my," Al slide over as it lift up and into the air.
He fell softly onto a furry body and heard the puffing.
"...Uh," the face soon revealed as a large butterfly's.
He got off with its help and went around slowly to its front,
"Uhm,"
"Who are you?" The butterfly asked with a deep calm voice much like a gentleman's.
"Uh... I am Al..." He replied to the question with slight ease.
"Al? You must be mistaken, you are not simply Al, you are Alice." The butterfly fluttered his wings seeing that the smoke hurt him.
The pink-purple smoke cleared and he breathed easy again.
"No, I'm not Alice. I'm not a female," he said feeling insulted.
"You are not?" The butterfly brought out some spectacles and put them on, "Ah, I see, you are not Alice if you are not female." He said wisely.
"I just told you that, did you even listen?"
"That is beyond my care, why are you here? Who brought you?" He asked keeping calm and breathing out some smoke into the around him.
Al couldn't help but cough, "Can you stop that! It hurts," he said.
"Hm?" The butterfly stretched its wings high.
"I followed a rabbit here, he pushed me through the door and I fell. So here I am!" he said not even believing it at all.
"I see," he put down the smoke pipe and flapped his wings grabbing hold of Al by the torso and arms,
"W-wait!" he wasn't very comfortable with heights.
The butterfly flew high in the sky and Al could see where he came from.
"What is that?" He saw the pillar of light shooting out from the tree he came from,
"That is known as the Waren Portal, in which you and Alice both came from." He answered of free will as it shook and broke.
He gasped, "Do not worry, one Alice can be here at a time. No more,"
"Why?"
"The world would be unbalanced if two Alice's where in Wonderland at the same time. You are a curious one." The butterfly said.
The butterfly flew to a large tower.
"Where are you taking me?" He asked seeing the tower.
"If you are not Alice, you must stay here," he placed him on the balcony with an endless fall. "You must not leave, for this battle is not your's to fight ." The butterfly said with caution,
"Battle?"
"Your curiosity will only get you killed, Young Master Al, harm must not befall you." He said flapping his gorgeous wings,
"Wait, what should I call you!" He called out as he flew away.
He turned to Al who now stood on the balcony, "My name was once Caterpillar, but now you can call me Butterfly." He called back and flew away.
Al saw metal armor appear on him and soon he was gone into the clear sky.
"Mr. Butterfly, hehe, that's almost too cute," Al giggled to himself, he hadn't realized that the pain in his chest had fled.
He went into the large room filled with old furniture. A closed and locked door, a bed a tea table with a chair and a nice glass vase with a flower in it.
It was simple and well decorated but it felt suffocating to be in such a room. He dropped himself onto the bed and sighed.
"I want to go home..." he sighed and closed his eyes. "But what can I do?" He remembered Butterfly's words,
"For this battle is not your's to fight."
He lay down feeling his heart ache. "What am I doing here? Is this real?" He wondered.
He breathed softly and heard the door unlock. He pretended to be asleep and watched with his eye carefully open.
A knight placed a tray of wonderful smelling cake on the tea table and another brought some tea. He sat up and they noticed him,
"Good morning, Young Master, did you sleep well?" One asked, a large red heart was on the shield that was strapped to his back.
"Uh, yes... thank you." Al said.
"We have brought you some breakfast in case you were hungry, Young Master." One standing outside said.
"Made by the finest chef we have. Please do enjoy." They bowed and left when he nodded.
He looked at the food, "Oh, it's my favorite," he could smell the wonderful bacon and waffle cake, he sat and ate some of it and took his sweet time with the good warm tea.
"Ah, such good tea." Moments later the knights came back and cleaned off the table leaving the tea and a good strawberry cake.
He had a piece of cake in front of him eaten only a little.
The world spun without a care. The sun soon passed and night drew nigh.
"Hm, will I ever go home?" He asked himself.
He put the tea down and leaned back in the chair.
"What are you talking about?"
"Whoa!" he nearly fell back, "W-What..." He watched as the steam of the tea formed a cat head with a large smile from ear to ear. "W-who... are you?" Al asked cautiously leaning in.
"Heh, that does not matter now, what matters is you getting out of here, right?" The cat floated near him still in steam,
"Uh, right," he nodded.
"I'll be here soon, all you have to do is wait for me, understand?"
"Yes, but, what is a cat supposed to do? I'm locked away eighty meters in the sky with two guards standing outside the door, with a single window and balcony. Can I trust you?"
"I do not know. Can you?" The cat grinned and vanished.
"Ah, wait!" It was already gone before he could say any more.
Al stood out in the balcony watching the night sky, he tried to open the door again but knew he couldn't, he knocked on it from inside,
"Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom, again." He said.
The door opened, "I'm sorry, sixteen ounce bladder and twenty ounce tea pot really isn't all that great~" he smiled as one guard took him to the bathroom,
"Here, Young Master. Please have a bath while you are in there," the guard handed him a towel and some pajamas, "Here is a toothbrush as well," he added.
"Thank you." Al took them and went inside, the other guard checked the room thoroughly, looking inside the tea pot, "He was not lying." It was empty.
Al frowned, "It is almost like I am in a prison, a high class prison..." he said using the bathroom and turning the bath on as he stripped.
"My first day here," he thought, "So far, it's been... different." He got into the warm water and lay there a minute.
"...Different from the story I read as a child..." he frowned.
"...Can I really trust his words?" He asked himself lowering himself farther down into the tub until he was completely under water.
"This is a dream... isn't it?" He asked himself, "Just a dream I have to get over." He closed his eyes going back to taking the bath again.
Once he got out a guard came to get his clothes and took them away while the other escorted him back to his room.
His hair was still slightly wet as he walked in. The same room he's been in for the entire day, and soon the entire night.
"Um, may I ask you a question?" He looked at the guard,
"Yes, Sir?"
"Why are you keeping me here? Why can't I go out and explore the tower?" He asked curiously.
"Because it is safer in the room than anywhere else."
"But what if I fall over the balcony rail? Or suffocate due to lack of air, or perhaps even fall out the window! Oh, how horrible." He said.
Thinking about it. The guard looked at the other when he came back.
"Why did I say anything?" He sighed and sat on the bed.
The balcony was now boarded up and the window was locked with a key, a single window not big enough for him to fit through even if he tried.
He got into bed, the light was already off. Closing his eyes he felt his heart ache again,
"Mm, will I be okay here?" He asked closing his eyes.