A/N: Sorry guys. It's the first chapter… so you get lumped with the boring stuff. .
You all know the drill: a series of one-shots/drabbles, each one prompted by a singular word beginning with each letter of the alphabet.
I'll put any warnings, etc., at the start of each chapter, as the rating will go up in later chapters.
Also, screw fanfiction dot net and their hatred of my formatting. I really do not get it. Is anyone else having the problem where it just eats everything you do? I have to do it about three or four times before it sticks.
Prompt: Angel.
Rating: K.
Warnings: None.
Length: Drabble.
Disclaimer: I do not own Alice in Wonderland (2010), nor am I aiming to make any profit from this. If I owned it, the original script would have stayed.
Angel
By Naranne
As a little girl, Alice had once pondered the reality of angels. She had wondered if there truly was a gracious saviour who could guide, guard, and aid one in a time of need. However, all too soon the nightmares began, and she held little hope for the existence of such beings when none appeared to aid her, no matter how much she may have wished for it. Instead, as frightening as the strange inhabitants of her dreams had appeared at times, there was nothing to suggest that in themselves, they did not offer her their own kind of solace. However, the young Kingsleigh found her greatest relief in the presence of her father, and came to an abrupt decision that there was no need for angels of the heavenly sort—not when one so close to home could banish the frights of night with his care and attention.
Despite her decision, when Charles Kingsleigh passed away, Alice was left in a quandary.
With her earth-bound, inspirational angel taken so swiftly from her, Alice held the fleeting thought that perhaps she should cast her search skyward once more, yet soon rationalised that creatures responsible solely for the care of their charges would not have allowed such a thing to happen. Quickly, she came to realise that although she might believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast—as her father had been wont to do—and entertained flights of fancy which were frowned upon by society for their unrealistic quality, the realm of the spiritual was far beyond her grasp.
Helen Kingsleigh, viewing herself far more down-to-earth than her wayward daughter, did herself believe in higher powers than she, and sent prayers to whichever guardian spirit might be listening with a plea to guide her daughter.
However, as the carriage rattled toward the estate of Lord and Lady Ascot, Alice could think of nothing more than the dream which had so suddenly gripped her once more. The thought of angels returned to her mind, fleeing as swiftly as it had come when the inevitable lecture regarding codfishes and other restraining garments fell upon her ears. Yet, despite her efforts to the contrary, Alice could not shake from her flighty, unrestrained mind the images of a pair of brilliant, mischievous green eyes, a blue, smoke-wreathed caterpillar and, dancing feverishly behind them, a minute, white dormouse, sword gripped tightly in one tiny paw. Perhaps, Alice mused, it was not so far beyond her to propose that such beings did exist—even if it did go strictly against the reality she had evolved for herself, one of reasoning, logic, impossibility and the inbuilt desire to follow in her father's footsteps.
The son of the esteemed Ascots was stuffy and intolerable, and did not seem interested in the slightest in Alice's frequently voiced wonderings. It bothered her to no end that the son of the man whom Alice held in such high regard could be nothing more than a well-bred, perfectly trained gentleman who had no desire to explore the realm of what could be possible. Although Alice highly doubted Lord Ascot entertained visions of the ladies dancing in trousers and the men in dresses, she was absolutely certain of the fact that he had drive and determination and the desire to venture beyond the norm.
The news that she received from the chattering twins, the disturbing "peaceful stroll" she had been forced to accompany the Lady Ascot on, and the continued appearance of the rabbit in the waistcoat all served to push Alice further towards the edge. Her nerves were strained, her thoughts erratic, and she was near certain that she was nearing the edge of madness—however, it was then that her father's voice reverberated in her thoughts, after she had enquired as a little girl whether or not she was truly mad: "... all the best people are." Despite herself, her thoughts and the jumble of emotions warring inside of her, Alice was remarkably unfazed by the appearance of a startlingly blue caterpillar perched on Hamish Ascot's shoulder, contrastingly starkly with his bright, red hair.
Confronted with parallels from her nightmares as a child—and dreams which had taken hold of her so suddenly once again—Alice felt her feet fly of her own accord, following the rabbit's quick footsteps through the large, twisting mazes upon the Ascot's estate. A flash of blue waistcoat there, a glimpse of white fur—thanking the freedom of movement she gained from her refusal to wear a corset, Alice found herself unable to concentrate on where she ran or whom she followed, her legs working on instinct and determination rather than being propelled by conscious thought.
As Alice Kingsleigh knelt at the edge of the rabbit-hole into which the neatly dressed mammal had presumably vanished, a face swam into focus; whether from memory or dream, reality or imagination, she could not tell. The details, however, were startlingly clear: bright, green eyes, colour never a constant shade, a frizz of vivid hair, an infectious grin, and, just beyond her reach, the vague impression that atop that clearly recalled face should sit, precariously perched, something grand and yet, at the same time, somewhat quirky.
The earth gave way beneath her before she had time to react, the image from her dream blurring and vanishing as quickly as it had come.
However, as she first tumbled down that rabbit-hole, the light from the world above vanishing rapidly before her very eyes, one word reverberated clearly in Alice Kingsleigh's mind:
Angel.
A/N: Can anyone also give a shout of: ohmygod I updated? Even though it's not from my usual fandom(s), but whatever.
Reviews are greatly appreciated!
Much love,
Naranne