Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton's rendition or otherwise.

A Smiling Cat

-"...a smiling cat,-"

" I didn't know Cats could smile."

"Neither did I. And there's a blue caterpillar."

"Blue caterpillar?"

Something was wrong with his Alice. That was all Charles Kingsley could think of, as he sat by his daughter's bedside and held her tiny, fever-flushed hand. The illness had come upon her over the course of the last three days, and when they had summoned the doctor he had never seen anything quite like it. A strange infection, he said, but none of the medicines he had left were working to cure the tiny girl. His wife had gone to their room after the last visit and wept, and she still had yet to come out. Charles was left to do the only thing he could think of- hold his child and pray that it was not the last time he would do so. He barely noticed when his guest came into the room.

"A terrible tragedy, Mr. Kingsley," the dark-haired man murmured, "That such a lovely child must suffer so."

Charles turned to look at his new business associate. The young man had recently moved to London from...somewhere or other...and had been staying with the Kingsley family for the past week while he established himself. He still could not recall who could have referred the somewhat odd man to him of all people.

"Yes, Mr. Stein, it is indeed. My poor little darling..."

"I believe I heard your other daughter, Maggie, was it? Calling for you. As your wife seems to be...indisposed, I could sit with the child..."

The worried father almost seemed to hear a whisper around him, telling him not to leave his daughter alone with this man. He shook off the chill it gave him, reaching for the doorknob.

"Yes, thank you Mr. Stein. I'll just be a moment."

He turned the knob, but as he did he was surprised to see a rather large cat rush into the room, as though it had been waiting for precisely this moment. What shocked him was not the cat's presence, but the way it reacted to the room's other occupant with the most menacing hiss he had ever heard from an animal. Stein, who had just been settling in the chair Charles had vacated, whirled to look at the strange cat with undisguised shock and more than a little fear.

"Knave!" growled a gravelly voice. At first Charles thought that the word had come from the other man in the room, but Stein had not made the slightest move. The man's next words came as quite a shock to the harried father.

"Cat, you should stay out of things which do not concern you!"

"And you, Ilosovic Stayne, should know better than to try and tamper with what has been foretold."

This came from a third voice, and absently Charles realized that he could see a great blue caterpillar sitting on the back of the cat. He had to wonder if his sleepless nights worrying for his daughter had affected his mind, but he didn't have time to think on it as Stein? Stayne? pulled a wicked looking dagger from some hidden place on his person. He moved, not towards the cat and the caterpillar, but towards the tiny form in the bed. Charles's heart leapt to his throat at the thought of his daughter in danger, but before he could act the cat was across the room, seeming not to have moved at all but appear on the dark man's head, clawing and biting viciously at the left side of his face. Thanking providence for the distraction, even if he had lost his mind to get it, Charles darted to his daughter's side, pushing the Knave away from his place by the bed. He saw a flash and felt wetness at his shoulder and realized that he'd received a glancing slice from the blade, but his primary concern was his child. He saw the opportunity and grabbed the knife away from Stayne while he was concentrating on the cat. After another moment's struggle, the Knave threw Chessur from him, leaving his face laid open and bleeding. The cat growled again and Stayne realized that he was cornered and found out. He reached into his jacket once more, pulling out a small vial of purple liquid.

"I will not forget this! All Underland will suffer for your interference, I swear it! All of you will pay the price, once the Red Queen takes the throne!"

Before any of them could stop him, Stayne had emptied the vial and disappeared. The cat hissed in terrible frustration.

"It was never to be, Chessur, as you know. The Knave is gone, at any rate, and our true purpose is still here." The caterpillar paused to take a puff from his small hookah before continuing. How the water-pipe had gotten onto the nightstand was unclear, but there it was nonetheless.

"Kingsley, is it? I am Absolem. Your daughter is gravely ill."

Charles lowered himself carefully into the bedside chair, one hand protectively hovering over his daughter's golden curls as he gaped openly at the creatures before him.

"Yes, we...have I lost my mind? Become mad? What is all this?"

"I certainly hope so," drawled Chessur. "All my best friends are delightfully mad!"

Absolem rolled his eyes at the cat impatiently.

"It's possible. Right now, though, you must focus on your daughter."

"I know. Absolem, is there something you could do to help her? Anything, please-"

The cat's eyes lit up at the man's plea, and he took a step forward and grinned.

"Anything?" The show of teeth was unnerving and a little threatening, but Absolem decided to stop that before it began.

"We are here to help the girl, you idiot cat, not bargain for her. Besides, there's nothing we want from him. You're wasting time."

"Oh, I'm sure Time will forgive my little lapse."

"Please, what is wrong with Alice?"

"Alice? What an odd name. The girl has been poisoned by the claw of a bandersnatch, the work of the Knave no doubt. Only someone with evaporative powers can cleanse the toxin poisoning her and keep it from burning the girl up from the inside out.."

"But what...a blinder-snatch? I don't understand, this is all impossible!"

An expression of long-suffering boredom took over the diminutive face of the caterpillar as he puffed more smoke into the room.

"It's only impossible if you believe it is, stupid man. Cat, quit being so pleased with yourself and heal the girl."

Chessur rolled his eyes but evaporated into mist, ghosting over the form of the child on the bed slowly. When the cloud of dust-like motes came to her ankles, the cat's being whisked itself together and concentrated on the small area inside her right foot as the caterpillar smiled and Charles Kingsley looked on in awe. A blackness seemed to float up out of the girl's skin, slowly at first but then she gave out a short cry as her tiny body arched off the bed in a violent spasm. Immediately after the short burst she stilled and relaxed back onto the bed as the cloud of mist coalesced back into the cat, allowing the blackness to evaporate harmlessly at the end of the bed as Chessur grinned once more at Absolem and Charles.

"It is done. She will live."

Charles fell to his knees at his daughter's bedside, staring once again at the two strange forms in the room.

"Thank you! God, thank you for... If there's anything I can do-"

"There is, Kingsley. Love your daughter, protect her. Believe in her, and teach her to believe in herself. Someday, very worlds may very well depend on her."

"But she's just a child! Alice-"

Absolem cut him off before he could complete his sentence.

"Alice is not 'just a child', as you put it. Underland has chosen her, Fate has chosen her, and in the future she may be our only chance for peace. There are horrible things happening as we speak that cannot be avoided. For whatever reason, your daughter is one of a very few people who has the potential to truly believe in a way that will allow her to cross the boundaries between your world and ours. That is the reason she is a threat to our enemies. You must keep her safe, and teach her that your 'impossible things' are simply a matter of overcoming facts with true belief. This girl will see and do things beyond your imagining."

"I don't understand."

"It is not necessary. Fate will see to her future."

A cloud of smoke seemed to envelop Charles and he felt lightheaded, coughing as it choked him and falling down into the chair by the bed. When he opened his eyes, the strange creatures were gone and his daughter was stirring.

"Papa? What happened?"

"Hush, darling. Everything's alright now. I've just had the strangest dream."