"Twas Brillig"

By Corvus no no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland

She had expected another to come to see her, many have already come, even those you didn't harm her but helped her in her quest to reincarnate Wonderland to its former and true glory. The Cheshire Cat was the first, as strange as it sounded, then came the Mad Hatter with the Duchess following soon afterwards. The Tweedles came next, as did the White Rabbit even though he had died helping her in Wonderland. The Griffon and the Mock Turtle, ever the delightfully singing pair, came next, one apologizing for his cowardice and the other for failing her. Even the Red Queen herself had come, more into her tears than any of the others, pleading for some way to apologize to Alice for the crimes she had committed while she was a monster. Alice had forgiven her just like she had the others, what had happened had happened, the past was exactly what it was, the past. There was no need to dwell on it anymore.

However, despite the many characters that had come to both apologize and thank her, she had never once expected him to come. If she had, she would have done everything in her power to prevent him from coming. She could send him back even now but she was… curious as to why he chose to come here on his own free will.

He was sitting down before the fire, staring into its crimson depths with his arms crossed across his heavily muscled chest, and his spiked tail curled around him as though holding up an invisible shield separating him from her. His eyes burned much like the fire before him while his ivory fangs glistened in the light. These things, she was familiar with, but not the rest. For instead of larges wings of metal alloy, there was flesh and bone. Instead of a torso covered with wires and metal platting, there was skin covered by a sleeveless tunic with a simple vest overlapping it, both of which were different shades of red albeit both were quite far from the shade of blood much to Alice's relief. Turning his head slightly, Alice saw that his right eye, the one she had used to complete the staff of his namesake, was covered by a black eye patch with the letter 'A' written in deep red ink on it. His arms were heavily muscled as were his dinosaurian legs. His coloring had softened to a light orange with the occasional red stripe while his spikes had changed from black to a glittering gold.

Snorting a puff of smoke from his nostrils, he uncrossed his arms and placed his clawed hands on his knees while the talons on his scaly toes dug into the carpet slightly. " Alice…" his voice echoed the same contempt he had shown her when they had met for the first time in the Land of Fire and Brimstone.

"Jabberwock," her voice matching his voice's contempt. Silence followed for some time until the large dragon snorted once more.

"Well?" he asked, his eye leaving the fireplace.

"Well, what?" The Jabberwock's eye flicked towards her two before returning back to glare into the fire.

"Aren't you going to demand that I get out? Go back to the hellhole that I crawled from and all that?" Alice sat down in one of the few chairs that faced both the fireplace and the Jabberwock and folded her hands neatly across her lap.

"Actually, I'm rather curious as to why you're here at all." Jabberwock snorted once more.

"I see that some things never change."

"I suppose, but I can't really say the same for you now can I?" The Jabberwock stiffened before turning to glare with his one eye at the young woman.

"And whose fault would that be? I certainly had no choice in the matter," growled the Jabberwock. Alice remained silent and waited for the beast to say what he wanted, if that was even why he was here. The Jabberwock was stubborn though, and remained silent for quite some time. Alice had begun to think that the dragon had fallen asleep when he suddenly asked, "You know what I hate?"

"I believe that you'll tell me," said Alice calmly. The Jabberwock ignored her sarcasm and continued speaking, purple smoke slowly floating upwards from his nostrils.

"I hate how you let Wonderland become that nightmare, how you and your insanity transformed us into demons of the deepest Hell, even those with little or no evil in their hearts. How, because of you and that damnable Gryphon, I had lost my eye so that you could attain another weapon of power so that your bloodbath could continue. How I had been forced to live in the Devil's company for years while you stayed in that asylum. I hate how I was forced to fight and kill the Gryphon, how I had to recall every damn moment of your descent into insanity every second of every day that you were in Rutledge." By now, the entire ceiling was covered in purple smoke and Alice was silently glad that her guardian had attained a home far from prying eyes and with plenty of windows that they could keep open without fear of burglary.

"I hate how people look at me now with a deeper fear than before I become that cybertronic demon. I hate how those far weaker than me were able to stave off the insanity and keep themselves remotely normal while I succumbed to it and became even more of a monster! I hate how you made me to represent your fears, your guilt, EVERYTHING that you hated and loathed about your very being!

"I hate knowing you better than even the Cheshire Cat, I hate seeing your goddamn nightmares and growing stronger because of them, and I hate your damn generosity of giving me a chance at life like everyone else! I hate how you had to endure your private Hell, struggle to survive in one, and kill your way through the Ultimate Hell! I HATE IT ALL!" roared the Jabberwock, his tail trashing wildly as his claws clutched his knees so tightly, that blood was pouring in small streams down to the floor. Alice could only stare in wide-eyed disbelief as the dragon continued his ranting.

"But the one thing I hate above everything else, the one thing that makes my fires burn even hotter than when I was that demon… Is that, no matter how much I want to, no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I know that everything that I am is your fault, I can never hate you," the Jabberwock's voice cracked slightly and he turned his head to stare at Alice, a stream of tears flowing from his only remaining eye.

"Why…?" he pleaded to Alice, "Why didn't you just keep me dead? To torture me more? To punish me for sins that I never wanted to commit? Why can't you hurt me like everyone else? Why?" the Jabberwock couldn't hold back his tears anymore and broke down in silent sobs. Alice stared for a moment before slowly standing up and, breathing a soft sigh, made her way over to the crying Jabberwock. Carefully placing her hands on the soft skin under his chin, Alice raised the Jabberwock's head so that she could look into his eye, but he wouldn't meet his eye with her own. Thinking back, Alice never really recalled the Jabberwock ever looking her in the eye before, not even when they were literally at each other's throats.

Slowly, so as not to startle the sobbing dragon, Alice raised her left hand and slowly lifted it to the Jabberwock's eye patch, not failing to notice how the former demon had his breath held tight in his furnace-like lungs. Alice kept her hand above the eye patch for but a moment's time before slowly raising it up. What she saw caused her to gasp in horror, even though she had seen plenty of it in the Hell that Wonderland had become. Alice had expected to see a healed scar, but, instead, saw one that couldn't have been more than a few days old. Looking closer, Alice realized that the slash mark was far too large to be that of the Gryphon's own, and though the Gryphon was not much larger than the Jabberwock, there were few creatures that could create such a horrible scar.

And one of them was currently sitting before her.

"Jabberwock… Did you…" Jabberwock gently ripped his head away from Alice's soft hands, being mindful of his sharp spikes, and turned his head so that the emerald-eyed beauty could only see his good eye.

"I… deserved to die, I still do but you… you won't let me… I've tried so many times already… and I keep waking up good as new… So… I felt it only fitting to lose that which you had taken once before already…" Alice was stunned into silence by this and chose to merely stare at the creature that she had but previously thought of as the worst creature in existence, Wonderland or not. Slowly releasing her breath, Alice closed her eyes and concentrated her power just like the Cheshire Cat taught her. There was a flash of neon purple light and a startled gasp from the Jabberwock. Alice slowly opened her green eyes to meet not one but two red ones, both of which were wide in surprise before drooping back into sadness.

"You… really do hate me don't you…? Is that why you healed my eye? So that I could rip it out again…?" Alice shook her head silently and, after taking Jabberwock's snout gently in her hands, pulled his face closer.

"No Jabberwock… I never really met you until now so I could never really hate you… Because I never knew the real you… The you that hid behind a tough façade of aloofness and anger when you were really lonely and sad… The you that simply wanted what everyone wants… A friend…" Alice softly stroked the underside of Jabberwock's jaw, smiling at the soft purr that emanated from his throat. "You don't have to punish yourself, Jabberwock… It was my fault that Wonderland became that awful place, I've accepted that… But… I've also accepted that the past is just that, there is no need to dwell on past misdeeds… Don't continue to hurt yourself for something that's in the past Jabberwock…"

" Alice… You make it sound so easy… but… I can't just forget the past… especially not your own… I saw everything Alice… Everything… the fire… your parents… your descent to insanity… what that hellhole put you through… what Wonderland put you through…… What I put you through…"

"Jabberwock… it's okay… You had no control over what happened here or in Wonderland…"

"Yes I did! I could have come here like the Cheshire Cat or White Rabbit! I could have struggled to remain myself like the Mock Turtle or Gryphon! I could have done something Alice! Anything to help you but I… I couldn't… I was too weak…" Alice placed a hand on the Jabberwock's jaw, ceasing the dragon's self-beration.

"Jabberwock… It's okay… What happened to you… it couldn't be helped… Everything's okay now…"

"No it's not! You don't understand! I saw your thoughts, your feelings, everything! The entire time I was that-that monster I saw into your mind and heart! I saw how much you despised me and-" Jabberwock cut himself off when he saw the moisture in Alice's eyes. "Oh god… you… you don't hate me…" Alice nodded, hoping that her feelings would lift the Jabberwock from his sea of despair. Alas, such feeling served to only drown the dragon deeper into the ocean he himself had created.

"WHY!" he roared, not angrily but hysterically, backing away from Alice as though her gentle touch had burned him. He didn't stop backing away from the young brunette until his back and tail collided roughly with the wall opposite of the fireplace. "WHY DON'T YOU HATE ME!"

"Because… I am as much a part of you as you are of me…" Alice smiled slightly, "And only mad people hate themselves…" The young brunette carefully walked over to the trembling Jabberwock and carefully placed her hand on top of his flaring nose. "Jabberwock, I never met you until tonight. True we fought and threw harsh words against each other," the Jabberwock visibly winced and tried to back away from Alice once more but the wall was steadfast and unyielding.

"But that wasn't you and now that I have met the real you, I have a very different opinion than before," Alice patted Jabberwock's nose softly, "Look into me Jabberwock," she said-no commanded- to the dragon, "Look and see how I see you." Jabberwock looked like he'd rather do anything but that, but he did so anyway albeit with the greatest of reluctance. The silence stretched for what seemed like hours as the Jabberwock slowly opened the gate that separated his mind from Alice's own. However, the silence was ended by a strangled yelp from the Jabberwock who, in a moment of sheer surprise, had attempted to stand thus causing his head to collide with the ceiling.

"You… you… accept me… You actually accept me… and… like me… Oh my scales and spiky horns…" whispered an awed Jabberwock. Alice merely smiled and nodded, her smile increasing at the sight of the Jabberwock's own growing one. In fact, Jabberwock's grin did not cease to grow until it very well resembled the Cheshire Cat's own, before the Descension of course. Alice arched an eyebrow to show her surprise but chose to remain silent. At least, she remained silent until a bright flash of light nearly blinded her and a pair of arms nearly crushed her ribs in a fierce hug.

Blinking away the dancing spots before her eyes, Alice looked down to see that the person hugging her had lifted her slightly into the air because of his rather tall stature. The emerald-eyed maiden looked into the man's eyes and asked, "Jabberwock?" The man merely smiled and set her down gently and stood before her silently.

He had the same sleeveless tunic and vest like Jabberwock and a pair of brown slacks, furthering his look to match that of a pirate. His hair was like fire and stuck out in such a way that it resembled spikes more than human hair. His red goatee was similar to his hair albeit a bit softer looking. Looking up, the man was easily a foot taller than her even though they were both the same age, Alice looked into his eyes and saw that, though more human than reptilian, they resembled Jabberwock's own perfectly.

"Thank you, Alice… Thank you…" murmured Jabberwock, hugging her tightly once more, his eyes closed, quite literally, to the fact that Alice was blushing a matching shade to his hair.

"It… it was nothing Jabberwock…" stuttered Alice, shuddering slightly as the Jabberwock moved so that his mouth hovered above her ear.

" Alice… though you have accepted me… have you accepted who you are?" Alice shivered, though not unpleasantly, from Jabberwock's warm breath flowing past her ear and neck.

"Wh-What do you mean…?"

"I mean, that you are as much a part of Wonderland as the rest of us. Your own world awaits you Alice, when you're ready for it," said Jabberwock, backing away from Alice as his body began to slowly fade away. "Everyone will be there waiting for you… as will I… to welcome you… home…" Jabberwock's last word echoed around the room. Alice stared at the space Jabberwock had just seconds ago stood in before slowly making her way back to her chair and slowly sitting down in it, thinking over the past-what was it now? Fifteen minutes? How could so many things change in so little time?

Alice sighed softly and looked down to spot a palm-sized scale that the Jabberwock must have dropped when he had tried to back away from her just five minutes ago. Hesitantly, and quite unsurely, Alice bent over and picked up the small orange scale and stared at it for a few minutes in silence as the flames of the fireplace crackled before her. A soft smile slowly grew on her pale face before she took a piece of parchment from the table next to her as well as a quill to write a very simple message that may cause people who knew little of her much grief and panic, but not her guardian. After all, who understood Alice Liddel better than her guardian and best normal friend Charles Dodgson? Alice smiled softly at the note and left it where she knew her guardian would find it before she slowly walked out the door and into a world of dreams, old and new friends, and the waiting arms of a rather shy dragon.

What was the message that she had left her dear guardian, a message that only he could truly understand while others could not? It was a simple message really, both in its words and its meaning though, to many, its true meaning was far beyond their sane comprehension. Though to the minds of the mad and those quite near it, it made absolutely perfect sense.

"I'm going home."