Title: Return Once More
Rating: M (language, violence and sexual themes)
Pairing: Alice K and Mirana of Marmoreal
Summary: It's been over a year since Alice had left everything behind her in Wonderland but what if someone was in need of her help? What if the one thing she ever loved was on the verge of being destroyed once more? Alice must return to Wonderland again. Malice
I do not own this story or the characters, they belong to Lewis Carrol and Tim Burton(the version).

You choose the door you choose the path
Perhaps you should be coming back
Another day - Alice's Theme Song

Chapter 1: Back to Wonderland

Alice POV

The loud steam horn blew, signing everyone that the boat was about to dock and I looked up from the book I was reading near the front of the boat. The crew members seem to be running around; preparing to tie up on land and get home to everyone they loved...I on the other hand wasn't looking forward to that. You see, I haven't spoken a single word to my mother since I left for my meeting in China. She didn't approve of me running off to this….crazy dream that my father once had so long ago, going to China. He thought that business over there would bring in a grand new experience for everyone to see that there is to the world than just in this one place. This one place I could not stand being in.

Closing the book and standing up from my spot, I began to head towards my room down below to collect my things until someone bumped into me. A tiny little boy, about the age of twelve was on the ground staring up at me in wonder. His green eyes were wide with curiosity and I looked around to make sure that it wasn't me he was looking at. I wasn't anything to be staying at; I was just a young lady of 20 who wasn't married to anyone. My eyes soon returned to those of the boys and I bent down to retrieve the book that I dropped in the collision but then something he was holding caught my eye. A vial with a black liquid inside….something about it was familiar and I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Take the vial and return to the world that you long for, Alice. What you are looking for isn't here, it's there." The little boy said in a chant and he placed the vial in my hand before running off towards the direction I just came from. I blinked my eyes several time just to process what just happened before looking into my hand that now holds the mysterious black liquid. Slowly, I brought it closer to my face to examine it and then something clicked when a memory flashed inside the vial: The Battle against the Jabberwocky.

"It can't be…." I whispered to myself as I stood up, still looking at the small vial. I took another quickly look around before quickly walking to my room and shutting the door behind me. I pressed my back against the door as I tried to control my breathing again and then my eyes traveled around the room. My desk had piles of papers and some reading books. My truck laid at the end of the bed with another pair of shoes that I brought back from China and my nightstand held a small candle with a folded piece of paper next to it. I couldn't process why I was going through this! Remembering what my father always used to tell me, pinch yourself and you'll always wake up. So I tried…over and over again yet this is still happening to me. I took several quiet strides towards the note and rested my hand on it. Still warm, the paper was just placed here. I quickly picked it up and scanned over the letter.

Alice,
It's been a long time since you've been here and it has taken me a long period of time just to get this one letter right. You're needed back here. I fear that trouble is on the brink of returning and I need you here. I need my champion back, who've I have...never mind, that's for another time. Get here as quickly as possible, Alice.

Wonderland misses you dearly,
Mirana

The letter slipped from my finger tips and my knees gave out. That one phrase kept replayed over and over again in my mind: I need my champion back. My eyes were staring at anything but the letter yet they continued to try to take a glance at the letter once more. I couldn't, I won't let them. That one word, that one name I didn't want to see for a very long time. Mirana….my mind whispered to me like a lullaby and her face popped into my mind. Her pale white skin with her vast light brown eyes and her darkly colored lips….those lips that spoke with suck grace and delicacy, I've missed dearly. That's what made me leave Wonderland the first time; I was beginning to fall for the White Queen. I was scared for what I was feeling; she was a friend and a Queen none the less! I couldn't be loved in return even if….even if.

Tears began to form in my eyes as I thought of all those times we spent together on the balcony, standing beside her on the battlefield and that last fleeting glance before I disappeared from Wonderland. I can still feel her touch on my cheek, her wanting me to stay. Was it because she wanted me there? Or was it because of everyone else there? The tears fell before I could catch them and once they fell, I wasn't going to stop them. It was bound to happen sooner or later since she's been the only thing I've been thinking about time to time. My legs tucked themselves up and my head fell into my arms that rested on top of my knees. I promised myself after I left; I won't go back because of it. But I was just only lying to myself about it, I was holding myself back from the one thing I only wanted in this world and that one. I needed to get back, I want to go back!

I stood up from the floor and quickly packed everything before noticing what I missed something when I was looking around. "The Vorpal Sword…" I said out loud before reaching out and grabbing hold of my old companion. Why was everything starting to return to me? Why couldn't it wait for me to at least get off the ship! How was I supposed to get this bloody sword off the ship without getting caught!

I looked around the room and found nothing. I grabbed my suitcase and made sure I had everything, even the letter which was safely tucked away in my favorite book. I looked around outside before stepping out with the sword in one hand and my suitcase in the other. I needed to be quick, so I decided to run. My dress wasn't a problem since it was several inches up from my feet. It was the same yet remade dress that I wore before I left for China. Several people moved out of the way as they heard me coming and shouted to slow down and other rubbish things like that at me. I didn't care, all I wanted to do was get back to Ascot's Estate and get back to that rabbit hole. I reached the walking plank and quickly walked across it to where Mr. Ascot was waiting for her.

"Alice, is everything alright?" He asked me as she quickly took my bags and gave them to the young man. I didn't know how to respond without sound I was desperate to leave this port. He was wearing a business suit with his black top hat, nothing out of the ordinary for him.

I smiled at him and gave him a nod, "Couldn't be better!" I quickly said before getting into the carriage that was behind him and sat across from his seat. A heard him chuckle before getting in himself and closing the door, signaling that we were ready to leave. I stared out the window as moved out of the port and onto the road towards the Estate, not taking my eyes off the scenery that we passed. No conversation was passed between Mr. Ascot and me throughout the travel ride back to the house but I noticed he was indeed staring at me from time to time. I ignored him of course and then another smile bloomed onto my face once we reached the Estate. My hands gripped the vial in my hand, which I haven't let go since I got it on the boat, and looked at my partner once more. Another deep chuckle escaped his lips before he shook his head, saying my name over and over again as if I was being childish. He could tell that I wanted to get out of the carriage and looked out the window like I have for the past several hours. I just shook my head and felt the carriage come to halt.

"Alice, what are you so….." Mr. Ascot began to ask me before I literally opened the door myself and quickly reached up to grab the Vorpal Sword. I couldn't waste any more time, I needed to get there. Once I had it and the vial, I quickly raced towards the maze, ignore Mr. Ascot and my sister's calls. I heard more footsteps coming after me but I wasn't worried, they won't find me even if they looked for me themselves. But then, a familiar friend was waiting for me with his watch out and bouncing up and down as if he was in a hurry once more.

"Alice! This way!" The White Rabbit called out to me and I once again like I did a year ago, followed it into the maze and to the tree near the edge of the Ascot property. Smiling at the familiar hole in the tree, I took the sword and grasped it my hand before opening the vial of black liquid, the Jabberwocky's blood, and finishing it off. I was never to return to this world again. I jumped through to hole and began my journey down into the ground to the mysterious world of Wonderland.

I closed my eyes and let a small smile form on my face as I freefalling from my world into the other. The wind of the other objects sent little whispered into my ears as if they were saying 'Welcome Back'. Oh how it felt to be going down the Rabbit Hole once more, entering Wonderland once more. Opening my eyes, once I bounced off the bed and several chuckles escaped my throat remembering how scared of I was at first when I entering into this strange land. How childish I was then but still, I feel like a child like I was before. My eyes widen as crashed through the window again and landed on my stomach. I should have saw that coming and a groan escaped my mouth as I sat up from that impact but then fell once more but landing on my back. Now that was going to leave something there for me to feel for a while and I closed my eyes just for a few, letting everything sink in. I received a letter from the White…no, Mirana, asking me to return to Wonderland. But what was that true reason?

"Alice! Get up!" The White Rabbit snapped at me from the other side of the small door and I heard his feet thumping off away from me, probably to let everyone know that I have returned. How lovely, just what I needed at the moment; everyone gathering around me, rejoicing that I have returned to them. Sitting up with my eyes looking at the table with the two potions of Pishsolver, I wondered….how did they ever get up there in the first place?

I stood up and grabbed the small key, remembering what happened last time, and drank a little sip from the bottle. Not even a second later, I was shrinking into the size of who knows what, and watching me dress become too large for me, leaving me in my white under dress. It wasn't completely bad but I felt myself become a little dizzy from the sudden rush and fixed my dress slowly. My eyes slowly wandered up towards the small door behind the curtain and not realizing it, I was running towards the door. I still didn't know why I was here and my goodness it was killing me. Why now? That was the biggest question here.

Once I reached the door, I placed the key into the small hole and turned it ever so slowly. I felt my heart beating a mile a minute with every passing second until I heard the click of the lock. My other hand reached up and opened the door, letting Wonderland's sun enter into the tiny room and letting me feel its warmth. Nothing changed since I was last here. The overly large trees, flowers and everything else I remembered still remained the same. A loud whine broke my thought and my head shot over towards the direction it was coming from. There my other old companion, the bandersnatch, waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs as if he was waiting there the whole time. He was lying down on the ground with his head up in the air, waiting for me to make the right move before getting up all the way. Smiling at him, I nodded my head at him before taking small steps towards him, acknowledging him.

The Bandersnatch stood up from it spot and I quickly moved towards him before wrapping my arms around his neck, giving him a warm greeting. His head brushed up against mine before giving me a large lick across my cheek. I chuckled at the large beast before walking around to his side and hopping up onto his fury back. He looked over his shoulder as I gripped his collar and he took off, heading towards home. The forest blurred out ever so slightly as flew by everything as if it was nothing but a figure of the imagination. I was paying too much attention to everything that was passing by that I didn't even know that a familiar cat was laying down right in right of me.

"Alice, my dear. Is that you" The Cheshire smiled his famous grin at me and it startled me. I looked down at the mysterious cat before quickly reached up and scratched behind his ear.

"Yes, Cheshire. It is I." I laughed at him before he disappeared as quickly as he came. But then a lingering whisper reached my ears that sounded like him and my heart pounded once more.

"She's waiting for you, Alice."

-------------------

See that button right below, click it and leave a review for me if you want more or no. No flames please, if you have nothing nice say then don't say it at all. First Malice story!