If I had a world of my own everything will be nonsense,
Nothing will be what it is because everything will be what it isn't.
The breeze blew coolly threw the green yard of the vast Bakura family estate. Two children not yet adults napped lightly in the shape of the largest oak. The tow would spend most of their time there; even as young children they played and climbed the old tree everyday. The two siblings were identical apart from one being a girl and the other the older brother by a few years.
Amane, the youngest, leaned against the tree trunk with a book clasped loosely in her hand. Her big brother, Ryou, lay with his head in her lap, his breath causing the blades of grass to sway.
Ryou jolted awake from a dream and slowly rose up and crossed his slender legs. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned, looking at his sleeping sister throw the gaps of his hands he smile tenderly. He looked his sister dearly. Their mother had died in a car crash and his father was always over seas on work, personally he thought his father couldn't stand to see them when they were complete copies of their mother.
Ryou gazed at Amane and brushed some hair from her face. She was the one he cared for the most and he wanted her to always stay the way she was, pure and innocent.
There was a rustle of a bush and Ryou turned to see one of the rose bushes bent and burst open as a man with messy white hair stumbled out with a stream of growls and curses. The man wore a blue suite with gold highlights and tie and a larger golden cloak with spikes dangling off it around his neck. He seemed to be an older harsher version of Ryou, but the most bizarre thing about him was that there were to large fluffy rabbit ears sprouting from his unruly hair. Ryou stared wide eyed as the man looked at the cloaks time and hissed before spinning to the direction of the forest beyond the estates borders.
Ryou stood, for a minute he hesitated then followed the mysterious male; he trailed quietly making sure the other did not see him. The rabbit eared man stopped a few metres into the forest next to a rotting oak and jumped, disappearing into the ground.
Ryou gasped and ran to where the man had once been and found a large hole in the ground, big enough for a bear to fall in easily.
He looked down, surely it wasn't so deep, the man had jumped down so why should it be dangerous. He fiddled with the end of his dress hesitating. Yes he was wearing a dress; dress up was one of Amane's favourite pass times. He wore an old styled French maids outfit, except instead of the main black material it was an ocean blue. The apron was white and pinstriped with gold, the sleaves dark blue and fell to his mid upper arm, also a large dark blue bow around his waist tied at the back. The dress stopped mid thigh and if he bent over you could see frilly layered gold panties underneath. Blue and white stripped knee high socks and golden slip on shoes, to finish it off he had a piece of blue ribbon tied in a knot in his hair. It held back the most part but not the unruly locks of hair that covered his face.
Staring in he edged closer to the rim. "This is ridiculous," He whispered.
He was about to move away but the dirt at the edged of the hole gave way and Ryou slipped in with a scream.
Covering his face and waiting for the inevitable crash that was coming, he curled into a ball and screamed… it felt like hours and Ryou opened his eyes.
He was surrounded by colours of every kind, in awe he realised he was still falling, twisting about he saw flashes of his life in the swirls of the colours. A sister running away and laughing… the maid smiling down at him… the news of the accident… the crying… his father… a mother, a father and a baby sister all smiling and arms wide open for him in a field of green and flowers…
Ryou reached out to them but the vision vanished, like it had several years ago. He gasped when his falling pace jolted fasted.
A man, simple but not quite, stood before a young lady. She was splayed out on the ground slowly twitching to consciousness. He waited and watched as she lifted her head and gazed into his blood red eyes with her brown ones.
"Hello," He said giving her a hand up. "What are you doing here?"
"I…I don't know," She said, looking around. "I fell in when I was following the man with the rabbit ears."
"You meant Bakura?"
"Is that his name?"
"Yes," he said. "And my name is the Dormouse, but just call me Yami."
"Dormouse?" and for the first time she saw it, two mouse ears amongst the black star shaped hair of his, hidden behind blond bangs. "Oh."
"What is your name?"
"Ryou."
"Ryou? That's not very girly," He said.
"I'm not a girl, that's why," Ryou frowned.
"No?"
"No."
"My apologies, I was mistaken by your beauty," Yami smiled sincerely. He chuckled at the blush heating up Ryous face. He turned walking to a small round table in the middle of the empty, checker-patterned room. It looked out of place with only a small glass box resting on top. "Bakura always causes problems, but then so does the Queen."
"The Queen?" Ryou frowned, surely not the Queen of England?
"That's not important right now," Yami shook his head; he opened the box and pulled out a round tablet. "Listen Ryou, eat one of these and walk through that door over there," He pointed at a miniature door on one of the walls, small enough for a mouse maybe. "You cannot return home through the way you came the only way to get back is to go forward. Maybe there's a way through there."
Ryou nodded, completely confused and took the pill. Staring at it he glanced at Yami, the door and then back to the pill. Well, whatever, he sighed and brought it to his mouth swallowing it.
Yami smiled and tilted his head. "Don't freak out and just go through the door, when you do find the Caterpillar, his name is Atemu and he looks like me, sort of." With a poof of smoke Yami was gone leaving Ryou to himself and his puzzlement.
"Why would I freak out and how do I get through that door?" Ryou wrinkled his nose and walked over to the door and frowned down at it. A tingling feeling rushed through his body and he shivered. "What is that? The Pill?"
He began to realise that the tiny door was getting bigger… hold on no. He was shrinking. He gasped, Yami told me not to freak out!
Soon he was half the size of the large double doors. They were black and red checkered, with gold lining and handles.
"Find the Caterpillar," He whispered, turning the knobs and pushed the door open.
The world displayed before him was extravagant and beautiful. It was like a fairytale, he stepped out into the shadow of a rose the size of an elephant towering over him. The sky was purple with dusk and tiny stars began to appear, the trees where all tall, moss covered and twisted with old age. The ground green and covered in flowers of every kind. That's the most pathetic way to describe this world, it was beautiful beyond words. You'd have to make up a new word to try to describe it, even then you'd fail. This place had a glow, like everything was alive, that make the normal world look dull, black and white.
As he walked he began to here voices, they were quite a first. Whispering and soft soon becoming stronger and noticeable.
"Who's there?" Ryou called spinning around and looking in all directions.
"We are here~" answered the voices.
"Eh?" Ryou turned back the way he was going. "Um, can you help me find the Caterpillar?"
They were silent before saying, "Yes follow the Daisies, he loves the Daisies~"
Ryou flinched as he thought he saw the flowers move, which they did.
"Are the flowers moving?" he addressed the voice.
"Yes~" The flowers petals quivered with the voice. "We move, we speak, we help the ones in need~"
The haired boy almost fainted. "You're the flowers?"
"We are~"
"I'm insane," He said scratching his head and walked towards the Daisies. "Well thank you for the help."
What kind of world in this? He wondered. He stood in the middle of a large patch of Daisies and found a big mushroom there. Upon in sat a man, whom looked just like Yami, with tan skin and golden jewellery in his hair and on his arms. His blood red eyes shifting to Ryou as he let out some smoke from his mouth, a smoking pipe in his hand.
"Whom are you?" He called, his voice just like Yami's again.
"My name is Ryou," He whispered. "Are you Atemu?"
"I am and how is it you know that?" Atemu said lazily.
"Yami said I should find you after I went through the doors," He said, his hands fidgeting with his dress. "That's all he said. The flowers told me to follow the Daisies."
"Damn flowers telling everyone where I am," Atemu hissed taking another drag. "I suppose it's to get you back to your normal hight."
"You can do that?" Ryou lightened up, taking a step closer to Atemu.
"Yes, just take a bite of the mushroom and be on your way, I have things to do," Atemu sighed closing his eyes.
Ryou wondered why Atemu was being so rude he truly wasn't Yami. Strolling over to the mushroom he hesitated before sinking his teeth into it. Chewing and swallow.
The taste was plain and dirty like. He poked out his tongue at the taste before his body tingled.
"Atemu, Thank you for your help," He said as his body began expanding.
Atemu opened an eye before giving a small smile. "Thank you for thanking me, and you're welcome."
Before he knew it he was at his original height. He circled the spot that Atemu was and found small walkway heading towards the trees. He shrugged and stood on it and followed. The trees that twisted over the top of him creating an archway. He wondered if they could talk but wasn't willing to test that out.
As if the trees read his mind there was a quiet chuckling in the branches of the trees, it sounded menacing and Ryou hugged himself in fear. It now laughed loudly at his fear.
"Who's there?" Ryou whispered.
"Ohhh~ I'm not the trees if that's what you're thinking~" the voice said in a sing-song voice. "Unlike the flowers, the trees went silent centuries ago~"
"Why?" He questioned the unknown voice.
"The Queen of Hearts is why~" it sang sadly. "The Queen is absent minded and weeping inside~ The King of Hearts is dead~"
"The Queen of Hearts?" Ryou raised an eyebrow, so that is what Yami had meant by the Queen. "My name is Ryou, can you help me get home?"
"Hnn~ the Cat cannot, but maybe the Hatter can~"
There was a blur of purple and gold above Ryou before a man formed before him. He was very feminine and had shoulder lengthen gold hair. From his hair poked two purple tipped cat ears, a stripped tail curling and uncurling around his waist, purple eyes that would change gold on different angles and golden jewellery on his arms and neck. He wore a purple mid-drift and tan jeans.
"My name is the Cheshire Cat, but please call me Malik~" the neko male giggle and appeared right behind Ryou. "I will lead you to the Hatter~ but be careful be careful, the Hatter is Mad~ the Hatter is insane~" the Cat sang and danced away down the path. "Follow me, follow the Cat~ I will lead you to the Mad Hatter~"
"Malik? Why are you taking me to an insane man?" Ryou asked tailing the gold and purple man.
Malik leaned back and looked at Ryou upside down and smiled. "The Hatter is Mad, but he's knowledgeable~ he's loyal to the needy and the lost~ the Hatter is insane the Hatter is helpful~"
"What is he like… other than nuts?" Ryou said, looking around at the trees they pasted. Did he see a flash of white and blue?
"Hnnn~ he looks like Bakura is to Ryou~" Malik pondered. "His hair is wild and looks like the sun~ his colour is purple but dusk instead of dawn~ the Hatter is mad, the Hatter is cruel and greedy~"
"That sound great," Ryou said sarcastically with a frown.
"That is the Mad Hatters role~ But Mariku is kind, Mariku is sweet~ Mariku is insane~" Malik whispered. "He plays his role well as the Mad Hatter~"
"His role?" Ryou was taken aback. "What do you mean his role? Is it like a job?"
"No," Malik laughed. "Mariku has gone soft hearted over the years~ the Hatter is melting, he's taming~ the Mad Hatter is disappearing with the Queen of Hearts… as we all are~"
"The Queen of Hearts is the cause of everything?"
"Without the Queen the time stops~ without the Queen, Wonderland is frozen," Malik growled, his tail slashed back and forth in anger. "The Queen must come back~ the Queen must be awoken, the Hatter is dying, the Cat is dying, the Caterpillar will never be the butterfly and the Rabbit will wilt and die~ Wonderland is falling down~ falling down~" a tear slid down Maliks cheek as he smiled grimly.
"Can I help in any way?" Ryous heart twisted in pain. Where was the needed Queen and why would she leave?
"Ryou~ only the Alice of Wonderland can help the Queen of Hearts~" Maliks eyes softened.
"Where is Alice?"
"Alice is not a being~ Alice is the title bestowed by the Queen of Hearts~" Malik sang, his ears twitching as he span in a circle. "Ryou may be Alice~ Malik is the Cheshire Cat~ Mariku is the Mad Hatter~ Ryou may be the Alice of Wonderland~ only time can tell… only the time is frozen by the Queens absences."
"So Cheshire Cat is a title?" Ryou flinched thinking he saw the white and blue blur again through the trees.
"Malik is titled the Cheshire Cat~ but only Malik can be the Cat~ on one else not even Ryou the new comer~" Malik twirled again. "The Rabbit is following us, you can see him sometimes, right? He worries for Ryou~"
"The Rabbit is Bakura?"
"Yes, the White Rabbit is Bakura~ he travels between our worlds in search for Alice to wake the Queen~"
The white haired boy sighed and saw the clearing up ahead. "You're an odd one Malik but thank you for helping me, I hope someone finds the Queen."
"I hope you are Alice of Wonderland, Ryou Bakura," the Cat said seriously, surprising Ryou, and with that he disappeared.
(WOOT WOOT! I finally finished Her name is Alice chapter one XD enjoy~)