Yeah! Finals are over, school's out, life is (somewhat)good! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this out! I was studying most of the time over the past two weeks and every time I tried to work on this story, I would start seeing random Spanish words flash in front of my eyes (only slightly exaggerating).

Also, just as I was about to get truly serious on this story, I caught one hell of a fever. So, for the past couple days I've been sleeping, feeling like crap. Luckily, it's been down-graded to a simple cold (even though I still feel like crap, I don't have a fever!)

Back to the chapter, special thanks to tragedymaster01, Maddigan Hatter, and NerdiGirl for reviewing!

Reviews always make my day, so keep them coming!

Anyway, I think I'm rambling. What do you think? Yeah, I though so. On To The Story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Alice in Wonderland or Alice of Human Sacrifice.

:-*-:

Alyss kept running. She had been running for a while now, afraid to stop and check to see if the villagers were still chasing her.

Suddenly Alyss stumbled and fell to her knees, scraping them on the ground, before regaining her footing and continuing onward. A sob burst out, but was then repressed by Alyss, who wanted to save her breath for running.

After a few minutes, (but seemed much longer,) Alyss came to the edge of a forest. Out of breath, she took a risk and stopped, leaning up against a tree to catch her breath. She glanced back to see if she was still being chased, even though the villagers had stopped a while back.

Alyss gave a sigh of relief and sank to the ground once she saw she was alone. Unfortunately, as she was sliding down the trunk of the tree, her arm lightly brushed the rough bark, and she hissed.

Alyss finally took a look at the slash across her arm and what she saw freaked her out.

It was about a half-inch deep and nearly two inches long. The cut itself looked almost like a ravine that had been forcefully carved into her skin. It was a clean slash, no jagged edges, and while the blood was flowing like a river, it was only coming out of one corner. But boy, did it hurt like hell!

I just wanna go home, Alyss thought to herself.

"Are you quite alright, my dear Alice?" a voice came from next to a tree that sat to Alyss's left.

When Alyss turned and looked, there stood the White Rabbit, looking at her arm with pity and...

Is that satisfaction in his eyes? Alyss pondered as the White Rabbit hopped towards her. He stopped just short of her arm and stood on his tippy-toes so he could she the cut.

"I apologize for this, I really do feel as if it is my fault," the Rabbit continued as he pulled a white bandage wrap from somewhere in his coat and began wrapping it around Alyss's arm.

No, it can't be satisfaction. He's helping bandage me up, Alyss thought as the Rabbit continued to chatter as he bandaged her up.

"Why is it your fault?" Alyss asked suddenly. The Rabbit paused in his wrapping and was silent. Finally, he spoke.

"I wasn't here for you when you entered Wonderland. I had some business to attend to, and I thought you could wait. For that, I apologize."

It couldn't of been satisfaction...

"It's okay," Alyss said happily. The Rabbit looked at her. "If you really didn't mean for this to happen, than you're fine with me!" Alyss grinned, looking away from the Rabbit for just a moment, so she didn't see the look of relief that passed over his features.

"But I have a few questions for you," Alyss continued, turning back to the Rabbit. "What is this.. this Spade on my hand?"

The rabbit sat back on his haunches and sighed. "I'm not really sure myself. I think it may be what marks those who aren't from Wonderland, but still exist here."

"But that still doesn't explain what happened with the villagers!" Alyss exclaimed. The Rabbit's whiskers twitched in irritation, but Alyss passed it off as regular rabbit activities.

"It's unfortunate, but I have no idea as to why those villagers attacked you. And that brings me to my next subject," the Rabbit said as he gestured for Alyss to follow him and hopped off.

Alyss wobbly stood, placing a hand against the tree next to her for support, then hissed in pain as this put stress on her now bandaged wound. As soon as her head stopped spinning from the pain, Alyss set off to chase after the Rabbit who was rapidly disappearing into the forest.

:-*-:

"Where are we going?" Alyss asked the Rabbit for what seemed like the hundredth time.

The Rabbit just looked over his shoulder and chuckled. "You'll see, my dear Alyss, just be patient for me."

Alyss huffed in protest, but continued to follow the White Rabbit.

Soon enough, the Rabbit halted at the edge of a clearing, but Alyss – who was caught up in her own thoughts – nearly tripped over him.

"Hey!" Alyss exclaimed. "Watch where you're–" Suddenly Alyss caught sight of a gnarled tree stump in the center of the clearing and was silenced. However, the stump itself was not what silenced her.

Lying on the twisted stump was a sword encased in a sheath of plain brown leather that somehow sparkled in the light.

Alyss quietly walked over to it, stared for a moment, then picked up the sheath and sword. It was lighter than she would expect, for a hunk of metal.

Carefully – as if she had done it her whole life – Alyss grabbed the wire-wrapped hilt and drew the sword. As it slid from the sheath, it gave a low hiss of polished metal sliding on oiled leather, but that was it. Otherwise, it was silent.

Once she had drawn the sword, Alyss got to examining it. The hilt was made of what seemed to be gold, with rubies set in the crossguard and a particularly large ruby set into the pommel. The grip was wrapped in silver wire that shone in the bright sunlight.

Her eyes moved down down to the blade and she gasped. There really was nothing special about the blade, but it was still a work of art. It started out like a regular straight sword, but then the blade widened, then narrowed again in to a point (AN: Like Frodo's sword in Lord of the Rings!).

As Alyss was intently studying the wicked-looking sword, the Rabbit walked up behind her "So how do you like it?"

Alyss spun around, surprised – and a little frightened – by the Rabbit's silent approach. "What do you mean? I don't want this thing!" she said, quickly sliding the beautiful sword back into its rather plain sheath and placing it back on the stump before turning to face to Rabbit. "Yeah, it's beautiful and everything, but its a weapon of murder!"

The Rabbit took a step closer. Unconsciously, Alyss took a step back, closer to the stump. "I believe you are mistaken, Alice," the Rabbit said calmly. "A sword can also be used to protect, and I want this one to protect you."

Alyss blanched at this. "What do you mean, 'protect me'? Aren't you going to stay with me!"

The Rabbit shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately not. If you are to return you to your world, then there is some work that I must take care of. In the mean time, I am going to send you to the next village over to the north, since I don't know – "

"No!" Alyss cried out. " I don't want to go to another village here! In the last village I was attacked!"

The Rabbit responded, "Oh you poor dear, I had no idea! But, I hold on to my idea. The last village was a fluke, I honestly don't believe that it will happen again. Actually, I can assure it. But just in case, take the sword. I will return to you as soon as possible."

Alyss turned back to face to stump, and took the sheath into her hand, stroking it, before wrapping the sword belt around her waist. "Are you sure that if I go to the next village, you'll come get me?"

Silence.

"Rabbit?" Alyss called, turning around to face where to Rabbit had been, but he was nowhere to be seen.

She sighed, vexed with the slippery knave. He said to the north, right? She thought turning to the north. Well then, I better wait where he told me, since I want to go home as soon as possible. Alyss shook her head, smiling slightly. I never thought I'd be eager to go back to Grandma's and Grandpa's farm.

Alyss took her first step to the north, and into a carefully planned trap.

:-*-:

The Rabbit watched Alyss leave to forest with the sword strapped to her waist, and he grinned. She won't last the day.

Alyss finally disappeared over the horizon, and the White Rabbit's grin grew even wider. Time to gather some friends... He spun on his heel and headed back into the woods. As he did, the shadows almost seemed to reach out to his retreating form, creating images of twisted, humanoid creatures, ready to do their Master's bidding.

:-*-:

(READ ALL OF THE AUTHOR NOTE! ITS REALLY IMPORTANT!)

I'M SO SORRY! This is really late, and I apologize profusely! Actually, this gives me the perfect opportunity to give everyone a warning. I am a professional procrastinator. If I give a deadline, then expect it a few days later. I try REALLY hard to stick to my deadlines, but it doesn't always happen.

Another thing, I have a poll on my profile on how the White Rabbit is going to kill the second alice. Please look at it and vote.

Also, I need a name for the second Alice! I have a name in reserve, in case I don't get any responses to my plea. Please leave a review/ PM with a male name that rhymes with Alice.

Thanks for reading! It's greatly appreciated!