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Prologue – Out of Londerland

Days, inches, decibels.

Not the only words that came to mind when describing the length of time she had spent just, walking. Trudging the streets of a deserted London that wasn't really a London at all.

At least not any London she'd experienced before. In this London, there resided no street urchins, only faint shadows of what once was. Literally. Playing amongst themselves.

Where the common prostitutes once stood selling their wares, intricate paper swans replaced them. Dressed in the most regal of fineries, they were placed like delicate statues, lining the colourful cobbles.

"I wonder if I should stay stuck here the rest of my years?" Alice wondered. Half expecting a snarky and cryptic reply from the mouth of the mangled grinning fiend. None came.

She carried on with her being alone. It seemed to be that everyone and everything familiar to her had vanished. No smirking felines, no hookah obsessed caterpillars and no gigantic black blobs of destruction. Thankfully.

She desperately hoped that they did not perish when she derailed that infernal train. Alice was never the fondest of the wonderland residents, but she preferred them to being alone.

On her trek, she came across various tableaus suggesting tea parties & croquet matches with no guests in attendance of either.

Alice had finally decided, "I shall go mad if I stay. Well, even more so. I will endeavor to find myself a way out."

Of course it was always easier to promise than deliver & kept promises in this land were few to come by. Especially to ones self. Alice would have only herself to persevere to find an exit. She would rely no more on riddles and nonsense spewed by others disguised as some form of assistance. Bumby and her other supposed "caretakers" at Rutledge had seen to it she learned her lesson.

As the last remnants of London all but faded away the deeper she went; Alice realized something extraordinary. She wasn't walking on her own accord. Her feet had taken on the task of navigation themselves.

Alice didn't fight against it.

"They must know something I don't. Why struggle?"

The feet took her back on through to the Looking Glass Station and on past the Duchess' kitchen, Void of pig snouts and engorged heads, before carrying on to the river.

Alice began to panic a bit at the sight of the water. Remembering her recurring nightmares of disembodied claws ripping her to shreds.

"Feet! Feet! I really must protest!" Alice's cries went unheeded. The feet continued of with no signs of slowing.

How discourteous Alice thought. If I should perish, that'll teach you, you pesky feet.

When the first step was taken onto the water Alice shut her eyes tight. But the excruciating pain never came. Slowly she lifted her hands from her face.

Nothing.

There was nothing. Her feet continued at a brisk pace on top of the water. She began to relax somewhat. Well, as much as someone in her position could. Alice kept her focus straight ahead until they finally reached the other shore. Her feet then took a sharp turn back into the forest.

Concerns arose when she found there was no set path to follow. They were quickly squashed when her feet stopped abruptly, and spun Alice around three times to stop at a small road which appeared out of nowhere.

Again, the feet walked on.

Alice did not know when she had dozed off or how far the feet had taken her. She only knew that they were gradually coming to a halt.

Alice opened her drowsy eyes and found herself at the end of the path, at the bottom of an enormous tree. It was a gnarled old thing, with an opening in the roots just large enough to fit a young woman…

She knew exactly what this was; A way out.

She stared into the barren black hole with naught a thought in her head. She couldn't believe this was really it. Wonderland had literally been her whole life. Her place of escape from the daily horrors of the asylum and later that prostitute factory halfway house. And now she was finally able to leave.

"I've overcome my obstacles now. No need to stay. I will mend over time." Alice spoke aloud to no one in particular & was slightly saddened to hear that they did not answer back.

Alice turned to set her eyes upon the marvels one last time. She could admit to herself that it would hurt a little. In its natural state, Wonderland truly was a decent, albeit fragile sort of existence. But ultimately she would be glad to leave. She knew that she wouldn't be able to handle another broken world.

A soft "Goodbye" made it over her tongue before she turned and crawled into the waiting darkness.

The space itself was cramped at first but widened out a great deal as she began her ascent. When the tunnel took a steep incline, she had to grasp at roots and earth for support. She could barely see, as there were no colorful incorporeal lights to guide her way this time. All was eerily still.

On her climb, Alice passed some vaguely familiar items. A rusted bedframe, an old broken grandfather clock and a rather large fishbowl mummified in the dirt. Fish included. They certainly looked at lot different going down than coming up. Useful to gain footing while climbing though.

As she reached for a protruding table ledge, Alice felt a large clod of dirt smack the top of her head, & that wasn't the end of it. A mini avalanche of soil and rock assaulted her, pummeling her face and neck.

When it had ended, Alice removed her hand from her face to clear the dust, thinking it strange that it should glow like that. Almost as if…it was catching and reflecting light?

She looked up & as expected, there was a gaping hole of light leading to the surface!

Home! I'm nearly there!

As soon as it was thought, Alice felt a strong force push her from beneath. The geyser shot her upwards. The light got brighter and brighter until it filled her vision completely.

Finally, she was ejected from the ground. Spat up like a cat toying with a dead mouse. Flailing until she finally came back down.

It didn't take her long to catch her breath after she landed but the sight of a clear blue sky with no floating teapots or blazing hellfire took it right away again.

She smiled as she grasped at the lush grass she lay in.

"I believe I've made it" were her last groggy words before she was shrouded in a tranquil blanket of nothingness.

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