Alice and Hatter reached the Underland pub at its peak patronage. The seedy underground bar was loud with music and chatter, cloudy with cigarette smoke, and the mood set with dim lighting. To get to the bar, Alice and Hatter skipped downstairs from the hidden door residing deep in Wonderland's square.
Alice leapt off the last step with anticipation. She had missed her friends that frequented the Underland. With Hatter loyally following behind her, she took a seat at the bar. The bartender, Lennox, who everyone called Lenny, turned around without looking up and started pouring her a shot of moonshine. He was tall, skinny, his hair was disheveled, and he had trimmed fair-haired mustache that wrinkled with distaste at everyone who came in.
Alice chuckled and said, "Lenny, you know I won't touch the stuff."
He looked up and his eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Alice! You've returned."
She gave him a kind smile. "I have. Hatter and Rabbit couldn't resist bringing me back to save the day."
Lenny looked behind her, gave a quick nod to Hatter, but then looked to the floor. "Where is Rabbit? Haven't seen 'im in a spell."
Hatter pulled up the bar stool next to Alice and sat. "He and Chesire ran off after..."
His voice trailed off, thinking of Caterpillar.
Alice swallowed past the grief stuck in her throat and finished the thought for him. "After Caterpillar was killed. One of the Red Queen's minions."
There was a collective gasp from all around. Caterpillar was ornery and seemingly uninterested in anything that wasn't about him, but he was a good friend. He had never let Alice down; never let anyone down.
Lenny pulled himself together following the news. "Well, Rabbit always was a coward."
He sniffled, the only sign of emotion he had it in him to give.
Hatter ordered a drink and lifted it in the air. "A moment of silence," he shouted. "For our fallen friend."
The usually lively pub went eerily silent. Everyone bowed their heads and some even closed their eyes. All for Caterpillar.
Then, everyone lifted their glass and drank in his honor. Hatter stained his upper lip with foam as he drew his glass away from his mouth. Alice giggled.
"What?" he asked.
Alice gestured to her upper lip, signaling him to wipe.
He dragged a sleeve across his mouth. "Did I get it?"
She nodded and shook her head in exasperation.
Their moment to bask in memories of Caterpillar was abruptly cut short. Suddenly, the door at the top of the stairs bombarded open. In a gust and dust and cracked wood, the door blew apart and scattered all over the bar floor at the entrance.
Everyone closest to the opening screamed and scattered.
Alice and Hatter rose from their seats.
The cause of the chaos clattered delicately down the stone steps. Her red heels making soft click-clackings on every step they touched. Then, she strutted through the archway, swinging a leg down from the bottom step.
The Red Queen - formerly, the Queen of Hearts.
"Alice," she said. "So nice to see you again."
The sarcasm dripped from her tone. Her light brown eyes, the color of dirty sea water, stared her down.
Alice folded her arms across her chest. "I didn't think you'd actually show up. I thought you weren't done sending your vile creatures to do your dirty work for you."
The queen laughed a horrible laugh, devoid of any real humor. It sounded like a guitar string plucked out of tune.
"No, I wanted the chance to see you myself."
"Lucky me," Alice mumbled.
The Red Queen sauntered past her and went to the bar. Lenny rubbed his patchy beard and froze, waiting for the queen to make the first move.
"Get the girl a real drink, Lenny," she ordered. "Not this horrendous chemical you think is tasteful."
Lenny did as she demanded and the queen grabbed the drink from him. Turning back to Alice, she held the shot glass out to her.
Alice took it without a thought. "Where is Rosaline?" she asked.
The Red Queen waved a hand in the air carelessly. "Oh, you mean the princess who helped you take my power away? She's fine."
The queen gave her a snarky look. "For now," she added.
Alice's heart sped. "What are you planning on doing to her?"
She needed to get to Rosaline. Alice knew without a doubt that the queen had terrible plans for the princess.
The queen arched a dark brow and puckered her lips importantly. "Nothing yet. Rest assured, though, I plan great and terrible things for both of you."
"Tell me where Rosaline is," she demanded.
"I'll do you one better," the queen said, pacing the floor around Alice. "I'll give her back to you. On one condition."
The queen held out her palm in front of her. A potion appeared in her hand. She let it out for Alice to take.
"Take this potion and if you survive it, I will return the princess to you."
Alice scoffed. "I won't take anything from you. Ever."
Though Alice was responsible for the queen losing one of her powers - her ability to take hearts - the evil witch still had a cache of magic within her. Poison was still an option.
The queen shrugged. "Then you will never know what happened to your dear Rosaline."
Alice inhaled her worry for the princess and considered the deal the queen was presenting her. If it were poison, Alice would die instantly and the queen wouldn't be able to enact her revenge. No, this potion had to be something far more sinister than simple poison. And if it were, Alice had at least a chance to survive it and get Rosaline back.
"It won't kill me?" Alice asked.
The queen smirked. "I didn't say that. I can guarantee that it won't kill you right away. It isn't poison."
"Don't," Hatter whispered next to her. "We'll find another way."
There wasn't any other way. She had already killed the tweedles and now Caterpillar. Rosaline didn't have much time. Alice needed to get to her.
"I'll take it," she agreed and held out her hand.
With a quick swish of her palm, the queen magicked the potion into Alice's hand.
"Alice..." Lenny warned behind her.
Alice put a hand up. "It's all right. I can do this."
Whatever the queen had in store for her with this elixir, Alice knew she had a chance to win. She would survive, and she would get her princess back.
She took a deep breath and shot the glass bottle back. It tasted like bitter cotton candy at the back of her throat. Glaring at the queen, she slammed the empty vial onto the bar.
The queen let out a monstrous laugh. She pulled up a chair and sat back, waiting.
Hatter looked Alice up and down with worry, appraising her. "Do you feel any different?"
Alice shook her head.
"You don't look any different..."
Out of the shadows came a voice Alice never thought she'd hear again.
"No, indeed, she does not."
He walked to the center of the bar, his hands behind his back, his white lab coat swishing around his legs.
Alice's stomach dropped. She felt like she had fallen from a great height.
"The doctor," she breathed out in horror.
"What are you talking about, Alice?" Hatter asked.
He looked to the right where Alice was staring. His eyes shifted from left to right, looking for the man Alice was seeing.
She pointed at the doctor. "He's here." She couldn't keep the tremor out of her voice. "How are you here?"
"What do you mean, Alice?" he asked as he came closer to her.
With every step he took toward her, she took a step back. The pub felt like it was closing in on them, boxing doctor and patient in together. She thought if he were any closer, close enough to touch her, her skin would peel off.
"You're in the hospital, dear," he continued. "You have always been here. Are you seeing things again, Alice?"
She shook her head furiously. "No no no no," she repeated.
She put her hands to her head, closing her eyes. She tried to shut him out.
Hatter put a hand to her shoulder. "Alice, what's wrong?"
"I'm not crazy," she cried. "I'm not in the hospital. I'm in Wonderland."
"Of course you are, Alice," Hatter reassured her.
"Alice, dear," said the doctor. "If you can't rid yourself of these delusions, you will never leave this hospital. You will never return home."
Alice kept shaking her head, ignoring the doctor. "No no no. I'm not in the hospital. I made it back to Wonderland. It's real. It's all real."
"Of course we're real, Alice," Lenny said.
Behind the bar, Lenny looked at Alice with deep concern.
Hatter kept looking at the space where Alice was seeing the doctor taunting her. "There's nothing there, Alice. It's just the potion. You can fight this."
Alice backed up to the wall. She was trapped. There was nowhere left to go.
"There's no need to fight me, Alice," the doctor pressed. "I only want to help you."
Suddenly, he had the electrode stickers in his hand, the wires falling lazily to the floor. His face split into a cruel grin.
"Time for your treatment, Alice."
Her heart sped so rapidly, Alice thought it would run right out of her chest. It was a long-distance runner that couldn't face the evil that was standing before her. She put a hand to her chest, begging her heart to settle down.
She could do this. She could fight him.
And that was it. Alice understood.
Hater couldn't see him because he wasn't really there. This was the potion, the queen's test. She needed to fight the doctor.
The doctor was just a step before her now. He was close enough to choke her with her fear. Though, he already was; her fear was rising up to her throat, closing it tight. She couldn't breathe.
"We need to rid you of your delusions, Alice."
He lifted his hands to place the electrodes on her.
"No!" she shouted and shoved him away from her.
"I'm not afraid of you," she said. "I'm not crazy. I am back in Wonderland. And I will never ever go back to that hospital."
She took a deep breath and could feel her heart slowing down, her heart rate returning to normal.
"There's nothing wrong with me. I know reality. This is reality."
The doctor glared at her and lowered his hands.
With a disappointed shake of his head, he shimmered like the stream of a waterfall. Then, he faded away. She had won.
The red queen sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess you've won this round."
Alice shot her a murderous look. The queen was vile for putting her through that.
"You promised. Give Rosaline back."
The red queen looked bored, but held up her end of the bargain. "Very well."
With a wave of her hand, the next chair to her shimmered and then, suddenly, it was no longer empty. Beautiful, red-haired Rosaline sat beside the queen.
"I always keep my promises," the queen said.
Then, she promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Alice couldn't keep the smile off her face as she rushed over to the princess. She grabbed Rosaline's hands that lay in her lap and held them tightly.
"Rosaline! Oh, I've missed you so much. I'm so glad you're all right."
She looked Rosaline over. She didn't appear to be harmed in any way.
Rosaline looked up to meet Alice's eyes. There was a vacant look in them that sent a cold shiver down Alice's spine.
"Rosaline?"
The princess' brows furrowed and her head tilted slightly. Alice had the oddest feeling, like Rosaline was there yet not there. She recalled her mother, just a few months before she passed, when she was suffering from "melancholies" as her father called them. She would go into one of her melancholies and stare out at the gardens from her window for hours. She never moved, not once. She would just sit there and stare, with an emptiness inside her. At those moments, Alice thought of the woman at the window as a life-like simulation of her mother. There, yet not there.
"Rosaline?" Alice asked again, this time more insistent.
"Who are you?" she asked.
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