fairfarren, alice

“are you going to scarborough fair?”

golden locks swaying along the breeze, as if singing along your melancholic tone.

“parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme...”

your jewelled blue eyes hidden under the curtains of your long lashes fluttered open, softly, slowly. you stared up at the sky, waiting and waiting.

“remember me, to one who lives there...”

your ears perked up when you heard something from the bushes. you turned your head just to see a man with salmon hair donned with rabbit ears walking fast as if he was in a rush. you looked away and returned your gaze back at the sky, continuing your hum:

“he, once, was a true love of mine.”

you closed your eyes when you heard footsteps nearing your figure that was leaning on a tree. “alice! alice!” margaret, your brother, called.

“what are you doing here, all by yourself?” he asked as you stayed still, enjoying the breeze. margaret stared at your face with his teal gray eyes, his frosted periwinkle hair swaying along the breeze.

margaret frowned, “why aren't you answering me? i'm talking to you..!” he suddenly placed both of his hands in between your head, trapping you.

your eyes widened when the tree that supported your back suddenly vanished and turned into what felt like a hole. you barely had time to react when you lost your balance, tipping over to your back. you watched as margaret's eyes slightly widened; “alice!” he called.

but you knew better.

the last thing you saw before falling into the abyss was the smirk painted in margaret's lips.

you shut your eyes and waited for your fall to end. you hissed when your bum met a heap of grass, ‘it didn't really help...’

you stood on your feet and met face to face with a long hallway. there were tiny, locked doors on the sides and a three legged table on the middle of the hallway. you sighed and went pass the table to look for an exit.

after a few minutes, you slumped down on the ground and curled, giving up. that's when a door with the same size as yours suddenly appeared.

‘i thought so.’ you hid a sly grin before standing up, patting your dress and heading towards the door. you were greeted with a forest as you stepped outside.

you weren't surprised, you knew about this place after all. the land full of wonders and marvels; wonderland.

you scrunched your nose at the smell, you looked up to see a man with a spiky orange hair sitting on top of a large mushroom, smoking what seemed like a hookah.

“are you who they call, 'mr. caterpillar'?” you asked. the man set his sharp, green grey eyes at you: “who are you?” you raised a brow, “i am alice.”

the man blinks back in surprise, “alice? you are not alice.” you narrowed your brows and looked away, “.. you sure love to trick people.” you gave a comment before walking away.

you wandered around before stopping at a voice: “if it isn't our little mad alice..!” you immediately recognized the voice– antagonistic, dark, and playful; it was the cheshire cat.

“why, thank you.” was what you replied to his little insult. “on your way to somewhere?” the man with dark brown hair and striking gray eyes sized you up. “it's none of your business, weirdo.” you couldn't help but let a slip of insult, but it's not that you were lying, it was true that he was weird.

“how rude, everyone can be a little weird sometimes.” he said in a playful singsong tone, slyly grinning. you chose to ignore him and look around. “go to the march hare's house. he and the mad hatter are holding a mad tea party, you can ask them for directions to the palace.” he gestures to his right as you narrowed your brows. “but they're both a bit mad.” he added with a laugh.

“... i'm not going to the palace.” you said after a bit of silence. the cheshire cat only laughs, “oh, you are.” you shot him a glare as he continued, “after all, you are mad.”

“i'm not mad.” you argued as you began to step further away from the man with his pretty eyes. 'what a waste, his eyes were like jewels. a shame.'

“oh, you jest! after all, you are the maddest alice..!”

you left him hanging and headed towards the opposite direction of the march hare's house.

—

“what in the world...”

you purposefully headed towards the opposite direction because you wanted to avoid the mad hatter and the march hare. but alas, you should've expected that the cheshire cat would trick you to think that he was telling the truth about the directions.

”what is an uninvited guest doing here?”

a low husky voice growled cautiously. your brows twitched as you turned from the march hare with the unkept, long, gray hair.

“... i'm leaving.” you said but another deep voice stopped you, “oh don't leave, come be my guest and take a seat, dear.” you turned your head to face the hatter with a blue lightning shaped tattoo on his left cheek.

“... don't call me dear.” you mumbled. “what a rude guest.” the march hare insulted as you frowned, “i'm not a guest.” the man with multicolored eyes sipped his tea before arguing, “you are. the hatter said so.”

“... you just said i was uninvited earlier. i'm not an intrusive kind of person, so i'm taking my leave–”

“well, you're invited now.”

you narrowed your brows, “you are confusing.” the march hare shook his head, “i'm not, just logical.” he explains as you sigh, shaking your head before leaving: “i refuse to deal with the likes of you.”

you were left to wander the forest again. the sun was already setting but you still haven't find the way to the queen yet.

'i need to hurry and find the queen. i need to hurry before i get killed.' you sighed and dropped to rest under a tree. 'i'm so tired... but i need to hurry...' you tried to fight your sudden and unexpected drowsiness, but ended up falling asleep.

“my, my...” a man with salmon hair and dull grey eyes stopped at the sight of the unconscious alice. “to think that you would let your guard down like this...” he commented before nearing the vulnerable alice.

—

you woke up in a bed surrounded with red roses. the smell almost made you sick as you covered your nose, looking around cautiously. “where in the world am i...”

you massaged your temples before sitting up. "the smell makes me dizzy..." you whispered when suddenly, the doors were slammed open as a crowd of maids came rushing in. you flinched when they started to grab you and rid you of your clothes.

“wha– stop, how impudent..!” your complaints and struggles were in vain when they successfully stripped you and dragged you to the baths.

they began to bathe you, scrubbing away the dirt from your body before donning you with a white long-sleeved dress that ended on your knees. they brushed your hair and placed heavy accessories before leading you in front of a large door.

“your majesty, alice has arrived!”

the doors opened and it revealed an indoor garden filled with red roses; in the middle was a gazebo and sitting on one of the chairs was a man with long golden blonde hair, casually but elegantly sipping tea.

“aah, come, dear alice.”

the man said as he finally landed his maroon eyes upon you. he noticed your cautiousness and immediately smiled, “aah, silly me, how could i forget to introduce myself?” he stood from his chair and began walking towards you.

“i am the queen of hearts, the ruler of wonderland. it's a pleasure to finally meet you, alice.” the red queen took your hand and placed a kiss. 'queen? strange, i thought he was the king...' you internally shrugged before staring at the queen.

on earth, the queen of hearts was known for his foul temper. but the man who was gently holding your dainty hands and slowly dragging you over to the seats didn't look like he could even hurt a fly.

but you knew better.

you stiffened when the queen went behind you. you turned your head and slightly heaved a breath when you saw that he was just pushing the chair for you to sit. he only let out a chortle before sitting in front of you.

the queen signalled one of the maids to pour you a cup of rose tea, “how are you feeling? is the seat too uncomfortable for you? how about your bed? did you sleep peacefully?” he began to bombard you with questions as you only nodded stiffly; 'his presence... is suffocating.'

“what's wrong? why are you not answering me?”

you flinched when his voice suddenly started to raise. “aah, could it be that your throat is too scratchy? i see, i see... it must be.” he began to calm down and seemingly talk to himself.

you shivered when the red queen gave you a smile, “have a sip of tea, it may help. you must've been too tired from walking around, i'm glad you're comfortable now.”

'i'm not...'

you watched as the maid poured the queen's cup the same tea she poured to yours. you let out a (relieved?) sigh when the queen did not hesitate to take a sip on the cup: 'okay, the tea is not poisoned.'

you slowly grabbed a hold of the cup before bringing it to your lips. you inhaled the floral fragrance and let a small smile rest upon your lips before you widened your eyes.

you suddenly felt as if your heart was pricked by thorns and couldn't help but drop the cup, as you clutched your chest. 'what– what's happening?!'

“alice, what's wrong?” you tried to look at the queen through your blurred vision, squinting your eyes. you flinched when you saw a glimpse of his smile. 'poison? am i poisoned? but i didn't take a sip of tea yet..!'

you trembled as you felt something rising in your throat. you widened your eyes when you suddenly threw up what looked like blood. you fell from the chair and unto the ground, still clutching your chest.

“aah, your white dress is stained...” the queen mumbled, as if you weren't on the ground, still throwing up blood. “what a mess, alice.” he mumbled as he stared down at you, sipping his tea.

after throwing up what felt like gallons of your blood, you tried to look up at the queen, even though you were already getting dizzy from heavy loss of blood.

“off... with your–”

the queen giggled before standing, approaching the lifeless body on the ground: “you wanted to kill me, you say? that's cute.” he knelt down and brought the corpse to his lap, tracing his fingers on the cold, soft skin.

the red queen's eyes shimmered at the sight of the crimson blood staining the pure white dress. “as i thought, the color red suits you more, dear alice...” he cooed before bursting into a fit of hysterics.

as earth lost another alice, another was born; the wonderland has rewound.

“y/n l/n, you are hereby sentenced to execution by hanging for attempted murder towards the queen.”

“... my name is alice...”

“hah, even in your death, you're still trying to claim that you're alice. you've truly become mad, woman.” you looked up to see his sharp eyes glaring down at you: “i'll spare you a minute to say your last words.”

you only laughed hysterically for a good twenty seconds. you took a deep breath before staring right at the person sitting on the throne with your crazed eyes:

“are you going to scarborough fair..?

parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme...

remember me, to one who lives there...

he, once, was a true love of mi–”

splat.

“time's up.”

he only glanced coldly at the blood splattered on the ground. he stood from his throne and sashayed away, looking the most uninterested. the princes only waited before trailing behind him.

“what a mess.”