Charlotte Cheshire's Story

Ruby the Red Queen tilted her head to one side, bright red ringlets rolling their way across her shoulder. She stood on the balcony of her room in the Heart Palace, looking down on her beloved Underland. Behind her beckoned the warmth of her luxuriously decorated room, but before her was something much more magnificent. The palace, being placed on a cliff side, looked out over all of Underland. And it was all hers. From the forests to the gardens, she ruled over everything.

A small mischievous grin lifted the corners of her ruby red lips and she touched her scepter to them lightly, memorized by the sight before her, the fruit of all her labor. Slowly and deliberately, The Queen held her scepter out over the edge of the balcony, letting it's end hover out there for a second before the heart-shaped ruby on the end began to glow fiercely. Below her, the flowers in the garden wilted and the trees curled in on themselves. She flipped her scepter over and this time, the flowers opened, stretching their petals towards her and the trees leaves unfurled, regaining their glossy greenness. Even the ground itself seemed to have a luminescent glow. As if the entire land had been bathed in blacklight. Toying with the whether and the greenery was something Ruby loved to do in her spare time.

But this time, a song interrupted her, drifting up towards the balcony on the wind. "Pockets full of posie, ashes, ashes, we all fall down..." Ruby grinned wickedly. Alice was back. Instantly, the image of blond curls flashed across her mind and she let out a sharp laugh, letting the sound curl it's way down the cliffside towards Underland.

"How do you like my renovations Alice dear? Not your sweet little Wonderland anymore is it?" She whispered more to herself than anyone else, though she flicked her scepter and the words carried themselves on the wind, wrapping around the girl wickedly. No one was going to threaten the Red Queen's power. That was why she'd driven them all mad.

Her wind rushed back towards her, throwing her red curls from her shoulders. An interested gleam came the her silver eyes and she leaned forward, elbows on the balcony. "Seems as though our little Alice has gone mad herself." She spoke in a whisper, and laughed starting out as a slow chuckle and slowly rising into a high, wild cackle.



Charlotte Cheshire sat at the sandy bank of a small lake in Underland. She'd pulled her stockings off and lay them beside her, tugging her skirts up above her knees immodestly to wade into the water a ways before sitting, allowing the cool water to lap at her ankles gently. The moon was high in a velvety black sky, it's rays stretching down into her small little corner of solitude illuminating her hair as it spilled over her shoulders like liquid silver. She leaned back on her elbows to watch the twinkling stars, a small smile turning up the corners of her lips.

She watched as the green grass under her hands shrunk and turned brown and the trees's glossy green leaves curled and fell to the earth. The Queen. She messed with Underland that way sometimes. Probably to remind them all of her presence, that she was still all-powerful. Another second and her spell reversed itself, the leaves glossier than before, flowers springing up from the grass growing taller and taller until they were almost as tall as the trees and surrounded the lake and her completely, encircling them in a perfumed paradise. The lake began to glow a bright aqua blue, shimmering iridescently and Ceshire leaned forwards, squinting for a better look.

At first, she'd thought it was just the Queen, but upon further inspection, she discovered that the surface was bubbling. Knowing fully what was going to happen, Chess grinned slyly and slipped on her stockings before gathering her skirts and creeping away from the lake towards a weeping willow tree just on it's edge, it's long wispy branches tickling the waters surface.

Once under it, she vaporized into thin air, reappearing higher up on one of it's limbs. Smiling, Cheshire stepped out onto one of the branches hanging over the water. Her footsteps were light and she walked on tiptoes, placing one bare foot in front of the other much like a cat as she eased out over the lake, the branch glowing brightly in each spot she placed her foot before fading away when she lifted it. Sly stealth was a specialty of hers. She didn't weigh much, being such a slight delicate girl, so Chess was able to get almost out to the middle of the lake before the branch began to bend slightly.

Here, she dropped her gown and eased herself down onto her stomach so that she could look down into the bubbling surface of the water with violet eyes. Her long platinum hair hung over the branch like a silvery waterfall, kissing the surface of the water with the leaves of the willow. Below her, the water had stopped bubbling and Cheshire grinned, unable to hold in her excitement as she waited like a cat waiting for a mouse.

A song drifted towards her on the wind and she grew distracted, lifting her head to listen better. "Pockets full of posie, ashes, ashes, we all fall down..." Shocked, she nearly fell into the water. Alice was back! She'd know that voice anywhere! Maybe Alice could save them from... What? The Queen? But nothing seemed to be wrong. The Queen had always been the common enemy of Underland, but lately Chess found it hard to understand why. A crease of confusion appeared between her eyebrows as she tried to sort it out, causing her head to spin slightly.

Giving up, Cheshire realized she's forgotten about her prey completely. Alice could wait. Looking down, she saw that she'd waited a bit too long. The boy from eh surface world was already pulling himself out of the lake. She locked her violet eyes on him and smiled wickedly, standing as quietly as she could and slinking gracefully back up the limb of the willow, stalking him silently as he swam to shore.

Once he was on land, she smiled and readied herself for the "pounce." Alice will be so proud her mind thought twistedly as she slowly disappeared piece by piece, her silvery hair the last to vaporize. When she reappeared, Chess did it much quicker, simply appearing before the boy, skirts bunched in her hand, one leg almost completely revealed under her heavy gown. She grinned deceptivly sweetly and tilted her head, stepping into the moonlight so he could see her better and she him. "Welcome to Underland Kennith." She said sweetly.

The light breeze blew the dust of the Mad Hatter's pale skin. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a bed of dead leaves. A young boy that looked about six was kneeling next to him. "Hello child where am I"?

The little boy looked at him and explained "Mister, you're in a bewitched land. The folks in town say that people been gettin lost here and a crazy man has been comin from this place and that is the entrance to hell. People say that he possessed. He speaks of a land with dancing trees and evaporating cats.".

The Hatter smiled so that's what I've been doing all this time. He stood up and realized his hat was missing. He picked up the boy with his collar and spoke with a scratched and crazed voice "Where is my hat!? What have you done with it? Tell me you little brat!".

The little boy struggled but managed to say "It probably is farther into the woods, but I'm a warnin ya bad things are in there". The Hatter stared into the boys brown eyes "You pathetic boy. This town told you to stay here with me, right. Why else would you be here? They let you stay with one of the world's most dangerous people".

The Hatter dragged him by the hair farther into the darkness of the forest. Just as the boy had said it was there, on top of a large tree stump. He dropped the child and quickly grabbed his hat and delicately placed it on his head. "Now, where is this entrance to hell". The boy pointed to a large hole in the middle of the forest. Great, home. "Now may I leave sir" The boy pleaded. The hatter smiled "Yes dear boy you may leave" the child cryed with relief, "You may leave your body and go to hell". Before the boy could show his shock, The hatter stabbed him in the stomach with a branch and collected his blood in a thin vile. He kicked the boys body aside and jumped into the hole.

The Hatter landed in his cottage and saw the Cheshire Cat and Alice sitting outside sipping tea. He rushed out and sat on his chair at the end of the long table. He gently kissed Alice's cheek and petted the Cheshire's soft head. He poured the red vile into his tea cup and handed it to Alice.

"Five lumps please".