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Ten Trips Through Wonderland (Trips 1-5)
Author:AkaiNagi
Rating: PG
Pairing: Alice/Tarrant
Summary: Prompts 1-5/10 from [livejournal.com profile] 10_prompts



Prompt: Cell

He would not have seen it end this way. An ignominious end to the last of the Hightop Clan. Losing his head to the whim of the Bloody Big Head Herself. Not living to see vengeance exacted for the events of Horunvendush day those many years ago. But he rested easy in the knowledge that it would be exacted in spades.

For his faith in her was absolute.

She would succeed, not because it was foretold in the Oraculum, but because he had witnessed the return of her muchness. The return of Alice.

His Alice.

And while the break of dawn on the morrow could well see his head roll, his heart, already given, would follow Alice into battle.

Prompt: Deviate

When he asked her to stay, with that mad, hopeful, almost plaintive look in his eyes, she immediately knew what her answer would be. Must be. For she was a good daughter, who would not leave her mother to worry, a good sister, and sister-in-law who would dutifully return. She even felt she owed a duty to that miserable dolt to whom she was most definitely not affianced.

Because in the end, her muchness went only as far as stockings and corsets, and most certainly did not include throwing her staid life away to embark on a half-mad life with a half-mad man in a half-mad land.

So she made her excuses and tried very hard not to see the light of hope extinguished in the Hatter’s eyes as she lifted the vial to her lips.

And paused.

And would her mother live her life for her, she wondered. Or her sister, with her unfaithful dog of a husband. Or Hamish? Would they be a comfort to her as she went on existing, after giving up the experience of truly living. Would they comfort her as she waited for the love of her life to appear, knowing that she had already met him, and left him, a lonely figure on a chessboard a world away?

The purple liquid stained the squares of the chessboard where she poured it out on the ground.

How’s that for muchness?

Prompt: Enclosed

Helen Kingsleigh recognized the tilted scrawl the moment the postman delivered the tattered letter. She no sooner slammed the door in the poor man’s face then she was ripping open the envelope and tossing it to the floor, desperate to get at its contents. After all this time. Finally. The dear Lord has rewarded me for not giving up hope. She scanned the letter for the three words she most wanted to see: I’m coming home.


Dearest Mother,

I do hope you’ll forgive me for not having written you in so long. I wasn’t even aware it was possible until now. I know you must be wondering where I’ve gotten to, ever since that party at the Ascots’. It’s hard to believe that was over a year ago. You wouldn’t believe me if I wrote you of all that has happened to me since then. The first thing you must know is that I’m well, and that my life is full and happy. I’ve gained a purpose to my life that I never would have known had I simply returned to my dreary life in London to become Lady Ascot.

I have just become engaged, mother. That’s right, I am to be married to a wonderful man. I know he is not precisely who you would have chosen for me, but he makes me desperately happy. He’s a master of his trade, and is employed at court, so you needn’t worry at all for my fortunes.

I’m sorry to have left without a word like I did. I can only imagine how you and Margaret must have worried. I can comfort you only with the fact that I continue to be well and happy. Be the same. I shall write again.

Love,
Alice


Helen desperately searched the floor for the envelope; her last hope. The tears began to fall as she read the one word of return address:

Wonderland

Prompt: Devil

At first Alice found the Red Queen to be more obnoxious and foolish than the force of pure evil that had been described to her. To be sure she found the queen’s treatment of the animals in her court to be just the other side of deplorable, and the constant toadying of those around her caused Alice to feel slightly ill. Though she supposed she had little room to talk, since at the moment, Alice was counted among the toadies.

So she went along with the flow, trying not to crack a smile every time she introduced herself as “Um from Umbridge.” She even giggled slightly when the queen demanded a pig belly for her aching feet.

Her false sense of security was dashed, however, when the queen ordered the prisoner to be brought in.

The Hatter cut a pathetic figure, bound hand and foot. He moved slowly, as if each step caused him physical pain. And was that the Hatter’s own bizarre natural coloring, or did she detect bruises?

They had tortured him. To find out her whereabouts they had tortured this harmless, half-mad man?

They had all been right. She had been wrong. This woman was the devil.

Down with the bloody Big Head.

Prompt: Ocean

Light streamed through the windows of the palace at Marmoreal, bringing a new day to the inhabitants of the White Court, and awakening one Alice Hightopp from a most interesting dream. She yawned and snuggled into her husband’s side, resisting the breaking dawn for just a few more moments.

“I had that dream again,” she informed him, not checking to see if he was awake. He was always awake before her. “Is it normal to have the same dream every night?”

“Don’t ask me,” he replied, placing a light kiss on her forehead. “I’m the mad one, remember?”

She giggled. “No, really. It’s the same every night. I’m on a boat … no, not a boat … a great ship. I’m waving goodbye to my mother and sister and we sail off into the sunrise. We’re heading East, I think. A huge ocean stretching out in front of us. I’m not sure where we’re headed, but I’m sure it’s somewhere grand.”

“Are you wearing a hat?”

Alice thought for a moment, “I don’t remember. I don’t think so.”

“Because if you’re headed somewhere altogether grand,” Tarrant explained matter-of-factly, “you should be hatted properly for the occasion.”

“Perhaps I’m underdressed.”

The Hatter rested his chin atop his wife’s head. “Or perhaps, you’re headed home. Where is grander than Marmoreal? Then you don’t have to worry about being properly hatted. I shall make all the hats you should need when you arrive.”

She looked up at her husband, wondering, as she often did, at his wisdom-masquerading-as-madness. She smiled serenely. “Now that, husband, is a wonderful thought.”

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] zaftiq.livejournal.com
That last one was oh so very sweet.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 01:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:59 am (UTC)
ext_18053: (fairfarren)
From: [identity profile] djarum99.livejournal.com
These were wonderful - I particularly love the AU of "Deviate," although I can appreciate canon as well. Fickle. Mad.

Thank you ♥

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 01:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it ^_^

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 03:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] theerabbit.livejournal.com
Each one a gem! Lovely, lovely!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 01:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 03:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wanderamaranth.livejournal.com
Like the look into his thoughts in "Cell". All very good, though.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 01:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you. The Hatter cut such a sad figure in that cell, didn't he?

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 04:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aros-66.livejournal.com
oh, "enclosed" was horribly saddening...it really brings the other side to all those fics where she chooses to stay! i love the fact that, while she DID choose to stay and she was happy, it didn't mean that everything was sunshine and roses...:c

beautiful work! thank you so much for sharing! :)

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you! While I do wish she had stayed in Underland, it certainly would have been painful for those she loved (and just desserts for that putz Hamish, to be left standing there without a word)

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 04:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cthonical.livejournal.com
These were really sweet. I love Deviate and Enclosed particularly. <3

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you! I went through several scenarios with deviate, but I'm quite happy with the one I picked. I decided to let the reader imagine Tarrant's expression when she poured out the liquid ^_^

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 06:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spaciireth.livejournal.com
I love that you have actually written her mother's response. It's something that just tends to go unmentioned. The others were lovely, too, but I think that was my favourite.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you! I'm so glad you liked "Enclosed," becuase that one was the hardest for me to write, and the one I was most unsure of.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 08:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] yukishiro-shi2.livejournal.com
I love your ficlets; they were so in-character! All of them are keepers, but Enclosed and Ocean are my absolute faves. ♥

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you! Ocean was partly an excuse for me to get the two of them in bed (naughty naughty Nagi).

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 08:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] solanyxe.livejournal.com
It would be hard to decide which I liked more. I find it interesting how you manage each time to deliver a strong emotion with the last 2-3 sentences.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you for taking the time to review. I love your icon by the way.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 09:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jinma-chan.livejournal.com
A most lovely set of scenes in time.

GO YOU!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you!
*Squee* back at ya!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 11:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] verseblack.livejournal.com
How lovely! The last one is perfectly enchanting, and I like how you trace the evolution in Alice's thoughts in "Devil."

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you very much. The sight of the poor hatter downtrodden and in chains made me want to tap dance on the queen's ginormous head, I can imagine how Alice must have felt.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 12:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jillianfish.livejournal.com
That was very nice. I enjoyed the peek into Alice's inner mind. I loved the last line of the second one- How's that for muchness?. Perfect. And poor Alice's mother almost made me cry. You could see that despite her trying to run Alice's life she did love her and wanted only the best for her.

This was great- I can't wait to read more from you!

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you! I hope to post more soon. The plotbunnies are nibbling at my toes as we speak.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 01:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jacquzy.livejournal.com
These are fantastic! You manage to pack so much feeling and emotion into each one, and they are all so in character...I think my favourites are "Enclosed" and "Deviate."

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-17 02:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] akainagi.livejournal.com
Thank you! That's what I love about ficlets, you can make each one a sucker-punch ^_^

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-23 02:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kueble.livejournal.com
This is just adorable! Nicely done.

(no subject)

Date: 2010-03-28 03:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] yaycoffee.livejournal.com
Seriously... I've read through all of these now, and I just adore them! You've done a lovely job here, and my heart is very happy for Mr. and Mrs. Hightop :-)

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