OO1.O2; The Girl Named Alice

After waking up to find herself in a new body, and receiving the memories of a novel character she was talking about with her friend, Alice panicked.

Wasn't this exactly a trope in writing anyways? Surely this isn't an elaborate prank he got the hospital in on to find a way to send weird imagery to her brain? But the more she looked around the room and even at herself, the more scared she became.

"Alice in wonderland syndrome… why did he have to make it so severe?" She muttered as she tightly clutched her head with one hand, unused to seeing things so differently through her new body.

As her new found sister yelled for a doctor to help enter the room in fear that Alice may still be suffering repercussions, all she could do was try to soak it all in.

Her mind felt like a mess, as she tried to put the memories in order all she could feel was anxiety washing over her. Alice Hartziene, an aristocrat of an outstanding family. Due to her disorder from young that even doctors couldn't pinpoint, she became a girl forced to stay at home and in her little garden to not be known as the embarrassment of the family in public eye.

The more she saw, the more she wished she didn't know. As the doctor came into the room he noticed her sitting up and shaking slightly, and immediately began questioning her with the basics.

"Do you know your name?" The basic question everyone should be able to answer so long as they're okay, and yet when she tried to speak it felt like her mouth was as dry as a desert.

Her voice cracked a little as she mustered out, "I'm Alice Hartziene…" No, it wasn't her body physically preventing her from saying it at all. Rather, it was she herself who didn't want to believe the reality unfolding before her.

Sighing out of the relief, the doctor questioned her some more as her sister watched from a distance. Although she answered, it was completely half-hearted and unenthusiastic. Her mind was still adjusting to what was happening.

No matter how many minutes passed, she ended up even more confused before it suddenly clicked, the draft had mentioned something about Alice being sick a few weeks before she met the white rabbit, eight years before the main plot line had taken place.

Interrupting the doctor, she quickly asked what year it was, for the first time emotion could be heard behind her voice, that of panic and confusion. "It's only been three days, it's the year 204." He responded while checking her temperature.

Her fear was a reality, she truly was Alice Hartziene, and on top of that she became her before the main story even started! "What do I do…" she mumbled once more, conflicted. There was no way she could become the Alice of the novel, she was nothing like the character.

She tried to think over multiple scenarios, such as running away but there's no way she could survive as a sick child who's never done anything other than stay hidden. She tried thinking about just never entering the rabbit hole, but what would happen to the protagonist?

Alice was the mentor of Lexia and saved her on numerous occasions, without Alice's influence she likely wouldn't of even met the bloodborn prince! There would be no story, there would be no end to war, and that would cause issues for her since her country was within crossfire.

Going to Carneline was the safest option in terms of staying alive, as the kingdom was a closed off island with a tyrant ruler and people of magic that no other kingdom would fight it. However, that itself sounds dangerous!

She had no clue how Alice even became the right hand man of the queen, someone who slaughters and pieces together their soldiers for fun! The fussy queen may kill her instead by the time she is supposed to appear in the main plot.

As the thoughts swirled around her head more violently, she found herself slipping into a deep sleep, unable to fight the urge any longer as her psyche felt exhausted.

When she awoke, it had already been two days. There again, she found the woman who calls herself her sister, and a doctor telling her she was getting better overtime.

Apparently, her family was trusting this doctor's remedy to fix her up with her illness, and that everything going on was perfectly normal he claimed.

Her daily routine continued for about two more weeks, until she was stable on her feet. Wake up, take some pills, tell the doctor the difference compared to yesterday, and listen to her sister talk as she dazed off thinking about the not so bright future ahead of her.

Before she knew it, she was in the garden almost daily, but no matter how hard she searched she could never find the portal to her wonderland. She remembered the exact tree and descriptions in the draft, and went to the exact same spot repeatedly, but to no avail it never appeared to her.

"It's been three weeks… maybe the draft being incomplete was wrong?" Alice muttered while standing in front of the giant oak tree with amber gold leaves in front.

It was well past midnight and few servants were awake. The giant tree was said to glow on the night of her disappearance, and a portal would open to swallow her along with the white rabbit taking them to another place.

Turning around, she saw a man coming from a distance, he looked a bit different than the servants. She was now used to seeing people as distorted shapes and forms, and even started to note who was who from it, but she could of sworn she'd never seen that one.

All of a sudden, her stomach felt like there was a bottomless pit inside of it, it was fear. Perhaps she shouldn't of provoked the story line, perhaps she should of never came outside, or perhaps she should of just agreed to help her friend with the storyline immediately rather than fetch a cup of coffee.

Although she didn't want to be there or near the figure approaching, she felt like she must, as if it were her only option. No one was forcing her other than herself, so why would she do something so blatantly stupid? Was she really going to become Alice, a madman with no fears? The very same great magician with such a sick and frail mindset she has right now?

She realized that working and death wasn't her only fear as the new owner of her body. She feared losing her sanity. The Alice now is weak and timid, but the one in the future seems to go at her own pace, has no problem seeing murder and even harming life around her for the queen. Would she be okay with doing that, or even watching that unfold before her in the name of surviving, or in order to keep the plot in check?

As the figure came closer, a sharp pain shot through her head as she collapsed onto her knees, tugging at her hair tightly. That man… she had definitely seen him before in her memories, but she couldn't pinpoint it. It felt like a dream she had, where things were vaguely distorted.

There was an open field with what seemed like mountains from how the layers of the earth were seen. She had spun and turned looking at a bunny before her with a small top hat and a very large watch. It vanished soon after she fetched a snack for the animal, but she had definitely seen those very items on the figure before her.

It was cruel, she thought as a watch fell right before her, as if he purposely did it right beside her to make her return it. He moved slower, she could sense by the footsteps beside her staying the same volume, he was definitely trying to make her do something.

The draft had said Alice collapsed to the ground and she found herself staring at a golden pocket watch of large stature, much larger than any she'd ever seen her father or their guests carry from afar.

She looked up and behind her to see a man with what seemed like large ears and formal attire looking around trying to find something, and as she returned it.. she entered the portal with him.

Sucking in her breath, she played along. She had already committed this far in, and decided daily to check this place, so it would be stupid to try and act like it never happened. Especially not with the way this man was acting, he wouldn't let her if she wanted to.

Picking up the golden watch in her hands, she held it flat and put her palm against the back, unsure of the actual size of said watch. As she got up, she turned to the direction of the giant tree, and looked at the figure of a man who seemed to be confused and searching.

He's a good actor, she was willing to give that to the white rabbit. A character who she once thought to be easy to read, and a loyal friend to Alice Hartziene and was always there to support her, but the feeling she received from him was different than how the story would suggest.

His eyes were pure blue, according to the novel they were like gems. To her, however, they looked like they came from a monster, or rather a predator. The rabbit has become the hunter would be the perfect description of how he looked, she thought.

A small top hat and fancy ribbon, with a distorted body. Eyes of a monster, and what she knew were ears seemed to be odd ribbons from her eyes, something she cursed at the moment for making him look even scarier.

As she found the ability to walk forward, she handed over the watch to the rabbit with a small curtsy. "Is this your's?" She asked feigning cluelessness to who and what he was.

Putting on a smile, he clasped his giant hands together and thanked her. "Thank you so much, I was worried that if I were late the queen would have my head. Before I go, what's your name?" He asked.

"I.. am Alice. Alice Hartziene." She responded as the tree behind her begun to glow a brilliant aura as he touched the watch, one hand on top and one hand where her's was, pulling it from her with such force that she found herself toppling over.

It was half a second but she could see his lips turn up and his eyes turned back into a predator's. "Watch out, Alice!" He called out as he tried his best to wrap his arms around her to protect her while they fell backwards, into what seemed like a vortex, rather than a beautiful portal to a land of great wonders.

The original Alice may not have noticed, but she could already tell this was staged. It was never an accident she was brought to Carneline, it was always something which would of happened. She was willing to bet even if she did not show up, he would of dragged her from her bedroom.

In fact, she heard him mutter ever so softly as she closed her eyes, scared to see what was in the said vortex as they arrive on through. "So glad you made my job easier by not sleeping. Truly, this must be fate, my dear Alice."

He had set off every single red flag for her, but she knew if she shoved him off while they were transporting she'd probably have a heart attack from the fear of it. Her body felt abnormal for five minutes straight- the time taken for them to travel through the portal.

She figured it'd be quick, but this was truly a nightmare. All the while the man before her was trying to apologise and console her in the best way his acting abilities could.

"I'm really sorry, Alice! I should know by now to not be in a rush, even if the queen takes my head there's no excuse for the trouble I'm causing you." He continued on and on.

It was a lie, all of it. She knew he wasn't sorry. She knew that he was dangerous, she knew that the original Alice would of fallen for it, and forced herself to keep the act. No way a girl who has never met malicious people outside of her family would know what the eyes of a monster are like.

There's no way a girl who lives in a flower garden and her room would know what's going on. He knew that and was taking advantage of it, which angered her greatly but she had to hold it in, in fear of being killed.

The kingdom of Carneline would kill a foreigner on sight, they've stated it plenty of times in the novel, the queen was tyrant. Her only chance of living at the moment relied on the very monster who forced her down the rabbit hole.