Danny coughs and sputters, having just come back from drowning. No. He wasn't the one drowning. He sits up to put on his silky black robe and waits. After a moment he sees a girl forming on his bed. Her aristocratic face too thin and her hair unkempt. Her face is pale and she's wearing a monotonous grey rags almost like that of a prisoner. Danny pulls out his thickest and fluffiest towel to wrap around her too thin frame and carry her out.

He knows her name.

Alice.

~

Alice Liddell is that second daughter of the well off Liddell couple and beloved sister of Elizabeth Liddell. What many do not know is that Arthur was Loretta's second husband. Arthur married the grieving widow as her husband died at sea, 6 months heavy with child. Arthur owed Loretta's first husband many things so he had believed that taking her in before her in-laws can throw her to the street so that they can get their hands on her late husband's property was just him returning the favor. The decision to have Alice was to give Lizzie a sibling that she can spend her days with.

Alice was named after Arthur the same way Lizzie was named after her own late father, Edward. And so the secret of Alice's family was taken to the grave with their death. Had they lived, she might have learned of it at an older age.

~

Alice opens her eyes to green sky. For a moment, she wonders if she have fallen back to Wonderland proper. But the last thing she recalls is the frightening memory of the syndicate that Bumby, the bastard, have been selling all the poor children to chasing her through an alley. They had caught her and only her madness preserved her from fully processing the violation of her body. She did remember biting the jugular of one of her rapists though, sure that the bastard was squealing like a pig as his blood spurted everywhere.

After that...

They tied her to a barrel of rocks and dropped her into the ocean, deeming her too much of a demon to be of any use to their trafficking.

Alice sits up, "I'm dead..."

"Afraid so,"

She looks up to see a young woman with blond hair and green eyes dressed in regal blues and golds. She tenses, "Where am I? I doubted that Heaven was my destination,"

The woman shakes her head before smiling, "Name's Artoria. And this is Phantom's Keep. And you...well...you are here because you are one of us,"

Alice frowns, "One...of you?"

Artoria gracefully shrugs, "You're related with my husband. As how that happens, I am sure that you will have your answer if you ask Clockwork. He have no problem sharing about your past to you, especially now that you're dead. Just don't ask about the future. He'll give you nothing but a migraine," She stands up, "Anyway, here are your fresh change of clothes. Bathroom behind that door. Don't worry about the hot water. Just turn the knob and it'll come out. Blue for cooling, red for heating. And you can play with all the soaps and shampoos. Don't worry about finishing them or wasting them. Take your time. I'll be outside,"

~

Alice scrubs her body clean, taking her time to warm up under the heated rainwater coming from above. When was the last time she get to be so clean? Life as an orphan was never kind, especially to girls. Then life on the street was even worse. She can be considered lucky to remain as pure as she was for as long as she did. Perhaps her reputation as a mad woman helped in that regard.

Still...

Alice scrubs and scrubs and scrubs. She feels so dirty. Even though falling into Wonderland saved her from the worse part of having her virginity taken in the most violent manner, she can still feel the way her body was plundered. She can see her Wonderland, barely fixed as it was, breaking apart once more, blood spreading everywhere.

Scrub, scrub, scrub...

Scrub, scrub, scrub...

Scrub, scrub, scrub...

Scrub, scrub, scrub...

"Hey, that's enough,"

Alice struggles against the hands stopping her from scrubbing her skins off. But the other person, a girl with bright blue eyes, refuses to let her hurt herself. After a moment, Alice screams, "I'M DIRTY!!" She sobs as she slides down the smooth wall, heated rain pattering on her blooding skin, "I'm dirty..."

The girl cries, "I'm sorry...we are sorry..."

Alice wails as she rubs her hands on her skin while the other girl cries along with her, patting her hair, apologizing to her over and over. After a while, Artoria appears with thick towels to help dry them up. Her touch are gentle and kind, something that Alice have been sorely lacking since her family's death.

~

Alice sits in her room, her clothes a simple gown with frills and a silk ribbon on the front. The new girl, Kagome, is helping with her hair. She have not been able to comb properly for a long time and her terrible healthcare isn't helping with the strands.

Alice asks, "Are you...dead too?"

Kagome blinks, "Me? No," She chuckles softly, "Not yet. But I know when I die, I'll be here,"

Artoria notice Alice watching her and smiles, "I am. Dead, that is,"

Alice looks outside the window, "Then...where are we?"

Kagome answers, "Father's home,"

Alice frowns, "My Father is Arthur Liddell,"

Kagome nods, "That must be the name he carried in your world. In mine, he's called Yuuki,"

Alice blinks before looking at her, "Your name...are you from the East?"

Kagome grins, "Japan,"

Alice's green eyes brightens, "Japan...I have always wanted to go there,"

Kagome shares at look with Artoria before the girls starts sharing what they know with Alice regarding the country in the far East.

~

Alice notice that during her stay in her room, only Kagome and Artoria are ever around. Even though Kagome said that she and Alice are sisters from the 'same Father', Alice cannot help but feel skeptical. Still, she doesn't mind staying in her room as it is comfortable and she tires of the street. Besides, there is food and bed and shower. Being inside feels better than being outside.

Her Wonderland is in shambles though...

Alice opens her eyes at the sound of the door opening and found a little girl with violet eyes staring at her. She's dressed in a pretty purple and green dress with black lilies. Her tiny feet wears tiny green shoes as she makes her way to Alice. The little girl looks up at her and grins, waving her tiny hand, "Hello!"

Alice can't help but smile at the sight of her innocence, "Hello. Who are you?"

The girl squeaks, "Hotaru!"

Alice replies, "Alice,"

~

Kagome seems delighted to see Hotaru with Alice. Alice enjoys having Hotaru around. The little girl makes her think of simpler times. Of daydreaming her Wonderland in the garden under the tree. She shares her adventure, the ones from before the fire, with Hotaru and Kagome. Artoria will then join them with food and snacks worthy of the Queen.

Alice like this...wherever this place is...it is far better than London.

~

Today is rather strange. Alice receives a very strange visitor. She is dressed in a red cloak with a large needle strapped to her back. Under her red cloak is black armors. She have pure black eyes and curving white horns. Her face is pale, almost pure white, as white as her hair. Alice stares at the girl on her window before the girl disappears.

Alice feels tempted to open the window but...

No. It is safer to be inside. Here, nothing is hurting her.

~

Alice isn't sure about sharing with Kagome and the others about the strange girl in red. But she doesn't have to as Kagome asks, "Have you met Hornet? I thought Hollow said that she'll visit,"

Alice asks, "Who is Hornet?"

Kagome answers, "Father's first daughter. She...doesn't have much of a relationship with him. He made a lot of mistake with her and though he tries to make it up with her, she's far from amicable. But she's okay with the rest of us. If you see her, she have white horns, white hair, white face, black eyes, and she is always wearing her red cloak. Oh, she also carries a giant needle. That's her weapon of choice," Kagome grins, "I am partial to bow. Am I glad I met Archer. I can't shoot an arrow to save anyone before him!"

Artoria shakes her head, "I am more partial to the sword and the spear myself. Although I prefer the sword,"

Hotaru says nothing, preferring to focus on her snack.

Alice looks at her pale fingers, already the once bony digits are filling out nicely and her nails are clean and trimmed properly instead of dirty and bitten. She answer, "I saw her once...at the window. She didn't say anything. She just...stare at me before disappearing,"

Kagome hums, "Want to bet that she'll swallow her pride and ask Father's permission to hunt down those...monsters?"

Artoria sips her tea, "I might just join her,"

Alice feels her heart flutters at their words. Still...she cannot help but ask, "Why would he care? He never cared before,"

Kagome grimaces, "Alice. Trust me when I say this," She looks at the girl, "Had Father known, he would have taken you away immediately...with your consent, of course. But...but the problem with Father is that he only knows about us...when we died. I know from my own experience that he felt our death with us,"

Alice looks at her, "But you're not dead,"

Kagome raises her hands, "Alright. Correction. I got soul sucked out and I guess that I can be considered dead but since I am my Father's daughter, I sucked my soul back in,"

Alice thinks that Kagome is weird...which speaks a lot since she is the epitome of weird.

~

Alice wakes up to see someone sitting on the balcony of her room. He seems to be watching something. She sits up, picking a chair as weapon. He looks at her and she freezes at the sight green eyes the exact shade as hers. She knows those eyes. She shares them with her father, Arthur. There is some difference, yes, like the shape of his pupils. They are not the eyes of a human...but that isn't why it is familiar to her.

Her memory is hazy but the one aspect of her father that she have always loved was his striking green eyes. They stands out to her from under his heavy black brows and thick black beards.

She puts down her chair, "Father?"

The man turns to face her fully. He looks nothing like the father of her memory but...that sense of safety and comfort that she have always associated with Arthur is the same. She quickly unlocks the balcony doors and runs out of the safety of her room for what seems like forever since she arrived and throws her arms around him, crying, "FATHER!!"

The man's voice is different but yet, the sound and lilt of his voice is familiar, "Alice..." His chuckles is familiar, "Still jumping, my little rabbit?"

Alice giggles, tears falling from her eyes, "It is you,"

The man sighs, "I am sorry...you've suffered so much,"

Alice shakes her head, "It's alright! Everything is alright! You're here now, everything is alright!"

~

"Forget?"

Alice is wary of this man named Loki before her. Though he claims to be her brother. After all, the last person to suggest forgetting her past to her was the man that threw her life into hell. Her hold on Hotaru tightens slightly.

Loki shrugs, sitting on the chair across from her, "Yes. It is a special potion that Mal can make,"

Alice relaxes at the mentioning of Mal. Her other elder brother with the horns and wings bring her more comfort that the one before her. It seems that she finds comfort in the bizarre more than those similar to the cruel humans from London. Though logically she understands that it isn't their fault for looking so normal, she cannot help her reaction to normal.

Still, they are all so different from one another and have their own quirks that sets them apart from normal enough that she began to relax.

In the end, Alice shakes her head, "No...as tempting as forgetting is...my Wonderland cannot exist if I forget,"

Loki hums, "Interesting. Can you manifest your Wonderland here, outside your mind?"

Alice frowns, "What?"

Loki grins, "Wonderful! I wonder if Archer will have no problem teaching you how to manifest your own reality marble! So how about it, little sister? Would you like to learn magic?"

~

Alice sits across from Archer, Artoria nearby to ease her discomfort of being alone with a man. He stares at the picture of the Vorpal Blade that she drew. Humming, Archer tells her, "I need to see the weapon itself before I can create it for you. But since you can't manifest it outside your Wonderland..." He then smiles, "Maybe if I bring you into my reality marble, you can manifest it?"

Alice have heard about this reality marble and she wonders if she can do the same with her Wonderland, "Please?"

Archer nods, "Alright,"

[I am the bone of my sword]

~

Alice jumps down from the window, willing a mushroom to appear below. She grins when it does and hops off of it to a higher level. A card appears just as she falls, giving her a platform to land on. Then the card starts to glide through the air, allowing her a limited form of flight.

"Having fun?"

Alice turns to her Danny, her Father, flying near. It doesn't matter what his name is. He is her Father. That is all that matters. She grins, "Yes!"

She loves that she can manifest her Wonderland outside her mind. She is happy that she can take Hotaru to play with the most fun aspect of Wonderland. The land in her mind will always be somewhat hostile. It is a reflection of who she is after all. But these days, the fun parts are also expanding. The hostile parts only appears whenever she is stressed.

She exchanged her monarch blue dress for black with white details and a giant ribbon like green butterfly wings fluttering behind her. Hotaru takes one look of her appearance and cheerfully declares her a pretty butterfly. Even though there is a black grinning skull on her back where the knot should be.

Of her siblings, she will probably always be the gloomiest...and the messiest with her attacks.

But none of her siblings seem to care. Not even Kagome or Harry, the only two of them that leans more on defense and healing than on attacking and killing. If anything, Loki seems to take delight in smearing everyone with whatever gunk that landed on her apron. Minato on the other hand only focus on making her attacks more devastating by teaching her how to train her body. Seph will always point her to the squishiest enemies that she can curb stomp with her giant form or her Knightmare Hobby Horse. The Voidlings will drag her everywhere on their adventure and join her in 'stabbing' things before Hollow find them and carry them all back to clean up before dinner. Archer is more interested to see just how much damage her 'weapons' can make, even giving her ideas on how to make it even more devastating. Jason teach her how to aim better with her Pepper Grinder and Teapot Cannon. Connor teach her how to throw a punch instead of just relying on her 'weapons'. Ashborn will let her train with his Shadow Army.

But all in all, life is good for her.

~

Danny walks down the dark streets of London. He watch the people walking past, invisible. He looks up to see Hornet perching on the roof, still as a gargoyle. It doesn't take him long to see Jason and Minato greeting a couple of people. Pretending to be 'customer's.

Minato shows them his wallet of gold, baiting them.

After a moment, greed wins them over and they allows the two predators inside. Danny moves and joins them like a shadow. As the door of the 'establishment' closes behind them, Hornet moves along with Ashborn.

~

In the pale light of morning, a young boy carrying papers screams in fright at the sight of corpses staked to the walls with their crimes carved into their flesh. The stench of blood and violent death strong and stayed strong even long after the crime scene have been cleaned and only disappeared after the area have been demolished.

Throughout the country, several more places suffer from the same treatment. Crimes so shameful carved on the dead for all to read cannot be brushed under. Even though authorities have been dispatched to investigate the attackers, no concrete suspects can be found. All clues lead to a dead end.

It was as if a ghost had returned from the grave and exact vengeance. The case will remain an unsolvable mystery for generations to come.

~

Danny sits beside Alice in Box 5, enjoying the opera as she eagerly watch the play. Although he is not Arthur exactly, he can at least keep Arthur's promise to Alice to take her to the Opera when she is old enough.