As soon as the people seated around the table noticed our presence they all became quiet, many eyes turning in our direction. After a moment, one of them jumped up and ran towards us, waving eagerly. He was wearing a disheveled three piece suit with a, just as disheveled, top hat. There was a pink strip of fabric, similar to a scarf, wrapped around the hat with a couple of playing cards tucked in. His hair was the messiest red nest I had ever seen as it poked out of the hat in all different directions, bouncing like springs as he ran. His shoes were the only part of his outfit that looked out of place from the rest of his appearance being a formal dress.

I stepped back behind Rab as he ran up to me and shook my hand excitedly. "Oh, Alice! Finally, you're here! Come, come! Have a seat at the table with us!" he urged. As he pulled me towards the table, I glanced at Rab who smiled. I guessed it was okay and followed the strange man back to the table. He pulled out a chair for me and I sat down. He sat next to me in a chair that looked close to breaking, and Rab took my other side in a nicer, almost pristine chair. "Well, let's get introductions out of the way, shall we? I'm Mad Hatter," the stranger introduced with a smile.

Before I could speak up and say that I really couldn't care less what their names were and I just wanted to go home, the others also introduced themselves. There was a young boy named Mouse who seemed to hold onto his hat quite tightly when anyone spoke to him, a guy who looked like he was hyped on too much caffeine name March Hare, and then of course, there was Rab.

I was trying to pretend like I wasn't annoyed when Hatter turned to me. "You don't need to introduce yourself. We all know who you are," he said.

I opened my mouth to answer when Rab frowned. "Aren't we missing someone? Where's Chesh?" he asked.

"Chesh? Who's that?" I asked. 

"That would be me, cutie," a voice said near my ear. I felt a softness under my chin and turned to see a cat resting on the back of my chair. The cat balance delicately on the back of my chair while licking one paw to clean his ear. 

Rab frowned at the cat. "Please, don't be rude, Chesh," he scolded.

The cat chuckled. "As you wish," he said. He jumped to the ground and slowly shifted into a guy similar in age to Rab. His cat-like eyes remained slit with gold when he looked at me, brushing back his lavender locks with one hand. His left cat ear had three piercings of silver and I couldn't help wondering why he hadn't chosen gold to match his eyes. The softness I had felt was his cat tail brushing around my neck. He gave me a sly smile as he in the chair across from me, his mischievous eyes never leaving my face. "My name is Cheshire, and you must be Alice. Am I right, cutie?"

I swallowed. "Yes. Nice to meet you," I said.

Hatter poured me some tea and placed a muffin in front of me; however, I was too scared to even think about eating, so I didn't touch it. I was at a table with a bunch of strangers with animal ears and a disturbing lack of concern for my discomfort. How could they expect me to eat?

Rab was fidgeting. "Shouldn't we get started? If we take too long we might be too late do anything."

Hatter looked up from his tea that he had been stirring vigorously. "Oh, yes! I knew I was forgetting something," he said. Rab rolled his eyes. Hatter turned to me with a sudden grave expression. "We need your help, Alice. Sixteen years ago the Queen of Hearts overthrew the White Queen and started killing off all of the people who could hurt her. That means us." He gestured to the group at the table.

Mouse spoke up next. "W-we can't stop her, only hide f-from her..." he mumbled quietly. 

Hatter nodded. "But we found a way to get the White Queen out of Wonderland. We saved her and her baby. Now that the baby is old enough, we are asking for her help. Will she help us?" he asked.

"There might be a small problem with that plan..." Rab said slowly.

Hatter turned to look at him. "What problem?" he asked.

Rab looked at me and I looked around the group. "I'm not a girl," I said.

The whole table went silent. No one moved, no one spoke. Then a smug laugh came from the other end of the table. "Well, that's a surprise." We all looked at Cheshire. He stirred his tea with his finger. When he realized we were staring at him he shrugged. "I mean, it wasn't a surprise to me. I could smell it the second I entered the clearing."

Hatter looked at me. "You're really not Alice?" he asked.

"My name's Alice, but I'm not a girl like you thought I was," I said.

Hatter started mumbling to himself as he dropped sugar cube after sugar cube into his tea. It started to overflow, but no one said anything. Finally he stopped and looked me in the eyes. "Is your mom's name Birdie?" he asked.

I nodded slowly. "Yes, it is. But how did you know that?"

He smiled, ignoring my question. "You might not be the Alice we thought you would be, but you're Alice, alright!"

I stood up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on," I said. "I don't want any part of this. I just want to go home.

Rab stood up too. "But we need your help," he said.

I stepped back from the table. "I can't," I said.

Rab put his hand on my shoulder. "Just sit down and listen," he urged. I didn't want to, but I reluctantly sat down again and Rab continued. "You may not be the legendary girl that everyone heard about back then, but you can still do it. I'm sure of it," he said.

I fiddled with a hole in my sweatshirt. "I just want to go home," I said.

Rab tried to put on an innocent look. "Yeah, about that..." he started.

"What?" I asked.

He hesitated. "The Queen has the only way out of Wonderland. It took a lot of work just to get you here and now she's put more guards around it, making it impossible to get to," he explained.

I stared at him. "You're saying that I can't go home? Ever?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, not ever," March Hare said, laughing like it was funny. "But at least not until we get rid of the Queen."

I slumped in my chair. "Oh, my god... What am I going to do?" I muttered to myself.

"He can stay with me," someone said. We all looked at Cheshire. He was nibbling on his cake, giving his usual smug smile. "I have room, and he obviously doesn't have a place to stay, so I could take him."

Rab didn't like this idea. "I brought him here. I should take care of him. Besides, he knows me better than you," he said.

Hatter nodded. "Yes, that's true," he said. "So, he's going to stay with you, Rab?"

Cheshire spoke before Rab. "No. He should come with me. I can take better care of him since I'm stronger and braver." He said 'braver' with a smirk.

I looked from Cheshire's challenging grin to Rab's slight glare. I could tell they didn't get along well. However, Hatter seemed oblivious to the tense air. He looked at Cheshire and nodded. "That's also true. Maybe he should go with Cheshire."

March Hare and Mouse were whispering to each other as this argument continued. I overheard March making bets on Cheshire and Mouse betting on Rab. They seemed to think they would start a fistfight if this went on long enough.

There was no fight, but Rab and Cheshire had a very long staring contest until, finally, Rab sighed. "Fine, I guess he would be safer with Chesh." He gave Cheshire a look. "You better not get him killed with your carelessness."

Cheshire made an innocent face. "When have I ever been careless?" he asked.

Rab scoffed at him and rolled his eyes, but didn't comment on Cheshire's false sincerity. "Anyways," he said, "now that we have that settled, we need to decide when we should take action."

Hatter sipped his tea. "It has to happen before three weeks from now," he said.

"Why?" I spoke up. Everyone turned to look at me and I sunk in my chair, wishing I hadn't spoken at all.

"B-Because the qu-queen is going to have her cards storm the f-forest in three weeks and we need to stop her before th-then," Mouse said, his soft voice barely audible at first. "If she finds us, w-we're all done for. Even y-you."

Hatter stirred his tea thoughtfully. "If she finds us we won't ever be able to stop her. Then it will be all over for Wonderland," he said.

I remained quiet while the rest of them talked over the situation. After what felt like hours they agreed on a set time. A week from that day, they would make their move. We all stood up to leave and I glanced at Cheshire. He was watching me with a curious smile. "Come on. You're coming with me," he said brightly. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the woods.

I followed him through the trees nervously. I had no idea who he was, yet I was having to stay with him. Just my luck, I thought. We finally reached a small cave in the side of a cliff behind a waterfall. He smiled at me slyly and stepped behind the water. As I followed, I expected a dark, cold, and ugly looking place, but instead, I saw the cave had nice carpeted floors and there were three other rooms that branched off away from the main living space, each with actual doors. What I assume was the living room, had a fluffy black couch with gray pillows on it. The coffee table was a black wood color and matched the couch well. It was very pretty and just what I would expect a cat would like; cozy.

Cheshire saw me staring wide eyed and smirked. "If it's too much for you we can share a room," he said.

I snorted. "Don't even joke," I said.

"Maybe I wasn't joking," Cheshire replied. He stepped closer, wrapping his tail around my shoulders. I flinched as it brushed my ear. "You really are a cutie," he said.

I stepped away from him, brushing his tail off. "Please stop calling me that," I said.

He chuckled, walking towards one of the rooms and opening the door. "This can be your room," he said.

I stepped inside and looked around. It was a nice room. The nightstand was the same color as the coffee table and the bed was already made up with a purple blanket. I was also surprised to see a bathroom as well, tucked away to a side room. "Thank you," I said quietly.

Cheshire gave his normal smug smile. "Not a problem. Besides, now I get to live with a cute little boy," he said.

I gave an exasperated sigh.

With one last chuckle that sounded like a cat's purr, Cheshire left me alone in my new room. I sat down on the bed. I really didn't want to have to do this, but I had no choice if I wanted to get home. I closed my eyes and fell back on the bed, exhausted. Before I knew it I was fast asleep.

*******

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