In her dreams, she tried to piece everything together one by one. So far she'd met the white rabbit, watch her favourite person be ripped apart, witness a lover's quarrel, (?) went to a library, picked up a staff, and got kidnapped.
All within a single span of a day, she did more than ever in her past daily life or even the whole of it. Not only that but now she's faced with weird crystals? And the only option to survive being getting rid of the white queen, the heroine, or a bad end.
Surely since she was a newfound rolekeeper she'd be revived… wouldn't she? But in the first place she didn't even want to suffer! But what kind of twist of the heroine is this? Weren't they beloved pupil and master?
In her dream it felt like she truly was dragged to a rabbit hole and she didn't wish to wake up and face reality. The rabbit of reality was much more annoying. He didn't even explain to her the crystal but twisted words and made the staff do it for her.
As she felt her anger bubble she rose up and gasped for air as her eyes widened. Looking out the window it was still day, barely any sleep she thought, mind drifting to the Mad Hatter faction.
She was told to find their crystals was it? But how would she find them? Falling backwards she scratched her head and sighed.
As she came up with some plans over twenty minutes, the room doors burst open making her forget this wasn't her room. "Oh you're awake, you insoulent, worthless, good for nothing buffoon." A voice called.
"Our majesty is too generous. Letting you sleep here an entire night but kicking me out whenever it's been two minutes?"
It was her worse fear. The man from the library was before her in the flesh. He also seemed to actively annoy her. Why on earth was he talking about the queen like that?
"He's…" the library-goer continued to praise the queen with a manic look in his eyes as he begun touching everything in the room. Shortly after, the queen entered with a group of many maids.
Paying no mind to the creep, they did their jobs. The queen fetched her medicine, while the maids begun to drag her. "I'm so glad you're awake, my lady." Cynthia said.
It was her, her beloved! The only sane person she'd ever trust in this entire story. The light of her life, a mother, a caretaker, a true queen. The only one who'd still stay with her despite the scene a few hours ago.
"I'm so happy you're alright so soon!" She smiled in response with a bright hug, hearing her heart. It was beating loud and beautifully.
Cynthia laughed and pat her on the head. "It's been a day, so of course I'll be alright my lady." Cynthia responded making her blink recalling what the fanboy said earlier.
A whole day? Had she really slept a whole twenty four hours?! Was the queen going to banish her for a lack of sleep?
Before she could say anything she was soon dragged off to somewhere, into a fairly large bathroom and into a bath. She could hear the maids whisper aloud about her dress ware, and how delicate she was.
The bath was amazing, nearly a swimming pool sized tub that felt like a hot springs, she leaned back as someone begun to wash her hair. She had gotten used to help from her house, but this was beyond.
The water itself was pink and covered in roses, and the fragrance was the sweetest of honeys. By the time she finished, a whole hour passed. She got a better look now, as she sat by the mirror. Her hair was silky and smooth and tied into pigtails, with a braid on one side tying into her hair.
Her dress was still fancy; but it lacked red or checkers. In fact, it was pure blue as her eyes mixed with green and a lot of frill ribbons.
The abundance of layers by her skirt hem made it feel heavy, but that was not a problem compared to the heels which gave her extra inches. She was tiny before but now likely matched the height of the queen.
As they walked her out she nearly tripped. This wasn't a fashion show so why'd they break her toes and soles.
When she exited the queen was still in the room with dum tweedle showing him a book and dee tweedle sighing.
Smushing the book directly towards soldier's ribcage, the queen got up and stared her down. Is he mad she took his bed?
With a clap the staff came over and nearly hit her as she took it. She was soon handed a small bag which had a surprising amount of space and itemry.
No one said anything as the queen left along with dum, and dee waved goodbye with a smile as he pointed towards the bag. Even the maids bowed and left making her confused.
As she reached into her bag she pulled out a multitude of items and even found a map. It was surprisingly nicely written!
The map showed a place that said "red territory". Currently she was at the castle with a little Alice sticker on it, which she presumed to be of her.
It showed some small buildings and places to eat in pretty detail and it soon trailed off to the "hatter's territory" where all was drawn with no colour.
In the end was the "joker people" where things were just poorly drawn with a huge KEEP OUT. Seriously seemed like everyone did not like him at the castle.
There were a few drawings of the important people in "red territory" such as herself, white rabbit, the tweedles, the queen, and a few men she hadn't seen before. She couldn't really tell the others as it seemed to progressively get worse and she could tell it was definitely the work of dum.
She had barely met the man but knew he more than likely did not like anyone except for the queen, and even he wouldn't be so petty to draw a bad map. Or well, even draw.
She wondered if he did anything but sit and demand but soon shook it off realizing she needed to clean. She threw a bunch of odd items like balls, nailclippers, and a large bag of money. How'd that all fit?
Within her bag was all she needed if she wanted world's most prepared underprepared individual to date. Who needs a puppet!!
There were essentials like bandaids or pens, but plenty of rubbish. As she sighed she picked up her staff and got ready to leave, hoping to escape the castle.
Perhaps if she were left alone long enough they'd think nothing of it she could leave for a few months and never return. Maybe she could hope?
Leaving a country with no ships, ports, or portals was impossible though. She knew it and also figured that during her secret mission she'd have followers.
There's no way a new person like her would survive. As she followed the map she found herself on a mountain, in the middle of nowhere. She hadn't a plan nor a guide.
The place she needed to be was nearby, likely, according to the area drawn down to accomplish her goal. But would she even find them?
Surely the man she was looking for would not just say hello and let her into his house. Or even if he did he's not helping the enemy!
With a sigh she fell to the grass beneath her and begun to clutch the staff. Her feet were now sore and her arms ached from the weight.
Did they need to make her hike in heels? She really missed the white rabbit who despite kidnapping, dragging, and teasing her he was always helpful.
At the bare minimum he would tell her how to do this. He'd possibly even know the people and get invited in! He doesn't even have to walk with a portal.
As she gazed towards the ground she begun to twirl her staff. It felt heavy yet light, firm yet cold. It was an item which became powerful but at the moment a major hindrance.
Pointing weapons at potential friends or secretly assignment members… was well not healthy or beneficial in the slightest to succeed.
In the first place why her? Doesn't the queen know where his crystal is? This was beyond unfair to treat the newbie like an intern you don't approve of.
The more she felt it, the more she wanted to try. Jokingly, she lifted it up. "Created a barricade of light!" She called out as nothing happened.
She expected that of course coming from the novel. The Alice Hartziene had always said to imagine in order to use it but it probably took more than that if the heroine never got it.
Especially if she's the white queen. A prodigy of magic vs a true prodigy. Alice was really underplaying it all.
All of a sudden she blinked as the staff shot a bright beam of light up while she laughed mere seconds ago at how ridiculous it all was unfolding.
With her mouth agape she couldn't contain her bewilderment at the delayed reaction of her spell nor the brightness of it!
Wasn't she just learning magic, and more importantly wasn't the light gold? Her's was just a cheap imitation of the novel's description but the force behind it was strong.
She did not create a barrier but rather a bright screen no longer… than her arm's widthspan. Herself's version was not as good at protection but did the bare minimum.
As the light soon ended she found herself flat on the ground with the staff in her hand and mind jumbled. As she tried to get up she heard a voice call out from a distance while she grabbed her foot.
It still hurt terribly but she figured she must run. She wasn't up for distractions but alas. She made a grave and fortunate error of executing a hard spell. Great that she found out she could cast high level spells, but bad as she did not want any bit of attention.
As the footsteps grew closer she found herself staring into the pale-purple eyes of a man much taller than she. From the way he dressed alone she could tell she found a man she didn't wish to know. "Are you okay, miss?"
The man who said it had cherry pink hair and the eyes like a slit despite their prettiness. His outfit was pale-purple and seemed to have little ears. She couldn't quite make out what they were due to his hat, however.
She could see a small tail behind but it was securely hidden by his very large dress-shirt. His style was messy but he made it work. Honestly if a man in her past life looked like this, they'd be a model.
His sleeves were quite long as well and it looked like he preferred a loosefitting style over tightness or bulkiness like she'd seen throughout town. Over the shirt he wore a cotton vest which was quite worn down as well as the threadwork near the upper chest had became somewhat undone.
His limbs were long and he was graceful as he bent his upper half to look at her, before moving. He purred ever so slight as his fingers ghosted over her ankles pulling down her sock.
As she opened her mouth a yell escaped when he took off her shoe and squeezed her bruised foot covered in blisters. She could clearly see her foot from the angle and the saddened look on her visitor's face as he turned towards her while still clutching on tightly. "This is no good, you're hurt too so let's take you home."