Just a Little Mad 2/9
Title: Just a Little Mad
Author: SCWLC
Disclaimer: I don't own Alice 2009 and I don't own Primeval, and if there's anything else anyone recognises, well, I don't own that either.
Rating: PG
Summary: Luckily for Stephen, Connor is more than what he seems.
Notes: Not long, but moving forward, right?
********************************
David had tried his best to get Alice away from the suits, but the best efforts of a gun, his fist and her Gift (Judo? Right. This was clearly a Gift), they still were outnumbered. As the world went dark his last thoughts were of Alice and Connor. I'm sorry, he thought. Not sure which one he meant it for.
*****************************
The next morning Stephen woke up, stretching and idly thinking he was getting too old for camping out the way he had in his early twenties. Connor was sprawled out on the grass of the office, and wasn't that the strangest notion to wake up to. The short man called Dormie was there a moment later. "That's odd," he commented. "Hatter's a bit of an early riser."
It had been years since Connor had lived in . . . Wonderland . . . Stephen made himself think the word. But then, it was a hard thing to change first impressions. "I wouldn't know," Stephen told him with a shrug. "I haven't exactly been in a position to know."
"And you are?" Dormie asked.
"Stephen Hart," he replied, and watched as the man's eyes went wide in shock and horror. "You're what?" the midget asked, sounding a little terrified. "He's brought back a Heart? First it's Oysters, now it's Hearts, next thing he'll have the Queen over and we'll all lose our heads!"
Too late Stephen remembered Connor's statement the night before that the royal family name was Heart. "I'm not related," he said hastily. "And it's Hart as in a deer, not as in a card."
His panic coming to a halt, Dormie turned to stare at Stephen. "Not one of the Hearts?"
"Not in the least," Stephen assured him.
"Don't do that," Dormie said, staggering off back down the stairs. "I know Hatter spends his time with some odd sorts, but really. Cheshire knows I don't need that sort of stress. I need a dose of Serenity after that." He headed down the stairs mumbling about needing to find a dealer and collect their stock.
Connor had woken finally and was watching his friend thump down the stairs with a vaguely affectionate smile on his face. "Dormie could sleep through most things," he said, "But he's a good friend." He stood and stretched. "Right. After breakfast I'm going to try to open up a Rabbit Hole to home."
They idly conversed while Connor puttered around making tea and some strange concoction of berries Stephen suspected were entirely native and a porridge that sounded like it had emerged right from Lewis Carroll together, sprinkled it liberally with honey and handed it over. It was a strange collision of sharp cheese, berries and a sort of corn meal pudding. Finally they were done and Connor leaned on the desk, staring at the air in the middle of the room. Slowly a spot of light formed, then turned into a crack, then what looked like a hole in the air. Brightly coloured objects, many of which Stephen vaguely associated with Alice in Wonderland, could be seen, circling around and around. Moving to stand behind Connor, he could see it now looked like it was a tunnel to somewhere.
Suddenly Connor said, his voice strained. "That's it." Then he took Stephen's hand, holding on with bruising force. Stephen winced, but decided he didn't want to risk breaking Connor's concentration, and that since Connor was the expert, better that he let Connor take the lead.
Just as they crossed the threshold, a commotion at the door caught their attention. A bunch of men in suits burst into the room, shouting and pointing at them. Connor's eyes were wide, but it was too late, and Stephen felt himself get ripped out of Connor's grasp, and suddenly he was falling without any sense of where he was going, and knowing that he was probably going to wind up very far from Connor. There was a sudden sideways wrench, and he was spat out with tremendous force.
Staggering to his feet, he was left with a sinking feeling as he saw more men in the same sort of suits as had distracted Connor back at the strange tea shop. There was also a man in a weird white, silver and plastic outfit and a huge mirror. It all added up to his being lost in this strange place that, if Connor were right, used people like him as some sort of drug source.
"Where'd that Oyster come from?" shouted one.
"I don't know! The White Rabbit didn't say anyone was supposed to come through yet, the raiding parties aren't due back for another half hour!"
It was confusion, and Stephen tried to bolt, but there were too many and he found himself tackled, heard someone shout something about compliance and calm. Something was sprayed on his face, and before he knew it, he was calm. Couldn't think of a reason to struggle. Why struggle? They shone a light at him, then pulled him along, periodically hitting him with some sort of spray until they had dragged him into a small room. Then everything got very pleasant and very fuzzy.
His last clear thought was a vague wondering of why he didn't have his shoes anymore.
***************************
The damn suits had come bursting in, and Connor lost his grip on the Rabbit Hole, Stephen and everything else as he fell through. Worse yet, the bloody suits had followed him in. "Catch him!" the six in the lead shouted.
Cat help me, he prayed as he twisted the Rabbit hole hard, sending them all spiralling off. They came out of the Rabbit Hole in a mess of arms and legs. Connor scrambling to his feet saw the suits pulling themselves up. "You! Stop!" one shouted.
"Really?" he asked. "When does that ever work? I mean, what sort of an idiot's going to let the Queen's suits take them in?"
"It's the Hatter!" shouted one, "Bring him in!"
A roar brought them all to a halt and a jabberwock came flopping out of the woods. "Huh," Connor said, "Tulgey. Good to know where you are, after all." As the 'wock lunged, the suits scattered. Connor laughed and spun up a Rabbit Hole. "Cat's luck to you!" he called, and was about to hop in when he thought of the look on Abby's face or Stephen's or Cutter's if he'd just left them all to die at the buck-toothed mouth of a 'wock. Shaking his head he opened the Rabbit Hole up underneath their feet before they could scatter a second time and sent them up into a tree. They'd be safe up there until the 'wock lost interest, and then they could make their way home. Meanwhile, Connor needed to get back and see if he couldn't trace where Stephen had wound up. With any luck, he'd be back home getting yelled at by Cutter.
As he slid towards the tea shop, Connor smiled wryly. The more outrageous your Gift, the more likely you'd have Cheshire's luck. The spirit of Wonderland itself, the Cheshire tended to be a very old school chaos spirit, a little like Coyote or Loki. Lots of really good luck, lots of really bad and very little between. with the bits of good luck since he and Stephen had arrived in Wonderland suggested a high chance of it all turning soon.
He came back out in the phone booth down the way from the Tea shop and froze. The whole place was swarming with suits and some bloke with a ceramic rabbit head. A moment later he felt his heart nearly stop as he realised it was Mad March. What had happened to his head? Connor shook his own head and hurried off, hoping they wouldn't follow him. The last of the Hatters being captured, especially the one that made Rabbit Holes would be enough of a coup that the Queen would never let him go.
"Hatter?"
His concentration at tracing the path of the Rabbit Hole Stephen had vanished down was shattered. A smelly, filthy, slimy-looking man with long hair and an ugly assortment of rain gear was standing there. "Yeah?" Connor asked, wondering who the hell this was.
"Look, I'm sorry about the whole thing with Mad March, but I needed the Tea, you know? Summat to trade."
This was unbelievable. Pure luck of the worst sort. "Whatever," he said, turning his back on the stinky undercity-dweller.
"Come on, I'm just Ratty," he said, as though that was supposed to mean something.
Connor glared. "Just go away, would you?"
"I brought you Alice, didn't I?" asked the clearly delusional rodent-man.
"Alice," Connor muttered in aggravation. "Bloody hell." He turned to the other man. "Go away." He'd finally found the end point and opened up a Rabbit Hole, only to discover it was right next to the Mirror and surrounded by suits and scientists. "Cat on a hot tin roof," he muttered. The Wonderland woman who'd masqueraded as his mum back on Earth had taken to using the phrase. It'd taken years to train himself out of using Wonderlander curses, and being home was just bringing it right back.
In any event, he now had a pretty damned good idea of where he'd find Stephen.
The Queen's Casino.
Part One
Part Three
Return to Other Fandoms Archive
Return to Primeval Archive
Author: SCWLC
Disclaimer: I don't own Alice 2009 and I don't own Primeval, and if there's anything else anyone recognises, well, I don't own that either.
Rating: PG
Summary: Luckily for Stephen, Connor is more than what he seems.
Notes: Not long, but moving forward, right?
********************************
David had tried his best to get Alice away from the suits, but the best efforts of a gun, his fist and her Gift (Judo? Right. This was clearly a Gift), they still were outnumbered. As the world went dark his last thoughts were of Alice and Connor. I'm sorry, he thought. Not sure which one he meant it for.
*****************************
The next morning Stephen woke up, stretching and idly thinking he was getting too old for camping out the way he had in his early twenties. Connor was sprawled out on the grass of the office, and wasn't that the strangest notion to wake up to. The short man called Dormie was there a moment later. "That's odd," he commented. "Hatter's a bit of an early riser."
It had been years since Connor had lived in . . . Wonderland . . . Stephen made himself think the word. But then, it was a hard thing to change first impressions. "I wouldn't know," Stephen told him with a shrug. "I haven't exactly been in a position to know."
"And you are?" Dormie asked.
"Stephen Hart," he replied, and watched as the man's eyes went wide in shock and horror. "You're what?" the midget asked, sounding a little terrified. "He's brought back a Heart? First it's Oysters, now it's Hearts, next thing he'll have the Queen over and we'll all lose our heads!"
Too late Stephen remembered Connor's statement the night before that the royal family name was Heart. "I'm not related," he said hastily. "And it's Hart as in a deer, not as in a card."
His panic coming to a halt, Dormie turned to stare at Stephen. "Not one of the Hearts?"
"Not in the least," Stephen assured him.
"Don't do that," Dormie said, staggering off back down the stairs. "I know Hatter spends his time with some odd sorts, but really. Cheshire knows I don't need that sort of stress. I need a dose of Serenity after that." He headed down the stairs mumbling about needing to find a dealer and collect their stock.
Connor had woken finally and was watching his friend thump down the stairs with a vaguely affectionate smile on his face. "Dormie could sleep through most things," he said, "But he's a good friend." He stood and stretched. "Right. After breakfast I'm going to try to open up a Rabbit Hole to home."
They idly conversed while Connor puttered around making tea and some strange concoction of berries Stephen suspected were entirely native and a porridge that sounded like it had emerged right from Lewis Carroll together, sprinkled it liberally with honey and handed it over. It was a strange collision of sharp cheese, berries and a sort of corn meal pudding. Finally they were done and Connor leaned on the desk, staring at the air in the middle of the room. Slowly a spot of light formed, then turned into a crack, then what looked like a hole in the air. Brightly coloured objects, many of which Stephen vaguely associated with Alice in Wonderland, could be seen, circling around and around. Moving to stand behind Connor, he could see it now looked like it was a tunnel to somewhere.
Suddenly Connor said, his voice strained. "That's it." Then he took Stephen's hand, holding on with bruising force. Stephen winced, but decided he didn't want to risk breaking Connor's concentration, and that since Connor was the expert, better that he let Connor take the lead.
Just as they crossed the threshold, a commotion at the door caught their attention. A bunch of men in suits burst into the room, shouting and pointing at them. Connor's eyes were wide, but it was too late, and Stephen felt himself get ripped out of Connor's grasp, and suddenly he was falling without any sense of where he was going, and knowing that he was probably going to wind up very far from Connor. There was a sudden sideways wrench, and he was spat out with tremendous force.
Staggering to his feet, he was left with a sinking feeling as he saw more men in the same sort of suits as had distracted Connor back at the strange tea shop. There was also a man in a weird white, silver and plastic outfit and a huge mirror. It all added up to his being lost in this strange place that, if Connor were right, used people like him as some sort of drug source.
"Where'd that Oyster come from?" shouted one.
"I don't know! The White Rabbit didn't say anyone was supposed to come through yet, the raiding parties aren't due back for another half hour!"
It was confusion, and Stephen tried to bolt, but there were too many and he found himself tackled, heard someone shout something about compliance and calm. Something was sprayed on his face, and before he knew it, he was calm. Couldn't think of a reason to struggle. Why struggle? They shone a light at him, then pulled him along, periodically hitting him with some sort of spray until they had dragged him into a small room. Then everything got very pleasant and very fuzzy.
His last clear thought was a vague wondering of why he didn't have his shoes anymore.
***************************
The damn suits had come bursting in, and Connor lost his grip on the Rabbit Hole, Stephen and everything else as he fell through. Worse yet, the bloody suits had followed him in. "Catch him!" the six in the lead shouted.
Cat help me, he prayed as he twisted the Rabbit hole hard, sending them all spiralling off. They came out of the Rabbit Hole in a mess of arms and legs. Connor scrambling to his feet saw the suits pulling themselves up. "You! Stop!" one shouted.
"Really?" he asked. "When does that ever work? I mean, what sort of an idiot's going to let the Queen's suits take them in?"
"It's the Hatter!" shouted one, "Bring him in!"
A roar brought them all to a halt and a jabberwock came flopping out of the woods. "Huh," Connor said, "Tulgey. Good to know where you are, after all." As the 'wock lunged, the suits scattered. Connor laughed and spun up a Rabbit Hole. "Cat's luck to you!" he called, and was about to hop in when he thought of the look on Abby's face or Stephen's or Cutter's if he'd just left them all to die at the buck-toothed mouth of a 'wock. Shaking his head he opened the Rabbit Hole up underneath their feet before they could scatter a second time and sent them up into a tree. They'd be safe up there until the 'wock lost interest, and then they could make their way home. Meanwhile, Connor needed to get back and see if he couldn't trace where Stephen had wound up. With any luck, he'd be back home getting yelled at by Cutter.
As he slid towards the tea shop, Connor smiled wryly. The more outrageous your Gift, the more likely you'd have Cheshire's luck. The spirit of Wonderland itself, the Cheshire tended to be a very old school chaos spirit, a little like Coyote or Loki. Lots of really good luck, lots of really bad and very little between. with the bits of good luck since he and Stephen had arrived in Wonderland suggested a high chance of it all turning soon.
He came back out in the phone booth down the way from the Tea shop and froze. The whole place was swarming with suits and some bloke with a ceramic rabbit head. A moment later he felt his heart nearly stop as he realised it was Mad March. What had happened to his head? Connor shook his own head and hurried off, hoping they wouldn't follow him. The last of the Hatters being captured, especially the one that made Rabbit Holes would be enough of a coup that the Queen would never let him go.
"Hatter?"
His concentration at tracing the path of the Rabbit Hole Stephen had vanished down was shattered. A smelly, filthy, slimy-looking man with long hair and an ugly assortment of rain gear was standing there. "Yeah?" Connor asked, wondering who the hell this was.
"Look, I'm sorry about the whole thing with Mad March, but I needed the Tea, you know? Summat to trade."
This was unbelievable. Pure luck of the worst sort. "Whatever," he said, turning his back on the stinky undercity-dweller.
"Come on, I'm just Ratty," he said, as though that was supposed to mean something.
Connor glared. "Just go away, would you?"
"I brought you Alice, didn't I?" asked the clearly delusional rodent-man.
"Alice," Connor muttered in aggravation. "Bloody hell." He turned to the other man. "Go away." He'd finally found the end point and opened up a Rabbit Hole, only to discover it was right next to the Mirror and surrounded by suits and scientists. "Cat on a hot tin roof," he muttered. The Wonderland woman who'd masqueraded as his mum back on Earth had taken to using the phrase. It'd taken years to train himself out of using Wonderlander curses, and being home was just bringing it right back.
In any event, he now had a pretty damned good idea of where he'd find Stephen.
The Queen's Casino.
Part One
Part Three
Return to Other Fandoms Archive
Return to Primeval Archive