Darkness had settled over the city as the night-life kicked in and all the little night-owls went on about their everyday--er, everynight lives. It was all so amusing to the mysterious figure walking down the sidewalk. Tall, wiry figure, his snow-white skin the same color as his frizzy, wild hair. His pink-tinted eyes always seemed to be glazed over, and he had a deranged grin on his face as he looked around, amused.

His attire was about as white as his skin and hair, but this was probably the most curious part. White straight-jacket that appeared to have been undone, and under the matching pants leg, one shackle was on his right ankle; the other had been unhooked.

As the escaped asylum-patient walked, he was muttering something about the perfect place. Finally, he stopped at the Alice statue in the park. He began to laugh as the Alice statue began to glow, and other curious things began to stem from it. 'Doorways' of sorts would appear in some, but not all of the mirrors. And the more curiouser, rabbit holes popped up all over the city, some of them outside, others in homes, anywhere imaginable.

The weird man gave a smile. "My dream world...is complete. Now all I need are inhabitants..." As he said this, white rabbits wearing little vests filed out of the glowing statue. "Go, my children. Populate my perfect world..." The rabbits took off through the city, to lead people into this other realm.

The statue at the center stopped glowing, but it now possessed a strange presence. "You my dear...are the key. And with that, the deranged man walked away, leaving behind a puzzle of illogic and nonsense to be discovered.

'Look on the branch above your head,' said the Gnat, 'and there you'll find a snap-dragon-fly. Its body is made of plum-pudding, its wings of holly-leaves, and its head is a raisin burning in brandy.'

'And what does it live on?'

'Frumenty and mince pie,' the Gnat replied; 'and it makes its nest in a Christmas box.'

Kiva Augillard was dragon-like mutant with an overall frightening visage. Her aunt had precognition. Her boss's wife had spikes running the length of her spine that she could retract at will. Her roommate had the ability to shift into inanimate objects. Her roommate's girlfriend could shift into the form of a butterfly.

Kiva lived in New York, the city with the highest concentration of mutants in the United States, perhaps even the world. Kiva even now lived in the local mutant school. She liked to think she was fairly jaded toward the bizarre, largely unafraid of monsters due to being one.

Falling down a hole and landing in a forest broke her of that delusion.

Kiva had slipped out of her room in the Mansion late at night, and found her way out into the grounds, having woken up from an unpleasant dream. Not a nightmare, per say, but strange and somewhat unsettling, the kind she usually got when stressed. Maybe that intolerant idiot earlier in the day at the tattoo parlor, who had been yapping about her employer facing eternal torment for having given her a job, had bothered her more than usual.

A deep breath of night air had helped settle her, and she'd stepped barefoot onto the grass, the thick scales on her feet meaning she hadn't been the slightest bit uncomfortable as the walked, trying to calm herself fully so that she could sleep.

That was when she'd noticed a flash of white out of the corner of her eye, and then she'd turned and seen something dart behind a tree. Curious, she'd taken a few side-steps, trying to see behind the tree.

That's when the ground under her foot had stopped being ground.

Falling, falling, falling...then thump.

Kiva picked herself up, shaking out the bits of grass and leaves that her hair had picked up from the underbrush she'd been ungracefully dumped in. She froze and gaped as she found herself staring into a mirror that was, somehow, part of a gnarled, leafless tree, surrounded by other trees that appeared far more normal.

The mirror-tree itself was strange, but not too scary. What scared her, instead, was her own reflection. Her scales, her claws, her spikes, her wings...Gone. Her face was still her own, still the sharp, brown eyes, large nose, and harsh angles, and her body still had the thick bone structure and the muscles she had built over years, but it was like something had stripped away the outside layer her mutation formed.

She didn't look like a human, however. No, she looked like something altogether different.

Kiva stared at her hands, looking at the shiny, bronze exoskeleton that had replaced her reptilian skin, and the lack of hooked claws, her fingers instead each tipped with a much shorter, pointed edge. Twitching behind her looked like a quartet of holly leaves, but when she went to flap them, they responded by buzzing much insect wings, and she felt a shudder run down her spine.

Calm down, Kiva, she told herself, Just stay calm...

Her clothing was different, too. Pants, shirt, and a vest that were all a strange brown colour, with splotches of darker colour with no real pattern, she ran a hand over the fabric to feel its odd, bumpy texture. There was a scent about it, like...fruit? Fruit, cinnamon, molasses, and a trace of alcohol. She was wearing a hat, too, a small top hat, and she pulled it off. It was deep purple, and seemed wrinkled, smelling of raisins and...more alcohol.

Well, she supposed you would have to be awfully drunk to put on an outfit like this. Kiva put the hat back on, for lack of anything better to do with it--eating it seemed out of the question when it stunk that strongly of brandy--and stared into the mirror. She stepped forward and touched her hand to the glass.

Nothing.

She retracted her hand, and it was then that Kiva noticed something carved into the bark of the tree that housed it, and she wondered if it had been there a moment ago. Sitting above the glass, right where it met the wood of the tree, were four simple words:

We're all mad here.

Another shiver ran through her, and she took one step back, then another, stifling the urge to immediately turn and start running.

Kiva didn't know what was going on, but she did know one thing: She needed to get out of here.

It was the middle of the night, around 1 o' clock, and Charlotte was in the deepest sleep she had experienced in awhile. Her day had been stressful, and a few glasses of wine after worked calmed her down. Cocooned in her blanket to avoid getting chills, a faint scratching noise was bringing the blonde out of her slumber. It gradually got louder until her eyes fluttered open. She groaned and sat up, moving her head side to side, in an attempt to locate the noise that woke her. It was too dark to make out shapes, but a small 'meow' that came from the floor alerted her to her cat.

"Shadow, stop it." she growled. Her cat didn't typically scratch at the door, but maybe she wanted to sleep in the living room tonight. The blonde shifted in her bed and placed her feet on the ground, fighting to get the blanket off of her. After freeing herself, she stumbled over to the door, twisting the doorknob and cracking it. She listened to the small tapping of paws scurry down the hallway. Charlotte turned to fall back in bed, but a hissing sound made her stop. She turned on her heels, swinging her bedroom door open.

The hissing continued, alternating with more scampering across the wooden floor. The blonde tiptoed down the hallway, her racing heartbeat filling her ears. If it was an intruder, she had no way of defending herself. Especially since she couldn't quite seem to rub the sleep from her eyes, nor had she adjusted to the darkness. "I have to stop drinking before bed. This dream is weird." she thought to herself, her conscience trying to offer some assurance.

"Shadow? Shadow, come here." she whispered as she entered the living room, which was dimly light by the glow of the moon. Suddenly, a flash of white darted across her field of vision, followed by a darker one. Whatever her cat was chasing must have gotten in through the window, which Charlotte didn't remember leaving open. She took a few more steps as the two furry figures jumped onto the windowsill before jumping out and, presumably, down the fire escape. She did get a quick glance at what it was Shadow was chasing, and from what she could see it was..a rabbit? Did rabbits even live in New York?

"Stupid cat." muttered the girl as she crossed the room and poked her head out, looking down the two stories to the ground. She had only been down the fire escape once, but she was going to have to do it again if she wanted her cat back. Shadow was an inside cat, and Charlotte was terrified of what could happen to her outside. Stepping out onto the metal landing, she ambled down the rusty stairs until her feet touched the cold concrete. It was abnormally quiet outside, so quiet that all she could hear was her own breathing. She made her way to the alley by her building, and peered into the darkness. 

She caught a flash of white fur some twenty feet away from her, and begin to approach it. "Hi mister rabbit." she cooed, moving slowly as not to scare it away. "Have you seen my cat?" She reached down to pick up the animal, but it hopped off into the darkness. She followed, stopping by one of the dumpsters to glimpse at herself in a mirror that someone was throwing away. There weren't any cracks in it, so she couldn't understand why it was there. A noise in the shadows made her turn, and the rabbit was sitting there staring at her, it's beady red eyes nervously darting back and forth. Was it wearing a vest? She stepped closer to get a better look, but felt a hand grab her shoulder. Before she could even blink, another hand grasped her other shoulder and began pulling her back. She tried shrugging them off, but the grip was too strong. The fingers dug into her skin as she scrambled to grab something to hold onto. 

She turned to see her attacker, and was met by her own reflection. But it wasn't exactly her. The face was twisted into a sneer, and the arms pulling on her were protruding from the mirror. She cried out for help, but her voice just wasn't there. This dream had turned into a nightmare, and she began sobbing quietly. The last thing she saw through her tears was the rabbit, who was perched on its hind legs, and it was..smiling? There was no doubt about it, the rabbit's tiny mouth was turned up at the corners. Then, darkness.

Charlotte couldn't tell if she was falling, or floating. But everything seemed to slow down as the darkness swallowed her. It was almost tangible. Her fingers flexed and she flailed her arms for something, anything to hold on to. Her back hit something, hard, and then her head collided with it too. A ringing noise filled her ears and her eyes began to close, her consciousness fading as a wave of nausea hit her. 

With a gasp, she awoke, jolting forward so fast that her temples throbbed. Her muscles were stiff, and there was a dull pounding at the base of the back of her head. She groaned and did her best to stand, but began to sway side to side. She was moving too fast and it was making her nausea. She doubled over, the contents of her stomach expelling from her mouth until there was nothing left. It was then that she noticed what she was wearing.

Somewhere between looking for her cat and falling, she must have changed. That was the only logical explanation. Instead of her baggy night shirt and boxers, she now wore a dark blue dress that buttoned up the back. It stopped a few inches above her knees, and the bottom and ends of the sleeves were trimmed with white lace. A white bow cinched the dress at her waist, almost too tightly. She was taking shallow breaths, and reached back to loosen the bow, but her hands met more fabric. She looked down at her shoulders and noticed the white fabric that was draped over her. It seemed to be a cloak of sorts, and it was held together loosely around her neck by a small white string.

Her hair, which had been a tangled mess from sleep, was now pin-straight, a deviation from the normal wavy texture. It seemed to be a few inches longer as well, and if she wasn't mistaken, a few shades lighter than the blonde it normally was.  

A cloyingly sweet smell filled her nostrils, and she shuddered. Where was it coming from? She raised her arm to her nose and sniffed the fabric of the sleeve. It smelled like.. sugar, but with a pronounced floral overtone. Her skin smelled the same. She frowned. This was not the kind of perfume she wanted to be wearing in her dream. 

Her attention turned to her surroundings, which left her puzzled. It looked like Central Park, but only if someone had stretched and twisted the trees and covered everything in several different hues of neon color. It reminded her of the carnival, in a ghastly sort of way. Her eyes followed the path she stood on, which was long and winding, leading deeper into the jarring forest of color.

"How curious.." she mumbled, beginning her journey into the woods. It was unlike any dream she had ever had before, and something in the back of her mind told her it wouldn't be one she would ever forget. 

The night air was fresh and cooling on his skin, with a refreshing effect that left him much more awake and alert. The night had started with him trying to sleep but eventually failing and going for a walk. He was used to the city at night now and was fairly confident in his ability to not get lost.

The walk had begun just like any other would, with him being careful not to wake his roommate and sneaking out to stroll the city. The night air was helpful in keeping him awake, even if he would not be as aware as he normally would. Because of this he opted to stick to the main streets and not take any chances, he had no intention to try and win a fight whist half asleep and did not fancy getting beat up or arrested. 

A flash of white down an alley drew his attention, it was peculiar and weird not the sort of thing that you would really feel comfortable walking towards. But he prided himself in his ability to bite off more than he can chew, as to say so he set off down the alley after the white thing. The chase led him down several streets and across parts of the city he had never been to, part of him was amazed he could keep up as he was following small white flashes and never seeing the full thing.

Finally he manged to corner the damn thing, that's when he got his first proper look at the creature. It was a rabbit, a very special and well dressed rabbit at that. I must be dreaming He thought confused and unsure at what he was really seeing, after all rabbits don't just put on clothing and run around the city. Deciding to test his theory on dreaming he promptly slapped himself twice in the face, and it stung allot he was sure if he was dreaming the rabbit would be gone now.

And it was. Until he turned around where he saw the rabbit looking directly at him from the entrance to the alley. After calling the rabbit a few colorful names he set off again to chase down the damned beast, through a few more alleys and streets, turn after turn he ran. Until the floor disappeared. Then he fell.

He fell down the dark hole, seeing the little circle of lighter darkness above grow smaller, until nothing was left but black, horrible dark thick blackness. 

He was suddenly stood in what seemed to be a garden to...a castle? He didn't even know New York had castles, and he had certainly never seen a garden so nice and odd as this one. Nothing in the garden seemed to make sense, the hedges where different sizes and some sculpted. The flowers mix and matched with an absence of anything white. 

His eyes suddenly where drawn to what he was wearing, what was he wearing? he couldn't remember changing clothes or even owning anything so...expensive. Quickly running to a window he was greeted by the full extent of the change, where a simple shirt and trousers one was a outfit fit for royalty. His trousers and shirt had been replaced with red and white counter parts, a patterned waistcoat was laid over that with a jacket that was half red, half white. To top it all of he had a cloak or cape he wasn't sure that was made of fur and blazed with a red heart.

Oh lord his hair, where it once was brown it was now golden and apparently slightly longer but thankfully in the same sort of style. But his eyes where drawn to what was laid on top of his head, a ring of gold embedded with jewels and shaped to perfection, for the life of him he couldn't figure out why he had a crown on or held a golden scepter with a red heart on its tip. The weird part was he knew these clothes should be heavy yet they felt right. Even if he was a little shaken up as to how he got them.  

Seeing a door that led into the castle he got an idea, if this was a dream then it sure was a weird one and he would definitely never forget it, "Well I look like a king so this must be my castle..." He said to himself, unsure about the whole thing but set off towards the doors non the less. 

It was early evening. The sun was hanging low in the sky. On a lonely side walk stood a Young blonde girl. Her hair swaying with the wind. The street was visible from the park. She was wearing a beautiful summer dress, and a pair of sapphire earrings. It was a very rare occasion that the girl wore jewellery. She had planned on doing shopping on this fine evening.

However, her plans had become... different. She had gotten distracted by a quaint little tea shop just a little while away from central park, she had spent the remainder of the afternoon in there, busy browsing, tasting and discussing with the store owner, who was tired of random high society people walking in and purchasing the most expensive one, not even caring of the flavour.

Of course, the store owner had been ecstatic to meet Serena, even at her age she had extensive knowledge of different brews and brands of tea. They shared a cup of tea while discussing it while the shop closed down, And Serena had bought a couple of different brands of tea. She was rather pleased with herself actually, she had got them all at half price because the store owner had taken such a shine to the young haemokinetic.

She stepped outside the store, back onto the same pavement from earlier, except this time the sun was just setting, the sky becoming dark.

The wind howled past, almost ominously.

Serena was about to smile, or start humming to herself, when she saw a little girl, who must have been about 5 or 6, run away from her mother (Who was on crutches) and begin chasing after a rather strange looking rabbit, leading the young girl into central park.

The mother screamed "STOP COME BACK! SOMEONE HELP!"

Serena reacted fast. Instantly dropping her bags on the floor, she sprinted across to the pavement and dashed past "I'll get her, don't worry." She yelled as she dashed past.

She zig zagged between trees, chasing the little girl. "Wait, come back!" her British accent, lost to the wind, carried away before it could even reach the young girl.

There was something wrong with the Rabbit. Something very wrong. They didn't normally lead young girls through the woods away from their parents. Serena wondered if this was some creep or shape shifter with a mutation, trying to lure the girl somewhere.

Then.A scream.

Serena found what little stamina she had left after chasing the rabbit and the little girl through central park, And she used it. She ran harder than she had ever run before. She couldn't be too late, she couldn't.

Serena soon came to a clearing with a large pond. There wasn't much else here. It was MUCH darker now.

A water droplet touched the pond. Serena jumped. She spun around. The water seemed to have a light glow to it...

"No way..." She murmured as she neared the pond.

Serena stared down into her reflection in the crystal blue water. She shouldn't have been able to see it. Something was weird here.

"Something isn't quite right he- EEEEP!" Serena yelped as her reflection climbed out of the water and reached up and pulled her in!

Serena came flying out of the pond, she landed on the ground. Soaked. She coughed the water from her lungs, strangely, considering she was only in the pond for a second before she...

She looked back at the pond, it was purple. And glowing.

Then she noted that nothing was quite the same, the plants were all different and it was daytime. Then she looked down at herself. She was seeing a mirror image of a fairy tail she used to read when she was younger, a fairy tail her brother used to read to her after her dad died.

It was the dress from the Alice in Wonderland novel, and movie, but... It was blood red. Not just a dark red colour, literally the colour of blood, Serena knew this colour well. She felt her hair, she also now had a hair band running through her hair. Which felt silkier than normal.

She glanced from side to side in the clearing. "Bloody hell... What just... Happened..."

It was a restless night in a certain room in Sanctuary. Well, Ty managed to sleep just fine, for a guy in a recliner with a kitten curled up in his lap, snoring lightly. But his eyes would flutter open almost every half hour, stirred by weird dreams or Mischief stirring and waking him up. In that case, he would hold her and pet her til she went back to sleep.

"Looks like we got the same problem, huh, Missy?" Ty asked the little black ball of fluff after the upteenth time that they'd both woken up. She gave a soft mew in return, then suddenly her ears twitched once, and her tail began to swish back and forth as her eyes became focused on the bathroom door. Jumping down, she crept to the door, and Ty looked in the direction of the open bathroo--wait...was that--

In the doorway appeared to be a small white rabbit, wearing a...a vest?!? "Yep...definitely need to go to bed earlier..." he grumbled, then realized the cat was seeing it too. It hopped into the bathroom, and Ty was to his feet, wearing nothing but a pair of black boxers covered in red hearts. He froze at what he saw.

Did the rabbit just...jump into the toilet? Groggily, the sleepy redhead leaned down, peering into the porcelain bowl. Suddenly, the cat behind him sneezed, causing Ty to jump with a start, and he lost his balance.

What he expected was to get a mouthful of water and come up gagging and horrified. But what really happened, he never would have imagined. He found himself falling, endlessly falling. But it was almost like he was...floating, air resistant in a sense.

When he hit the ground, he let out a string of swears as he looked at the twisted mass of colorful trees. He was no longer at home, but in some clearing, in front of a statue of some girl that looked...oddly familiar. Only this figure appeared to be a queen? Strange.

Ty rubbed his side--wait...his side...it was flat. "The hell?!?" Looking down, he saw a card suit. 7 of hearts. "What the **** is this...that's it, no more spicy food before bed..." He looked around. "At least, I hope that's the problem..."

Eden Forrester didn’t normally work the late night hours of the restaurant. To be quite terribly honest, she was much more of a morning person, favoring a good rinse in sunlight instead of facing the moon’s poor substitute. However, she hadn’t had a choice on this occasion because her coworker had called in sick, leaving her stuck with a second shift. In fact, that was why she had been able to stumble out of Olive Garden a few hours after the sun had already set. She hadn’t even bothered to take off her uniform, even though the pants were stark and her white collared shirt was stiff as a board. Add that in with the confining black apron and constricting tie, and the whole thing was an uncomfortable mess.
As soon as she was out of the place, she started walking, pulling her hair out of its pony tail and letting a light breeze style it for her – it was late anyways, and it wasn’t like she had anywhere to be anytime soon.
However, just as she rounded the corner, she thought she saw movement. Not a person either – it was far too small, and much, much too fast. With a stab of curiosity, Eden picked up her pace, now facing a surprisingly empty street. Which, in New York, “the city that never sleeps”, was particularly odd.
But what made it odder still was the rabbit. The white rabbit sausaged into colored vest, sitting and staring at her in the middle of an abandoned street.
Eden blinked, her mind quickly flooding to panic. Was she asleep? Had she fallen asleep at work?!
With a quick movement to wake herself up, she slapped herself harshly on the cheek– which did absolute nothing but leave a bright, cherry red imprint on her face.
Rubbing her face sorely, she blinked back to where the bunny was – or had been. Because now it was darting into an alleyway.
“Hey, wait up!” She hollered after the thing – she couldn’t fathom why, but she just felt like she should. Seeing as how the creature didn’t give pause, Eden took off after it – but instead of running into a cold alley with flickering lights and forgotten trash, she fell into a hole.
A rabbit hole, her brain supplied as she fell, disoriented confusion slipping over her.
She fell for a long time, it felt like. Sort of like jumping off a very, very tall high dive. Which, honestly, Eden didn’t mind, “Better than landing,” she mumbled optimistically to herself after what felt to be about five minutes – she hit the ground with a discernible thud.
And then everything went black.

---

'The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown:

The Lion beat the Unicorn all round the town.

Some gave them white bread, some gave them brown:

Some gave them plum-cake and drummed them out of town.'

~The Lion and the Unicorn, Through the Looking Glass

---

"Erm, thank you," she said with an awkward grin as yet another citizen shoved a loaf of bread into her already loaded arms.
She’d awoken only a while ago to find herself in some distorted version of what she assumed New York. Except the buildings were too tall and too twisted, painted as though they’d been attacked by a disgruntled rainbow. The sky was unnaturally blue, and the clouds were extraordinarily fluffy.
She didn't know here she was, and was still confused as to how she’d gotten there – but one thing was for sure: Eden was good to go on carbohydrates. And would continue to be if people kept giving her bread (which they had been doing since she'd started walking around; though no one bothered to answer her questions, so she'd given up)
Honestly though, the state of New York, the bunny (who she hadn’t seen since), and the weird bread collecting weren’t the strangest part of this whole ordeal - she hadn't seen a single human in what seemed like forever; okay granted, she was a mutant, but that wasn't what she meant. More along the lines that everyone she'd encountered had a fairy tale appearance to them, like they'd literally stepped out of Wonderland or something. Including herself.
Her hands had been replaced with ivory hooves, her skin had been exchanged for a soft and slick white fur, her hair for a brown main, and she was currently strutting through town upright on another set of hooves. Oh, and a large creamy horn was protruding from her forehead.
She was a unicorn, still dressed head to toe in her waitressing uniform.
She blinked around, taking in a bright world of uplifting colors, twisted structures, the strange creatures and trees and other things…and crossed her fingers that she hasn't completely lost it.
Well, she would have if she had had any.
She was jolted out of thought by someone putting a loaf onto the overflowing pile of bread already collected in her arms - which now was stacked to the tip of her snout.
"Uh, thank you!" She called from around her collection, but the citizen had already left.

Stroke. Stroke. Breathe. Stroke. Stroke. Stroke. Breathe.

It was late at night and Ted thought this would be the best time for a swim in the mansions pool. The pattern continued for a while. Back and forth he'd go. Down and back, from one end to the other and back again. He must have done ten or 15 laps. He'd lost count somewhere around the fifth lap. He slowly climbed out of the pool. There was no one around, probably because of the hour but even more because it was the pool and not many swam late at night.

Teddy was exhausted now because of the swim and he was ready for bed. The young mutant toweled himself off started walking back towards the mansion. Suddenly he saw a flash of white light. It didn't make sense for someone to be out at this time. Even though there were plenty of mutants that didn't seem to sleep at all, no one would be taking pictures at this time of night. Ted decided to head towards the area that he'd seen the flash from. When he got there there was no one there but... a rabbit? The rabbit turned and ran. For some reason the rabbit looked familiar. As he chased it he tried to figure out where he'd seen the rabbit before. The rabbit turned a corner and disappeared through a bush. Teddy froze for a second wondering if he should follow, but curiosity got the better of him and he pushed on.

The next thing he knew Ted was falling. He didn't remember there being a cliff around the mansion. There was darkness everywhere and nothing seemed to escape this darkness. It was as if he'd stepped into a black hole and not even a scream would come out of his mouth. When Ted landed it was with a soft thump. He bounced at least twice along the ground. When he got up it was light out and everything seemed to be in a much more vivid color. The sky was a more bluer blue and the trees seemed to be hued with a more striking green. That wasn't even the oddest part.

As he tried to stand he noticed that the ground was much closer than he remembered it being earlier that day. He looked at his hands and noticed they were paws. White furry paws to be exact. He must have changed during the fall. But why into a rabbit? It's not exactly the easiest or fastest way to get around.

He tried to change back. Nothing Ωwas happening. Ok. No need to panic. I'm simply Stuck In A RABBIT FORM!! He cried in his head. Until a little sound escaped his...His what...lips, teeth, muzzle? "Ahh!' Well, better to be small than to be large and noticeable in this weird place. Easier to hide. What is going on here? He thought.

So far he hadn't seen anyone, human, mutant, or animal since his arrival in this weird place. As Teddy started moving he did this weird sort of hop-walk thing. As he did he came to a river and saw his reflection for the first time. It wasn't his normal change. He was a little taller than normal and he was wearing a dark blue jacket with white ruffles. This certainly wasn't his normal transformation. He was much more real looking. Ted continued walking along his path, not really knowing where he was going, just kind of heading to see if he would meet someone.

Suddenly he was beset with the feeling that he was late for something. Ted pulled out his watch and saw that he was going to be late. He didn't know what he was going to be late to but he didn't want to be late. Ted hurried along through the brush to get wherever it was that he needed to be.

Isabel wasn't sure how she wound up in the strange world that she believed used to be New York City. Well, she had a general idea, but the mechanics of it escaped her completely. She had a puddle to thank for her sudden downward spiral unto the unknown place. A glossy, reflective puddle in a place that no puddle had any right to be. Just a nudge and she'd been sent tumbling downward. Or was it upward? Maybe side to side, or a combination of them all? In any case, all sense of direction was entirely lost and by the time she was back on her feet she'd found herself deposited in a place unlike anything she'd ever seen before.

She should have been in the Sanctuary, but instead it appeared as if she'd been left standing in the gateway of an enormous castle. It had several tall towers of varying heights and an outer wall protecting them and the rest of the structure. The drawbridge was down, giving her passage over a rather slim moat full of murky water. Something seemed to be swimming in it, but it never broke the surface and only drifted close enough to allow glimpses of something pale moving briefly in and out of the range of visibility within all the muddiness.

The castle had the same golden doors the the Sanctuary did, opened wide to allow the drawbridge to drop. However, their shape had been altered into a twisted, angular heart shape, the two halves of which wouldn't have seemed to fit together until the doors were fully closed and somehow they managed to mesh.

The inner wall was even higher than the outer, all made of a dark, nearly obsidian stone and adorned with windows and balconies dressed in gold and providing footholds for the creeping green and purple ivy that had long since begun to climb them. Rows of neatly manicured trees lined either side of the walkway up to the main door, the round tops heavily hung with blood red roses, though not a single petal littered the ground.

Beyond the pair of lined trees was a lovely garden to either side, each bush and tree as neatly manicured as the roses, though none of them seemed to share any one height or shape. It was chaotic, but at the same time somehow orderly. Not a leaf nor flower out of place and all in rich, dark shades, a sunny yellow being the closest anything came to white.

Inside the large door that served as the entrance to the castle was a spacious room, its walls hung with numerous banners emblazoned with red hearts on black or deep purple backgrounds. An intricate chandelier hung from the high ceiling, gleaming with hundreds of tiny crystals hung in strings and a large ruby at its center. At the back of the room were twin staircases which led to a throne room.

Past the throne room were any number of corridors, staircases, doors and hidden rooms. She knew where each and every one of the hidden doors and mechanisms were, though she couldn't have told anyone how she knew, nor how she seemed to know that the path she was taking led to a spacious bedroom at the top of one of the numerous towers, one of those that didn't bend or lean at an odd angle. There was a large four poster bed against one wall, hung with red and gold silks and piled high with pillows and furs in the strangest variety of colors and patterns. More draperies hung from the walls and an enormous rug was laid across the floor. A dresser and wardrobe also stood in the room along with a full length, heart shaped mirror.

Upon passing the mirror on her way to the single window she found herself wearing an outfit that would be more at home in a bizarre fashion show rather than something that would be seen on the streets.

She was wearing a floor length gown, though only the back reached the ground. The front of the skirt had been cut short so that its hem only reached mid-thigh. A red corset sat around her torso with functional lacing in the back and decorative black ribbon criss-crossing in the front. The whole of it was red and tapered to a point in the front giving it the approximate shape of the majority of a heart with her natural assets lifted to complete the rounder portions at the top. The back skirts and the sleeves of the dress were black and the lace trim around her writs and collar were a pale gold, as was the shorter section of the skirt in front. A garter belt held her black thigh-highs in place with small heart shaped fasteners and her feet had been fitted into red stiletto heels.

Gold rings circled her finger and a black choker made of lace clung to her neck while two ruby studs adorned her ears. A delicate gold crown sat atop her head, embedded with hundreds of tiny rubies and one larger heart shaped one in the middle.

Her hair had gone from brown to blood red and hung in loose curls down her back. her lashes seemed longer and her eyes had been given a dark, smoky touch of eye shadow. A red heart had been delicately stained at the center of her lips.

All looked just as it should.

The Queen continued on to the window and gazed out at her kingdom. There was very little left save for herself and the wild beasts in the untamed forests. Other twisted buildings had begun to dot the landscape, much to her displeasure, but so long as its inhabitants stayed away from her castle she could let them live. For the time being. A small smile curved her lips as her gaze found the large monument of herself in the distance. That had been by far the best unbirthday gift she'd given herself thus far.

She gave no more though to how she'd gotten to this strange world. She was The Queen and had been there from the start. Occasionally strange thoughts like her arrival flitted through her head, but they were nothing buy fancy and she hadn't any need to pay them much mind. She was The Queen, and that was all that mattered.

A string of swear words filled the air as Paige picked herself up off of the ground. One minute, she'd been drinking tea at the mansion, the next minute, she found herself falling, almost as if she was sucked in through the teacup. But that was impossible. Now the world looked funny...twisted. Bigger, even. She found herself far from the mansion, in some weird...garden.

The blonde mutant tried to walk, but toppled over. Nothing seemed to work right. Her head wouldn't move, her arms wouldn't move, nor her legs, it seemed. Suddenly, she caught her reflection in a puddle. Creamy white with blue floral decorative patterns, no limbs whatsoever, though could hold a little bit of liquid...

"Holy **** I'm a [expletive] TEACUP?!?" Paige shouted, obvious fear in her panicky voice. She took a breath, which should have been hard for someone who had no mouth. "Okay, calm down, Paige. Maybe you just panicked and shifted or something. Maybe I was so into my tea, I shifted, and now I'm hallucinating." The girl focused her mind, but nothing. No matter how hard she tried, nothing.

"Okay...if I break...I'll turn back." She murmured to herself before spying a tree and hopping as fast as her little teacup-base would let her. It'd be fine. A painless shift, as usual, right?

As she was hopping, she tripped, the mouth of the cup hitting a rock and chipping. "OW! HOLY **** THAT ******** HURT!" She froze. She was stuck here...as a teacup...

The man that had once been known as Shade was where he always was nowadays. He was lying on his small bed inside his prison cell of light while he waited for the X-men to decide what to do with him. The once-strong Orderling was in a sad state. His honed muscles had left him, deteriorated to almost nothing. Shade's once clean shaven face had months of untrimmed growth sprouting from his chin. His pale blonde hair had grown several inches longer and was in tangles. He was in a bad need of a bath and a change of clothes as he smelled like he was homeless. Not to mention, Shade was feeling like he might have been going slightly insane, confided for months in his small cell. He kept seeing shadows, where there were no shadows. Therefore, Shade knew it was only a matter of time before he cracked. What he hadn't expected was how he would finally crack.

The husk of a man that had been Shade was sleeping peacefully in his bed when he was awakened by a slight thump! At first, the old Orderling thought it was his silent caretaker, coming to bring him his daily ration of food. However, when Shade looked to the invisible wall, all he saw was a mirror. It looked as if someone had painted a reflective covering over the entire surface, causing it reflect the small room back on itself. Shade raised himself from his bed and made his way towards his own reflection in the mirror. By the time he made it to the mirror, his weak body was already exhausted, And when he looked in the mirror, Shade did not recognize the face of the man staring back at him.

It was his own face, but he had not seen it since they had placed him inside his cell. Cautiously, he lifted his hands to examine the long beard and hair that was growing from the top of his head. The hair felt brittle and wiry when it had been soft and strong. His eyes had sunken dark into his head, with the sockets dark around them. All the available fat and muscle had been removed from his head as well. His jawbone was pronounced along with the sides of his temple, making his head look almost like a skull. Reaching up, Shade traced the bones with his hands.

However, as he was moving his hands along his bones, his reflection suddenly stopped. Shade stopped his examination and stared at the image in the mirror as the man lifted a hand and curled a bony finger towards himself, beckoning Shade closer to the mirror. Thinking that he had finally lost it, the shadow mutant gave a maniac's laugh before inchinching towards the mirror. He stopped only two feet from it. The entity in the mirror matched him step for step. When he was close enough, his copy in the mirror stepped aside and revealed a black hole behind him in the wall.

"Shadow." The word left Shade's patched lips in a stranger's voice. The shadow mutant immediately looked behind him to find the wall was still solid. There was no hole in it. Turning back to the mirror, Shade could still see the hole with it's much needed shadow in the reflection of the wall. The image of Shade in the mirror wiggled its bony finger at Shade, telling him that it was not outside the mirror. Inside the mirror, the image of Shade was telling him as he curled his finger again, beckoning Shade onwards. With his wits at their ends, the shadow mutant followed his own image's instructions and pushed at the glass of the mirror. However, there was no glass separating the two halves of the room. There was only another room, perfectly like his own, except in the exact opposite. Shade's own image took a hold of Shade's hand and led him towards the cool darkness that awaited him. As Shade entered the hole, he took a glimpse back at his one-time prison. Were those white rabbit ears pocking out from underneath his bed? However, Shade never got a chance to see as his own image suddenly shoved him backwards into the hole in the wall. And suddenly, he was falling...

For how long he was falling, Shade did not know. However, as the ground approached him, the shadow mutant was able to twist his spine, landing on his feet...on all four of his feet. He had landed on a pile of hay. There was a stone floor beneath him, torches were burning on the walls. He appeared to be in some kind of dungeon. How he had fallen straight through the brick ceiling Shade never considered, because he was more concerned about how he was suddenly a cat.

At least, he thought he was a cat. He must have been a rather big cat from his perceptive. His hands had been replaced with paws, paws with claws, sharp claws. He still felt scrawny, but there was power in his muscles again, power that he had never felt before, like he could leap ten feet in the air without aid. Something twitched behind him. Shade craned his neck back, discovering that he had a tail. A twitching tail that snapped this way and that when he moved. And fur. His fur was ghost white. If Shade had a mirror again, he would have seen that his white fur covered his entire body, except for a darker grey that hung around his light blue eyes.

Suddenly, Shade remembered that he was suppose to be looking for a girl. Or was it girls? Why would he be looking for a girl anyways? Well, maybe he would remember when he found her, whoever she was. Spotting a shadow nearby, Shade disappeared as he stepped into it. The relief of entering the cool shadow after months of light felt euphoric. Grinning a Cheshire smile, the shadow cat 'jumped' out of the dungeon.

I'm just one of those ghosts, traveling endlessly....

Tses had returned to a more familiar life on the streets lately. It felt invigorating being on the move again, traveling around the city with no rush to get anywhere. She had a backpack filled with her limited supplies of clothes, her computer, and a few odds and ends, and she spent most her times longing on roofs, trying to make sense of life. Her mind was filled with questions. Questions about people, questions about friendships, questions about loss... It felt like she was loosing her mind, and there was no way to stitch things back together. She felt like she was looking anywhere for an answer.

Perhaps that was what got her to open the old children's novel she had been struggling and failing to read out of. The words blurred together as she stared at the pages of Alice in Wonderland. After Chloe tried to teach her, she'd made it a few pages in, but the words didn't really 'click' like she felt they should. Maybe she just wasn't meant to read, just like she wasn't meant to have friends, or relationships, or ...anything. She felt the frustration trickling through her mind, and while she tried to suppress it, she couldn't stop herself from venting her annoyance. The book flew from her hand, bounced off the wall across from her, and ricocheted back onto the fire escape below her with an unnatural recoil. The pages flickered open, and she found herself staring down at a picture of a smiling cat. Even the drawing looked smug and content with his life. Why couldn't she be like that?

Tses slid off the roof, aiming to drop down and retrieve the novel. But the buckles on her book hooked the railing spun her midfall, and sent her crashing headfirst into the fire escape below. Stunned, expecting to hit metal, Tses felt herself fall....

Straight through the book. Straight past the fire escape.

Straight into Wonderland.

She was glowing... Wispy green flame like light of her powers swirling around her body in a ghostly manner. Her figure seemed transparent where the light crossed her body, the light stored in her skin shining like stripes; a neon tattoo pattern. As she sat, her ears flicked forward, listening to the sounds and noises around her. Noises that sounded too clear... Vivid. Pushing herself up, she felt a flick from behind her, as her tail curls and swished.

She must have hit her head after all...

Wonderland had brought itself two Cheshire cats...one of shadows, one of light. While the second was less feline, she couldn't help it as a grin slowly spread across her face. She clambered into a tree, and walked it with the cat-like grace she had always had, and now seemed more appropriate. She didn't know what she was doing here, but it didn't seem to matter suddenly.

Life just felt delightful, and it brought a wide smile to her face.

Today was one of those days where Chloe was bored and wanted to get out of her room and do something. She had started by walking around the grounds to stretch her legs and take in some fresh air, but she wasn't satisfied. She thought that maybe if she got into a really good story that it would make her feel better. So she walked back inside and to the library. She walked along the bookcases and found herself meandering through the children's section. For some odd reason, children's stories always were quick reads, but always enjoyable reads. They could make your mind escape and not want to put the book down until you finished it. To be honest, Chloe believed that the best authors were ones who wrote for children because it was always hard to keep a child's mind interested for a long period of time and write in a way that children would be able to understand. And if a person could manage to do that, then they had to be a good author. If the author was able to write multiple books for a series or otherwise, then that just made them even better. Chloe ran her finger along the spines until she found Alice in Wonderland. She pulled the book off the shelf and found a comfy chair in the corner to sit in while she read. She propped her legs up on the arm of the chair and happily began to read. At some point while she sat enjoying one of her favorite childhood classics, it began to rain. Chloe took no notice of it, she just continued to read about the journey of Alice down the rabbit hole and all of the exotic and crazy things she experienced along her journey, whether it be a white rabbit, singing flowers, or playing cards trying to hurry and paint the roses red before the Red Queen could notice. Lines of "Off with their head." rang in her mind as she imagined what the Red Queen would sound like.

When she finished the book, she placed it back on the shelf where she had found it. Satisfied that she was no longer bored, she decided that she would go see her her girlfriend Paige. She tried to find her around the mansion, but upon having no luck, she called her cell phone. No answer. She tried a couple more times, thinking that she might not have heard her phone go off, but all with the same result, no answer. She figured she might have left her phone in her room or the battery died and was around town somewhere. She went back to her room and grabbed her rain boots and an umbrella. She then headed toward the park to see if she was there. She walked all around and never saw her. "Maybe she had to work today." Chloe thought. As she was walking to the coffee shop, the rain began to come down harder and the wind began to blow, getting part of her shirt and jeans soaked. She finally got to the shop only to find out that Paige wasn't there.

"Maybe Ty's around." Chloe hoped. She tried to call his phone. It went straight to voicemail. Again, voicemail. "The rain is probably messing with cell phone signal. I'll just go and see if he's at Sanctuary." Chloe reasoned. But unbeknownst to her, she'd never make it there. She was on her way over to Sanctuary when she stepped into a puddle, not thinking anything about it, but it took her by surprise when suddenly she felt herself fall. The feeling of sudden unexpected surprise gripped her stomach and she didn't even realize that her umbrella had caught the air and she was floating slightly. She looked around, trying to figure out where she was and what had happened to her. The only thing she could see was an open pocket-watch with the hands moving counter-clockwise. "That's funny." she thought. "Clocks don't move like that." She called out, ""Hello, Is anyone there? Can anyone help me?" As she waited for an answer to come back, a combination of her weight and her struggling to look around made her umbrella fold back and she began to fall again, very fast. She screamed and closed her eyes, but upon opening them she found herself on top of a massive mushroom and not like the human self she once was and not like her butterfly form either--Somehow, someway she had been shifted into a caterpillar. When she saw herself in raindrops that had collected on a leaf of a nearby flower, Chloe was startled, but then began to try and reason what had happened. She must have slipped and hit her head as she was walking and been knocked unconscious. She just hoped that someone would find her soon and wake her up or that she wouldn't drown from all the rain coming down. Maybe just maybe someone would find her. Until then she didn't know what she was going to do, she was locked inside what she thought was her mind. Maybe something from her mind would give her some sort of hint or clue as to what to do next or what was happening to her, but until then all she could do was wait, hoping she wouldn't be stuck here forever.

Teddy hurried off. The occasional glance at his pocket watch would remind him just how late he was going to be if he didn't hurry up. As he hurried along he couldn't help but notice how weird a scene he was seeing. Unfortunately, he couldn't linger around here to see things a little better. He was in a rush. The rabbit ran through the brambles and bushes until he came to a oddly constructed trail. It wasn't necessarily a well traveled path, but it was certainly a path. Ted paused just for a second before glancing at his watch.

"Oh, dear. I'm late!" Teddy exclaimed. Then he paused. Is that really what my voice sounds like? He thought. His voice was definitely different from what it normally sounded like. Instead of the Miami accent that was deepening daily, it was a higher pitch. His voice was very nasally and with the fur inside his entire mouth and apparent lack of teeth his voice was muffled. No time to worry about that. I'm going to be late. He thought again. With that he rushed off down the trail.

His feet were moving as quick as his little feet could travel. It was weird running in this body. He couldn't seem to use his front paws correctly. Even still he moved fairly quickly..."I'm late! I'm late!"...The coat and vest he was wearing seemed to be constricting the proper use of his front paws. "Oh, dear me. I'm late!" The rabbit ran through the forrest until he saw a girl walking along. She seemed to be taking her time and looking at the many curious things that were around in the forrest. She was wearing a dark blue dress and he had to do his best not to bowl her over as he ran.

Teddy continued to wail, "I'm late! I'm late!" Maybe she would be in a rush too. Teddy just narrowly missed swiping her leg as he slowed down a bit. Teddy checked his watch again bemoaned the lateness of the time.