Chapter Two: The Queen and the Caterpillar, or The Story of the Big Mistake.

"Alice... Alice..." Kurt's eyes slowly started blinking open. He couldn't remember when he stopped running, but it hadn't been a day. A Latino girl with long black hair was looking over him. She reached out a hand to help him up. "You gotta get out of here, Lady Face" She said.

"Lady Face?" He asked.
"Have you ever looked in a mirror?" She said, by way of answer. "Follow me. Its kinda dangerous here. You chose a hell of a place to pass out." Kurt heard an echoing laugh, and some chattering coming from the swamps in the distance. He turned to ask the girl what it was but she was gone, only a wisp of purple smoke where she was.

"Over here, Alice!" Came a voice from a couple of metres down the path. He ran to follow the girl, who kept disappearing and materialising a couple of meters away. Her pupils were slitted like a cat's, and her lips were constantly twisted into a wide smirk, like she was up to something. After they were out sight of swamps, she suddenly stopped, almost causing Kurt to run into her.

"Take my hand." She said. "I heard of your quest and I think the person I'm about to take you to will know what you need, or at least who you need to talk to. I'm Santana or the Cheshire Cat, I don't really care what you call me." As Kurt took Santana's hand he had the oddest feeling of dematerialising, thinning out into smoke. He was seeing two pictures overlapping, one of the stony pathway that he had been standing on, and one of a deep cavernous gorge, with oversized mushrooms sprouting from the walls. The latter was getting stronger and stronger, until the other completely faded out. He was standing in a cave at the bottom of a chasm. The Cheshire Cat let go of his hand and said, "Go to that castle and ask for the Caterpillar, throw in the word knowledgeable somewhere in the sentence and he'll see you. And for God's sake, when you introduce yourself use you Wonderland name too, or he'll get confused and throw you out."

"Wonderland name?" repeated Kurt, looking bewildered. What was a Wonderland name?

"Just go. I can't come with you; The Caterpillar and I tend to have... disagreements when we are together and that's the last thing you need." After saying this she disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Kurt gulped as he approached the enormous castle. It was something you would see in a fairytale, a very twisted fairytale. The castle was enormous, and covered in moss and vines. It was the colour of wet concrete, and had small cracks running down it and the spires seemed to whisper to each other. A great, booming voice filled the air,

"WHO AREYOU?"

"Kurt. Kurt Hummel." He replied.

"NO. WHOAREYOU?" repeated the voice.

"Kurt..." he thought for a second. What was a Wonderland name? Everybody seemed to have two names here, then it hit him. What had everybody been calling him since he came here? "Kurt Hummel, otherwise known as Alice."

The moment he said 'Alice' the doors swung open. Looking into the foreboding darkness, Kurt felt a twinge of fear, "I- I'm looking for the caterpillar?" He said to the darkness.

"Yes, yes, follow the mushroom." Said a voice in the dark. It wasn't as loud as the booming voice from outside, but it was unmistakably the same one. Kurt looked around for a mushroom but saw nothing in the black. A light was coming down the stairs and he saw a small mushroom with a lantern on its head running towards him. It was purple and cone shaped, with a rounded top. It's stem had tiny feet, but no legs, so its walk was more of a waddle. Kurt followed the mushroom into one of the spires, furnished to be a library.
"Where is the Caterpillar?" Said Kurt, to the mushroom.Oh god... talking to mushrooms now. You need you sanity tested.There came a laugh from behind the books. A boy of Asian heritage poked his head around the corner.

"I'm here. I'm the Caterpillar, but you can call me Wes."

"Umm, ok. The Cheshire Cat said you could help me with this riddle. She brought me here."

"She must really have faith in you if she actually brought you tome. Let's hear this riddle then."

"'This game you have agreed to play

You must listen closely, so I may,

Tell you the first task I give,

Listen closely and the Rabbit my live;

At my feet many lay,

Servants who serve to today,

But only one is dear to me,

She has not the will to flee,

Her heart and soul are bound to me,

To fly away would be mutiny,

But fly away one day she must,

I am beginning to lose her trust,

Over a gamble I made long ago,

This only one person does know,

Seek him out and you will find,

The thing that may save your Rabbit's hind.'"

"Who told you this riddle?" Wes asked thoughtfully.

"The King of Hearts." Replied Kurt.

"As I thought." The Caterpillar said. "To understand this riddle you need to understand the history of Wonderland. Firstly, Wonderland is split into four parts, for the four monarchs. Altogether the four parts make the Land of Cards. There is the Land of Spades, ruled by the King and Queen of Spades, the Land of Clubs, ruled by the King and Queen of Clubs, the Land of Diamonds, ruled by the King and Queen of Diamonds and the Land of Hearts, ruled by the King and Queen of Hearts. Wonderland was divided when the last Queen had four daughters, and decided they would all rule. Queen Rachel was the youngest, and when she turned fifteen she ascended to the throne, with her mother advising her. However soon enough the Queen fell ill and the advisors urged her to take a husband to help her. That was when King Hunter stepped in. It was originally out of good intentions. He did love Rachel once. He became the King and for a year or so they were okay, but the King and Queen began to fight. The King and I were good friends at the time, and I saw how corrupted he had gotten with power, and that is what led him to the decision that would plunge the Land of Hearts into darkness.

"He stole Rachel's heart. He knew she couldn't argue with him if she had no love for anything but him. He stole Rachel's heart and sealed it inside a key, which he kept on a chain around his neck for some time, but eventually the burden of somebody else's heart became too much for him and he cast the key into the Talking Flowers Garden, in a fit of rage. The key, being an object of evil, cursed the garden, turning the flowers to carnivorous weeds, and the garden to a deep pit. Now the Queen can't leave. She effectively his slave, living in a fearful love.

"I think the key is the object you need. It is an object that will set free a servant that he loves dearly. That is the Queen."

Kurt stared at the Caterpillar, shock apparent across his features. "H-how could he do that to somebody he loved?" Kurt asked.

"Power corrupts." Wes sighed. "I would have some coffee with you but right now you are leading the Knave right to my door. TWEEDLES!" Two boys came round to the door. They were tall, and both had eyes the colour of the sky, but one had short blonde hair where the other had slightly longer messy black. In all other respects they were identical. "These are the Tweedles. They've ben loitering around my house for too long. If you promise to pass a message on to a friend of mine, the Dormouse, when you see him, Then I'll send them with you, as guides." said Wes. His face fell as he continued. "Tell him that we'll see each other sooner than he thinks, and- and that I'm sorry. " A tear slid down the Caterpillar's cheek, as he said the last sentence. It slowly dawned on Kurt how lonely it must be here. The chasm that nursed these caves was insanely deep, and the journey here must be hard to make.

"Hiya." Said one.

"You must be Alice." Said the other.

"Were the Tweedles."
"-Dee and -Dum to be certain."
"But you can call us-"

"Jayce and James."

"Me being Jayce." Said the black-haired one.
"And me being James. Or Jem. Whichever you prefer." Said the blonde.

"Are we going to the Weed Garden?" Asked Jayce.

Kurt rubbed his temples, looking at the twins in front of him. They grinned happily as the each grabbed one of his arms and set off.

"Usually you would have to climb out." Grinned Jayce. "But we know a short cut."
"Jayce, that place hasn't been used in years!" groaned Jem. "Its probably got millions of dragonfly nests now! And when those things flame ithurts."
"Am I missing something?" asked Kurt, confused. "Since when did dragonflysflame?"
"Have you ever seen a dragonfly?" asked Jem. Kurt nodded, confusion still covering his face.
"Did you see it here?" asked Jayce, and evil grin spreading across his face.
'Uh... no." replied Kurt.
"Then you're in for a bit of a treat."

The twins walked to a wall and put their hands to it, whispering unintelligible words. A door slowly faded into view and Jem smiled as he pushed it open. A long, dirty, slippery set of spiral stairs stood before them. The air smelled of dust and damp, and there was a flickering light peeking around the corner. Jayce, looking excited, grabbed Kurt and ran up the stairs, Jem stopped every few steps to stop Kurt from falling in the slippery bits. When they rounded the corner they saw the light source. It was four tiny dragons, about the size of Kurt's index finger.
"That is a dragonfly." Jem whispered. "They won't mind us if were quiet. Also be careful, these things usually live in colonies, so there's probably more"
They crept past the dragonflys, prepared to sneak past another nest, but there was none. For a long time the walk up the stairs was uneventful. It was hours before they saw the any natural light, and even then it was only a small sliver in the distance. Climbing the stairs would be tiring, and dead boring but the twins kept him occupied with their non-stop chatter.

"And his Caterpillery-ness had an assistant!" exclaimed Jem.
"Mm. Two in fact." Continued Jayce.
"The Princess of Sparks and Mister Dormouse."
"Too bad the disappeared."
"Yeah, Wes never did tell us where they went."
"All the more pity. Wes could have the Dormouse, but the Princess of Sparks was a riot!" Laughed Jayce.
"She sung too. She had a great voice" Lamented Jem with a sigh.

They continued walking in silence for a few hours until they reached the surface.

"Okay so we're to take you to the Talking Flower's Garden." Said Jayce
"Or the Weed Pit, as it is now called." Spat Jem.
"Yeah, when the curse took place, people stopped calling it a garden."
"You're gonna be lucky to get out alive."
"Luckily that's our specialty."
"But we may have to call in a favour."
Both twins looked at Kurt, their faces splitting in to two identical mischievous smiles.
"We think it's time you met the Hatter."