Chapter 2
"Damn it, damn it, damn it," White Rabbit muttered, running frantically between the narrow alleys, past the messy graffiti of curse words and colorful murals, past the alley cats and dirty trash cans, past the dirty windows and buildings cramped together…
And right into the teenagers he was running from in the first place.
"Oh, look. Who do we have here?" the leader said mockingly, snatching White up by the hood of his red jacket. "Right. It's that little bunny wabbit who thought he could escape fwom us," he continued in a baby voice.
"Wh- White Rabbit, of the Imperial Court," White corrected as well as he could with the collar of his jacket strangling him. "Ow! Fuck! Pardon my language, but please put me down,"
The leader continued mercilessly bouncing him in the air. "Oh, look. The baby bunny can curse. Want to wash out his mouth with soap for me, Logan?"
A large teen covered in tattoos smiled menacingly, baring yellow teeth. "Gladly-"
"Hey! Bastards!" a girl's voice yelled. White fruitlessly struggled to turn around as best as he could, and was unexpectedly dropped on the cold ground.
Well, that jacket's ruined. Shame. And I had it imported especially from the silkworms, he thought, massaging his sore throat. "Let that little kid go! He's my property!" the same girl continued.
"Your property?" the leader said, confused.
"Your property?" Logan said menacingly.
"Little kid?!" White yelped. His form must be younger than he thought. "I'm not a kid!" He turned around to see a girl with dark brown skin and a battered hockey stick slung over her shoulder in a makeshift quiver.
"You private school shits can't even mug someone properly. Pathetic," she said.
Logan spat on her ratty gray hoodie, but the girl didn't even flinch. "Leave," he scowled.
"Come on… hand him over, or suffer the consequences," she said darkly. There was a moment of silence, then the girl burst into laughter. "Oh my God… you should have seen your faces. Did you really think I was going to kill you-"
"Kill her!" the leader yelled, recovering from his temporary shock. The two boys in the front charged forward, while the girl jumped on top of a Dumpster, pulling out her hockey stick.
"Alright, now I'll have to actually kill you," The girl jumped down, landing on top of one boy and whapping the other in the face with her stick. She stomped hard on the first boy's nose, causing an eruption of scarlet blood.
White watched in fascination as she hooked her leg on the second thug's leg and swept him to the ground, until he realized the he should probably run while those thugs were distracted.
He hid behind a trash can, trembling as he watched the girl finally be beaten when the leader grabbed her by her long locks, cuffing her hard on the head. She crumpled to the ground, blue hair tumbling around her.
The leader spat on her body, taking off her hoodie and throwing it aside. Suddenly, an evil grin came over his face. "Give me the knife," he said to one of his cronies.
"Jim…" one of them uneasily. "You're not going to actually kill her, are you?"
Jim scoffed. "Of course not. Just going to teach her a lesson… "
Bending down, he grabbed the vivid blue locks, and hacked them off carelessly, some parts half as long as before, others stopping right before her shoulders. "Let's go, guys," Jim said, casting a scornful look back at the girl.
"What about the kid?" Logan asked.
Jim shrugged. "He's probably at home already… you know how fast those little buggers are…" The echoes of their voices faded as they headed into another alley, and White ran towards the girl.
"Wake up, wake up! They might come again…" White paused as he looked closer to examine the girl's eyelids. He could have sworn that they fluttered slightly-
The girl's eyes shot open, and she socked him in the stomach. Hard. He staggered back a couple steps, then fell on the ground.
"Oh my God, I'm so, so sorry," the girl apologized profusely. "I thought you were one of…"
"Don't mention it," White coughed. "Thank you for saving me… or at the very least, trying to save me. White Rabbit the fourth, of the Imperial Court of White Queen Mirana,"
"Well, it's good to know that you haven't lost your imagination in that punch," the girl said dryly. "Call me… Sunny," She said the word hesitantly, and White caught a strong hint of day-old almonds in the air as her words wafted by on the breeze.
Bitterness and longing, hand in hand. White wondered what Sunny had gone through to make her words smell as intense as that.
Sunny suddenly felt the back of her hair, fingers traveling over the rough ends. "Wait, what the hell happened to my… Those assholes! I'll have to get them next time!"
White shook his head. "I can't go home. Not until I find the Warrior,"
She sighed. "Fair enough. Come on, kid, you must be starving," As if on cue, White's stomach growled loud enough to make any self-respecting jabberwock tremble.
Sunny strode down the alley, not bothering to slow down for White. "Where are you going… hey, wait for me!" he called, running to catch up.
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The fire sent up small sparks into the starless night sky as Sunny threw her jagged locks into the center, her hair now in a wavy blue bob ending just right below her shoulders.
White stared into the dancing flames, mesmerized. "In Wonderland-" he started to say.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I've heard you say this about a dozen times by now." She switched to a mocking falsetto. "'In Wonderland, the air is cleaner, and it smells like lushberry trees! In Wonderland, having blue hair is a sign of mutiny against the queen! In Wonderland-'"
"I get it," White scowled. "Is there any food in this ungodly place?"
Sunny ducked into the ramshackle tent of waterproof cloth and pulled out a can of baked beans. "Put it near the fire. Wait for it to heat up, grab it with the mitt, and bang it on the wall until you dent it. Capiche?"
White took the can hesitantly, turning it around and around in his hand. "How do I even know if I could trust you? Is Sunny even your real name?"
Sunny's eyes gleamed dangerously, and for a second, it looked like she was debating hitting him with her hockey stick. Then she sighed and mumbled something indecipherable, fidgeting with the laces of her black combat boots.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" White asked, confused.
She looked up. "Alice. My name is Alice,"