chapter one ; messenger

Here, in Wonderland, things are never what they seem. And a lot of the time, you can get lost because you find yourself where you have never been, but always were.

Yes, Wonderland is a wonderful place for riddles as well.

You were lounging on a tree branch beside Tao, your best friend. You were reading a book while Tao was sleeping. It was a peaceful day, with absolutely nothing to do.

That is, until someone came and interrupted the peace. "Ari!" you heard. "Yah! Moon Ari!"

You looked over the side of the branch, down at the ground. Byun Baekhyun was standing there, looking up at the tree. He smiled when he saw you peek down. "Ari!"

"What?"

"Chanyeol wants to see you."

You tilted your head. "Why?"

"He said he had something very important to tell you."

"It doesn't matter what that guy says, he always says it's quite important. Last time he did this he wanted to tell me a joke that he was too busy laughing at to tell me the punchline to. And Tao would know if there was something really important that I needed to know about. Right, Tao?" You looked at your sleeping friend, kicking him lightly.

He blinked lazily at you. "Of course I would." He yawned, then showed off his wide grin. "And there is."

"And what would that be?"

He stretched, cracking his neck. "Wouldn't you rather have the suspense and have Chanyeol tell you? Everyone likes some suspense."

You sighed, shutting your book. "Fine, fine." You moved your skirts around, getting ready to jump off the high branch. Tao just disappeared off to somewhere. You would find him later.

Baekhyun held out his arms with a grin. "I'll catch you Ari~" he sang. His eyes looked a bit wild. He must not have had tea for more than half an hour. The guy was addicted to the stuff.

You rolled your eyes but jumped off, landing safely in the circle of his arms. Baekhyun hooked his arm in yours then continued to the Road of Directions, going to the left and down the path where Chanyeol, his, and D.O.'s house was.

As usual, everyone was out for tea. It was always teatime here, because of one of Chanyeol's anscestors. The story was the Hatter was quite good friends with Time. So good, that Time would slow down or speed up for him. But at the Red Queen's birthday party, Hatter sang, and was off-key. So the queen yelled, "Stop him! He's killing the time!" So Time got upset and made it so the Hatter and all of his descendents would be stuck at teatime.

D.O. was dozing off, as usual. Chanyeol was laughing to himself, one eye slightly smaller than the other as he clapped like a baby seal. Then his head snapped up. "Ah! Baekhyun! Ari! There you are!"

You sat down next to Chanyeol. "So what did you have to tell me?"

"Would you like some tea, Ari?"

"No thank you. Chanyeol. What did you have to tell me?" you repeated.

He blinked at you, tilting his head. Then he flashed you his mad grin. "I'll tell you if you say 'Oppa~ Tell me please~' cutely."

You sighed. He had a thing for your aegyo, or aegyo in general. But you knew he wouldn't tell you unless you did it. You put your hands to your face. "Oppa~ Tell me please~"

He burst out in laughter again, as did Baekhyun. D.O. startled awake, then joined into the laughter, though he didn't know exactly what he was laughing about.

"Okay," gave in Chanyeol, still grinning. He opened his mouth, then stopped. He blinked his wide eyes a few times. "Wait. What was the important thing?"

"Must not have been important if you forgot it," D.O. wisely said.

"Perhaps it was about the kings?" a voice asked out of nowhere. No one was surprised to see Tao suddenly floating back behind the table, head on his arms.

"Oh yeah!" Chanyeol said. "It was about the kings! Ari, both the kings are needing queens soon!" He nodded twice. "Before their birthday!"

The White and Red kings were brothers who had the same birthday, and kind of hated each other. Every year on their birthday, they'd both have balls. It was rather amusing, actually. To see which ball got more guests. Usually it was the White King's--Kai.

Kai was kind, patient, and attractive.

The Red King, Kris, was just the opposite. He was rude, crude, loud, cold, and liked to threaten people.

The only thing was, the two were odd. Who celebrates their birthday instead of their unbirthday anyway? Weird kings...

You cleared your throat, and accepted the tea Baekhyun held out to you. "So? What's your point?"

Chanyeol smiled. "How many girls are there in Wonderland, Ari?"

"Uh...not that many. Maybe one hundred?"

"And how many of them are unmarried, under the age of thirty, yet over the age of sixteen?"

Your hand froze where it was on your teacup. "One." You looked at Chanyeol. "Me."

That much was true. There hadn't been a girl born in Wonderland for the past three years. Most of the females here were into their early hundreds too.

You frowned. "So you're saying, I have to be queen?"

Chanyeol nodded. "Isn't that wonderful?"

"No!" you fumed, clanging the teacup down. That simple action sent Baekhyun into a fit of laughter. "Why would I want to be queen?! Especially if I would have to marry that pompous, thick-skulled, selfish, mean, cruel--"

"Who's pompous, thick-skulled, selfish, mean, and cruel?" asked Chen, who popped out of nowhere. Chen was the Lord of the Red Kingdom, the first cousin of both Kris and Kai, though he was kind.

You rolled your eyes. "Your cousin."

He chuckled. "Kris ge? I agree with you on that one. Anyway, he asked me to bring you to the Red Palace."

"Why?"

He grinned crookedly. "Why else Ari? To talk to you about to things. One, the ball. Two, his plans for his future queen."

"Do I have to go?"

"Afraid so." He held out his arm. "Wouldn't want to lose your head, would you?"

As if. Though Kris always yelled, "OFF WITH THEIR HEAD!" when someone made him mad, nobody's head had ever actually been lost. He was all talk.

With a sigh, you took Chen's arm, letting him help you onto his horse, your skirts carefully gathered to the side. He hopped on in front of you, grabbing your arms and wrapping them around his waist. You looked at your best friend. "Tao, you coming?"

He grinned. "No. I'd like to take a cat nap, if that's okay with you. I'll see you later Ari. Do have fun at the idiot's palace though. Piss him off a few times for me." Tao's eyes flashed yellow.

You chuckled and nodding, gripping onto Chen's waist as he rode off towards the large red castle in the distance.

AUTHOR'S NOTES; Well, I originally planned for this to be a Kris/You/Tao fic. But thinking of the storyline, I think it's best if Kai's more of the main than Tao. But Tao will still be a main.

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