She had to get out of there. The dance studio was giving her the creeps. Casting one last glance at the mirror, she found her own worried face peering back at her. Hers, not that mirror-being's. Instead of comforting her, however, it only rattled her further.

Sunny found her as she left the room and began heading back towards the music video set. “Yoong! Where have you been? We’ve been looking for you for almost an hour! Let’s go! The director’s really mad.” She grabbed Yoona by the arm and began dragging her along.

An hour? That was impossible! She had only been in the room for less than ten minutes!

“Where did you go? We couldn’t find you anywhere! We looked in the changing rooms, the recording studio, the bathrooms…” Sunny gesturing wildly as she listed off some of the places they’d searched.

“I was just in that dance studio,” Yoona replied, pointing back at the room she’d come from. The older girl gave her an incredulous look and Yoona’s stomach clenched uneasily. “What?”

“Yoona. There’s nothing there.” Sunny pointed behind her and Yoona slowly turned around. The door she had just exited through was nothing but a blank wall.

“I…” Yoona shook her head. That was impossible. It had to be a mistake, she knew there was a dance studio there!

But the complete certainty on Sunny’s face overpowered the confusion swirling in Yoona’s mind and she smiled uneasily, hoping to appease her fellow bandmate. “Right. Sorry. I guess I was confused. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Hey.” Sunny stopped walking and grabbed Yoona by the shoulder. “Is something wrong? You’ve been acting strange all day.”

Yoona shook her head quickly. “It’s nothing.”

Sunny stared at her for so long, Yoona felt uncomfortable and exposed in her strapless white dress. “You can tell us anything. You know that, right?”

Yoona nodded, but when Sunny looked at her expectantly, she just smiled and shook her head. “Thanks, Sunny. I appreciate it, really. But there’s nothing to say. I’m having a bad day. That’s it.” Sunny looked disappointed, but she didn’t press the issue as they returned to the set. Yoona felt bad seeing Sunny pout, but this wasn’t something she could tell the other girls about.

She couldn’t afford to let them think she was losing her mind. It would be so easy to get rid of her then…

She found the others all dressed in formal wear as well, the black crystal she was supposed to pick up carefully placed in the middle of the set. None of the girls looked particularly bothered that she’d disappeared for an hour, although Yuri cast her a curious glance.

“There you are, Yoona,” the director said, frowning slightly as she bowed and mumbled an apology. “Alright, alright, that’s enough. Places everyone! Let’s begin.”

As Yoona headed towards her spot at the side of the set, she heard a soft gasp as a familiar voice slipped through the door of the studio.

“I’m late!”

Was that…?

“Yoona!” She jolted to find the director frowning at her again. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, sir,” she said promptly.

“And…action!”

Yoona began walking slowly towards the center of the set, emphasizing every step. It was completely embarrassing to have every eye, every camera focused on just her. Her heels crunched against the sand as her long skirt trailed behind her. She had to stop and restart several times so they could film her dress, her shoes, her face. She paused, as if just noticing the jewel.

It took several takes to get the proper angle of her bending down and picking up the gem. As she straightened up for the close up shot of her staring blankly into the crystal, she gasped and dropped it in shock.

Mirror-Yoona had appeared in one of the facets of the fake gem, glaring at her. She looked irritated that Yoona hadn’t listened to her earlier (why would she? It was nothing but her reflection!), but she also seemed…worried. She was genuinely frightened of something.

“Yoona, what’s the matter?” asked the director as Yuri rushed towards her.

“Yoong, did you hurt yourself?” the older girl asked anxiously.

“No, it’s just…I…” My reflection is talking to me and she wants me to do something, but I can’t figure out what. Yeah, that would work really well.

“I’m fine,” she insisted as Yuri grabbed her hands and began inspecting them.

She glanced over at the door, just in time to see the figure in the red waistcoat rush past the window. He’d showed up when she first started seeing things…he must be connected to whatever was happening to her!

Yoona tore away from Yuri, ignoring her friend’s startled cry and raced out the door, pausing only to remove her heels. The figure, seeing her give chase, let out a surprised squeak and dashed away from her.

“Stop!” she hollered. There was no way she was letting him get away from her, not after everything that had happened. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now.

She tripped over her skirt as she darted around a corner.

"Stupid dress,” she muttered, bunching up her train in one hand and continuing after the creature. The figure paused slightly, casting an unreadable glance over his shoulder and dropped open.

“Ryeowook…”

The moment she said his name, she knew that it couldn’t be him. Ryeowook wouldn’t wear something that old-fashioned, not even if they were currently shooting for “Opera.” He wouldn’t carry around a tacky accessory like that pocketwatch- he preferred strange but cute things, like that Mario phone cover.

And her oppa definitely didn’t have long white bunny ears.

A rabbit?

She only slowed for a moment, before resuming her chase. Whoever he was, she needed to talk to him.

She followed him down long winding corridors that she was sure she’d never seen before. Snatches of familiar songs- “Pinocchio”, “Keep Your Head Down”, “Mama”- drifted through the closed doors and she ducked her head and ran faster. She didn’t want any of her labelmates to see her acting this bizarrely. She dreaded returning to the other members of her group and explaining her actions. Could she even explain them to herself?

And had the building always been this big? She felt as if she’d been running for hours. Occasionally, the rabbit creature would pause and glance back, only to take off again It was as if he was expecting her to follow him…like he was leading her into-

The ground opened up beneath his feet and Ryeo-rabbit disappeared into the hole. Carried by her own momentum, Yoona tumbled into it after him.

- a trap.

Down she fell, shrieking all the way. She couldn’t see the rabbit creature below her, even though she was tumbling head over heels in this empty space. Damn everything, why had she followed him at all? Why hadn’t she stayed behind and finished her stupid shoot?

And suddenly, she was upright, the train of her dress acting as a drag parachute. She was floating, not falling, through the hole, allowing her to get a good glimpse of her surroundings. She wasn’t in a hole, she was in a tunnel of some sort. Red and black checkboard patterns adorned the walls, with symbols interspersed among the squares. Suits…they were card suits. Hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs-

Something grabbed Yoona’s bare foot and yanked her downwards.

And then she saw the toys.

A frayed jumprope flew up past her, followed by a cracked rubber ball. A handful of jacks came next, flying up at her head and she ducked and shielded her face with her arms. When she lowered them again, she found herself sinking in a whirlwind of useless toys. A ripped teddy bear, the stuffing sagging out its belly; a half-finished puzzle, the remaining pieces missing; a doll with a cracked face.

The last one made her shiver slightly, especially when the doll’s head turned and its wide, beady eyes fixated on her. I used to have a toy like that…

A large box with a handle drifted towards her, the handle turning around and around on its own. Yoona shivered and struggled to back away, but the box came closer and closer, its haunting melody pulsating in the hollow space.

“Jack and Jill went up a hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown-”

The lid popped open and the Jack-in-the-box exploded in Yoona’s face. She screamed, but before she could get a good look at it, the mysterious force yanked her down again.

“And Jill came tumbling after…”

How long had she been falling for? Hours? If her ten minute stay in the “dance studio” had been an hour in real time, she must have been gone for days by now. Were the other girls worried about her? Were they looking for her? She hoped they were, even though they probably couldn’t find her. She shuddered at the sudden chill that ran up her spine, and wrapped her arms around herself.

How far down does the rabbit hole go?

The tunnel seemed pleased that she’d asked that question and she soon found her feet touching solid ground. Her knees buckled in shock and she pitched forward onto her hands. When she looked up, all she saw was darkness. Was the entrance really that far away?

But none of that mattered when a flash of white passed by, racing ahead of her- a fluffy white cotton tail and a red waistcoat- the rabbit!

“Hey!” she yelled, surprised to find her voice crack, as if she hadn’t used it in ages. Maybe she hadn’t? The creature never turned around and she staggered forward a few steps. It was no use, her legs were too tired to carry her after floating for so long. Desperate, she called out the only name she could connect to that sweet, boyish face. “Ryeowook! Ryeowook, come back!”

The rabbit creature stiffened and stopped running, turning towards her slowly. Yoona murmured a thanks as her knees gave away again. He hopped forward cautiously, as if he expected her to attack at any moment. She couldn’t attack if she wanted to and she attempted to placate him by holding out her empty hands. This seemed to satisfy the rabbit, since he approached, though he maintained enough distance to give himself a good head start in case he needed to escape.

“What did you call me?” he asked, nose twitching nervously. 

Now that the creature was face-to-face with her, she could finally see what he really was. He was definitely a rabbit, there was no doubt about that, but the face was unmistakably Ryeowook’s. He had the same high cheekbones that made him look like a small child and the same gentle eyes, though the tip of his nose was rounder than she remembered. When he spoke, she could see his buckteeth which she was sure Ryeowook didn’t have, even though the voice sounded so much like her oppa’s. This was Ryeowook…but it wasn’t.

“What did you call me?” the creature insisted with an impatience that Ryeowook never had.

“I called you Ryeowook,” she managed hesitantly. Of all the things she’d expected to see, a giant rabbit was pretty far down on her list…

“What’s that?” asked the creature, shifting his weight from one paw (paw, not foot) to the other.

“Isn’t that your name?” she asked.

The creature narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you stupid, Alice? Don’t you remember me? I’m the White Rabbit!”

Yes, he certainly was a white rabbit, but now, it was Yoona’s turn to be confused. “What did you call me?”

“Alice! Alice! Oh, I don’t have time to play your stupid games, I’m late!” He turned to dash off again, but Yoona lunged forward and grabbed his waistcoat.

“Ryeo- Rabbit, please, just tell me what’s going on,” she practically pleaded. She didn’t want to die alone at the bottom of a rabbit hole. Rude as this creature was, he was still company.

The White Rabbit faltered slightly and he peered down at her, even as one furry paw pried his coat from her grasp. “You’re not the Alice?”

“No, I'm Yoona!” she protested, though she had a feeling that she hadn’t answered the question at all. Yoona was a name; the Alice was something different…perhaps a title of some sort?

The rabbit quivered slightly. “But…you have to be The Alice! Everything is topsy turvy and upside down and you have to be the Alice, because every time things go bad, the Alice comes along and saves us, but-”

“Hey, hey, calm down!” Yoona held up her hands, trying to calm the frantic creature. “What do you mean by bad?”

At this, Ryeowook let out a terrified squeal and clapped both paws over his mouth. “I’ve said too much!” he gasped. Then he glanced at his pocketwatch (which, Yoona now noticed, was broken, the face smashed in and the hands lying still) and jumped yet again. “I’m late!” He hopped up and down in agitation for a few moments before whispering, “The Queen seeks you!”

And with that, he was gone, leaving Yoona alone at the bottom of the rabbit hole.