Kyungsoo stirred to his senses. He stood at the edge of a large field, the grass trimmed down to artificial green stubble. There was no natural beauty to be found. His arms were suppressed by a hooded figure on either side, pinning him against the hedge. Across the field, he could see Jongin restrained in the same manner. Minseok and Tao were held on adjacent sides of the field. Little wooden arches dotted the grass. In the center, the anonymous hooded figures stood in a circle facing outwards. They parted, revealing a figure in the center. Kyungsoo squinted to see a blonde head displaying the smirk of a spoiled princess.

“Welcome, boys. I see the unruly children have finally been caught. Now, if I was a cruel king, I may have just boiled you all in that little bronze kettle of yours,” the young man gave a nasty laugh, “Instead, I shall strike a reasonable deal. I would just like someone to play a nice, clean game of croquet with me. These guys can be a bit dull to play with,” the king pulled the hood off one of the figures. Kyungsoo gasped. There was no visible head to be found. The king reached into the empty cloak, and pulled out a glowing, still-beating heart.

“Now, you see, I’m not so merciless as to kill and behead all of Wonderland’s delinquents. No, they’re all still very much alive.” Kyungsoo nearly choked.

“You boys are all unbelievably fortunate that I’m even bothering to negotiate with you,” the King tossed the heart up and down in his hand a few times before planting it back into the cloak and pulling the hood over a non-existent head.

“All I’m asking for is a game of croquet,” the King grinned.

“That’s it? What happens if we lose?” Jongin asked. The king turned to face him.

“Ah, you get right to the point. Glad to know you think I’m not just some simpleton who enjoys watching people have everything important chopped from their lives,” the King shot a glance at Kyungsoo.

“You four play a match of croquet against me. Four-on-one. The odds stacked in your favor. Victory earns you freedom. Loss costs Bambi-eyes his head.” At that, Jongin erupted.

“Why Kyungsoo! Why not me?! He’s innocent, I’m a bootlegger and a revolutionary!” he screamed.

“That’s very noble of you to confess your wrongdoings. I commend your honesty. However, you are of no threat to me. I have ears all over, so I am always prepared to intercept. This one, however, is a threat to the balance of the land. I admit I don’t exactly know what it is, but it cannot be ignored. You need to be out of the way as soon as possible so the strongest leader can remain in control,” the king waved away Jongin’s emotional outburst.

“Luhan,” Tao barely managed a whisper in his weakened state, but his words carried far enough for everyone on the field to hear.

“Ge-ge, you know full well who was set to be in control. You may have stripped the portrait off the wall, the crown off my head, and the life out of our parents, but destiny and the people involved have a funny way of retaliating.” Kyungsoo’s mouth fell open, but he found it even more surprising that his and Minseok’s were the only ones that had.

“You’ve become so pathetic, drunk on power and tea,” Tao gave a weak, sad laugh.

“Cheshire Cat, have you finally lost it? Look at you, barely able to stand. And you’re trying to call me drunk. I’ll be nice and allow you the first . Come stand next to me and take a shot,” the Red King beckoned him over, the nasty smirk on his face once more. The hooded guards released him, and he immediately fell to his knees.

“What, are you scared? Come closer,” Luhan jeered. Tao crawled through the grass, and Kyungsoo turned away in disgust. He couldn’t stand to watch the king relish in his friend’s humiliation. When he reached the king’s feet, a mallet was into his hand, and a blue ball thrown at his face.

“What are you trying to do?! Let me take the first hit! I’m the one at stake after all!” Kyungsoo pleaded, but Luhan disregarded his words, still grinning down at a pitiful Tao. Kyungsoo roared in frustration, and almost didn’t catch the sound of leaves rustling behind him. A familiar fragrance hung in the air. The hooded arms disappeared for a moment, and renewed their clutch with a more human quality.

“It’s us Alice, we’re here to save you!” a dumb and all-too-familiar husky voice whispered in his right ear. No one else on the field had noticed anything. The two tall guards dangled Kyungsoo between them and marched over to the king.

“Red Guards, what are you doing? I haven’t given you any commands,” he began to look a bit frightened. Kyungsoo seized the opportunity.

“That’s right, King, I guess I’m in power now,” Kyungsoo attempted his best at a menacing smirk, or at least as menacing as someone with his face could manage.

“W-what are you talking about? Stop playing around!” Luhan’s voice rose in pitch.

“Guards, release me!” Kyungsoo commanded them, and the “guards” did, assuming a stern position on either side of him.

“You see, this is my domain now!” Kyungsoo cackled and raised his hands to the sky. Jongin stifled a laugh over Luhan’s shoulder.

“If you really have so much power, then kill me.” Kyungsoo blinked at the king’s gutsy command.

Kyungsoo motioned towards the sky, but the imposter guards on either side did nothing. However, the other guards had relinquished their hold on the prisoners. A vicious cawing came from the sky, and a large bird with Jongin’s hat in its beak descended onto the field.

“Who let that thing out?!” Luhan shrieked.

“Are you still in doubt of my powers?” Kyungsoo gave another wild laugh. Luhan fell limp and fainted. The two guards seized the King and dragged him towards the starved-looking bird.

“No, stop. We can’t kill him,” Tao wheezed.
“Why ever not?” the tall guard that sounded like Kris asked, his emotionless voice unsettling.

“That would be stooping to his level. For my family’s honor, what little of it we have left, please, let him live,” Tao begged.

“Well, tell that to the hungry Do-Do!” the Chanyeol-sounding guard panicked, dropping the king on top of the weakened man. Tao picked up a croquet ball with a trembling hand, and threw it in the bird’s direction. It stopped charging to give the blue ball a curious look. Kris straightened up.

“Chanyeol, you can’t play basketball in the grass, right?” he asked.
“No…” Chanyeol moved towards the ball, seemingly picking up on Kris’s idea.

“But you can play soccer.”

“Kris, this is croquet.”
“I have no idea what that is.”

“To be honest, me neither. Shoot me a pass!” Chanyeol ran to the other side, taking the Do-Do’s attention off the King. Kris kicked to him, and the bird tore in Chanyeol’s direction. He passed to Jongin, who passed to Minseok. And as the bird ran around the field in confusion, a curious thing began to happen. Other guards around the field moved forward and intercepted the ball. A small, frenzied match had begun.

The fugitives quietly eased away from the action, abandoning the unconscious Luhan. Kris hoisted Tao over his shoulder, and they pressed through the brush into darkness. Kyungsoo pushed on until he thought his lungs would collapse. There was the familiar tug again. When Kyungsoo opened his eyes, he fell back into something soft and green. Sunlight streamed through the tall stalks of grass, and pale daisies skirted his vision.

“Tao! Tao?! You did well, we’re here! You got us all the way here!” Jongin shouted, roughly shaking a limp Tao. Kyungsoo sat up.

“What’s wrong with Tao?” he asked in a worried tone.

“Nothing’s wrong, I just want this buffoon to stop shaking me before my spine snaps and I actually die,” Tao muttered, and Jongin dropped him back into the grass.

“We did just kind of save your life, you know,” Jongin said to Tao, who played with his tail with an empty look.

“So, this is where it all started.” Kyungsoo looked around the field. White clouds made their slow, sailing way through a darkening blue sky, the chirping cicadas announcing evening’s arrival.

“Welcome to our home,” said Kris.

“You sleep in a field?” Jongin asked. Kris shook his head.
“No, what are we, crazy?” He lifted up a trap door, concealed under the grass.

“Welcome to our hideout, fugitives.”

A flight of stairs led into an underground home. Laundry was strung up on ropes over a bed just big enough for a small group of people under the stairs. A dingy kitchen was littered with tableware. They ate a hearty dinner of soggy beans, heated over a rusty fireplace. After a few pints from Kris’s tea storage and some lively discussion, they piled into bed with soiled clothes and twigs in their hair. Kyungsoo was wedged uncomfortably between Jongin and Tao.

Chanyeol and Minseok fell asleep first. Their loud snores filled the burrow, followed by Tao and Kris’s loud breathing. But no matter how tightly Kyungsoo closed his eyes, slumber wouldn’t come. He felt Jongin stir against his arm.

“Can’t sleep?” he whispered.

“No, you either?” Kyungsoo whispered back. He heard Jongin shake his head against the pillow.

“When was the last time you slept in Wonderland anyway?” Jongin asked. Kyungsoo’s thoughts came to a pause.

“You know what, I actually can’t remember the last time I’ve been unconscious…the strange thing is I can’t fall asleep here, but it’s not like I grow fatigued either. Like I’m asleep and awake at the same time. You know, Tao said you had a way to get out of Wonderland…”

“Kyungsoo.”

“Yes?”

“Think. Think backwards, from the time you landed in the field. What do you remember?” Kyungsoo backtracked through the blurry mess of his mind. Nothing significant turned up.

One of the pans teetering in the kitchen sink came crashing to the floor in a loud collision of metal. Jongin Kyungsoo’s hair, and he could vaguely smell the blood on his hands.

“Crash…Blood…Jongin.” Kyungsoo shot up in bed.

“Kyungsoo, what is it?” asked a concerned-sounding Jongin.

“N-nothing.”

“Please, tell me.”

“First, you have to tell me what it is between you and Tao.”

“Kyungsoo.”

“Please.” Jongin sighed, a faint melancholy hanging on his breath. Kyungsoo lay back on his chest to listen.

“I can tell you.” Jongin jumped when someone else’s voice told the tale.

Tao told him of the former Wonderland, when it was ruled by the King and Queen of Hearts. Although the queen had a bit of an ill temper, she was nonetheless graceful to her subjects. They tried to have kids for many years, and were overjoyed when they finally had a son, Luhan. They were devastated upon discovering he had a serious heart defect.

The king turned out to not be the great leader everyone considered him to be when his affair with the lady of the wealthy Cheshire family resulted in the birth of another son. The queen was devastated, but they kept their strained relationship behind the scenes, adopting the son as their own. The affair was kept silent in order to have a healthy heir to the throne.

Everyone knew the royal family had an heir, but the fact that there were two sons was hidden from the public. The two boys were friends for many years, and their parents treated both sons with equal love and affection. It was when they hit the age of seventeen that they were told of their family’s dark past. Luhan wasn’t expected to live much longer, and plans were set to have Tao inherit the throne. Luhan refused this fate, and with a new hatred of his parents, sought to overthrow them, and hired an assassin.

Kyungsoo could feel Jongin’s chest heaving.

“I think the Hatter can tell us the rest.”

~~~

The figure in the bed was small, and peaceful breathing filled the chamber. He knew the red would take a while to get off as he wiped it on the sides of his pants.

“Just one more of them…and I’ll have freed us all,” he smirked to himself. His blood boiled with the idea of revolution. The blonde, older boy had promised it with a smile.

The grip on his pocketknife tightened the closer he got to the sleeping boy. He wouldn’t look away this time, he would be brave. He edged close enough to discern features, and gasped when a black, furry ear twitched in his direction. His serene and defenseless position exposed his slim neck, and it was all too easy to do the deed. But his grip had already begun to loosen. You can do this. You’ve already gotten the other two, just get this one and the kingdom is saved. He thought back to how eagerly the blonde boy had wanted the throne. Just do it. But he was still hovering over the boy, still drowning any feelings of pity or doubt.

“Did you know that cats are always attentive, even when they sleep?” He had mistaken the whisper for his own thoughts, and panic bubbled to the surface when a toothy smile affirmed his fears. His cheek met the stone wall. A sharp pain shot through his arm, now pinned to his back.

“I’ve been training for this for years, I hoped it’d never come to this,” the boy gave a bitter laugh, his voice riddled with tears.

“You’ve messed with the wrong family.” There was an unpleasant crack, and Jongin let out an anguished cry as his arm dropped limply to his side. He fell to the floor, pure red pain beating at the edge of his vision. He lay on the ground, resigning himself to his failure as a cowardly hero. His ears pounded with his leftover adrenaline so loudly that he almost didn’t hear the other boy’s screams.

“Actually, I would say he’s messed with the right one.”

He weakly turned his neck to see the blonde boy holding two glowing red lumps. He could almost swear they were beating. The cat boy fell to the floor in choking gasps, as the blonde plunged the larger one into his chest, and stomped the other into a fine dust on the floor.

“I may have been weak, but not powerless. And now thanks to my little assistant’s handiwork, I have two new helpers. Maybe now I can grow my collection. Guards, throw them out.” Jongin saw two cloaked figures enter the room, and felt his feet leave the ground. In between the times he out, he felt poking branches. An icy shock renewed his senses, and he thrashed about in the torrents of the river. A large splash sounded nearby.

The tips of his raven black ears had disappeared past the surface, his bubbling breaths the only sign of a cry for help. With his one good arm, he hooked an arm under the boy. He should have known something was wrong the moment he’d agreed to the deed, the moment the blonde boy’s face had contorted in malicious glee.

The boy’s face was peaceful, but there were still signs that he clung onto life. He kicked his legs madly, trying his best to keep the other boy’s head above water until he felt pebbly shore.

The warmth of his tears mixed with the cold river water dripping from his bangs.

“I’m so, so sorry. I was wrong. I was naïve. I know you’re not in any state to forgive me, hell, I don’t think you will ever be, but just know I’ll bear this regret forever.” Jongin built up a fire as best as he could to dry out the unconscious boy’s clothes. Using his jacket as a sling for his broken arm and finding a long branch for the other, he abandoned forgiveness and set off into the night.

~~~

Kyungsoo hadn’t breathed for a good minute. Now he knew why Tao was reduced to a wreck around Luhan. Why he could never look Jongin straight in the eye.

“You’re a murderer,” Kyungsoo sat up, backing away.

“Kyungsoo, please.”

The memory of swerving headlights burned bright in his memory, almost as bright as the lights themselves. The world spun around him the way it had that night. A loud siren whistled in his ears and his pounding heart was accompanied by loud beeps. He landed on the floor, pinned down by a great force. The edges of his vision grew black…

~~~

“Please! You have to do something!”

“You could have done something when you decided to go straight for my son!”

“Ma’am, he was heading right for me! There was no other way I could go! Please, just one more chapter!”

“You have until daybreak.”

~~~

Kyungsoo awoke to see five faces peering at him over the edge of the bed, concern spelled on their features. Seeing the dirt ceiling above him, he realized he was still in the Tweedles’ underground burrow. Scrambling to his feet, he ran out of there, out of the field and through the same path he had parted in the grass just days earlier.

He heard shouts of protest behind him, begging his return, but he plowed on. The only person to blame was also the answer. He was still alive. He knew what he needed to do. He needed to get back to his life, but the only way to do that was through death.

“I’ll get there by daybreak.”