#vi . 𝖗𝖊𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖕𝖘 > . . . 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒 ( 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒 )

[offwithhxrhead]

" hi grandma . . . hi grandpa . . . and hi , aunt lizzie . "

the young woman kneels in front of the gravesite of her extended family -- her mother's family , that is . never got to meet them while they were living , but since this was part of their family trip to england , they all decided a trip to their final resting places would be a good stop .

it's hard , seeing her mother in such a vulnerable state . to see her struggling to get any words out between broken sobs , trying to give the family an update on how they're all doing . not that it would do any good , maddie thought . sure , if her father is right , and there is a land of the dead , they'd be happy living their undead lives below , but they still wouldn't hear her . better to keep that thought to herself , though .

after the tearful monologue from her mother and the good wishes from victor , madeline stayed by the graves , asking for a bit of privacy for her piece .

so here she is , unsure of how or even where to start . " i . . . god , i don't even know what i'm doing , " she admits , tucking a strand of hair behind her ear . " even if you could hear me , which i'm pretty sure you can't , i don't even know what to tell you guys . my life has been both amazing and a disaster , and i'm not even sure you want to stay that long to hear it .

" i dunno , i wish i could actually talk to you guys . to actually meet the people who gave mum such a good life before it was wrongly taken from her . i mean , if i could travel down there just like dad did , i'd probably have more to say . . . whatever , i hope you all are partying hard down there . "

madeline stands , and turns her back , but not before she hears a gentle whoosh , the coldness of the source pricking at her skin . her parents are back at the car by now , but she can't help but turn around to find-

a corpse standing behind her .

@thevalicemultiverse

[offwithhxrhead]

maddie claps in excitement , before she stops to think what exactly they should sing together . " no , no , i'll pick . . . it's just a matter of what genre ! "

she sits in thought for a little bit , before she points at alice , " musical theatre ? "

🎵 . for alice to sing to/with maddie uwu

"I'm not particularly musical, but I will do my best to carry a tune for you," Alice tells Madeline with a smile. "Did you have a song in mind, or did you want me to pick?"

[offwithhxrhead]

out on the streets of santa monica once more .

the newly-turned and recruited camarilla fledgling sits curled up in an oversized jacket , feigning pain as she waits for a certain malkavian to come across her .

it's madeline's mission from the prince and the beloved voermans . become friends with another new vampire , lead her to the ankharan sarcophagus , have her bring it to lacroix , then kill her . simple enough , right ?

cuts and bruises that are self-inflicted litter maddie's pale skin , and she groans performatively to try to get the attention of the other vampire . said vampire , however , is nowhere to be found at the moment .

she sits up straight , cutting the bullshit for a while as she waits for the sound of the other malkavian . she's not sure she can even remember her name . . . alex ? amelia ? no , that's not even close .

she hears footsteps coming down the alleyway she's occupying , and quickly begins her charade once more , this time a bit more convincingly . her eyes drift up to her target , eyes welling with faux tears .

" p-please . . . help me , i-i need your help , " she shudders , wrapping the jacket tighter around her slender frame . " it's the voermans . . . they're after me - ! "

@thevalicemultiverse

[offwithhxrhead]

" again! "

madeline rises to her feet , brushing off the dust from her dress . she takes a deep breath as alice demands to give the fight another go . readying herself , maddie rushes forward , wielding the playing cards , and quickly throws a few at her mother .

they've been at it for the past hour , with alice being very adamant on teaching her daughter to fight , though madeline's not too sure why . she's never really talked to her about what wonderland put her through in the past ; all she's ever really said was she " faced her demons . "

as she's lost in thought , her mother is already on her next move , knocking maddie back with her attack . she growls in frustration , and summons the jacks , tossing them at alice's feet . " okay , seriously ? this is so not fair ! "

@thevalicemultiverse

[offwithhxrhead]

it's a normal day and alice has asked her daughter to go for a little walk around the town . putting on a more " decent " dress , as her grandmother would say , madeline quickly rushes down the stairs to meet her mother . " alright , i'm ready ! " she reassures , knowing alice has been waiting for quite a while .

they head outdoors , making their way through town . the two spend this time speaking about whatever comes to mind , usually about wonderland . it's not until madeline clumsily runs into another woman on the pavement that she quickly apologizes , and suddenly . . .

she's lost for words . the woman before her smiles politely , accepting her apology and telling her there's " no worries . " she makes another comment about how she wasn't watching where she was going , and needs to get her nose out of her book , anyways .

maddie continues to stare at the woman , stammering a bit before her mother whisks her away from an awkward conversation .

@thevalicemultiverse

[offwithhxrhead]

she's done it.

no, they've done it.

they've both made it through their journey. beginning with alice "rescuing" maddie from the voermans, then through many wild goose chases, missions, favors, all of the above. they've traveled throughout the greater los angeles area, and ended up here, on top of the lacroix tower, where alice finally has taken down the sheriff.

madeline watches his corpse fall down, down below, crashing onto the pavement. she stares at him for a while, giggling to herself. everything's going according to plan, she thinks, her giggling slowly evolving into full-blown laughter. soon i'll join you, sheriff.

she turns to alice, smiling wide. she gives a slow clap, walking away from the edge towards her new foe. " you've done it! " she congratulates, allowing her arms to fall to her sides. suddenly, her fingers look a lot more claw-like and her eyes burn with excitement. " however, your fight is nowhere near over, alice. "

maddie gestures with her head to a sudden bright light, then just as she looks away...

she's gone.

@thevalicemultiverse

[offwithhxrhead]

@thevalicemultiverse

continued from here

adelaide sighs , eyes filled with tears . she quickly wipes them away , before continuing on . " alice , i love you . i've loved you ever since you came back into my life . i don't know if i told you this , but father did not tell me you survived the fire until he notified me of your arrival here at houndsditch . so when i saw you again , for the first time , i felt genuine joy . "

she narrows her eyes , anger filling her heart . " but no . instead of seeing what's right in front of you , you'd prefer to chase after a man , a wealthy man at that , that wants nothing more than to be rid of this place . "

addie takes a breath , steadying herself . " what is it that he has that i don't have , alice ? money ? i'm getting everything from my father when he passes , it's been in his will since i can remember . i can take you away from here , just like he can . the only difference is you know me . you don't know this man , this stranger . ever since he's been here , he's done nothing but cause trouble ! "

[offwithhxrhead]

"Drabble" -- weapon! :)

she now realizes just why her father hates the darkness so much.

emerald orbs gaze at their surroundings, unable to make out much of anything given the lack of light. pale, shaking hands begin to feel around, desperate to find anything to grab hold of, just in case something or someone decides to get the jump on her. maddie is stranded, that much is sure. but where?

her eyes glance over at a tiny sliver of light, illuminating a nearby wall. she rushes over to it, hands feeling around for a doorway out of this hellhole.

it's then she hears thumping, getting louder and louder.

thump.

Thump.

ThumpThumpTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP!

a loud SCREECH fills the air, almost bursting madeline's eardrums as a huge porcelain doll comes barreling towards her. in its hands, two sharpened scissor blades. she can't help but scream as she scrambles back into the darkness, summoning her hobby horse-

wait.

where's my hobby horse? she thinks, squeezing her eyes shut and trying once again to summon it. and yet, nothing.

panic begins to set in as she realizes she can't summon her weapon. maddie whimpers as she tries again, and again, and again, with no results.

fuck! mum where the hell are you?

retreating back to the light, maddie tries to calm herself. deep breaths in and out, trying to focus on summoning like alice taught her.

but before she can try once more, an earth-shattering scream hits her ears again, breaking her concentration. the doll spots her again, rushing to her and slicing her arm. maddie shouts in pain, the gash bleeding profusely. another slice, but this time, she butterflies away from the attack, back into the darkness. the doll tauntingly sings a song, skipping its way over to maddie.

the damned thing can see in the dark?!

maddie tries to run, but to no avail. it's much bigger than she is, meaning it can cover more ground in a shorter amount of time. the doll brings the blade up with a shing! as it cuts into maddie's back.

she falls to the ground, crying out in agony. this fucking monster is just cutting away at her, and wonderland refuses to give her any aid whatsoever. there's no weapons, no metaessence, nothing. what the fuck is she supposed to do? why would wonderland do this to her?

she desperately tries to crawl away, backing herself up against a wall. she looks up, and sees nothing but black before her. that is, until a glimmer of light shines off the blade raised in front of her, before it's plunged into her stomach.

she can't see it, but she can feel the blood pouring out of her, even more so as the doll rips the blade from her torso. she coughs, and feels wetness on her cheeks and lips. with what strength she has left, she breathes in, and lets out a final scream.

"MOM!"

maddie shoots up from her bed, still screaming for her mother. it's not long before alice is rushing into her bedroom, a worried look on her face. she asks what's wrong, sitting next to her daughter, but all maddie can do is cry.

[offwithhxrhead]

madeline shakes her head , sighing . " stupid social media . i take a break for one hour , and i come back to posts ' calling me out ' for supposedly taking someone's partner from them . . . which is not true , i didn't even know the girl had a boyfriend when we slept- uh . . . kissed . " she's not sure whether or not kissing is better or worse than sleeping with the girl , but hopefully alice doesn't catch her slip-up .

" If ignorance is bliss, I must be ecstatic. " . maddie to alice :)

"People say that, and they never actually look blissful when they do,"l Alice observes. "What are you feeling ignorant about today?"

[offwithhxrhead]

madeline nods as clarence explains that a dying vow is quite powerful . " yeah , like i said : accidentally married a corpse bride . "

she continues to walk on , not even realizing that clarence has stopped in his tracks . " uhhh , yeah , the elder gutknecht . don't believe there's many others-- wait , did you say he was the author of the most famous book on magic ? "

now it's her turn to stop in her tracks as she looks back at clarence . " first of all , i just learned that magic is real . second of all , you're telling me that this magic is accessible to the living ?? like elder gutknecht wrote on this while he was still alive ?? " she's starting to feel a bit woozy now .

no matter , though . madeline has a mission !! turning back around , she beckons clarence to follow her . it's not long before they end up at her extended family's final resting places . " here we are . the liddells' graves . i figure this would be a good place to start . "

"Oooh -- so it sounds more like it was her direct force of will that did it," Clarence says, tone thoughtful. "A vow made while dying is powerful stuff, according to my research...it's almost like she accidentally laid a magical trap on her grave, honestly. And your father blundered into it without realizing it was there."

He trails after her as she starts back toward the graves she was visiting before. "I suppose that's a possibility too -- I think a lot of people take up the practice once they're -- Elder Gutknecht?!"

He stops dead. "The Elder Gutknecht?" he demands, eyes wide. "Author of the most famous book on magic in Europe? Your father met him?!"

[offwithhxrhead]

" well . . . " she starts , kicking her feet nervously . " that i'm not one hundred percent sure about . . . dad said that emily was murdered , and as she lay dying , she made a vow to marry whomever proposed to her . which , like i said earlier , he did on accident . "

she shrugs before beginning to walk back towards the liddells' final resting places . " maybe emily practiced a bit of magic in the afterlife ? i remember hearing about an elder gutknecht , if i'm not mistaken . . . "

Clarence snorts as the girl -- Madeline -- explains why she didn't introduce herself before. "Okay, that's fair," he allows. "Nice to meet you, Madeline. Again, sorry about scaring you like that, but..." He shrugs. "I got excited, is all I can say."

And then Madeline starts her story, and -- well, that didn't take long to get weird. (Hell, it was kind of weird from the moment she said that her father was apparently originally going to marry her godmother -- but one thing at a time.) "He -- how did he do that?" he asks, tapping his fingers against his arm. "I know you said before that it was an accident, but -- reviving the dead is magic, and I was under the impression that magic was supposed to be a direct force of will?" It certainly required a lot of his direct force of will to get up here in the first place!

[offwithhxrhead]

madeline can see the confusion on clarence's face as she tells him about her father's past adventure . still , she holds her ground and continues with her pleading look until he finally gives in . that is , in exchange for giving him the whole story of victor visiting the land of the dead . " that's fair , " she admits , dropping the puppy-dog look .

she realizes she hasn't properly introduced herself , and , well . . . " apologies . i was a little too caught up in fear to give my name , " she chuckles . " my name is madeline . though , my friends and family call me maddie . "

now , onto business . " my father grew up in burtonsville , born into the van dort family . and before you ask , yes , those van dorts that run the cannery .

" he and my godmother , victoria everglot , had been seeing each other for quite a while and were getting ready to marry ; however , my father is a nervous wreck most of the time , and had trouble reciting his vows during the rehearsal .

" he decided the best way to remedy this was to run into the woods and recite his vows to the trees , and , well . . . he ended up resurrecting a dead bride . "

don't worry , clarence , this is just the beginning !

Clarence nods as she explains why she ran -- okay, yes, he will give her that, having a corpse just APPEAR like he did in front of her would frighten even the most stout-hearted, he's sure. Hell, it would have frightened him while he was alive, and he knew the afterlife existed already through all his magical research! Though it is still weird to him that she's recovered so quickly...

And then she continues on, and -- hang on, her father once accidentally married a dead bride? And went down to the Land of the Dead with her?! How the hell did THAT situation come about? Clarence is reasonably certain living people cannot marry dead ones... And now she's asking to see family downstairs and giving him -- some very convincing puppy dog eyes, he will admit that. Still, she's said a LOT of confusing things in the last minute or so... "If you're willing to explain more about what happened with your father, I'll take you Downstairs with me," Clarence decides, because that seems like a fair trade. "Because I have so many questions."

And then something important occurs to him. "Actually, wait, let's start with an easy one -- what's your name? You never actually said."

[offwithhxrhead]

the young girl looks down as she continues , trying to comprehend what's being told to her . her mother is mentally ill ? does that mean she herself is , too ? she shakes her head , looking back into alice's eyes . " okay , you mentioned wonderland was burned , too , with the fire . what does that mean ? why were you forced to fight like this ? "

question after question races through madeline's mind , and her mouth is unable to keep up . as of now , she's a stammering mess ( something she gets from her father ) and she's not sure she wants to continue this conversation . what else is she going to say , that the queen of hearts is a villain ? that she had to kill some of the friends maddie knows and cherishes today ? if so , how did they come back ?

she takes a few deep breaths as an attempt to calm herself so she can continue to listen . she mumbles a quick apology , eyes locked on her twisting hands . whatever comes next , she knows she must endure in order to fully understand how to protect herself .

"Sorry, I thought it would be clearer from context -- 'catatonic' means being so traumatized and disturbed you can't even move," Alice explained. "At least, that's what it meant in my case. I just -- couldn't bring myself to deal with the world after the deaths of my family, so I laid like a lump in my bed instead. Utterly refused to engage with anyone. That's how I ended up in Rutledge -- Littlemore simply couldn't figure out how to get me out of that state, so they sent me to people who -- supposedly -- did."

"You would think so," Alice mutters, then swallows at Madeline's question about what she's been keeping secret. Oh dear, she can already feel this conversation taking a bad turn... "Unfortunately, not all hospitals are run by good, nice people. And you're right -- psychiatric as in mental illness. Because -- I wasn't exactly mentally well after the fire. The trauma sparked something off in me, and..." She sighs heavily. "I went from an imaginative, occasionally distracted child, to one that openly hallucinated, screaming at invisible terrors and -- later on -- occasionally even hurling teapots at people. Not exactly a shining example of the perfect citizen."

[offwithhxrhead]

maddie watches closely as alice struggles for a second to find her words . when she begins , she covers what she already knows . it doesn't take long for things to take , well , a darker turn . at least for a fourteen year old , that is .

" catatonic , " she repeats , feeling the word linger on her lips as she tries to decipher its meaning . she shakes her head in confusion , and looks to alice for an answer . " what . . . what does that mean , mum ? "

then there's the mention of the hospital , rutledge . she's heard that word before , usually used when her mother is upset with something . that must be the source of her bad memories , right ? " it's a hospital , though , right ? shouldn't that be a safe place ? a-and psychiatric , like for people with mental illness ? mum , what have you been keeping from me ? "

Madeline's wide-eyed look doesn't surprise Alice in the slightest -- she studiously avoids mentioning the fire, and all that came from it, if she doesn't have to. It's an important part of her past, yes, but it is an extremely painful part too. An open wound stretching across her memories that has never fully healed, despite her best efforts. Now that she's with Victor, now that she's made a family of her own, now that she's fought her way past the demons that tormented her when she was younger, she prefers to just leave it in the past as much as possible.

But it's not possible now. Not with Madeline getting older and having to fight her own battles now. Not with her daughter not fully appreciating the dangers both in the real world and in Wonderland, because -- well, Alice never told her. (But how do you tell a child some of the things she experienced when she was barely older than she was...) She needs to know -- needs to understand why her mother is pushing her so hard, wants her to be able to defend herself so much.

That doesn't make it any easier to talk about, of course. Alice swallows. "You know -- the basics. That my home burned down when I was small, and that's why you don't have another set of grandparents or an aunt on my side. But...well. The thing is, when I lost my parents and sister, I was a mere eight years old. And when you're eight, you don't always deal with loss well. Faced with the destruction of pretty much everything and everyone I'd ever loved, I just -- shut down. Retreated from the world into the darkness of my own head. I couldn't bring myself to deal with anything in reality OR Wonderland, so I just -- didn't. I was catatonic from the moment they brought me into Littlemore Hospital to treat my burns. And after a year of me just lying there, taking up a bed, not responding to anything, they decided the only thing they could do was transfer me to a different facility. Specifically, to Rutledge Psychiatric Hospital." She huffs. "Though Rutledge Asylum would have made more sense as a name, given the quality of the staff there..."

[offwithhxrhead]

madeline sits quietly , eyes widening a bit as her mother mentions the infamous fire . she's a bit shocked , to be quite honest . alice doesn't talk about the fire ever .

in fact , maddie didn't even know it happened until she was ten when she asked alice why she couldn't see her family instead of her father's . and even then , it was a short and sweet answer to end her curiosity .

she knows the basics as of now . a fire took her mother's family , and she was sent to a hospital where she stayed for a long time until she was deemed okay to leave . she knows alice doesn't like talking about it because it " brings back bad memories , " so maddie tends to leave it at that .

which is why she's surprised to see alice being so . . . vulnerable right now . maddie's mother is not the kind of person to open up , especially when it comes to her past . but there is good reason for it now , though . and surely alice's history can't be that bad . . .

right ?

Alice settles down next to Madeline, playing with the edge of her apron. "Well, beyond Hatter and his crew getting overenthusiastic during their parties. . .let me do what Caterpillar always tells me to do and start at the beginning," she says, looking off into the middle distance as she settles her thoughts. "With -- with the fire. Because it didn't just burn my family and my home -- it burned Wonderland too."

[offwithhxrhead]

" it is an emotional topic , mum . . . how the hell am i supposed to live a life feeling this way ? there's no way another woman would feel the same as i do . . . " maddie starts , sniffling .

alice's question brings a bit of comfort to her , though . having an option to talk about it or to just save it for another time really does make things a bit better . " i . . . i'd like to talk about it . i want to tell someone so maybe things will make more sense . so far , the only person who knows is her majesty , and though she's brought a little comfort , it's nothing like finally telling you . "

Alice squeezes Madeline as she cries, rubbing her back and letting her get it all out of her system. Her poor daughter -- this has been dammed up for a while, hasn't it?

"And now the floodgates have opened," Cheshire confirmed. "Just be sure to not let her get washed away."

Oh shush you -- she obviously needs this cry. I won't let her drown herself in her own tears, don't worry.

After a moment, Maddie manages to get herself at least a little under control, sitting up straight and apologizing for being so emotional. "It's fine," Alice assures her, searching around to see if she has an extra hanky or anything like that. "It's a very emotional topic, isn't it? One of those things that decides your entire future." She puts a gentle, steadying hand on Madeline's topic. "Are you up for talking more about it, or...?" She doesn't want to push her if she's not ready, but she is curious as to how deep Madeline's feelings go.