The Country of Diamonds.
Alice rolled around in bed, ruminating over that. She wasn’t in a dimly lit cell anymore—which was a plus. She appreciated her new guest suite.
But the new knowledge had set her emotions churning again. She buried her face in her pillow.
“So is that why nobody knows me here?”
She knew that “moving” shifted the landmasses around Wonderland. But nobody had ever lost their memories in that process.
Actually, no—the Hatters couldn’t have just lost their memories since the last move, since everyone was acting like they were in a time before Peter had even brought Alice to the Country of Hearts. Or they hadn’t lost their memories, and the Country of Diamonds was a place where Alice had never existed in the first place.
She groaned. “Peter,” she grumbled automatically. “Why aren’t you here to help me?”
Loneliness welled up in her. She filed internal complaints for the white shadow floating in the back of her mind.
Peter had brought her to Wonderland, by literally dragging her down a hole in her garden. He was supposed to be her guide.
Alice still knew nothing about the Country of Diamonds…but she had a hunch that Peter wasn’t in it. If he were around, she wouldn’t be alone and floundering for answers and recognition.
“……”
When they’d come to Hatter Mansion—no, when they’d entered the Country of Diamonds—Peter had suddenly disappeared in a flurry of rose petals. When she remembered that, an unspeakable emptiness opened inside her.
It wasn’t the first time the only person she knew had disappeared in a transition. But losing Peter…she couldn’t help but feel that she’d lost something especially precious.
Are Vivaldi and Ace gone, too?
Heart Castle with all its proud red roses. The tea table set there, steam rising from the teacups amidst the huge assortment of sweets.
She couldn’t count the number of times the Queen of Hearts had announced a tea party with a bright smile on her face. The White Rabbit would coo Alice’s name and guide her through the goodies on the table. The Knight of Hearts would lean over and tease him. She loved that place. It was a precious sight burned into her memory. And even though she knew that common sense didn’t work in this world, it was still hard to accept that she could be separated from them that easily.
And even if they were in this country, they might be just like the Hatters—people who considered Alice a complete stranger. The thought sent shivers down Alice’s spine.
She tried not to think of Peter looking at her with a stranger’s eyes.
“…Agh, I can’t sleep like this!”
She sat up in bed and shook her head to clear it. An indigo sky spread out beyond the window.
The maids had warned her that battles raged in every region of the Country of Diamonds, and she’d be wise not to wander, not even inside Hatter Mansion. But that meant she could only sit in her room and wait for the next time period to come.
She frowned. “I wonder if there’s something to change my mood… Wait, I know!”
Roses bloomed at Hatter Mansion in both the Country of Hearts and the Country of Clover. She thought a look at them might help her mood… Just imagining it made her heart dance a little.
She threw aside her gloom along with her sheets and hopped off the bed. She needed Blood’s permission to leave the premises, but she didn’t need that to check something inside the mansion grounds, did she?
She got dressed and headed out. But as she walked through the outdoor grounds, trying to enjoy her little night stroll, she still felt the eyes of mobster servants following her every move.
Supposedly, she was considered a guest now, but the servants clearly didn’t accept that. Which probably meant their boss didn’t accept that.
Alice told herself they just needed time. There was no need to panic yet. But even as she told herself that over and over, she still felt her spirits sink under their suspicious eyes.
She needed that rejuvenating walk among the roses. She needed to feel better. But it was that very anticipation that made her crash when she found the garden.
“What the… This can’t be right!”
She’d expected a flowering rose nirvana, framing a finely carved tea table and other works of art…a garden to match the one in Heart Castle.
But instead she stared at a dirty spit of land covered in wilting brown plants. A foliage-draped fence only allowed the occasional space for a small flowerbed. Instead of flowers, weeds choked the ground. Alice fell into new misery.
“……”
Maybe it’s just this small area? Alice hoped it was an isolated block of rot, but as she walked the grounds, she saw that it wasn’t. The entire place was an overgrown, dying mess.
If this was the Hatter garden, and the servants were all tightly wound brutes…Blood probably didn’t throw his tea parties at all. This was the Mad Hatter’s mansion in the Country of Diamonds?
Alice was honestly shocked.
After a few minutes of walking aimlessly through the ravaged garden, she came to a halt. She thought she saw a long, white shape.
“Huh?” she murmured. “Is that Blood over there?”
As she stared into the darkness, she saw the familiar lines of his back melt into the gloom.
He was a bit too far away to call out to. And more than that, Alice still wasn’t sure how to approach the guy.
Curious, Alice started to follow him. Almost immediately, two servants appeared to block her way.
They hadn’t drawn their guns, but their smiles were ice cold.
“Sorry, Miss~. No admittance beyond this point.”
Alice frowned. “Really?”
“Yes—it’s dangerous around here at night~. You should go back to your room~.”
Their voices were calm, but Alice could tell that she wasn’t going any farther in that direction.
“Okay,” she murmured at last. “Good night, then.”
“Good night~.”
Alice had no real reason to follow Blood, so she was willing to do as she was told. While walking back to her assigned room, she glanced up at the sky.
The half moon loomed like a lord in command of a sky of glittering stars. The moon was the only thing that stayed consistent between the countries of Wonderland, even as its phases forced it through an unending, shifting cycle.
She breathed a heavy sigh at the irony.