Wonderland

Big Friendly Giant

Alice drummed her long pale fingers against the table, making the ice in her water shake with the vibration. She, Mary Margaret, and David had made their way into Granny's Diner after the fiasco aboard the Jolly Roger, and Alice was quite pleased to be out of the cold. The diner was bustling as usual, though it was between their rushes, which meant they didn't have to talk loudly to be heard, and few people gave them much of a glance in their direction. It was an odd feeling for Alice to be out with the couple. She hadn't had a lovely break with Mary Margaret since the Curse had been lifted, and she had never once sat down with David for any sort of meal before. It was certainly a new feeling, and Alice couldn't deny that it was, at least, a tiny bit nice.

"Your brother," Mary Margaret reiterated, "That's who he thinks you are."

"An identical twin, how about that," Alice leaned back in her seat, "An evil twin at that, I never would have guessed."

"Not my finest family member," David admitted, shoulders slumping slightly, "And he's still causing me problems."

"At least we know your man is a dead one. My problem is probably already back with The Queen."

"You know, what is it with you and your father?" Mary Margaret asked, "I've read your story, but he's never mentioned."

"I have many stories," Alice admitted, "Even Henry's book doesn't begin to cover it. But as for myself and the pirate, well," She took a sip of her drink, "He only aligns himself with whoever is on the winning side - it doesn't matter who suffers because of it."

"And you've never made up?"

"We have, actually," Alice folded her hands on the table, "Many times over the years. Forgiven each other for things we've said and lines we've crossed, but there comes a time in every child's life when they realize that their parents aren't the heroes we make them out to be. I've only ever wanted for him to pick me for once," She admitted, the words heavy and painful on her tongue, "And he never has, not like Gold anyways. All he's ever done is lie, and then the people I love end up dead. When good, innocent friends of mine were murdered because of him, enough was enough."

"Hook may be a pirate, but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to do that sort of thing," David said, "At least from what I heard from Emma. Maybe there's more to the story."

"What could possibly justify his actions? You're heroes. Is there any good enough reason to sacrifice the lives of good people?"

Mary Margaret and David stayed silent, simply glancing at each other, for they knew of only one reason they would ever do such a thing. The only reason Mary Margaret herself had condemned an innocent life.

For her daughter.

~**~

Alice had a tried and true routine that she had kept to for the near two hundred years she had been in Neverland. Wake up an hour after dawn, just before Slightly and the Little Ones stirred the quiet morning with breakfast preparations and wait in her cot until the smell of warm porridge cut through the scent of dew on grass, Devin's dirty boots, and the fresh lilies Felix brought her every few days to combat the fatal stench of her bunkmate's feet. Slightly's shuffling out of the tent he shared with her and Devin was her morning alarm, so when the day came when Alice slowly came to wakefulness, and the only sound was Devin's snoring, it made her pause.

They say you never notice your routine until it is disturbed, but Alice didn't think too much of it at first. Though she had been spending the last decade practicing magic with Peter nearly every day, she knew she wasn't in his "Inner Circle" despite what Coin and Jugger insisted. They spent too much of their time snacking on Mad Mushrooms to take anything they said seriously. So at first, Alice figured Peter had called him, Rufio, and Felix in for a meeting. It would have made sense, too; Blackbeard's men had been targetting any Lost Boy they saw traveling alone and had raided and burned two of their vegetable gardens near the coastline. But as she heard the scuffling of dirt as the morning watch and night watch began their shift change, Slightly and the kids had yet to appear. Sick of Devin's snoring, Alice slipped out of her cot and into her oversized coat, eying Slightly's hammock that seemed to have been vacant for quite some time. Pushing open the tent flap, Alice shivered in the crisp morning air.