Chapter Text
It had been almost two months in Earth time, which meant far too many Time Periods had passed since Alice had left Wonderland.
Peter White had truly come to like Alice, having gotten to know her beyond the Golden Afternoons with her sister, but it couldn’t be helped. If she didn’t want to return to their nonsense world, that was her choice.
And while he couldn’t exactly blame her, it left those she left behind more irritable than ever.
Her Majesty was ordering beheadings practically every minute, the King was helpless to stop her and holed himself up in the castle’s library.
Ace would be gone for days’ worth of Time Periods and come back with a wild look in his eye that gave even Peter the shivers.
Julius had withdrawn further into himself, only being social if he absolutely had to.
Peter knew the scuffles between the Hatters and the Park were becoming more frequent, but he didn’t want to get involved in that.
Out of desperation for a new Outsider, the Lord of Clover sent Peter White out on a mission to search for one.
Peter had been against it at first, but Nightmare argued that they needed a Foreigner in order to go on with their lives.
For Wonderland’s sake.
Thus, Peter ventured to Earth for the second time in his life.
The new hole Nightmare created had put the White Rabbit in the middle of a forest, somewhere on the other end of the planet from where Alice lived.
This meant little to no chance of encountering her.
Which was just as well, Peter supposed.
As the rabbit explored the surrounding woodland, he overheard some Foreigners walking down a dirt path towards what they called a ‘holy site’.
Both were older men so Peter paid them no mind.
Since the majority of Role Holders in the current Game were men of a decent age, Peter’s target Foreigner should be a young woman, mid-teens to early twenties at least.
In his searching, Peter had spent a day and a night on Earth and so far he had no luck in locating someone he thought worthy of being Wonderland's new Foreigner.
More than once he'd gotten lost and had to backtrack to the forest where the hole let out, if only to take a break and rest his weary rabbit feet.
The day itself was confusing, what with the lack of random Time Periods, though Peter would admit that watching the sun rise was a sight to behold.
For the umpteenth time on his second day, he observed his green surroundings with disdain. The sun had risen not two hours ago and he was starting to get hungry, and he'd already eaten the provisions he brought with him. A smart decision on his part to bring food, even if it didn’t last long.
He considered eating the grass at his feet but refused. It was dirty and he was not a dumb animal.
A few minutes of consideration later he went off in the opposite direction of where he had gone before and wandered around looking for the familiar signs of civilization.
Eventually, after half an hour of walking and hopping, he came upon an old flight of stone steps, cracked and covered in vegetation.
"I wonder where this leads."
He muttered to himself as he let curiosity guide him into ascending them.
About midway up, there was a fork. The rabbit saw that the left hand path had crumbled away to almost nothing.
"Well, that path is no good"
So he took the right path. At the top, he had to stop to catch his breath.
When he looked up, he gasped aloud as he saw a cherry blossom tree that would put the ones the Queen loved so much during April Season to shame.
The sun’s golden rays shone through the branches, dappling the shadows beneath it pink and the blossoms themselves to appear almost ethereal.
It was so enchanting, his little bunny self ignored his fatigue and hunger and slowly walked under the large red gate towards it.
Then he saw something that made his breath hitch.
He knew his kind were prey to other larger animals in this world, such as foxes and dogs. He'd had to make quick getaways from a few dogs before. It always made him sympathize with the Dormouse, loathe was he to admit it.
Peter, wide-eyed, stared at the white wolf sleeping near the tree in front of him. He tried to stay as far away from the beast as possible while observing the rest of his surroundings, which included a small shrine within the trunk of the tree, in which laid a stone statue of a wolf.
He hopped a little closer and noticed the similarities and differences between the statue and the white canine sleeping oh-so near him.
"O-oh dear..."
Noting the proximity, he had to back away.
As he backpedaled, the admittedly beautiful beast with snow white fur opened its golden amber eyes, which immediately locked onto him.
Peter suddenly couldn't think, frozen in fear. His instincts took over as panic set in, and before he knew it he was running for his life back down the crumbled steps towards the rabbit hole.
Just before...
Amaterasu was happy to visit Sakuya in her old age, the tree spirit’s power diminished but not enough for her to wither away.
Kamiki Village had long ago fallen to ruin, destroyed in the wars leading up to the Meiji Period. The survivors found new homes in the cities, their descendants never once returning to pay their respects to the Konohana save for a select few.
Sakuya told Amaterasu that she suspected those few to be descendants of the Oren family.
Luckily, in the years following the Meiji, the Konohana Tree and the stone structures around it had been incorporated into a public park, its history lost and forgotten in all but legend. Still, the park rangers did their upmost to keep the sacred tree protected from those who would defile it.
The Tree Sprite had few visitors, human ones anyway, and while she still stood vigilant, it was getting harder and harder for her to keep up her strength.
She slept for longer periods of time and weeds often took advantage of her weakness.
Every time the Goddess of the Sun got a chance to visit Earth in springtime, she would stop by to see Sakuya and her Saplings and give them a little boost of solar energy that would last them a while, though how long it lasted seemed to vary between Saplings.
Sakuya was especially grateful to the mother goddess when she returned this time. This last winter almost did her in.
She could feel it when her Saplings were revived and the weeds cut away, giving her much needed new energy.
However, she knew she wouldn't be long for the mortal world, and would soon join the Goddess in her Celestial Plain.
While the news was bittersweet and a tad morbid, Amaterasu looked forward to having Sakuya in her home.
Feeling content with her handiwork for the time being, Amaterasu decided to take a little nap at the base of the Konohana tree and keep the spirit company.
Just as the goddess was drifting off, the scents of cherry blossoms and sweet grass lulling her to sleep, she smelled something odd amidst them.
It smelled like an animal, a rabbit to be specific. She knew wild animals sometimes visited Sakuya and her shrine, mostly passerine birds and small mammals, such as rabbits.
So that wasn’t too out of the ordinary.
But what she thought was just a wild rabbit had an unfamiliar aura, which she was able to sense the closer it came to her location.
Curious, she tried to examine it as the rabbit approached, pretending to be asleep.
She knew how skittish most rabbits could be.
Amaterasu heard its steps in the grass and the frightened breath it took when it spotted her.
Indeed, even the animals did not recognize her sometimes, but the hitch in its breathing did not seem natural.
The aura it carried was unnatural to her as well, foreign, though she couldn't place it.
It was not a yokai, but she could tell it didn't belong in this world.
After a moment, she felt the otherworldly yet rabbit-like presence backpedal away from her.
Unable to control her curiosity, Amaterasu opened her eyes and saw a male white rabbit with red eyes standing on its hind legs before her.
That would have been normal had it not been for the fact he was wearing clothes.
Animals with clothes were normal for her as well, as most spirits or yokai took on such forms. However, his clothes were foreign, and not like the 'modern' clothes she saw humans wear nowadays nor a traditional kimono.
No, he wore a red checkered waistcoat and a clock-themed shirt and tie. And... were those glasses perched on his snout?
Hey, did you know?
The moment after their eyes locked and the wolf took in the rabbit's appearance, said rabbit bolted.
Wagging her tail in anticipation and eager to learn more about this strange creature, the she-wolf gladly gave chase. She needed some proper exercise anyway.
Every game has its rules.
Peter ran for his life through the foliage growing atop the ancient path, not daring to stop even for a moment.
He usually wasn't such a coward, but in this moment he could not control his animal instincts and could only sense the wolf hot on his heels even as he neared the hole.
He didn't even stop to think about the complications of if a Foreign animal fell into Wonderland instead of a human but he was more concerned about not becoming wolf chow to contemplate how Nightmare would react.
And those rules are cemented from the very beginning…
The rabbit was fast and quite crafty, she would give him that.
Expected of an intelligent animal.
He tried to lose her by running in a zig-zag formation, and he even tried to kick up dirt in her eyes, but neither tactic worked. Well, the dirt one did for a few seconds before she used Waterspout on a nearby puddle to clean it off.
Lucky for her, the water was clean.
She could see the white and red of the rabbit as it stood out starkly against the browns and greens of the surrounding forest.
But you already know this, right?
After some more minutes of running, the white creatures came upon a large, circular chasm that Ammy swore she'd never seen before in this area.
At first she thought it must be a cursed zone, but she could sense no evil aura emanating from it.
In fact, she sensed nothing at all. Like it was a void in space with no scent or presence to identify it.
‘It looks… very deep’.
She thought.
Then she saw the rabbit hurriedly jump into the chasm.
Before she could stop herself, the goddess suddenly found herself careening into said hole, and falling down it.
She screamed as well as a wolf could scream at the sudden free falling sensation.
As she plummeted deeper into the dark pit she tried to calm herself down, thinking of a way to get out of this situation.
She suddenly felt very fatigued.
‘This is not the time for a nap, Amaterasu! I... need to... stay... awake…’
Directly beneath her, a white light grew and enveloped the two falling figures as Amaterasu fell unconscious.
At the same time, somewhere in the depths of the mind, a certain caterpillar demon sensed a new arrival in Wonderland, just as everyone else should have.
"Well... this should prove interesting." He remarked, observing the unconscious form of the immortal goddess in her dreams, in which she was not a wolf, but a beautiful woman in the traditional robes of a priestess with the curious addition of lupine features.
With a wave of his hand, he made it so the form she wore in her dreams matched that of the sleeping deity in the waking world.
"I wish you luck here, Mother Amaterasu. We would worship you as well as any of your followers. If you will allow it.”
With that, Nightmare felt her start to wake, and the woman disappeared from the Dream World.