“A long time ago, in a land far from here-“

“Papa,” my daughter Celeste whined, her sky blue eyes filled with annoyance as she looked at me in the mirror, “Papa you always tell me this story.”

“Because you love to hear it,” I laughed softly, still braiding her deep honey-blonde waves, “because you always love to hear about a princess in a forgotten land.”

“But princes and castles and magic aren’t real!”

“Well now,” I kissed the back of her head gently as I picked her up and carried her to bed, “who told you that they weren’t?”

“Mommy.”

Of course, she did.

Always trying to kill your imagination.

“Well. I think if we believe hard enough in magic, fairies, princesses, and castles then they can be real. Maybe they existed long before Mommy and I were born. You can’t know, baby. No one does. Or maybe there’s a special world that runs side by side with ours and if we find the magic portal we can go there. Isn’t it more fun to think those things are real than-“

A crash downstairs interrupted me and Celeste jumped, tears in her eyes.

“It’s okay. It’s okay baby,” my voice shook a bit as I tried to soothe her, “I’m sure Mommy just dropped something. Why don’t you take Chesh,” I grabbed the pink and purple stuffed cat from her dresser and laid him in her arms, “and think hard about a magical land? You’ll fall asleep. I’ll go make sure mommy is okay.”

“I love you, Papa,” Celeste sniffled and I gently kissed her forehead.

“As I love you.”

Waiting until she was calm, I finally left the bedroom and went downstairs to find my wife Cassandra throwing dishware and empty bottles of wine around the kitchen.

“Cassandra. You’re upsetting Celeste,” I called softly.

“Shut the fuck up, Ezra,” she screeched at me, throwing a wine glass that I narrowly avoided, “go buy more wine.”

“Honey, I think you should take a break and eat something. I-I made dinner and…”

“You’re the worst fucking cook. Aren’t you a chef? Why is everything you make inedible?” She laughed at me, “Everything tastes like dirt.”

“I… My customers like it and the restaurant does really well. You know that. You’re just being mean to hurt me.”

Cassandra crossed the kitchen, glaring up at me as I towered over her at 6 foot 3. My family had always called me the gentle giant and this was true for the most part. However, closer would have been the passive giant. The giant who couldn’t stop his wife from hurting him if it meant that she wouldn’t hurt our daughter.

A hard slap hit my left cheek and I stood where I was, knowing if I reacted Cassandra would hit me once again.

“Go buy more wine,” she hissed at me.

“Y-yes dear.”

“Oh and take that ungrateful brat with you,” she waved annoyedly at the staircase and I turned to find Celeste on the bottom step, quiet tears rolling down her face.

“Celeste,” I ran over, squatting down, “baby I told you to sleep. Everything is fine.”

“Mommy hit you,” Celeste whispered, touching my cheek and making me wince, “Mommy shouldn’t hit you. That’s not what people do.”

“I know, baby. I’m sorry you had to see that. Let’s go to the store okay?”

“Okay Papa,” Celeste nodded and I picked her up, grabbing my car keys and her jacket from next to the door.

“Cassandra? Dear, do we need anything else besides wine?” I called into the kitchen, my voice shaking.

“Don’t talk to me,” Cassandra yelled back, “just get me wine. You have to be good for something around here.”

“Right,” turning on my heel, my gaze fell on the closet near the front door. I knew that inside were two suitcases I packed over a year ago when Cassandra started being physically violent. One for me and one for Celeste. I had already changed out the clothes for Celeste once as she was almost five now and what had been packed originally wouldn’t fit but I was simply too scared to leave with her, scared that if I took Celeste and ran Cassandra would file kidnapping charges against me and I’d never see my daughter again.

“Papa?” Celeste laid her head on my shoulder as we walked out of the house, “do you love Mommy?”

“I used to.”

“I don’t. She’s mean! A witch! Evil witch!”

“Don’t… don’t say that about your mother, Celeste,” I started to cry as I put her in her car seat, “she used to be such a good mommy. She used to be so nice and loving.”

“But why is she so mean to you? You’re the best papa in the whole wide universe.”

“Oh I don’t know about that baby,” I smiled, wiping a tear away, “but I try because I love you so much.”

“To the moon and the back.”

“To the moon and back,” I nodded, closing her car door.

We drove to the store in silence, my heart settling the further I was away from Cassandra. A soft buzzing filled the car and I kept looking around, trying to locate the source of the sound.

“Papa what is that!” Celeste yelled as the buzzing grew louder, her hands flying up to cover her ears.

“I don’t know!” I yelled back, trying to block out the sound but failing as I needed both hands on the steering wheel.

There was a sudden boom, a bright flash of light, and then the sensation of falling rapidly overwhelmed my senses.

What is this?

Where is Celeste?

“Papa!” Celeste cried out and I managed to open my eyes to find her sitting on my stomach, “Papa where are we?”

“I… don’t know,” I sat up slowly and began to look around, the landscape around us confusing and clearly not Arizona where we were from, “I… haven’t seen anything like this before.”

The sky was a soft blue, illuminating the shapes of hedges that were around us. Some were animals, others massive hearts, each with red roses sprinkled throughout. Strange creatures were rolling around us, each a different shade of the rainbow and no bigger than a kitten but they had no limbs as far as I could see, their ability to move unexplainable and otherworldly. Tilting my head to the sky, I realized that there were two suns, one I was accustomed to seeing and the other the shade of indigo, moving at a rapid rate as if it had been knocked from a proper orbit.

“Papa! I know this place!” Celeste jumped up excitedly, “It’s Wonderland! From my book!”

We must have been in an accident somehow.

I’m dying.

This is my final dream.

“I…” was all that escaped me as I got to my feet and picked her up, “we need to find… we need to get out of here.”

“Go that way, good sir, to the left, to the wood,” a tiny voice called, and I looked around before finding a white rabbit at my feet, “you’ll find a fellow who will understand! He should be able to give you a hand!”

“Th-thank you. Uh…”

“Why I’m the White Rabbit,” he nodded with glee, “and that is Celeste and your name is Ezra. You’ve been here before when you were a boy. Now Mads has been waiting for years, playing with your old toy. Our very own Prince has come back finally. Hopefully, he stays to be the King's friend once again.”

The rabbit finished before hopping away from us, and I looked at Celeste who shrugged slowly.

“I guess… into the woods we go?” I sighed.

“Into the woods!” Celeste cheered.

We walked for a long time, Celeste riding on my shoulders as we looked at the strangely colored trees around us, the leaves pink, purple, and blue, entirely unnatural but vaguely familiar to me, an itch in my brain forming the more we walked and I stopped suddenly, turning to my left to follow a stream flowing downward showing us beautiful, massive goldfish that jumped occasionally.

“Papa, why did you change?” Celeste rest her chin on the top of my head.

“I… this place is familiar,” I shrugged, “look for yellow smoke.”

“Smoke isn’t yellow! It’s white or black!”

“Trust me, baby. It’ll be yellow. Just look at the sky and tell me if you see it.”

She did as I asked, and I continued down a slightly worn path, the gravel beneath my feet black and glittering in the sunlight.

“There!” Celeste shouted, and I turned my head to the right to find exactly what I had been looking for, “Papa, I found it!”

“Good job, Celeste!” I smiled and took off in that direction.

A massive house came into view, and I laughed as I slowly remembered it. The entire thing was mismatched, each exterior wall a different color and pattern, random rooms jutting from places that shouldn’t have been possible, and standing in front of the home were two familiar figures I could have sworn I imagined as a child.

“Mads?” I called softly as we walked up, and a tiny man with bright orange hair and mismatched eyes, one white and the other black, tilted his head to the side as he looked at me, adjusting his purple and yellow polka dot bow tie.

“More visitors? Mads, stop collecting people,” the man standing next to him clicked his tongue, crossing his arms across his chest, and Celeste gasped softly.

“Chesh?” she whispered.

“My name is not Chesh, you tiny… whoever you are,” he stomped his foot, “my name is Robin.”

“But you look like my kitty,” Celeste held something up, and I realized it was her stuffed cat based on the Cheshire Cat from her favorite storybook, “his fur is the same as your hair, and you have the same eyes!”

Celeste was, of course, correct as Robin had hair of lavender and pink stripes, two pieces standing up to almost mimic cat ears, his eyes were brightly yellow, and the sweater he wore matched his hair giving him the appearance of a cat.

“It’s just a toy,” Robin huffed, “Mads tell them to go away. We don’t have time for this.”

“But according to Rabbit we have plenty of time,” Mads giggled, his gentle voice carrying on the wind, “oh so much time to save him. And you,” he pointed at me, “you finally came home. Back from the Land of Reason. Oh, you’re a naughty boy for leaving. The Emperor will take your head. Yes, indeed Alice he will.”

“My name isn’t Alice, it's Ezra,” I looked at him confused.

“Oh every little person from The Land Above is Alice,” he lisped, nodding his head, “she was the first and all of you follow suit. Alice has been male, female, neither, and both! Alice has no gender but she has one job and you, Ezra Nouvelle, didn’t do yours! You abandoned the king and the kingdom. You committed treason!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. My last name is Roberts,” I pulled Celeste from my shoulders and set her on my hip, “I don’t remember this place! I’m dying and this is a dream. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“You were born here you idiot,” Robin rolled his eyes, “you were never from the Land of Reason. The Rabbit lied. Mads is confused. You are the heir apparent. But you disappeared when you were 10 and never came back. It broke King Chevalier’s heart. His youngest son. His sweet Ez fell down the rabbit’s hole and couldn’t find his way home.”

“My father's name is Charles. I’m from Tucson, Arizona. I am no… heir apparent.”

“You’re a prince, Ezra, and you need to come back home.”

“My home is not here,” I spit out, holding Celeste tightly and the sudden blare of a horn ripped through the air.

“Oh no,” Robin shot off, running to a small door in the ground, “get in he knows you’re here!”

“What the hell are you talking about!” I didn’t move, looking around.

“The Emperor knows you’re here! He’s trying to take everything! He’ll kill you if he thinks it will get him to the Land of Reason to find his soulmate. Please just get in here. For her sake,” Robin pointed at Celeste and I broke into a run, dropping into a furnished cellar with a loud thud.

Mads jumped in after me and Robin slammed the door, snapping his fingers and everything went dark, the sunlight disappearing.

“What did you do?” I whispered.

“I grew grass over the hatch so that they won’t see it. You don’t remember having magic?” Robin sighed.

“No,” I hissed, “because this is a dream.”

“It’s not and you need to realize that before you’re killed. Or they steal… oh what in the world,” he whispered.

I had set Celeste down as soon as we were in the cellar and she had started to explore, but I knew that it had to be difficult with how dark it was down here. A small blue light suddenly began to fill the space and I looked at what would be considered the ceiling to find thousands of shining dots. Following the trail, I realized it was coming from Celeste as glitter on the wind and she was giggling quietly, playing with it.

“She’s an illuminator. Mhm tis true,” Mads happily jumped around, causing the glittering lights to swirl around us similar to a galaxy, “oh rare you are, sweet girl. Only the royal line. Always the royal line.”

“What is he talking about?” I whispered to Robin.

“Illumination magic is the rarest form. Only the Nouvelle family line has ever been capable of performing it as the original Alice had a terrible fear of the dark. Over time, her children and their children gained the ability to illuminate whatever space they were in on a whim. You two are direct descendants of Alice. The real Alice not just who we call Alice. She was a traveler from the Land of Reason. Married the King of Hearts and so on down the line until your father, King Chevalier refused to marry the King of Hearts. King Rupert Serce. Well, it was mutual actually. King Chevalier was in love with a servant girl. Your mother.”

“Clarissa,” I whispered, memories nudging at my mind and giving me a headache as he further explained.

“Yes. Clarissa. It was decided that King Chevalier would marry her and you were to be wed to the child of King Rupert and his wife Remina. Kings and Queens have no real station here. It’s just someone to keep things calm between the Kingdom of Nouvelle and what was the Kingdom of Serce. But it’s gone now.”

“The land of Serce?”

“Oh yes!” Mads nodded, bouncing on a chair, “The prince has been napped! Stolen away and Emperor Myran took his place. King Rupert is gone, his head on a spike, and now with the prince gone, well… bye-bye Nouvelle family line. They’ll kill your father next.”

“Mads!” Robin yelled before covering his mouth and looking up at where the hatch was, “he has no decorum I’m sorry. He was tortured by the Emperor and it caused his brain to turn to jam. I take care of him. He’s my husband after all. We’ll keep you safe with us. But I’m doing my best to find the Prince. With his ability to drain someone's magic, he’s the only one who can stop Emperor Myran and take his rightful place as King of Serce. I have some help thank goodness. The Knights of Nouvelle led by… oh your brother I suppose, Sir Leon, and a few soldiers. Dean, Dominick, Lemetilla, and Red.”

I sat down on the floor slowly, trying to fight off the headache that was forming at the fight in my memories. I had a brother and sister in Arizona. A family I adored. But I had no memories of them before the age of ten. I should have been able to remember something but there was simply darkness. No connection to be found, no thread to follow. It was as if a wall had been forced into my brain, not allowing me to see over it.

“Papa?” Celeste came over and sat on my lap.

“I’m tired. Can we rest here?” I looked up at Robin.

“Of course, Prince Ezra,” he nodded slowly, “rest, and when you awaken I’ll have a meal for you and the Princess.”

“R… right. Thank you.”

What is true?

Which me is the real one?

Who is the Prince of Serce?

Why is it familiar?