WONDERLAND

*3rd Person POV*

Wonderland - 4 Years Ago

"Alice!" A young girl shouts as she bursts through the dense forest into a clearing where a man and a woman stood.

Not wasting any time she quickly tackles the woman in a hug as the man chuckles before commenting, "Hey! What about me?" With a fake frown.

Rolling her eyes, the young girl moved away from Alice to hug the man, "I missed you to Will."

"Right back at ya, Hope." Will gave her a smile as Hope pulled away from the hug to stand in front of both of them.

"Good to see you survived." Alice teased with a chuckled.

Hope scoffed, "Barely. I don't understand why she wants me to find a suitor, I'm only fourteen!"

"Simple. The Queen only cares about power and gaining more of it." Will said.

"Anyway." Alice dragged out glancing at Will, "We have a surprise for you. We found a way to get out of here." Smiling at each other, they look at Hope who is watching them in confusion with a raised brow.

After a few minutes of silence Hope exclaimed, "Wait! Really?! How?"

Alice nodded, "We'll leave tonight. As for how, you'll have to wait and see. Can't have you know who finding out."

"So why don't you go pack you bags and meet us back here at sunset." Will offers.

"Okay! Thank you, thank you, thank you." Hope jumped to give them both a hug before running back to the Queen Of Heart's castle.

Running quickly through the castle Hope hardly paid attention to where she was going just getting there quickly so that she would be able to have her bags packed by sunset. Entering her room however she was surprised to find the Queen waiting for her by the balcony. "When were you planning on telling me you were leaving?" Cora questioned, turning around to face Hope.

"I wasn't." Hope mumbled looking down as she knew that Cora would likely never let her leave the castle again.

Sighing, Cora slowly walked towards Hope commenting, "You're so much like your mother, thinking that you can escape me."

Looking up Hope met Cora's eyes, "Really?" She always took the opportunity to find out more about her mother, as it was rare for Cora to mention her.

"Yes, it seems as if I am going to have to teach the same lesson to you that I had to do for her." Cora sighed walking past Hope towards the door.

Having been around Cora a majority of the time and knowing what she was capable of Hope quickly shouted, "No! Please don't hurt them!" However, Hope's pleads fell unheard as Cora had already disappeared leaving on remains of red smoke behind.

"This can't be happening." Hope muttered to herself breathless as she dodged trees and stray sticks. Running into the clearing where she was to meet Alice and Will, a sigh of relief escaped her when she found them there along with a rabbit, which she didn't question, unharmed and no trace of Cora in sight.

"Hope, what's wrong? Are you ok?" Alice questioned concerned as she took in Hope's disheveled appearance.

Hope urgently grabbed their hands, "No time to explain. We need to leave now."

"What..." Alice regained her footing as the rabbit got to work on making the portal that was going to rid them from Wonderland.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere." A chilling voice sounded from behind them causing Hope to tense as they turned around to face the owner of the voice, the Queen of Hearts. "You insolent girl." Cora said as she flung them all away from the portal. Including the rabbit who was not so lucky as the others and fell unconscious.

"Now that the pest's taken care of. What to do with you..." Cora stalked towards Will and Alice who were picking themselves up off the ground.

As Hope stood up along side Alice and Will she noticed the slowly fading portal. Knowing that in order for Alice and Will to get away unharmed she would have to give up her chance at freedom and use the little bit of magic she knew to keep the portal open long enough for Will and Alice to get through.

"You really should know by now that nobody double crosses me." Cora continued. "In order for you to become the person you are destined to be, Hope. You must have no distractions." Cora raised her hand lifting both Alice and Will of the ground and choking them.

Hope concentrated on the portal, she had to get it open enough so that Will and Alice can escape, even if it means that she won't be able to. "Now you have two choices. You can come with me and forget about these peasants or watch them die." Cora smirked evilly.

Hope sighed watching the portal open again. "I'm sorry, I'll come with you and do whatever you want me to. Just please, don't hurt them." Hope begged Cora who dropped her hand, letting Alice and Will fall to the ground.

Cora walked up to Hope and put an arm around her shoulders. "Good girl." Looking down Hope walked with Cora away from Alice and Will, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Will help Alice up, before they ran over and picked up the rabbit. Cora and Hope turned around just in time to see the portal close taking with it Will, Alice and the rabbit, "See, they didn't even think of you. They were just worried about saving their own lives."

Hope willed the tears to fill her eyes as she turned to face Cora, "You were right. You only want what's best for me and I need to trust you in that. Love is weakness." Not missing the hint a smirk flash across Cora's face before being replaced by the ever present emotionless mask, Hope had to stop herself from flinching when Cora wiped the tears that had escaped her eyes away, before transporting them back to the castle.

"The Queen wishes your presence in the dining hall." A servant informed Hope who was sitting at her vanity brushing her hair.

Hope smiled, "Thank you" The servant bowed before scurrying away.

It had been a month since Alice and Will had left and a month since Hope had been given permission to leave the castle or better yet her quarters. After her attempt to leave Wonderland, Cora had refused to give Hope even the slightest bit of freedom and forced Hope to spend her days staring blankly at the annoyingly familiar walls and decoration. The fact that now, after all this time Cora was requesting her presence somewhere beyond her 'cage' made Hope slightly nervous as to what was to come.

Not wanting to test Cora's patience, she hurried out of the room and down through the corridors to the dining hall. Halting outside the door to perfect her appearance before entering, "Good evening, your majesty." Hope greeted taking the gestured spot next to Cora at the table and opposite an unfamiliar man.

"Hope." Cora says, snapping the girl out of her thoughts.

Hope blinked looking at Cora, "Yes?"

"I'd like to introduce you to Killian Jones or as he prefers to go by, Captain Hook." Cora mentioned referring to the man.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Hope smiles at Hook who returns it.

Cora who was watching the exchange said, "Hook and I will be leaving for the Enchanted Forest tomorrow to finish some business with a certain person and I'm leaving you in charge."

"What?!" Hope coughed, "But how am I supposed to know how to run this place?"

"Well, I don't know when I'll be back and you know how I handle things. You will be fine." Cora smiles at Hope, while brushing some of her hair out of her face.

"Okay." Hope however had something different in mind. There was no way that she was going to be going around ripping the hearts out of people who displeased her, somethings were going to change.

Dinner had long since passed and now Hope was sitting back in her room waiting for the right time to make her escape. All was silent and the only noise that could be heard was her breath, until she could faintly hear a scratching noise. Walking over to the window where it was loudest, she pulled the window opened and peered out, spotting something sitting on the window sill.

"Rabbit?" Hope whispered.

Shifting his position on the windowsill the rabbit replied, "Hope."

"What are you doing here?"

"Saving you. Now come on, we don't have much time." The rabbit jumped into the room and sat on one of the chairs.

Hope looked confused informing "But, there's no need to rush. Cora's leaving tomorrow and then I'll be free to go wherever without her control."

"Do you really thing Cora will let someone other than herself run her domain?" The rabbit questioned.

"She's going to take my heart." Hope whispered in realisation.

"Not if we leave now." Hurrying to get changed, Hope grabbed her cloak and flipped the hood up to cover her face. As she returns back to the rabbit's side, she takes notice of the portal that is going to be her escape and with one final glance around they leave.

Landing on the hard ground, Hope moans as she rolls over and picks herself up. Letting her eyes gaze across the vastly different land, she turns to face the rabbit. "Where's Alice and Will? I thought you were taking me to them."

The rabbit shifts from foot to foot as he looks apologetic. "Sorry Hope, I have different orders."

I tried to make this chapter longer seeing how long it has been since I updated. What did you think of the Wonderland past? I didn't vary it to much from what I originally had, just changed the wording a bit and merged it into one chapter.

Any comments left would be greatly appreciated and big thank yous to everyone who has followed/favourited this story! Seriously guys it means so much!

I am not going to make any promises for when this will be updated next (hopefully soon), just know that I am not giving up on this story. Love you all!