So here goes! My first fanfic, and I tell you, I'm excited. Updates will be whenever I say they'll be, and they might be sped up by reviews. Anyway, hope you enjoy it, but don't expect award winning material ;-)

Disclaimer- I don't own Alice in Wonderland, sadly.

The land was barren. The remains of dead trees and bushes littered the landscape.

The clouds were a dark grey, with a demeanour that suggested this land could quite possible send you insane. Even the ground was grey, with patches of grey berries and very little else. Rats ruled the ground, and crow the air. It was a wonder how anything advanced lived out here.

But something did.

Ilosovic Stayne, knave of the banished Red Queen Iracebeth, and banished himself, walked slowly across the land. The wind battered his face as he searched for food a little way off of his usual area. His matted hair was whipped across his face, and he found himself thinking of how he had got there.

It had been 5 long years since he had been banished along with the hated Iracebeth, and he had despised every minute of it.

When they had been led to the barren landscape, manacled together and at each others throats, they were without weapons. They had tried strangling and beating each other, but they each came to realise that there was no point, and that if they were to survive, they would have to work together or find a way out of the manacles.

There was no way that they would work together to survive. Iracebeth took betrayal, especially by Stayne, to heart, and refused to be cooperative on that front.

There were many rocks out there in the wastelands. This had sparked an idea from Stayne, and he explained it. Using a rock in each hand, the two filthy and hungry prisoners pelted and bashed at the chain. When this failed to work, they took a huge rock, and put themselves either side of it, so the bare chain was stretched across the rocks face. When this was done, they rotated so that the chain rubbed against the rock. This corroded the metal as much as a mouse would, so they heaved and hauled a boulder to put on the chain, and then used the same action.

This achieved results. When they were free, they had attacked each other, but once again, they did not persist. Angry and annoyed at one another, they went their separate ways, and didn't see hide nor hair of the other.

Stayne's dismal existence depended on staying by the tiny lake he had found. It was barely more than a pond, yet he would have stood no chance without water.

Animals- rats and crows- were bought here by the little water too. Staynes very lifestyle contained eating rats, drinking less than appetising water, and eating a very strange kind of Underland berry, which seemed to thrive where other plants didn't. It grew next to dead trees, and smelt of rotting apples, which Stayne didn't mind. He had very little to eat otherwise.

When he needed to sleep, he slept on the hard, cold ground. It was a hard life, and his once pristine yet formidable looks were dulled and dirty. His eye patch was raggedy, in need of dire repair, and his clothes stank. There wasn't enough water to wash his clothes too as well as his body.

He was missing his boots as well, for they had been stolen by most likely a particularly large Underland rat.

His whole life had made him bitter, depressed, and veering onto insanity, much like one of his enemies, the Hatter, known as Tarrant Hightopp. He hated them all. They were responsible for his depressing life, and he would one day get revenge. This prospect of revenge was what drove him, keeping away the suicidal thoughts that crept slyly into his mind, coaxing him to throw down his tools and go into the next life.

On the day it would all change, Ilosovic Stayne was hunting rats. They were hard to catch, but 5 years perfecting the technique and he could generally get at least one. Despite this, it was still hard and tiring work, and he was generally in a foul mood afterwards.

As he bought a sharpened stake down on one particularly big one, he smiled. He would eat well tonight- or at least as well as was possible on a diet of rats and berries. It would most likely be raw, unless he could find or make fire, which was rare, as he was usually too tired to find it.

He glimpsed a second rat, as it attempted to hide behind a dead tree. He slowly crept towards it, when he was disrupted.

"What a sad existence, Ilosovic Stayne. And to think you had SUCH potential."

He whirled around, wooden stake at the ready.

There was no one there.

He frowned, looking deeper.
Suddenly aware of a presence behind him, he turned around, ready to strike down any attackers.

There was a single figure, a woman, dressed all in black silk, or at least a silky type material. He frowned. Was he finally going insane? It wasn't normal to see ghostly figures in the middle of nowhere.

As if she had read his mind, the woman laughed.

"No, not insane Ilosovic Stayne. I have need of your expertise, O knave of the banished Red Queen." She said.

Stayne stared. The dark colours of her clothes contrasted with her pale white face. She looked like a ghost, and vaguely reminded him of the White Queen, but for some reason he felt no anger towards her, just curiousity. This could be explained, for he hadn't seen another human being up close for 5 long and tiring years.

He raised the sharpened stake as she walked towards him. Her flowing black dress trailed behind her, making it look like a wall of shadows were following her. The effect was eerie, and sent shivers down his spine without him being fully prepared.

He found his voice at last. It was cracked and hoarse, having not been used for an extremely long time. He cursed silently- this was far from the effect he had desired, for he sounded like a wounded frog.

"Wh-Who are you? Wha-Whats you-your name an-and purpose?" he croaked, still appalled at his voice.

To this, she laughed again. It was high laugh, but cold, and not humorous. To Stayne, it reminded him of snow, and the chilled brutality of it. He listened as she spoke again.

"My friends tell me not to inform you, to strike more fear. But I believe that would be counterproductive. I am…" she paused slowly and dramatically. It had the desired effect. Stayne stared, not scared, merely… curious.

"I am the Night Queen."

Reviews? Pwease? Hey, don't worry about it, I'll still be here. Hopefully.