The rain fell down as it did often in London. Alice couldn't help but stare out at it, and think. This happened quite a bit with her. Every time it would rain Alice would sit by her window pane and think as she looked out into the murky world. She could do whatever she pleased whenever it was thought of, all except for one thing, and that's what she thought about constantly. Ever since she had taken up the job as the apprentice Alice had been able to do anything and everything. She took it in with an open mind, open heart, and open arms.
Really, she had even willingly jumped off of a cliff, what was it, cliff diving, with a smile playing her lips and the wind blowing her long blonde hair behind her.
Unpredictability was always at the top of her to-do list no matter the weather or circumstances. A life of adventure had taken hold of her shortly after her journey down the rabbit hole, in Underland, or Wonderland as she formerly called it. Nothing was ever as breathtaking as her experience there; however, nothing could fill that blankness she consistently carried.
She had done everything from bareback riding, rock climbing, white water rafting, hiking in dangerous forests, but not one of these things had been able to satisfy her. Wonderland was the only place where she could find something that would take away the void and replace it with something more unique. She lived for the weird and begged for difference, but London would never change just because one improper girl wanted it to.
To think, she had been invited to her own engagement party once without taking notice to it, only to have been lead down a hole by a fidgety white rabbit and have her heart stolen by another man. Alice could never frown when thinking of the Mad Hatter. She could do only three things when he came into mind, smile, think, and cry. She had been caught smiling at absolutely nothing numerous times, making people believe that she had gone mad, when really she had only seen another flashback of him tossing her across the river on his purple top hat. Purple was the representing color of insanity, after all.
Living in the past had caused Alice a great deal of stress, for all she wanted was for one of these so called brilliant scientists to finally invent a bloody time machine so she could go back and never have drank the blood of the beast she had slain. The slaying of the Jabberwocky was no easy task and it had taken a great deal of courage for her to face him. It gave her that rush of adrenaline that she had longed for and it gifted her power beyond her imagination. She felt like the queen of the world without any regrets or stresses and she could have stayed in that peaceful state, had she not drank the Jabberwocky's blood.
Only she had done just that, she had drunk the purple substance in hopes of returning home with success, just to be dragged into a life where even the most fun and dangerous activities couldn't have given her a greater bore. What Alice wanted was to go back into the rabbit's hole and face the piano again, she wanted to get the same feeling of ease that she would land on the ceiling and fall to the floor again.
Veins pumping with her blood and a mind no where to be found, not a care in the world and a lifetime of eternity ahead of her, that is what Alice truly desired. She wanted to shrink and walk through the microscopic door, and she wanted to run into the forest to meet up with Chess so he could lead her to him.
Every night she prayed for this to happen and every night she went unanswered. She had wanted to give up so many times, but Alice had her father's wretched stubbornness, and Wonderland was one thing she would never let go of. She could never give up on any of them, not the White Queen, not the Dormouse, not the Tweedle twins nor the do-do bird, not the white rabbit or the March Hare, and certainly, definitely, never in a lifetime of eternities would she ever think of even forgetting the Mad Hatter for a fraction of a millisecond.
He had rescued her time and time again without the slightest of issues with any of the occasions, not even when he had nearly been decapitated over allying with her. He was faithful to her no matter the cost, and prices have been as high as they could get before, and that's one of the things that she found attractive about him. Just to name a few things his bravery, his heart, his personality, his sanity level, his sense of humor, and his loyalty to her.
All of these and more were undeniably what had attracted her to him, without a forlorn doubt, but all she needed to know was if he felt the same way about her. If the hatter didn't feel congruent to her emotions; Alice would surely have a breakdown. She was too pure and genuine, she was the crystal in the coal, the lamp in the cave, the candle in the night, Alice was precious to everyone who had ever been blessed to witness her close her eyes while riding on her train of thought, or when she wrote her chicken scratch on a blank piece of paper when that train had taken her to a successful stop.
To Hatter she was anyways. I had always seen her as some human that was fun to mess with. Alice was a friend of mine, as she was with everyone in Underland, but I can't say that we were fast friends, more of procrastinated pals. She didn't exactly trust me at first, I could tell merely by the scent of her blood rushing about, but I earned it soon after. Especially after I had saved the Mad Hatter's life she had thanked me countless times.
Tried to tell her it was just so I could wear the hat, I really did, but she didn't believe me. No one ever believes the Cheshire Cat. Hatter, however, made a rational, or not so rational, exception. Hatter had known me since I was a kitten abandoned in the middle of the forest and he had nurtured me from that point on. I had thanked him, when I reached a spot in my maturing process, but now I don't have the slightest clue on whether I should be thankful or if I wish that he had left me there for that forsaken Jabberwocky.
Every time I dropped by during tea time after Alice left for her world, Hatter would always have this blank look on his face as though he were thinking. Imagine that, Hatter, thinking. Poppycock, it was just absolute poppycock. All but the March Hare could tell he was thinking about Alice, that's all he talked ever about too, Alice this and Alice that, Alice, Alice, Alice.
Reading this I know I must either sound like a jealous wreck or just an annoyed feline that's able to talk, smile, and evaporate. Honestly, I just miss the little thing. Alice lifted the mood and spirits of all who surrounded her; this was a surefire fact, and that was all I needed. Mostly for my own purposes, I had taken the liberty to make my way to her majesty the White Queen's castle.
Almost instantaneously she had greeted me by the door of the kitchen. I made my somewhat simple request and she had it ready in no less than fifteen seconds flat. Steaming hot with freshness, she gave me what I had come for and I quickly rushed back to Hatter's shop. Sure enough he was there with that distant look upon his features, and serenity accompanied by love and jubilation held captive in his piercing green eyes.
Luckily he had noticed my presence fast enough and saluted me with his psychotic, snaggletooth smile.
"In what case is a raven like a writing desk, Chess?" He mocked me with that annoyance he so fondly calls a riddle. I see no difference between them, rolling my unnaturally blue eyes.
"There are no similarities between a raven and a writing desk it's simply meant for alliteration, child's play, and catchiness. Cut it out with your pointless riddles and children's poetry Hatter, you know it makes me nauseous." The potion I had asked from her Majesty's brew was still hidden from Hatter but I had not the slightest clue how much longer I could keep it away from the prying eyes of the Dormouse and the March Hare, as insanely idiotic as he is, he's got a sharp set of eyes.
Even so, I rested my chin above my folded paws that hid the oddly shaped green bottle. I knew that it wouldn't be much longer until his keen nose had smelt the anomalous scent of the ingredients. As soon as the thought had crossed my mind, Hatter's nose began twitching with familiar scents dancing about his nostrils.
"I say, Chess, what've you got there?" He asked; a crooked smile spread across his pale face. "Let me have a look at it, old chap." I tossed it to him, knowing that he would catch it and if not him than certainly the Dormouse would. But of course, Hatter caught it with one of his blood stained bandaged hands, same ludicrous smile ridiculing me. He popped the cork off of the container and smelt it with a closer observation. His smile vanished as he discovered what the potion was.
"Why did you bring this here?" Hatter interviewed me, his British accent coating over his arising Scottish pronunciation.
"Because if you really miss her that much you can just bring her back with this." I explained to him. The insane are never at the top of the class children, rule number one. "I can see it on your face, in your attitude; it even decorates your eyes with the prettiest shade of pink sometimes."
He reached to touch his cheek, his fingers right beneath his currently lime green left eye.
"You're not one to ask for something you want, Hatter, you never ask for anything unless your life or another's depends on it. So I figured that I would make a simple request especially for you. Drink the potion, make a wish, and voila! Your wish will come true."
Hatter looked at me as though I were pulling some kind of cruel prank, which I really couldn't blame him for, I had a wretched tendency of playing practical jokes on people and animals alike. My favorite hoax had to be with Hatter's supposed execution, loving courtesy of the Red Queen, and it had turned out to be me, all for the sake of wearing that sweet, sweet hat of such radiance and nobility.
"Is this a joke of some sort? I-I don't understand. Why would you do this for m-"He trailed off before beaming with that preposterous grin of his, obviously he had made a discovery. "Unless you miss Alice too, you sly dog, I can't believe I hadn't seen it before." I evaporated into the air, nothing but a blue mist as I waited in the shadows to see how everything played itself out.
In the meantime Alice was in her home waiting for dinner to be served at any time now. She signed, exhaling through her nostrils. The poor thing was always bored and I couldn't help but feel for her as I have suffered the exact fate countless times. I reappeared outside of her office window, just a floating, smirking cat's head. She took notice of it immediately and gasped.
"Chess it's you!" She whispered as she hurried to the window. Alice unlocked it flawlessly, much to my surprise since she used to be a clumsy oaf, and let me in without another word said.
"Alice, love, how have you been the past year?" She stared at me with calculation in her deep blue eyes. "Anything good, bad, ugly, in between happen?" No reply from her. Well then. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" I laughed at my own corny joke.
"Oh come now girl you must speak up. Have you gotten married? Are there any little Alice juniors running about by any chance?" I knew this had to get her attention; she was petrified of marriage and children of her own, this being the precise reason why she and her mother had moved in with her sister and cheating husband.
"Children, Chess? Oh no, no, no, no, no. I couldn't possibly do it without…" She trailed off this time and looked back out into the misty streets of old London town as Big Ben struck the seven o'clock bell.
"Couldn't do it without just what; Alice dear? Oh do tell me, I just absolutely despise riddles of any sort. Hatter knows that better then anyone else dead or alive." I chuckled as she turned red in her cheeks while averting her gaze elsewhere, this being her reaction to my solving of the riddle.
"Hatter, you say? Please tell me how has he been doing? Is he the same? He hasn't changed has he? Did he get married? I do hope not, and here I am rambling about Hatter I haven't even thought to ask if you needed anything. Would you like a cup of tea?" She asked breathlessly.
I looked at her speechless, now at age twenty this girl was still holding the heart of a child within her rib cage and beneath her sternum.
"Hatter I do say, Alice. He's fine, for the most part anyway." She smiled.
"Is the only reason he isn't doing any better because he's mad?" I rolled my shoulders and smirked.
"More of madly, love, madly." She tilted her head.
"What do you mean? He's still the same isn't he?" I bobbed my head left and right as if to show that there was some sort of balance.
"Well you see, dear, Hatter hasn't quite been the same since you left. Of course he dances whenever given the euphoric chance but there's been this solemn look in his eyes, and not once has he ever been serious or sad. He likes things that begin with the letter M, mad, merry, and marvelous, but never S."
I tried to explain to her. If she could just get the gist of it, maybe then she would comprehend the bigger picture.
"So you're saying he's gone into some sort of state of depression?" She guessed. I looked behind me.
"Somewhat, darling, not completely, I wouldn't exactly call it depression. He's more of, what do you call it? Sick, I suppose, you could say. Hatter's lonely Alice and he has yet to stop making you the topic of the tea parties." She beamed with happiness, as I had suspected she would.
"He misses me?" She asked me as though the thought had just been a dream, for Hatter to miss his beloved Alice. I nodded.
"Yes, a great deal actually. You would do best to hurry to Underland as soon as possible." I rolled over on my back, just hovering in that state in mid air. "When would that be?" She looked down and shook her head while pursing her pink lips.
"Right now, I can go right now! No, I will go now!" With that she grabbed her black cloak and tied it around her neck, threw her hood up and darted towards the stables where she harnessed a fine white horse, similar to the White Queen's steed.
"Chess," She called for me. "Do me a favor and forge my signature. Write a note to my mother and sister saying that I have an urgent obligation that needs to be taken care of. Say that I don't know when I'll be back, and give them my love as well."
I nodded and watched her gallop towards Lord Ascot's property. I laughed and shook my head.
"They'll make a cute couple." With that I wrote in Alice's hand and left the letter in her private study. The rain hadn't stopped Alice or her pristine stallion as they sped off to the Ascot's land. Upon their arrival she was stunned to see the entire estate completely vacant. Taking this as a positive omen she headed for the steep hills in the back of the maze of hedges.
The horse refused to go any further, for one reason or another, and she allowed it to stay where it was. I, however, had appeared and asked her if she would allow me to take it to back to the stables of her sister's mansion and obviously she had agreed. Alice crept up to the rabbit hole, hesitant, and looked back at me. I smiled and gave her thumbs up, the horse's reigns in my paw. She smiled, showing off her ashen teeth, and leapt down the hole.
She didn't scream as she faced the plummeting piano and she didn't grab for the vine again. Alice lay on her back as her falling figure cascaded quickly down until she broke through the ceiling, or floor, and landed upside down again. Knowing better from the last time, she had somehow managed to flip herself and appropriately land on her feet with a click of her heels.
She grabbed the key and the potion, shrinking shortly after. Once down to a microscopic size, she had grabbed a pinch of the cake that commanded her to eat it and unlocked the door that ultimately directed her to Underland. She smiled as she ate the crumb of the cake, growing back to her accurate height, and ran to where she last remembered the Hatter's shop to be.
You would think that the whistling winds would have slowed her down but not in the slightest did she halt, falter, or even take in a necessary gasp of air. The only thing that she had done, aside from sprinting to her desired destination, was take down her black hood. Once she had reached the edge of the forest that had once been burnt to ash and death, she was panting incessantly from her lack of giving herself a much needed break.
Alice's ears picked up the distinct sound of the Scottish voice of the March Hare, followed by the shattering of what she presumed to be a teacup or some species of fine china. Alice hid behind a nearby tree and observed the entire thing from that safe distance, not yet wanting to reveal herself. The March Hare and Dormouse were arguing about some inaudible discussion, and the Hatter, her dear Hatter, looked down at a green vial. His facial expression was blank and his eyes were a bright lime green, the same gorgeous shade she had come to love from the very beginning. She stepped from behind the tree, her heart racing like her brother-in-law's favorite horse, and she purposely stepped on a dead leaf that had crunched loudly and obnoxiously beneath her foot.
Hatter immediately bolted his head upwards, to get a better view of the now hooded intruder.
"Who might you be, stranger?" He asked with a silly grin about his mouth. She said nothing but walked forward, taking only two shy steps. He got up from his seat and had begun to walk over to her as well, and she did likewise. They had fast-walked to each other, both with somberness on their expressions.
Alice took the hood off and ran the rest of the way to Hatter and hugged him tightly to her. She let out a sob into his neck as she held his head.
"Hatter, I missed you so much. I'm so sorry I didn't come back sooner. I had so many chances, so many opportunities but I ignored each and every one of them. I never should have stayed away from you for so long." She cried. Hatter couldn't believe what was happening, his soul full of pure and reasonable joy, as he stroked back her long blonde hair in an attempt to soothe her.
"It's all right, Alice, you're back now. That's all that really counts, that's all that matters." He held her securely in his arms as he took in her scent of lilacs and smiled. "Come, you must be tired from your journey here." He led her into his shop, not even bothering with telling the two quarreling rodents regarding her arrival. He shut and locked the door behind them, not wanting to be interrupted by his two idiotic and dearest of friends. He didn't know how much time he would have with Alice and he wanted to spend every waking second she was here with her.
"How have you been, Hatter? You haven't gotten married or anything have you?" He chuckled in that adorable laugh that he was blessed with having to own.
"Please, love, no one would want to marry a man who has lost half of their mind." She sat down on his tattered mattress, looking around the quaint shop filled with unimaginable hats.
"Really, is that so? I should think otherwise." She untied her cloak and laid it down on a wooden chair. He sat down next to her and looked deep into her sapphire eyes that twinkled like the floors of the White Queen's palace.
"You would?" He asked, leaning his head in closer to her. She bit her lip and nodded, doing the same as him until their foreheads were touching.
"I would." She said as she began to tilt her head. Their lips had met not a second later, confident and true. Their mouths moved against each other as they relished the feeling of it, never feeling so good before. "And I do." She gasped through their fiery lip lock session.
"It would do you best to put your money where your mouth is. Why don't you prove it?" She kissed him again briefly while giggling.
"Later, Hatter, I've only just arrived. I will place all bets after I have seen what the rest of Underland has been up to first." She got up and looked out into the twilight skies, realizing that it was a bit too late to go off venturing into the multicolored lands. She sighed in slight disappointment. "Ah, well, perhaps we better get started on that schedule tomorrow." Hatter came up behind her and held onto her shoulders while resting his chin above her head.
"Yes, it's far too dark out as of now. What do you say we make the best of it?" He kissed her neck and nipped at her ear. "Would you like some tea, Alice?" Alice rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Does a Jabberwocky's blood taste like boysenberries?" She joked. He looked out through the window with legitimate confusion.
"I wouldn't know, love, I haven't tried it, but I'll take that as a yes anyhow." He walked across to his stove where a kettle full of fresh tea sat while steaming. "So how has life been," He began. "You know, up there?" He pointed to the ceiling with a weathered spoon.
"It could be more exciting but I think it chooses not to." She pouted. "Rather depressing really. I could go mad from the boredom." He laughed as he stirred the sugar in her cup, knowing that she only took two.
"Beat you to it." He said, referring to his vanished sense of rationality and sanity. "As I recall, you weren't doing things that seemed very boring to me." He started. "Cliff diving is dull? Rock climbing monotonous? Rodeos are mundane? Alice I would just love to hear your concept of merriment." He joked, not really expecting a serious answer from her.
"Staying here… in Underland." Hatter ceased everything he was doing to hear her sweet voice continue her opinion. "With you, Hatter, I'm not going back." Docile was her tone as she notified him of her plans.
"Are you sure that's what you want? You'd rather stay here with me than with your own flesh and blood that lives beyond the boundaries of Underland's sky?" More than anything, Hatter would've given up the capability to breathe had Alice chosen to stay here and with him! She could've chosen to stay with the White Queen or take up residence in the vacant and abandoned building that was once the Red Queen's grim castle, or worse, she could've said that she would only be here for a little while longer before returning back to her original home, but her choice was made to dwell with him!
"I've never been more certain of anything else before." Hatter sustained to stir her tea and look down with a small smile on his red lips. "Hatter, I'm even more confident of this then I am of my own name." She held his hand with her own, distracting him from his commitment to the teacup. "Do you not want me to stay here?" His astounding reptilian green eyes had turned into a tinted red.
"You would honestly dare to ask me that question? I have waited a year for your return, never once did I stop thinking about you, not for even a fraction of a second, Alice, not one tiny, miniature lick of time were you not on my mind. I'd give up anything and everything for you to stay here, never mind with me, but just to live in your true home of Underland, every queen in the world can have a fragment of my head."
"Hatter," Alice breathed.
"No, no, Alice, what I say is true. My madness doesn't speak for itself nor do I speak for it. This is my heart conversing with you. When you left so did my heart for you shall always have it and now that I am within its presence I can finally share its speech with you. My true feelings, my very essence, it all lives with you." Alice blinked away a tear of enthusiasm.
"I say the exact. My soul was nothing but a breathing sheet of blank paper, white and boring and my mind always jumbled and confused like a box car crash. When I'm with you everything is clear as the crystal within your voice and I feel like I can fly higher than young Peter Pan could ever hope to. You are my other half, and two halves make one whole when they're adjoined. When they are separated, the two halves make one hole in the other's heart." Hatter had put the cup on the table and hugged Alice close to him.
"That they do, Alice, but luckily for us, these halves have created a broken heart that has been healed within a year's passing. It could have been longer; it could've been ten years, maybe even twenty. Fortunately, only one has died and many more may live on as we follow them hand in hand."
"I would very much like to follow eternity with you, Hatter; forever and always we could do just that and explore the lands as well as each other." She nuzzled his shoulder with her forehead. They both grew tired after having their tea and went to Hatter's bed to dream of each other and all of the future possibilities and accomplishments, but more importantly, they dreamt of tomorrow.
NoTe: Ok so this was just a quick thought that turned into a five day process but I'm proud of it nonetheless. Should I continue or leave it as it is? Reviews are splendid.