Chapter 1

Dani stood outside the house with her arms crossed and looked around at the gardens looking for Ria who wondered off yet again into the maze people called a garden. After a few minutes she gave up by tossing her hands into the air and gave a deep sigh as she walked into the maze while tying her long brown hair into a ponytail so it wouldn't get caught in the over grown branches.

She picked up the bottom of her annoying long dress and walked around the maze running into a dead end at every turn get more irrated the further she got into the maze. It felt like hours of being in the maze before she pushed her way out of the maze through the thick branches cutting the bottom of her dress. She looked down at her dress and shrugged while walking away, she never liked wearing dresses but it was "dress code".

She wondered away from the maze looking at the old, decay back of the garden that nobody had touched in years. She hummed to herself till she heard a faint scream and looked down at a path with white and red roses at the beginning of it. She raises an eye brow and walked down the path till coming up to the tree and looked down the hole and rolled her eyes. She was highly sure she knew where Ria was and took a deep breath before jumping into the hole.

A racket in the kitchen roused the snoozing Hatter. He jumped in his chair, nearly falling out of it in his surprise.

"You damn Hare, what have I told you about throwing things!" He shouted, his face getting an odd lighting, and his eyes turning orange. He had not slept well in the past few days. With the war brewing, he was desperately trying to think of anything he could do. As a hatter, however, he was pathetically under qualified for any task of war. He supposed he could adorn the arm with fashionable hats. The very thought brought him out of his foul mood and put an amused grin on his lips.

Though he assumed it was just the March hare in the kitchen, Hatter went to investigate anyways. He could go for a fresh baked slice of bread, anyways. What he saw, however, was far from the Hare, or any animal of the sort."Hello..." He said awkwardly, looking down at the girl as if he had never seen a human before. "Do you have any bread?"

Dani fell from the hole watching all the different things fly past like clocks and maybe even a piano if it was even possible. She hit the ground and landed on a white tile floor in a plain white room. She hated white, its was too plain. This place defiantly needed some sort of color on the walls and ceiling.

She sat up and rubbed the back of her head and looked over at a man wearing a strangely colored outfit and gave him a strange yet irritated look for his stupid question. "Do I look like I have any fucking bread." She snapped and stumbled up while holding her side and looked around the room then look back at him. "Nice hat." She said limping past him, her first priority was to find her sister who, knowing her will exploring this place and figure out how to get the hell out of here.

Though he didn't know what her swear meant, her tone of voice clearly said she was annoyed. Hatter looked hurt for a moment, but instantly cheered up at her compliment.

"Thank you, it is one of my best pieces of work." He grinned and took the hat off, as if to admire its beauty. "You would look pretty with a hat. I can make you one, if you wish." as he placed his hat back on, he noticed her limp. "You're hurt."

She looked around the next room then looked out a window at the inside wall of the Castle. "Um maybe later have you seen a blond girl around here?" She said looking back at him while taking her hand off her side. "She uh fell into the hole before me, I wouldn't be surprised if she's running around here exploring things." She still couldn't put together how falling down the hole could lead her to end up here in this place. "Where am I?" Dani says looking at him.

"A blonde girl? Yes, of course." He grinned happily, and without any further words, turned on his heels to leave the kitchen. He asked no questions about how she got here, or who she was.

"What a pretty girl." A wispy voice said from behind Dani, and suddenly Chesh appeared, grinning widely.

"Leave her Chesh. She is here looking for the 'blonde girl'." Hatter said, not bothering to look back. Chesh looked confused for a second, then laughed slowly and vanished.

Dani blinked in confused at the cat and watched it appear and disappear in thin air. "Um...thank you?" She said rubbing the back of her head then looked at her hand to see if there was any blood. "Yep, defiantly not in England anymore." She mumbled while walking after him still looking around at all the white statues and walls of the Castle. "So uh what did you say your name was?" She says looking back at him.

"Name?" He paused, looking off at nothing. No one had ever asked for his name. Everyone just assumed he was called Hatter, as that is what he was.

"You can call me Hatter." He smiled pleasantly back at Dani, as if she were just a child. "Do you have a... name?" It was almost as if the word was unknown to him.

"Hatter?...Well that is an interested name Mr. Hatter, and yes I do also have a name. Its Dani." She says giving him a weird look then looks up at his hat. "The Hat maker is called Hatter, that strangely makes sense." She says looking out the window at all the white trees. "Why is it so white here, hasn't anyone heard of color? Even a little color would brighten this place up its almost bumming me out."

"It is white because it is pure." He grinned. "White is the color of doves, of pearls, of fresh fallen snow." He seemed to fall into a peaceful trance-like state. "White is the opposite of red." He added, expecting her to understand.

She looked around becoming very confused and looked down at her red and black dress and looked back up at him. "So...red is evil then to you, so that makes me evil then because I wear red right?" She said rubbing the temples of her head trying to understand his strange logic. This entire place was strange to her and it was giving her a headache.

"Oh, red is a beautiful color. I like to put it on hats. It is the queen of hearts that is evil." All the while he seemed quite happy. "Perhaps it is best if we find you some new clothes. I can make you a hat!" As if that would be a decent substitute for clothing.

"Queen of hearts?...Right...Well like I said I need to find my sister first before I do anything like change my clothes...unless you have any pants. I know women aren't supposed to wear pants but you try running around in a dress it's not easy." She says.

"Sister?" He repeated and stopped walking to look at her in confusion. "Were you not talking about the White Queen?"

"There must be another one in Underland." Chesh said as he appeared again, this time floating close to Hatter's shoulder.

"Yes..." He went distant again, thinking hard. "We will have to find her."

Dani's eye twitched in anger then slammed her palm to her forehead. "I don't have time for this, my sister is wondering around in a strange place, I need to find her and take her home." She says walking past both of them and out 2 big doors to a white tree garden. She looked past the giant white gate to the dead empty fields and sighed heavily. "I need to tie myself to Ria one of these days."

Chesh and Hatter looked at each other, then both followed Dani outside.

"You will not get very far." He murmured, his cheerful manner finally dissipating. "If you wish to travel, I suggest you bring me with you. I know this land better than most, and it can be very dangerous for a young woman."

She looked back at him and wanted to snap at him but he was right and her sister comes before her pride. "Fine you both can come, you because you know this place." She says pointing to Hatter, "And you."She says pointing to Chester."Because you are also very pretty my good sir and you can talk so that good enough for me." If she was going to stay in this crazy place she might as well talk crazy to a talking floating cat.

Chesh grinned and floated over to Dani, wrapping his tail around her neck as he 'rested' on her shoulders. "I like her." He told Hatter. "Can we keep her?"

"I believe that is a question for the girl." Hatter said as he turned toward a building to the side of the castle. He came back a few minutes later, leading two pure white horses.

Dani looks over at Chesh and smirks while scratching under his chin then looks up at the two horses. "Of course, cause riding horses in a dress is so easy." She says sarcastically while walking up to one of the horses and petting its neck. "He is very pretty though." She says running her hand down his back.