Jervis Tetch poured more tea, only half a cup, into his teacup before setting down the yellow teapot. He went to take a drink, but when no hot liquid greeted his lips, he furrowed his brow and looked down to see that the tea had poured all over the large tea table. He frowned, and set the teacup in front of him, inspecting it.

"I didn't think the hole was so large..." he muttered, eyeing the hole that occupied the space where the bottom of the cup should have been. He heard a manic laugh, and ducked before a fresh cup went whizzing just over his hat. It smashed somewhere behind him and he sat upright again, taking in the sight of his companion, the March Hare. March giggled, and shrugged his shoulders.

"I was givin' you a new one, but I guess you don't want it!" he said in a jittery manner. Hatter made a mental note to give March one lump of sugar instead of two in the future, then contemplated his friend's words.

"I can't use a new cup," he began to say, "it's not time to change seats yet." He picked up an overlarge pocket watch, which was currently oozing strawberry jam, and pointed to the time it showed. "See? Not time yet."

"Nuh-uh!" March leaned over his seat and took from the ground a wall clock, then slammed it onto the table. He pointed with a shaky finger at the time it showed, which was exactly the time Hatter's watch was set at. "It. Is. Time! Time, time, time! More tea!" he said. Hatter shook his head.

"It is not time yet, you hare-brained fur ball!" he said, then leaned over and tapped on a rather large green teapot that sat to his left. "Nevermind, we'll have Dormy rule it out. That's why we have three! Three means no ties! Dormouse! Come out and take tea with us!"

"But it's not time to change our seats!" March said, looking to Hatter's watch.

"It is so! Look at the time!" Hatter pointed at March's clock, then looked back to the green teapot. No one had emerged, and he huffed in agitation. "Dormy, really! No more Poppies for you! Come out!" Again, nothing. Not even a single stir. Exasperated, Hatter lifted the lid and peered inside. No one there. He'd been talking to a teapot and nothing more that entire time, but that wasn't what his mind was focused on. Where was Dormouse?

"Hatter." March said to him, but he didn't look at his friend, and instead scanned the large table. Nope, not there. "Hatter..." March's words sounded off. Hatter didn't think too much on it though as he leaned over and looked under the table. Not there either.

"What the devil..."

"Jervis!" Hatter blinked wildly and sat back up to look at March. Only it wasn't March. Instead of the twitchy rabbit sitting there and giggling, a skinny man with rust red hair and calculating brown eyes glared at him from behind rectangular glasses. The other March. Hatter felt something tug at him, and he felt a small pang in his head as the surreal landscape melted away, leaving him inside of a dingy room. Instead of the tea table with various multicolored teacups and pots, there were normal people, all sporting an orange jumpsuit and sitting bored while staring at the small television that was bolted to the wall. The Rogues, his mind hinted to him before he could question. He went to take his hat from the top of his head, but it wasn't there. Just thick, wavy blonde hair greeted him, and he scratched it in slight confusion.

Where the devil was he again?

"Jervis, could you please stop looking about like some daydreaming child and make the damn move already?" The other March, Jonathan Crane, said in mild annoyance. Hatter followed his friend's pointing finger to gaze upon the table where there was a chess game set up.

Everything clicked.

"Oooh, yes of course. Arkham." he said, and waved the confusion away before he peered over his white chess pieces. He took his knight and brought it forward, stealing one of Crane's pawns. Crane huffed, and began to study the board intently. Hatter rest his chin on top his hand and sighed, the natural boredom of the small room sinking in. He bit the inside of his lip in thought while Jonathan continued to analyze the pieces. Where was Dormouse? The little mouse was always there, sleeping or not. She was never absent. Ever. Why would she skip out on one of their tea parties now? Something had to be up. Perhaps she had a cold. Perhaps something else...

Hatter glanced over at Jonathan, and an idea formed. But would it work? Only one way to find out he guessed. He cleared his throat and leaned forward.

"Marchy-"

"Do not call me that." Jonathan said abruptly as he sent his black queen forward.

"March."

"Jervis-"

"Jonathan." Hatter said before Crane could make an insulting remark. "You're an expert in psychiatry..." Jonathan raised a brow, but nodded.

"Yes, and what of it?" he asked.

"Do you have any idea about daydreams and the mind's attachment to fantasy worlds?" Hatter asked. Both of Crane's brows were raised now, and he gave Hatter his full attention. The chess game was long forgotten.

"Jervis, you're admitting that you understand that your Wonderland is a complete fabrication of your delirious mentality?" he asked in surprise. Hatter hesitated before giving a half nod.

"Yes and no. I just have a question about my tea parties..." he said. Jonathan placed his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together in pure interest. He wasn't interested in that ridiculous place, but rather the fact that Hatter was being so open about it. Hatter never really shared his stories of that place, and he definitely never hinted that he knew it was all a deluded fantasy. The ex-psychiatrist could help being interested in this possibility that Jervis Tetch may be progressing in his mental health.

It was almost scary...

"Go on..." he said, concealing his mild excitement with a businesslike tone. Hatter twiddled his thumbs together before taking a breath and doing as instructed.

"At every tea party I attend, there is myself, you and Dormouse." he said.

"Me being the March Hare..." Jonathan muttered. Hatter nodded.

"Yes, who else could you be?" he asked.

"Just continue..."

"Oh, of course. As I was...ehm...where was I?"

"There's only me you and Dormouse at the tea parties..." Jonathan mumbled as he massaged his temples, slightly regretting his interest. Hatter would take forever with this...

"Oh, yes, right. Anyway, there's only the three of us, see, and it's always us three. Never more or any less."

"Right..."

"But this time was odd, you see, because there was indeed one less. Dormouse was missing from her teapot, and I couldn't find her anywhere!" Hatter splayed his hands in exasperation and slouched. "I was wondering if you would know where she might be?" Jonathan hooded his eyes in thought as he sat back in his seat. He tapped one of his pawns as Hatter waited, practically on the edge of his seat in anticipation. Crane finally looked up at Tetch with curiosity etched on his face. He pointed over to Poison Ivy, who was tending a plant in the corner.

"Who is she in Wonderland?" he asked. Hatter glanced at her and back to Crane.

"Red Queen."

"Who's he?" Crane asked, pointing to Joker, who was on the couch, playing rock paper scissors with Harley Quinn.

"Cheshire, of course."

"Who's she?" Crane pointed to Harley now.

"The Dodo."

"Him?" Crane pointed to Riddler.

"He's the Caterpillar, but you seem to be acting much like Caterpillar, with all your questions on who people are, March." Hatter said with an amused, yet confused smile. Crane ignored the comment, and leaned forward.

"Now, in this world, the real one where everything is boring and dull and not full of ridiculous singing flowers, who is the person that represents the Dormouse?" he asked.

"Why it's obviously...um...well...." Hatter frowned and pondered the question. He finally looked up with wide blue eyes. "I haven't any frabjous idea who that may be, actually..." he said in realization. Jonathan nodded.

"I thought so. Perhaps the Dormouse has gone missing because of that, hm? It's only a theory, but it still makes sense."

"You're saying that if I want to have Dormouse back at my parties, I need to find a suitable person to represent Dormouse here?!" Hatter asked. Jonathan nodded again, and Hatter gripped his hair. "But no one I know is meant to be Dormy! Oh, Jabberwock!" Hatter stared hard at Crane. "Is there any other theories?" he asked meekly.

"Yes...but that theory is that the absence of your small ally is the beginning of your mind's pull from Wonderland, and soon you won't be able to daydream of that place at all. You'll be stuck in reality in a matter of months..." Crane muttered in a slightly menacing tone, causing Hatter's face to pale.

"I...I feel a tad faint..." Hatter mumbled when Crane's words hit him, and his eyes fluttered shut as he fell off of his chair and onto the floor, unconscious. Crane only smirked while the other rogues looked in mild surprise.

It was so much fun scaring people.

...

At lunch, Hatter picked at his food sadly, poking it here and there, never daring take a bite. He'd already been made a bit ill by Crane's earlier words, and he didn't feel like puking back up some strange, grey, mystery food at the moment.

"Losing Wonderland. Ha...laughable." he muttered, his eyes narrowed into worried slits. He couldn't lose his Wonderland. It was absolutely out of the question. How would he be able to escape this wretched place if he didn't have Wonderland tucked safely away in his brain, always ready for him to return to? He could drift off right now if he wanted to. Hatter considered doing exactly that, but refrained for fear that Crane's theory might be true. What if he went back and there was much more missing than Dormouse? What if the chairs were gone and they had nothing to sit in? What if the entire tea table was gone, and they had to use the ground to rest their teacups on? What if the teacups went missing?

What if there was no more tea?

Hatter shivered at that horrid thought, and shook his head as he returned his focus to the weird food in front of him.

"Pish-posh..." he said to himself. "No tea, indeed. Such a silly thing to imagine..." his attempt to reassure himself worked only a little, and he groaned returning to his original worried state within seconds. He thought about Crane's first theory, that he simply needed to assign someone the role of Dormouse, and she'd reappear in Wonderland. "Hmmm...perhaps I could...but who, I wonder?" he asked himself, and scanned the cafeteria. After some minutes of searching, he sighed and stabbed at his food. No one was suitable for Dormouse, he knew that. Crane was March because Hatter spent the most time with him in the world of reality. Cane was close, just as March was, so so he was dubbed that. But no one else fit Dormouse's role, nor even spent time with him like Dormy or March did.

No one was worthy...

He didn't know that at that moment, the main doors to Arkham Asylum opened, bringing forth a new person to call the enormous facility home. She didn't make a sound as she was lead forward. Not a single peep.

She was as quiet as a mouse...

...

Author's Note: Bwaaaa, I'm stuck on my other stories, so I'm using this to knock the cobwebs outta my brain. Well, this is obviously a Hatter fic....obviously. Crane will still be a major character because I just love writing him so much, haaaa~.

Anyway. Hope you enjoyed! Thoughts? Comments? More to come soon, since I'm stuck with everything else, haha. ;)