Title: Stay
Fandom: Alice (Syfy)
Pairing: Halice (Hatter/Alice)
Written: January 26, 2010
Author: thepinksnuffleupagus
I realized it as I placed the ring in the box, and the looking glass shuddered. But there was no sign of him, and I wondered if maybe everything that had happened didn't mean anything. That maybe I had imagined everything that I had seen in him.
I had felt it when we met the first time, I felt the change. Something fell into place at that moment, but I brushed it off. Jack was my goal, and it seemed to be my responsibility to take him back, to save him.
A fateful glance in the mirror. All it took for my heart to mend in a split second, and for any hope I had to soar. He was here. He came for me.
He spun around, and I saw the nervousness in his eyes. The hesitancy in his voice as he said he was here to say goodbye. I repeated his words, my heart sinking, disbelief and realization seeping in. he wasn't going to ask. He didn't want me to stay. Yet - why was he starting to say that, if I fancy coming back, why did he stop? I tentatively finish his sentence. His reaction shattered my soaring heart, and I played along. If he didn't want me to stay, returning to Wonderland was out of the question.
Perhaps I had imagined it all. I believe that falling for him was…stupid. Maybe I was chocolate and cream cake. What was my name again?
But that look in his eyes, I can't be imagining it. It seemed to be reflecting what I assumed was written across my own face. Grasping at the last few straws of hope, searching for an answer to the question I wish he would ask.
I shook myself out of it, if only to save myself from the tears pushing at the edges of my eyes. I handed him the jacket - I couldn't keep it. It would hurt too much.
We hugged, and it was awfully awkward. Nothing like in the casino. But I still didn't want to let go.
I had one last hope. He could come back with me. Maybe I didn't have to stay here in Wonderland. His reply made it worse, and I knew that I had made a mistake, but I wouldn't let it happen again.
One last look.
And I forced myself to breathe again.