Alice was extremely happy, after a very successful 3 years in her world, she couldn't wait to see the Hatter and tell him what she had accomplished. Finally she was back in the beautiful woods of the underland. She saw a white sharp grin from the trees

"Chess!" She wailed happily, the troublesome cat sung down from the branch and the rest of his body appeared in a puff of blue smoke.
"Alice?" He said as if he was shocked she'd returned. She smiled and hugged the strange animal, when she pulled away she ran to find the Hatter.

"Wait, wait" The cat said suddenly appearing again in front of the 21 year old woman. "Where are you going?" He asked her, as if her running off made almost no sense at all.

"I'm going to see the Hatter" She said running passed the cat.

"Alice" He said reappearing in front of her again.

"Oh for goodness sake, what?!" She huffed frustrated.

"You won't find the Hatter back there" He said, his big smile turning into a very subtle frown.

"Why?" She asked Chess disappeared into another puff of blue smoke allowing Alice to run passed. Her heart was racing as she sprinted through the plants and bushes to get to the party table. The sight horrified her. The table cloth was burned with small flames still burning on the end of the cloths remains. The individual tables were lying on their sides and the cups were scattered all around. The next sight brought Alice to tears, she slowly walked forward and hoped what she saw in front of her was not really there. She leaned down and in her shaking hands she picked up... The Hatters hat.

As she looked down at the impressive hat in her hands a small tear fell from her cheek and hit the top of the hat, Chasseur appeared again.

"What happened here?" She asked unable to turn her head away from the hat in her hands.

"The red queen escaped, so did the Knave she found another Jabberwocky, bigger, stronger more frightening. She got her army back and sent them to capture Hatter.

"What about Mallymkun and Hare and..." Chess cut her off.

"Mallymkun is hurt she is with the white queen and the Hare is there too, to help." He said sadly.

"And the Hatter... Did he get away?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not" He said with a frown. "She is questioning him, trying to find out how it is you get to the underland, and how she can stop you from coming back."

"Will she... ya know" She said, making a gesture as if to stand for 'off with his head' Chess moved his head from side to side.

"No... She needs him to tell her first, if she kills him she will have no answers."

"Right," Said Alice wiping the tears from her eyes. Chess looked confused,

"We're going to save the Hatter" She said strongly.

"I can't take you" Chess said knowing she wanted him to come help. Alice tilted her head slightly,

"Why not!" She said in a rather annoyed voice.

"I don't know the way, I just poof my way there every time I go" He said disappearing. Alice tried to reply but he disappeared too quickly. Suddenly she heard the bark that belonged to Bayard.

"Alice" He said coming to a Halt.

"Take me to the Hatter" She snapped at him climbing on the dog's soft, warm back. Bayard barked as if he agreed then he darted off to the red queen's castle, meanwhile...

Back at the queen's castle, Hatter was sat alone in his cold, dark cell. The only bit of light he had was a small light above him which flickered uncontrollably, but it did not bother him at all. He would just sit there his hands bound by hard iron cuffs and heavy chains around his ankles attached to metal plate in the centre of the cell. His head was drooped down staring at the ground,

"No hat" Chess said cheekily as he appeared outside the bars.

"Hello Chess" Hatter said sadly lifting his head up, Hatters eyes had gone from pure green to a depressing gray. It was as if all the hope and energy had been sucked right out of him and that all that was left was pain and fear. Chess arrived in the cell and sat next to the Hatter.

"She's back" Chess whispered to his troubled friend. Hatter looked at him quickly.

"Alice?" He asked him showing that he was surprised and relived. Chess nodded, "Did you talk to her?" Hatter asked.

"Yes"

"Did you..." Chess cut him off knowing what the question would be.

"Yes I told her what happened and where you were" Chess said to his sad friend.

"And you left her alone?" He asked hoping the answer would be no! Chess looked worried but he knew Hatter deserved an answer. So he nodded, Hatter's eyes turned from depressing gray to roaring mad red. (If you're wondering why his eyes are red instead of orange it is because he is more mad than he ever was with Chess before)

"You...... left here?" He didn't shout but Chess knew he was dying to. He stood above the cat below him.

"You stupid cat!" He said then started shouting at Chess in a strange unpronounceable language. The cat disappeared in a puff of smoke, Hatter was so annoyed that he screamed loudly so the whole castle could hear him, he tried to break out of the cell but the tight cuffs and chains attached to him pulled him down to the floor again as he sat on the cold floor thoughts began to cloud his mind. Would she make it to the white witch? Will she survive? Will the red queen find her? These were the question's he feared and the more he thought about them the more afraid he became.....