(A/N) Imagine this: Alice and Underland from the recent Tim Burton film, but the Hatter and Dormouse of WCMI. The March Hare falls somewhere in between, but he's not really the point to this picture. Unless otherwise stated, assume the characters are more similar to the Burton film, but really, the Hatter is classic. White hair and all. Male Dormouse too. Didn't like the female one from the movie.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Poor as dirt, so why sue?
Kudos go to my uber awesome beta, Jazz.
This story is for 4hgirl09, you know who you are. ;-)
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It was a brilliant day when Alice showed up on the Mad Hatter's front stoop. The clouds were perfectly white marshmallows floating about to the whim of the wind; and the sky was the blue of a robin flitting from tree to tree. The flowers were gossiping with lilting, bell-like voices and bubbling laughter echoed from babbling brooks winding their way through Underland. In the Hatter's sometimes delirious mind, it was the choice day for a tea party. He had just opened his front door to find the March Hare, but instead chose to postpone his plans because there Alice was and there she wasn't.
Dressed in white with a sheer veil, his Alice was attired for a white wedding. Her arms were gloved to nearly the shoulder, dainty white heels covered her small feet, and her face was painted to enhance her innocent features. But when the Hatter met Alice's cornflower blue eyes, she was not there. Empty as the well wishes of the exiled Red Queen, his dear Alice could barely claim a sliver of the curious little creature she had once been. He reached out and flipped her veil over her head; like the white rabbit when he glances at his watch, Alice's cheeks immediately flushed with color and her eyes held a brightness that had been absent before. Her rouged lips curled into a demure, yet teasing smile and she abruptly leaned forward.
Her lips met his and for a brief moment the Mad Hatter thought it was all just a trick. A fun thought to be shared between friends before they all laughed afterwards. However, as delightful as his daydreams were wont to be, he was disinclined to let himself run away with this one. He gently held Alice's face in his hands and guided her back. He took a deeper look into those eyes, ignoring the tingling in his lips, and let himself see past her façade. Those deceptively light eyes hid more things than could be counted in a hare den in March. The pain and desolation he could see in her eyes frightened him more than the frabjous day when she had fought the Jabberwocky. At the forefront of those cracked blue eyes was a horrifying surrender; butlying just behind that was something that the Hatter could cling to. Sinking deeper into her ragged psyche, he could just barely see shining hope; an old friend's most daring desperation.
"Sweet Alice, I have a most perplexing question. May I ask you?" His question gave her pause; cogs creaking to a start in her mind as that swift curiosity snapped to attention, in dire need of satisfaction.
"Of course," her voice was low and very cautious, as though she was tip-toeing on shards of glass. He gave her his very singular, maddening grin and leaned in close to divulge his riddle.
"How is a raven like a writing desk?" Words were leaping behind her eyes, whispering answers that were instantly rejected just as quickly as they were received. Her mouth opened to speak just as true life sparked into her eyes.
"I haven't the faintest clue my dear Mr. Hatter." And then just as soon as she came awake, she fell asleep;Alice collapsed into the Hatter's arms, leaving him to carry her into his house so that he could care for her.
Hatter stumbled his way to the guest bedroom, careful to not dislodge his precious burden. The door opened with a sigh before he touched the knob; yes, Underland was very aware of who had returned. The blankets rolled to the end of the bed in preparation for Alice's slight weight. He laid the girl, nay, woman, on the bed and pushed her golden curls away from her face. He plucked the veil from her head with ease and set it on the side table. Her shoes were just as easily removed and placed beside the bed. He then tucked her legs in and rolled the blankets over her. She looked like an angel sleeping in his home; he was tempted to sit there and just watch her sleep, eager for the moment when she would wake. It was a selfish urge of his to be the first thing she saw when she awoke. Alas, he had a tea time to attend to.
"Until later sweet Alice, sleep well." He brushed a hand across her face and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. His lips still tingled from that first, unexpected kiss. Hatter rose to his feet then before his heart convinced him to stay by her side and left the room for the kitchen. Uneven stairs with odd tilts that had never been an obstacle before today, now posed a danger to his health as visions of Alice in wedding finery danced around in his very mad mind.
"I should think myself a fool if I slipped and decapitated myself after all those years of avoiding the Queen!" He laughed to himself. His green shoes made a happy clicking sound that made him pause to dance a jig on the stairs. He grabbed his too tall, green hat and leaped to the first floor landing. The triangular door that led into the kitchen swung itself open, slamming into the wall where several decorations fell from precarious perches to shatter on the ground. The Hatter shook his finger at the door after sighing.
"Tempermental, mischevious door. If you do not behave I shall nail you to the ceiling!" The door remained silent and allowed him entry but swung itself shut immediately after. Teapots, tea cups, spoons, teas, tarts, jams, and many more things related to tea time were littered across his counters and tables. Stacks upon stacks of saucers towered around the room, waving slightly from the force of the door's previous movement. The Hatter occupied himself by grabbing mismatched utensils and cups and placing them on a checkered platter. Water was set on to boil in fifteen kettles and tea leaves were sprinkled into filters. He stumbled to the opposite end of the kitchen with the tea cups in hand and poked at a tall door with a prodding toe.
"Open up now, don't be shy." At his words, the very tall door slowly edged open until the garden and table could be seen. The Mad Hatter nearly skipped out to the table, humming a song all the while. He had just finished placing out the cups and saucers in all of their odd places when he heard the gate open.
"I tell you Dormouse, it is nearly six and if you do not stop falling asleep we will never make it to the table!" The March Hare's irritated voice reached the Hatter's ears from across the lawn.
"Is it nearly six now?" The Hatter asked himself. He plucked two pocket watches from his coat pocket and then another from his shoe to reaffirm the time. All three watches read six on the dot. "Oh my! Running quick today, need some jam." He muttered before heading back into the house for the whistling kettles. When he reentered the garden with tea in tow, the Hare was setting out treacle tarts and lemon cups across the table. Biscuits and jams surrounded various cups and saucers, their aromas quite tempting.
"Hatter, you will never believe what the Tweedle Twins have been telling me!" The Hare exclaimed as he took a seat at the table. The Hatter slopped some tea as he plunked the tea pots down on the table.
"Really? Sounds quite unbelievable already. As a mad man I am inclined to believe all manner of unbelievable things." The Dormouse belched after swallowing an obscene amount of tea that the Hatter poured into his pot without thought.
"Unbelievable!" The small creature cried before collapsing in sleep again.
"I was just on my way to your house when Tweedle Dee, or was it Dum? Stopped by and said he'd seen a girl who looked remarkably like Alice! Then Dum said, or was it Dee? That the girl was so much changed that she couldn't be Alice! They both said she looked like she was sleepwalking, completely unaware! So I thought to myself that she could not be Alice because Alice was so very alive and curious! This creature they described must be an imposter!"
"They were quite right." The Hare continued to rattle on, completely unaware that the Hatter had spoken. He waxed poetic on Alice's fiery spirit, yet maintaining that she would never be seen again because she was gone after all, off to the world above never to return to Underland.
"So it's clear that the girl was not Alice because Alice is very gone and very determined and she may very well never come back." The March Hare finally stopped speaking and looked at the Hatter curiously with a cup of tea paused on the way to his mouth. "But you have been very quiet this afternoon Hatter, has the Cheshire Cat finally managed to get your tongue? If so I should be very upset because I will be deprived of much lively conversation! Oh but it is clear that he has your tongue because you do not respond! Whatever shall I do without a friend to talk to me?"
"Whatever shall you do?" The Dormouse murmured drowsily, soaking in a cup of tea. The March Hare frowned at the plump mouse before taking a long sip from his cup.
"Hare, if you will listen to me now, I shall tell you a tale you will not believe, regardless of how mad you are as well." The Hare promptly stopped speaking and watched the Hatter carefully for it was clear to him that the Cheshire Cat had yet to steal his friend's tongue. In previous times, before Alice's disappearance, the Hatter had been quite known for weaving a delightful tale for others to get lost in. Before the Red Queen and after mundane events of course, hardly anyone was capable of making an exciting event any more thrilling than it was!
"I was just about to set the table out for tea, preparing for tea time as usual when there was an unexpected visitor at my door. I, gentlemanly mad man that I am, opened the door and found none other than Alice!" He paused here because the Hare began to exclaim about impossibilities again. With a pointed stare, the Hare hushed again, eager to hear more of the tale. "She was quite changed though, not her normal self at all. She was dressed to wed with all the accoutrements, but inside she was as hollow as the rabbit's hole." He tilted his head down and gave his friend a concerned look, "I fear Alice has suffered much in her absence."
After this statement, silence hung over the table like a heavy cloak without holes to poke a head, or an arm, or a foot through for that matter! For some time, the Hatter stared at his tea, worry in his eyes while the March Hare nibbled on a biscuit covered in raspberry jam idly. Time was dripping by in a sluggish stream, leaving the occupants at the table bereft of things to say. The Hare was considering something to say next when the door to the Hatter's house opened abruptly.
Alice stood in the doorway, a changed person. Her golden blonde hair was allowed to free fall around her thin frame in abandon, leaving her blue eyes hardly able to peer beyond curly locks. She was dressed in the white dress still, but her gloves were gone, leaving her friends to stare in horror at the ugly purple and green bruises decorating her arms. She reached up and pushed her hair behind her ears and used a blue ribbon to tie it all back. She slowly walked to the table and stood beside the Hatter with a blank expression on her face.
"Is it tea time already?" She inquired her voice barely a croak. He nodded his acknowledgment and she took the seat just to his right. The March Hare was staring at her with wide eyes, his left ear twitched the more he observed. Alice was slowly pouring tea into her cup when the Hare finally exploded.
"Where did you get those nasty bruises?!" He slapped his paws over his mouth; eyes wide at his behavior. Alice froze and swallowed hard. She dropped the tea pot and was surprised when it didn't break. The Dormouse snapped awake at the sound of it hitting the table and looked over at her with a surly expression.
"Watch what you're doing now!" The mouse was about to fall asleep yet again when he really looked at the woman sitting on the other end of the table. "Alice? When did you get here? Missed your conversation around here, been terribly dull." It was the greatest amount of words anyone had heard come out of the mouse in steady succession in several years.
"Sorry, I was busy." Alice managed to pass through her shock and momentary horror in order to respond. The Dormouse snorted in response, but passed out before he could continue the conversation.
"I'm sorry for being so abrupt Alice, that was unkind of me." The March Hare announced once the mouse fell asleep again. The blonde woman cast him a glance before she resumed pouring herself some tea.
"Did you sleep well?" The Hatter inquired. She kept busying herself with little actions, but didn't respond. Hatter placed a gloved hand on her bare one and gave her a strong look, one full of concern, hurt and caution. She raised her blue eyes to meet his, but couldn't maintain the contact.
"I have not slept well for some time," she finally answered.