A/N: Syfy's Alice belongs to Nick Willing, the namesake/lyrics at the beginning of this fic belongs to The Sleeping. That's all :)
We could have made it, with a couple of deep breaths.
There was a light. We could have reached it, There was a light.
Things had been getting worse. It was going well for the first few months; so well it was like a dream. Rather than "honeymoon" phase, they called it their "wonderland" phase. All kisses and sharing pizzas and drinking tea. But that was all over now.
It started with small, meaningless arguments. Alice leaving her clothes all over the floor. Hatter not doing the dishes. These ones meant nothing and were usually mended before night's end. Then it escalated into much larger, louder fights. These ones usually left Hatter sleeping on the couch for the night and Alice crying herself to sleep in the bedroom.
Alice was becoming more and more distant with every passing day. Hatter began to wonder if perhaps she'd be better off with him back in Wonderland, because she certainly wasn't happy with him here. He thought about it after every fight, but could never go through with it. The thought of her having yet another man walk out on her life was worse than staying, even if he knew they were both unhappy like this. After all, he did still love her.
He thought that maybe if he surprised her one day, things might start to get better.
He was wrong.
One day, while Alice was teaching karate at the dojo, Hatter went down to the local florist and found a bouquet of brightly coloured daisies. They had been dyed all sorts of colours: green, blue, pink, orange… And he thought they rather looked like they could have been from Wonderland. So he bought them. He crossed the street to the dojo where she was teaching, and looked in the window. He thought he saw a familiar face… One he didn't like. One crowned with bleached-blonde hair. He shook his head, and subsequently shook it off; it must be his mind playing tricks on him.
He went in through the front doors and turned into the doorway of the dojo to find Alice with Jack Heart. It wasn't his mind playing tricks on him. It was real. Why was he there? Hatter did the only thing he could think of to do at that moment. He dropped the bouquet on the floor, and left just as quickly as he came in.
When Alice left the dojo, she saw the flowers; their petals scattered all over the floor. She knew who had left them. She scooped them up as best as she could, and brought them home with her.
She opened the door to their apartment to find him sitting at the kitchen table, back turned to her, sipping tea. Without turning around, he asked her, "Good day at work?"
"It was fine." She replied.
Hatter made a "mm" sound in response, before sipping the hot brown liquid from his tea cup. He didn't even notice when Alice breezed into the kitchen for a vase and water. It wasn't until hours later; after Alice had long since cried herself to sleep in the bedroom, that he moved from his spot at the table, and noticed the vase of flowers on the coffee table.
That night, Hatter also cried himself to sleep.
…
Hatter left from work early, as it was slow that day and they didn't think they would need the extra help. He didn't want to go straight home, so he went to the supermarket to grab some tea. It was on his way home, at the corner of his block, he saw that familiar red-clad frame… And it looked like he was leaving his apartment.
Hatter made his way to the his apartment, the one he shared with Alice… The one in which they'd shared so many good times together. The one that now felt like an empty shell, void of all love and happiness that once thrived inside it.
He opened the front door to be greeted by the stale aroma of sex in the air. He charged into the bedroom angrily to find a surprised looking Alice sitting on the edge of the bed - their bed - wrapped in a blanket. She sheepishly looked up at him from under her eyelashes, darting them back to the floor as quickly as possible, fixating her eyes on some unknown spot in the carpet.
"Who were you with!?" Hatter shouted, from the doorway.
No answer.
"WHO WERE YOU WITH!?" He shouted again, blinking back the tears that were beginning to form, stinging his eyes.
"Jack." Alice replied timidly, shame thick in her voice.
Hatter scoffed. "I don't believe this," he said, covering his eyes with his hand in frustration. Squeezing his eyes shut as tight as he could, he turned on his heel to leave the room, leaving a decent sized punch hole in the wall in his wake.
Alice winced as he punched the wall, and she crumbled to pieces much like the bits of plaster now resting in a dusty mess on the floor.
…
Hours later, when he felt much more calm but not any better, Hatter went home. He pushed open the door to the dark living room. He checked the bedroom, Alice was gone. All that remained was the empty bed with a rumpled blanket sitting atop it. He took off his hat, running a hand through his hair, and sighed. Leaning against the doorframe, he traced the hole in the wall with his fingers. A single tear trailed down his cheek as he sighed again, pushing himself off from against the wall to make some tea in the kitchen.
He sat, contemplating the day in his head. The scenes replayed in his mind over and over again, driving him mad. He stood up to make another cup of tea, and caught sight of a picture of himself and Alice hanging up on the wall. He walked up closer to it, to take a better look. It was a candid one, probably taken in the early spring, by her mother. They were laughing and smiling at who-knows-what. He stared at it for a good few minutes, clenching his jaw, and that's when he lost it.
He toppled over the table in a fit of rage, sending the teacup sliding off of it, to come to a splintering halt on the floor. He threw the teapot - his favourite one - against the wall, smashing upon impact. He tore the picture off the wall and sent it flying across the room, shards of glass frame scattered atop the flimsy photograph. Blinded with tears and rage, he rampaged through the rest of the apartment, unsettling objects from their resting spots and smashing them to the floor. He pushed over the night stands in the bedroom, and ripped the blankets from the bed. He collapsed, then, on the edge of the bed, sobbing into the palms of his hands.
Gathering himself, he started rummaging in the closet, finding an old pack of cards Alice had. She'd never used them anymore because of what they'd gone through in Wonderland, but kept them stored away for safe keeping, regardless. Hatter rifled through them, sending them all over the floor like some kind of distorted game of 52 Pick Up. Keeping only two cards in his hand, he went back out into the living room. He worked at something for a few minutes, before shredding one card in two pieces, and dropping them nonchalantly on the floor in front of the front door. He turned back to the apartment, taking in the damage done. He took a deep breath, adjusted the hat on his head, and closed the door with a resolute 'click'.
It wasn't until much later that night, probably close to around 3am, when Alice finally got back home. She started when she saw the disaster in the apartment, her first thought being that someone had broken in. She cast her eyes across the apartment, looking for any sign of movement, when she took notice of something on the floor. Crouching down, she realized what had caused the mess.
Hatter. Of course.
She slid down the side of the door, tears escaping her eyelids as she clutched the two cards in her hands.
One, was a Jack of Hearts card ripped in two. The other, was a Joker card, with a picture of Hatter's face taped onto the face of the card.
…
Hatter surveyed his surroundings one last time with a heavy breath before slipping through the glass mirror back to his world, leaving behind one single oddly-coloured flower on the pavement behind him.