"I can't believe this happened!" Hatter's strength had finally cracked, she sunk to her knees burying her head in her hands. Jack just stood there, not sure what to do. They hadn't been banished for longer than five minutes, and Hatter had already given up on all hope of ever getting out of here.
Jack surveyed the empty space around them. They seemed to be in the middle of a field of grass. The only strange part was that the grass was a gloomy shade of gray. The field was surrounded by mountains, of the same color. It looked like there was something at the top of one of them, possibly a town. There had to be other people here. They couldn't really be alone in this wasteland, right?
Jack looked back down at Hatter. She wasn't moving, but he could tell that she was crying. She must have given up on hiding her tears, now that there wasn't anyone to hide it from.
Jack sighed, he knew that he should hate her, after all that she had done to him and Alice. But he had known her before he had even met Alice, and he knew that there was good in her.
He hadn't believed for a second that she was actually going to kill him. The others, maybe, but not him. They were friends, and he knew that she didn't have the heart to end his life. He hoped that she didn't hate him for ruining her plans. Part of him didn't want to admit that, if he had been able to stay out of the way, none of this would have happened.
"Hatter?" He asked softly, kneeling beside her. "I am so sorry." He knew that just apologizing wouldn't be enough, that it couldn't change what had happened. "I don't know what I was thinking. I don't know what I saw in Alice, or why I let that motivate me to temper with things that I knew I should have just left alone. But if I have know that she was your counter part-"
Hatter pulled he head from her hands, and placed a hand on his shoulder to silence him. "It's ok, Jack. You're not the one that I'm angry with."
"I'm not?"
"Well, of course you're the one who's responsible for this whole mess, but..." Hatter thought for a moment, not sure how to put her thoughts into words. "It's hard to mad at you. I just didn't know that you were such a hopeless romantic."
Jack couldn't help but grin. How could he have really believed, even for a moment, that Hatter had given into her dark side.
"Then what are you upset about?" He asked.
"Morris betrayed me", she said coldly. "Didn't he?"
"Yes", Jack said sadly.
"Deep down inside, I knew that he would."
"But you still trusted him?" Hatter looked down, not wanting to have to admit the truth to Jack.
"Yes, I thought that..." Her voice trailed off.
"You can tell me. I'm not going to judge, you know that." Jack gave her a warm smile.
"I thought that he cared about me. I wanted to believe that I cared about him." Hatter groaned, closing her eyes. "I literally gave him the keys to my destruction, and expected him to not use them. I'm an idiot!"
"Don't say that. He's a coward and his loyalty is easily bought, but he hid that very well. It's not your fault. And, hey, things could be worse, right?" Hatter gave Jack a look that told him that she thought he was insane. "You're alive."
"And I'm stranded in the middle of no where, without any hope of returning home."
"At least you have good company." Hatter snorted and gave Jack a playful shove, both of them laughed. "We're gonna be ok, I promise."
Hatter looked into Jacks eyes, and gave him a genuine smile. They had been friends ever since they were very young, and, if she had to be stranded with someone for all of eternity, she was glad that it was him. They had been placed at opposite sides of a complicated battle field, but in the end they had gone down together.
Part of what had fueled her hatred for Alice was the fact that Jack had fallen for her. That was something that Hatter had never suspected to happen. She had thought that she had moved on from her childish crush on Jack, but she was wrong. Love can become dormant, but it can't disappear, not if it's real love. That what this was, she was actually in love with Jack, and she didn't want to have to hide it from him or herself.
"Hatter?" Jack's voice broke her train of thought.
"Sorry, I was lost in thought." She smiled sheepishly. Jack nodded, giving her a smile that would make a prissy girl blush. "Thank you."
"For what?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
"For everything. You were always there for me, even when I didn't realize at the time. Thank you." She took his hands in hers.
Jack looked into Hatter's eyes. He couldn't help but feel that he was seeing her for the first time. She had said that he had always been there for her, but now he wished that he could have been there for her more. That he could have been with her the whole time. He could have saved her from all of the wrong choices that she had made.
He was holding her hands, her soft but strong hands. He was almost glad that they had been banished, at least they were together. That was when he noticed the way that she was looking at him, he could suddenly see all of the emotions that she was hiding. Had she always looked at him like that?
Acting on any impulse, he leaned forward and kissed her. Neither of them pulled away and a few seconds pasted. When the moment did end, Hatter was at a lost for words.
"Come on", Jack rose to his feet. "Let's go see whats beyond this field."
He helped Hatter to her feet, but didn't let go of her hand once she was standing. Together they began the long walk to see what this world had in store for them. They didn't know where they were going, but it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that now they were together.