The Journey Up

A scattered dream that's like a far of memory,

a far off memory that's like a scattered dream.

I wanna line the pieces up,

yours and mine. - Sora, Kingdom Hearts 2.

It was a bad idea.

Mallymkun knew that it had 'Bad Idea' written all over it in great big letters, but as usual, the Hatter wasn't even bothering to stop and read. The little mouse wished that he would. Probably save him a lot of trouble.

It had been five years since Alice last visited Underland, slew the Jabberwocky, and went back to her own world due to her family and unfinished business. She had promised to return, but Mallymkun was hoping that she wouldn't. Sure, she was the right Alice, but then she would keep Tarrant all to herself. And that was just a slurvish thing to do, in the dormouse's eyes. But Hatter liked her back. Oh, he really did like her back. It was why he was risking going up top in the first place. He was disguising himself so he could fit in, the White Queen had offered him a vial of Jabberwocky blood, and he vowed to find Alice and convince her to return.

Yes, this was definitely a bad idea.

Sighing, Mallymkun sat on one of the many hat stands in Hatter's workshop, her head resting on her little paw as she waited for Tarrant to change out of his usual bright, florescent clothing. Something the White Queen had also given him; these boring, colorless clothes which McTwisp had said all the men wore up top in Alice's world. Hatter had been shocked at how boring it looked, and said that he couldn't understand why Alice would want to go back to a world like that, if that was how people dressed. But he took it and went to change into it anyway. Anything to get Alice back.

"Are you done yet?" Mallymkun asked, her tone full of huff and annoyance.

"Be patient, Mally," Tarrant said from behind the screen, and the little mouse could hear the brogue in his tone and how hoarse his voice had become. "I'm just coming to terms with how boring these clothes are. I cannot understand why people would wear such things. It's simply dreadful!"

"Then why do it?" Mallymkun questioned him, hoping to change his mind. "Why bother if it's not worth it? Alice chose ta go back there, so why not respect 'er choice, ditch the idea, and continue makin' 'ats and drinkin' tea?"

"Because I will not just leave her if she's miserable," the Hatter proclaimed, and Mallymkun sighed once more. "It's been five years – although I can't tell, since Time is being his tricky self – and I can sense that something's wrong. I at least need to go and check on her. If she's not ready to come back yet, then I shall respect her choice and wait for her above. But if she is, or if something's wrong, then I shall bring her back down again. It's the least I can do for her, since she saved Underland from the Jabberwocky, and now, it's my turn to save her."

Mallymkun placed her head in her paws. She was afraid that he would say something like that. Sure, everything was bad when the Red Queen was in power, but at least she wasn't here. Everything changed when she arrived, waltzing up to the Tea Party like she owned it, and him. Mallymkun only tolerated her because she saved Underland, but that was it.

"Well, I'm ready, of sorts," Tarrant stated, bringing Mallymkun out of her thoughts as he stepped out from behind the screen.

"Hatter," Mallymkun gasped. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that you've lost ya muchness."

Tarrant looked so different, she could barely recognize him. His suit was a beige colour, all neat and proper, complete with matching shoes polished nicely so that they shone in the sunlight. He wore his hat which had been colored a similar color (if there was one thing the Hatter refused to go without, it was his hat), using fabric and stitching, and all the tools of his trade had been removed from his person. His eyebrows had been cut, his hair combed back, and died a more gingery colour. His skin wasn't even as pale as it had been; the White Queen had given him some powder to rub all over him, which still made him look pale, but not a pale white like he usually was. It was a more fair-skinned pale.

The only thing which hadn't changed at all were his eyes. Their color simply couldn't be helped, as the White Queen put it. But Tarrant didn't want to change them; Alice wouldn't be able to recognize him, if he did.

"I know," he sighed, looking at himself in the mirror. "But if this is what it takes to see Alice, then so be it. Even if I lost all my muchness entirely, it wouldn't matter. Because I would have seen Alice again, and I would be with her, and if I never returned I wouldn't care, because home is where the heart is, and my heart belongs with her-"

"Hatter!" Mallymkun snapped, interrupting him.

The Hatter snapped out of his ramble, shaking his head.

"I'm fine," he thanked her. "Thank you."

"But I am worried, Tarrant," Mallymkun spoke up, standing up and hopping down from the hat stand. "What if you don't ever come back? What if Alice truly has forgotten? What will you do then?"

"Well, like I said, if I don't ever come back, it wouldn't matter," the Hatter told her. "Home is where the heart is, and I lost my heart to Alice a long time ago. As for her not remembering, I can always jog her memory if she hasn't. But remember, she promised that she would remember this time."

"Fine," Mallymkun huffed. "But if you get inta trouble up there, don't expect me ta come and rescue you or your bonnie lass."

Tarrant just rolled his eyes, before straightening out his jacket and walking out the door with Mallymkun following along behind. It was all mapped out in his head. He would drink the blood, go up the hole, find Alice, and return with her.

'Oh yes, Hatter!' he imagined she would say. 'I will return with you! And did I ever tell you that I am in love with you?'

Of course, the last part was just a bonus, but still. He and Mallymkun walked through the great white halls of Marmoreal, thankfully meeting no one, until they arrived in an almost empty throne room. The White Queen sat upon her throne at the far end, and Nivens McTwisp stood next to her with his nose twitching with nerves. Only he had ever gone up top, and he was unsure what would happen to Tarrant when he went up there. He had gone up there and nothing had happened to him, obviously, but what of Tarrant? He was a man; would the effects be different?

"I see that you are ready, Tarrant?" the White Queen said flatly.

"Ready as I'll ever be," the Hatter informed her. "How do I look, McTwisp? Normal and plain enough?"

"Well, you certainly look better than you did before," the rabbit answered him. "Still a little out of place, but it would have to do. The eyes might cause a problem, though."

"Oh no, I don't want to change these," Tarrant protested. "I want Alice to at least recognize me. And if all else fails, I can change them myself to a more normal color."

"Very well," McTwisp sighed. "Once you've found Alice, make your way back to the rabbit hole and jump down it. I shall leave a key for one of the other doors leading to Marmoreal, so neither of you have to go through the shrinking and growing stages. I'm sure Alice has had enough of that, anyway."

"Key goes to one of the larger doors. Got it," the Hatter acknowledged.

"And if you're gone for too long, I shall come up and find you both," McTwisp continued. "But I'm sure you won't encounter any trouble."

"You can never know these things, McTwisp," Tarrant told him. "Just be aware, though, that if Alice does not wish to return just yet, I shall wait for her above."

"You cannot be gone for too long, Tarrant," the White Queen informed him. "You shall lose your muchness, otherwise. Alice has probably lost a bit of hers too, being up there for the length of time she has."

"Don't worry, your Majesty, I shall restore it the moment we return," Tarrant assured her. "Now, all I need now is the Jabberwocky blood."

The White Queen nodded, before rising from her throne and walking down the steps towards him with air and grace. She handed him the small vial of the purple liquid. Tarrant grimaced at the sight; the last time he had seen that stuff, it had taken his Alice away from him. His Alice. He liked the sound of that.

"Just wish to be with Alice while you drink, and it will take you up the nearest rabbit hole to her," she told him. "But please, do not spend longer than you need to up there. Who knows what will happen to you if you do."

"Rest assured, your Majesty," Tarrant informed her. "I shall be back before you know it."

His smile faltered as he said those words. The same words that Alice had told him right before she left; and she was never 'back before he knew it'. Otherwise, he wouldn't be venturing up top into her world, intent on bringing her back himself. Clearing his head of thoughts other than those concerning Alice, the Hatter clicked the cap off the vial and gulped it all down.

Take me to Alice.

Suddenly, the whole world began to fade around him. Marmoreal, Mallymkun, McTwisp, the White Queen...all were fading before his very eyes. Tarrant began to panic, but then, it faded altogether, and he found himself shooting upwards towards a bright light...

...arms out in front of him, Tarrant clutched the long grass as he hauled himself from the large rabbit hole. There was a bit of dirt on his coat, but he brushed it off as he stood up. The sun was shining, and the world looked very...dull. It was a lot duller compared to...where was it he had just come from?

Tarrant blinked in surprise. How could he have forgotten where he had just come from? He shook this question away as he turned, to see a large house in the distance, complete with neatly cut grass and red rose bushes. The red roses reminded him of someone, and yet, he couldn't put his finger on it. Now, all he had to do was...wait, what did he have to do again? Tarrant closed his eyes as he tried to remember, but found that he couldn't. His mind had gone blank. Empty. Not a memory to be found.

But how could he lose his memory, just like that?

Where was he? Who was he? Why was he standing in the middle of who-knows-where for a reason he couldn't even remember?

What...the...?