La Belle Dame sans Merci

Author's Note: Wow! Thank you everybody so much for following this story! I really appreciate the support and I hope the twists and turns are going to be worth it. Have you guessed who the woman is? It will all be revealed soon. Now here are some stories that you guys have to check out if you haven't already: Live4Sunshine's Wonderland Sunshine, Kafria's Wonderland, lady-ribbon's HATTER: User guide and Manual, and of course Lady Irish Rose's Hatter on a Hellmouth. A big thanks as always goes to Lady Irish Rose for her excellent suggestions, and just a general push for me to go to the dark side. Enjoy!

Chapter One

New York: One Year Later

Alice slung the bag of groceries over her shoulder, and took another look at the bottle of wine she picked out as she waited for the elevator to open. The new diamond ring on her left hand clinked against the glass as she nestled the bottle under her arm. She reached down to pull up the wooden door as the elevator stopped on the fifth floor. Alice quickly shut it behind her, and turned to face the hallway. She could make out the entrance to Hatter's apartment. It was the last one on the left; the door slightly ajar.

Our apartment, she corrected herself. Alice tsked, and let out a wry chuckle. "Hatter? Hatter, I've told you not to leave the door open!"

She nudged it with her shoulder, nearly tripping over one of the several unopened boxes of hers that were strewn around the living room. "Shit. Hatter!"

Alice dropped the bag and wine bottle on the kitchen counter. "Hatter! I got some wine to go with the dinner, which of course you have to make, although my mom said that I'm getting better."

She opened the drawer, and pulled out a corkscrew. "Hatter! Seriously, where are you? The bath…"

The wine bottle smashed on the white floor. "Hello, Alice."

"Who are you?" her voice shook with every word. "Where's Hatter? What have you done to Hatter?"

"Nothing."

"I don't believe you." The broken glass cracked under Alice's boots as she slowly began to back away. "Hatter? Hatter!"

"I'm not here for Hatter, Alice." The young man smiled charmingly at her. "I'm here for you."

"What?" She glanced down at the insignia on the man's suit. "No."

Alice scrambled to run, but her heel slipped on the wine puddle that was quickly spreading over the kitchen tile. He grabbed her by the end of her ponytail; yanking her up. She screamed, thrashing against him.

The needle was so small. It pricked Alice lightly on her collarbone, and she collapsed down in a heap.

Wonderland: One Year Later

Robert's hand shook as he input the numbers on the computer. Lorry kept the gun next to his side; the door blocked.

"I really don't think it's necessary for you to have the gun with you," Robert said, trying to keep his voice steady.

"You know as well as I do that Dodo requires it," Lorry replied. "Don't want you running off."

"Don't you think that I would've tried to escape before? And how could I possibly even attempt to, the way you have the place guarded."

Lorry grinned. "That means that you have given it some thought."

Robert flushed. He cleared his throat, and turned around. "You're guarding me because you can't do it, can you? You can't get Carpenter back."

Lorry rushed at him, the gun jammed against Robert's throat. "Shut up," he hissed.

"I warned you. You can't keep changing the personalities so often." Robert chuckled weakly. "You do that, the old one always wins out."

"Let him go!" Caterpillar shouted.

"But, he-" Lorry started to protest.

"You heard me," Caterpillar said. "You wouldn't really be so stupid to kill the man we need…would you?"

"No, of course not. I just-"

"Lost your head?" Caterpillar smiled. "Let him go."

Robert breathed out a sigh of relief as Lorry took a step back. He glanced at the young tech standing behind Caterpillar in the doorway. "What is he doing here?"

"We're going to give it one more try."

Robert scoffed. "I warned you. You can try-"

"You're too emotional, Robert. Carpenter was good at getting the job done even though-"

"You don't think I remember?" Robert yelled. "I remember everything about being Carpenter. There's a turning point for all new personalities you put in someone. Sooner or later the old ones always-"

"Except one," Carpenter said evenly.

"I got lucky," Robert replied, his face ashen.

"Sit down in the chair."

"I'm telling you-"

Caterpillar walked over, and grabbed Robert by the arm. "If you don't sit in the chair after I asked you nicely…I will use force." He nodded at Lorry. "You don't want us to use force…do you?"

Robert swallowed. "No. What if it doesn't work this time? It didn't the last round."

Caterpillar sighed. "Then I suppose we'll have to just deal with Robert, won't we?" He gave the tech a brief signal. "Go ahead."

Robert lay down in the leather chair that was perched in front of the computer screens. He rolled his sleeve up, and forced a smile on his face as watch the tech prepare the syringe. "So, what makes this batch different?"

"There is no difference. We can't add in anything more to the Carpenter formula without killing you."

"Oh." The tech bent down, and injected the blue fluid in Robert's vein. He shuddered as he felt his blood run cold, but there was nothing else; no blackouts, no feelings of weightlessness. Robert tapped his finger against the metal bearings. "Right. Well, that ends that little experiment."

"Shit." Caterpillar shook his head. "Fine."

"You shouldn't have changed me into Carpenter, and then back into Robert. Too many times-"

"Fine!" Caterpillar yelled. "We couldn't keep you as Carpenter. We needed Robert for…I mean, we needed you…how's the program coming?"

"Just a couple more tweaks to work out. At the moment it's hard to make the additional personality points stable," Robert replied.

Lorry looked at Caterpillar. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the formula is not stable." Robert jumped out of the chair, and began to type. "It can erase the personality, replace it with a new one, but, it's the additions you want that are causing the problem."

"I don't understand," Lorry muttered.

"That's 'cause you're an idiot," Robert retorted. "Look at it this way, take the personality of Carpenter. Now, erase that personality and you're left with the original one of Robert, and if that's all you wanted to achieve then you would be fine." He touched the screen and brought up a long list. "But, it's the additionals that you wanted. Those extra personality traits that you wanted to add it, or the ones that you wanted to override the negative traits. It's sporadic. Some stick, and some don't."

"Why?"

"The brain can't always handle it. It may accept the new information for a little while, but it will soon see that rewiring as a threat, and expunge it."

Caterpillar tapped his finger against his lower lip. "Can you fix it?"

Robert turning around, crossing his arms over his chest. "I can. But…I can't keep working like this. I won't do it anymore if you're intending to use this on Jack."

"We're not using this on Jack," Caterpillar said.

"Who's it for?"

"I can't tell you."

"No." Robert shook his head. "I want a real answer this time, and not some bullshit, 'it's for the good of Wonderland' kind of thing. A real answer."

"I can't give it to you."

"Then I can't do this."

Lorry rushed at him. "Do you want to die?" he snarled.

Robert's chin quivered. "I was dead once before. What difference does it make if you kill me again?"

Caterpillar sighed, and walked over to the computers. He smacked his lips examining the screens. "If you don't do this, it's not you who will die." He turned to Robert. "Alice will."

"What?" Robert paled. "What do you mean?"

Caterpillar cleared his throat. "Lorry, pull up the surveillance tapes. All of them."

The computer screens blackened for a moment before being replaced with several small blocks of black and white video. "Take a look in the lower left corner," Carpenter said quietly.

Robert's eyes widened. Alice was rattling the metal bars; her hair and clothes a mess. She was shouting, and crying. She kicked the bars before falling down to the cement floor in frustration. "What have you done?" he whispered. "Why is she here?"

"She's an option we're considering." Caterpillar pointed to another box in the center. "Take a look."

"I…" Robert peered in closer. "No." He turned to Caterpillar, his mouth agape. "No. What's she doing here?"

"She…she is the main option. I wasn't going to tell you, but…you needed to know how serious we are."

Robert glanced at the chair. "You mean to…no. No. You're mad."

"Or just clever."

"I won't do it. Not if you're intending to change-"

Caterpillar enlarged the shot of Alice. "You don't finish this job, she will be killed…in front of you."

"No."

"Then I suggest the best thing to do would be to get back to it…don't you think?" Caterpillar patted Robert on the arm, nodding over at Lorry.

Robert touched the screen, placing the center shot next to the one of Alice. "No. What have I done?"

Dodo ran into the throne room, out of breath. "Your Majesty!" he shouted.

Jack and Duchess looked up from their reading. "What is it? What's wrong?" Jack asked.

"The mirror's been used."

"What? It's not supposed to be…where's the ring? Has the ring been moved?"

"Caterpillar." Dodo exhaled. "Caterpillar has taken it."

Jack swallowed. "Find him." He turned to the Suits waiting by the door. "Find him…and arrest him."

A/N: I know. No Hatter, but he will be coming soon, like in the next chapter soon! Have you figured it out yet? I know that Wonderland and Alice's world are on different times, but since I suck at math...I couldn't figure it out so keeping them on the same timelines. I'm hoping, since summer is over, and things are starting to calm down that I'll have more time at night to work on this story. Thank you so much for reading it!