CHAPTER TWO.
"Again? Dodo, what the bloody blazes are you talking about?" Hatter questioned. Dodo paid no attention to him and welcomed Cheshire with open arms. She furrowed her brow and refused to step any closer. She didn't recall who this man was or where she'd ever seen him before, so she chose to press herself against Hatter. He instinctively snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close.
"It's as if you two were made to stand together like that. You fit perfectly!" mused Owl from behind them. Cheshire vainly attempted to stop her blush from forming, and Hatter's shadow conveniently fell over her face, but Duck flipped a light switch, illuminating all twenty lamps in the room. Dodo grinned and offered her a seat. Hatter sat on the armrest of the armchair she sat down in, keeping a hand on her shoulder. He could sense how tense she was and it was unsettling.
"She doesn't remember me, naturally. Last time I saw her she was a tiny little baby still in her mother's arms living happily in the Casino." Dodo leaned against his desk, beckoning for Owl and Duck to lock the door. What seemed like a broom cupboard was now a fully illuminated study full of books and various metal contraptions. "Now, tell me Miss Cheshire, how much do you know about the inner workings of the Hearts Casino?" Cheshire looked up at Hatter, who nodded urgently.
"I know absolutely everything; I was trapped there for the longest time before I escaped. But I trust you know the gist of it anyway."
"But do you know how you can possibly get the ring back?"
"No, but I know that it is a Katte's duty to protect the ring. Since the dawn of the Stone, the Kattes and the Hearts lived in harmony, with the Katte's protecting the Stone from all harm. The current Queen does not know how to use it and risks destroying Wonderland if it ever destroys the Looking Glass's magic. Knowing how secure the Casino is, we might not be able to get the ring back for quite some time, and by that point the ring will be in the hands of her son, Jack."
Dodo hissed angrily. "By that point, we'll have been finished recruiting her son to our cause and have him handle the ring." Cheshire's face was flushing with anger.
"Right now, I'm the only living person who knows how to handle the ring and –"
"So it is your duty to get the ring back into the hands of your family. The fate of Wonderland depends on you." She let out an angry hiss from the back of her throat.
"There is no family. There's just me. That's what I mean by 'only living person.' Everyone else is dead." He ignored her anger and said, "Then the rest of your duty is to make more. Reproduce, as you say." Cheshire's hiss escalated into a snarl. "I know you probably have some girlish fantasy about falling in love with the right man and having his children and all, but that doesn't matter now. You need to just have at least one descendant before you're old or captured so you can teach them."
"I –" Dodo cut her off with a flourish of his hand. She looked up at Hatter in disbelief. Was he really going to do this to her? Hatter's hand squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. His gaze drifted down, meeting hers. The two of them shared silent confusion and Dodo burst in once again. "You may as well just use Hatter for it. Not like he serves any purpose to the Resistance anyway, he could be useful for something."
"I'm INFERTILE!" she shrieked as Hatter's hand dropped from her shoulder.
"That was too far, Dodo. Who do you think you are, telling her to submit to demands like this? She's not your little plaything. Why I oughta – " Cheshire placed a hand on his knee, squeezing it warningly. Hatter paused mid-rant to catch his breath. Dodo squinted as he scrutinized Hatter, looking at Cheshire and back to him.
"You're both dismissed. Do as you please. The Resistance has no further need for Miss Katte." Cheshire stood up and walked towards the door, turning to make sure Hatter was coming too. Hatter and Dodo stood at the center of the room, each giving the other the dirtiest look possible. She cleared her throat and Hatter shook his head, storming past her and shoving the door open. He held it for her and as she skirted out past the doorframe, Hatter slammed it shut. He absentmindedly grabbed her hand and pulled her in the direction of the tram.
"Hatter. Hatter. HATTER!" she shouted. "You're pulling my arm out of my socket, slow down!" He stopped rushing and dropped her hand, grabbing on to her shoulders instead.
"He should not have been treating you like that. You're worth so much more than he is to the world and I don't want you to take anything he said to heart. Understand?" He slammed his fist against a column and a chunk of it crashed to the ground at their feet. Cheshire grinned up at him and shrugged, walking towards the tram. The silence that followed broke Hatter's heart. He couldn't believe how nonchalant she was about the ordeal. Dodo had just told her she was worthless to the reconstruction of Wonderland and she took everything with a smile. "I will never, ever, understand women…"
"What was that, Hatter?" She was standing in the doorway of the tram, kicking her leg back and forth.
"Nothin'." He shook his head at her once more and followed her into the contraption. Hatter hit a blue button and the door closed, sending the tram skyrocketing upwards until it stopped at the doorway to the outside world. Cheshire blocked the doorway when he tried to get off. "Where to?" He shrugged and stood up from the driver's seat. Anywhere but here, he thought, nudging her towards the exit. "I'm not letting you get off until I know where we're going."
His frustration mixed with her persistence was about to make him boil over, but Hatter kept his composure to prevent another physical attack from Cheshire. She stood in the doorway, narrowing her green eyes at him while he tried to come up with a safe place to have her stay. "You have nothing to your name but the clothes on your back, yet Dodo will leave you to die because you are of no use to him anymore…" Hatter mumbled. Cheshire said nothing and continued to stare at him, waiting for a location to be named.
"My Tea Shop! You can stay there for a little while until we find somewhere more secure."
"You're only saying that so we can get a move on…" Hatter smirked and said, "You don't trust me?" She shook her head but moved aside to let him off the tram. As soon as the two of them were out on the streets of the abandoned city, Hatter paused to grab her by the shoulder. "Will you tell me how you knew the bloody password?" She raised an eyebrow, tugging awkwardly at the belt loops on her pants.
"My mom used to tell me a poem with that line in it before I went to bed at night." Hatter took that as his cue to end the conversation. "Listen lo-, Cheshire, you have no clothes." She looked down at the sweater she was wearing and sighed. She had grown out of the clothes she had in the woods for three years and what she had on now needed a good washing. Cheshire looked up at the sky.
"I could technically break into my old apartment and steal a shit-ton of clothes…"
"The Red Queen's definitely got that under high surveillance." Cheshire scoffed and said, "Then I have no clothes and nothing to buy more off the underground market with." Hatter groaned as she prodded him repeatedly in the stomach. He grabbed her hand and lingered on it for a while before letting it swing back to her side. She looked him dead in the eye and while he gazed back at her in confusion, Cheshire attempted to knock his hat off his head. He knocked her arm away but instead she wrapped it around his neck, giving him a hug. Hatter, still a bit confused, pulled her closer.
"Let's go back to my place, you can take a bath and we can wash your clothes. Deal?" She tore the porkpie hat from his head, broke from his embrace and skipped a few steps away.
"Deal." He whimpered pathetically, patting his head and feeling the lack of hat. "Aww, poor Hatter. You look cute with hat hair though. I might keep this." He scowled as she grinned, directing her in the direction of his Tea Shop. She held on to the hat tightly as he vainly attempted to catch her off guard and retrieve it. Cheshire relented only when they reached the door of the Tea Shop, which was nothing more than an iron door in a brick wall. She raised an eyebrow and flinched as Hatter's hand made contact with her own. His fingers curled around hers before she had a chance to draw away, and she growled.
"Just hold on, okay? It doesn't look like much now, but it's a dangerous place to get lost in…" He urgently tightened his grip and she stopped resisting, thrusting her free hand deep into her sweater pocket. Hatter pushed the door open and pulled her inside, slamming it shut behind them. Cheshire's eyes widened as she inhaled the strong scent of tea, but not just any tea. Emotion Tea, Wonderland's specialty. Her head was already reeling, though she had not had any to drink and she followed Hatter as he dragged her through the shop to a back door. They pushed through throngs of people, all of them standing motionless, holding porcelain cups of tea. He nodded to a mousy looking fellow half-asleep behind a podium and led Cheshire through to the next room. The scent of Emotion Tea was almost nullified by the musky, woodsy scent overpowering the room. Hatter dropped her hand and motioned for her to sit on the couch in front of a glass desk, which he leaned back against.
"It's not much, but it's home." Cheshire inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, attempting to clear her head. "You've never been around that much Tea, have you? Those people out there are addicted to it and they stay down here in this little black market because they can't get enough Ecstasy, Lust, or whatever it is they need." She opened her eyes and he held out yet another porcelain cup on a saucer. She eyed it cautiously and he chuckled, assuring her that it was in fact regular Earl Grey Tea. Cheshire took it from him and downed it, ignoring the scalding sensation in her throat. He watched her curiously as she struggled to get every last drop out of the cup before handing it back.
"So, you said I could stay here for a while?" she asked, looking around the room. Like Hatter said, it really wasn't much. Apart from the couch and the desk, there was a large chair, a wardrobe and a few patches of grass with odd little flowers. He nodded and got up, placed the cup on the desk and walked over to a door that Cheshire had not seen earlier. He pulled the door open, revealing a small room with nothing more than an unfolding couch, an armchair and a nightstand. "Here, to be exact."
Cheshire looked at him questioningly. "Then where will you sleep?" He motioned to the large spinning chair behind the desk and said no more. Inhaling deeply, Cheshire entered the room. It smelled like him… Leather and cologne. As she stood in the doorway, Hatter produced a flannel button up shirt and a pair of sweatpants.
"Here, lo- …Cheshire, you can wear this while we soak your clothes." She eyed him curiously as he held out his hand. "Well, you don't expect me to strip with you standing there, do you?" she snickered, snatching the clothes away from him and pulling the door closed. She peeled off her clothing and swapped it for Hatter's offering. She looked out the tiny window; the Wonderland sun was high up in the sky and the clock on the wall chimed noon. Grabbing the pile of clothing she dropped on the floor, Cheshire opened the door and followed Hatter to his bathroom. He handed her soap and filled the basin with warm water. Cheshire dumped the clothes into the basin and began scrubbing vigorously, making sure everything was lathered in a thick layer of soap. The bar was almost gone and she attempted to rinse everything, only succeeding in spilling water out onto the floor.
"You alright there, dear?" he asked, hearing the water slosh to the ground and pried the door open. There stood Cheshire, sopping wet, attempting to strangle the sweater as if it were a wild animal. He burst into laughter and she hurled the sweater at him, glaring angrily. He took off his blazer and left it outside the bathroom, grabbing her sweater and throwing it back. Water sprayed everywhere as she lifted up a sock and slapped him with it. "Hey!" he shouted and stepped forward, grabbing her wrist. Hatter mis-stepped and slipped in a puddle, dragging Cheshire down with him. Caught completely off guard, Cheshire fell on top of Hatter's chest, kneeing him in the groin.
His cry of pain was muffled by her hand as she clapped her palm to his mouth. His eyes widened as she started smothering his face with kisses and squealed apologies, quickly picking herself up and holding out her hand to help him up. Hatter propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her quizzically.
"Sorry, love, but what the bloody fuck was that?" He grinned broadly as he watched her face flush from pink to beet red. She dropped her hand and stepped over him, leaving the bathroom. Enough embarrassment for today, Cheshire… Let's not act on impulse anymore, she thought, stepping back into his room and slamming the door shut. He sighed, picked himself up and reached for her clothes, wringing them out and carrying them to the back door. As soon as he opened it, a gust of wind reminded him that all he had to stand on was a ledge three feet wide. Hatter looked down into the abyss behind his apartment. Wonderland was structured in such an odd way that it seemed as if his apartment was on top of a huge cliff. He began to hang up her clothes on the line hanging from the wall, making sure they were in the strongest beams of sunlight and dried quickly.
"I'm going out to the Tea Shop, alright? Don't go anywhere." Hatter knocked briefly on her door. "I'm taking your silence as tacit compliance… alright?" He heard a muffled "Mhm…", turned and headed for the door.
