Disclaimer:I do not own any of the characters from Alice in Wonderland; they belong to the rightful owners.
Summary: After Alice returns from China, she finds herself bombarded by welcome home parties, she finds herself getting lost through the Looking Glass.
Pairings:Alice x Mad Hatter
Rating:PG
Categories:Drama, Romance
Notes: Sorry it took a while for the next chapter, I have been kept very busy and I also caught the flu. It may be a little slow paced and I'm sorry but it should pick up by the next chapter. Also this chapter is a little short but I felt that I needed to get something out.
Life is now Upon Us
Crystal Moon
Chapter One
Amor started to slow down on his flying when he realized that Alice was not keeping up as well as she had before. He flew in front of her and looks at her with concern, he also forgot that humans were not as fast as him and needed to rest more often.
"Do you need to rest?" Alice nodded, the minute he mentioned resting she slumped against a tree and sat down. She was finally able to catch her breath; every time she came here something like this always seemed to happen to her.
"Forgive me, I do not need to rest as often as you're kind does." She frowned a little at that comment.
"My kind?" Amor nodded and perched on a tree branch nest to her.
"From the other realm, it has been a while since I have been there." Alice listened amazed, he had been to her world, perhaps even to London, but she thought that the creatures of Underland could not go to London.
"How is that possible? I thought that people from Underland could not go to the other realm." Amor shook his head, yes she was young indeed.
"Anything can be possible my dear. I have been there many times and quite enjoyed it. Her Ladyship was from London much like yourself, there are many gateways, there are also many gatekeepers and I am one of them. Tell me about yourself and your family." He knew that she would need to stay awake as long as was in these woods.
"I am apprenticing with Lord Ascot, he bought my father trading company. In fact I had just recently gotten back from China and we were quite successful there. I have an older sister named Margret and my mother's name is Helen, I still live with my mother and they keep trying to get me married off." Alice suddenly looked annoyed and really wished that they would leave the subject alone.
"But marriage is important, it helps bring families together and also children come as well." Shaking her head at Amor's statement, she felt like she did around her family whenever they too brought up this subject.
"That may be true but I am not ready, I still have a lot left in my life to do." Amor narrowed his eyes at her.
"Either you are very content with being alone or you are already in love with someone and will not admit it." Alice looked at Amor shocked, she never really let herself think about this before or let herself really.
"I guess I never thought about it. Besides he was always more of a good friend and it would never work in the first place." Amor flew down to Alice's level.
"How could it not work?" She smiled and shook her head.
"We are from different worlds." Amor nodded at her statement and fully understood.
"Yes, that does make it rather difficult, as I understand London is very strict on class." Alice continued to look down at the ground, he had no idea that she meant it in the literal sense.
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Hatter was trying to figure out what it could be that Amor was guarding and taking to the White Queen, he had nothing against her; this was just odd behavior for Amor. He looked around the woods, it had been a long time since he had ventured into these but he had not forgotten the dangers or the creatures that lied there. Things had finally settled down and Underland was almost down being rebuilt and it was thanks to Alice slaying the Jabberwocky. Alice … he had not thought about Alice in a long time, she had never returned to Underland like she had promised and deep don he knew she would never return. A part of him still hoped that she would return and decide to stay in Underland but the last time years had gone by in between returns and that may be the case yet again, of course time seemed to work differently for her.
McTwisp has not voiced whether or not she has attempted to come through the rabbit hole again and that is one of the only gateways that the Hatter could think of. In the distance he could hear random creatures growling and some fights. The clouds were dark and gloomy, the trees always seemed to look half dead, he never liked these woods but it was the only way to find Amor before he reached the heart of Underland. He had always viewed himself as a free spirit, more so then any of his brothers or sisters had been. They always did what their father had wanted, their mother had never asked for anything but them to be themselves and that is exactly what he did. His was appointed at court and even given a good status but after they were all killed, he had decided to leave that life behind and live simple. He loved his trade and never gave it up but he never could pick it back up, even after the White Queen was wearing the crown again. Her majesty understood and even invited him back to court and resume his families old status but that would mean he would expected to continue his clan and he was not ready for that.
Amor even told him that he needed to find a wife and start a family of his own but he just simply ignored him whenever he would mention it. He had silently accepted a long time ago that he would he was the end of the Hightop clan, he would also never say this in front of Amor. The queen had even expressed her concern to him about how lonely she felt he was, to be honest he didn't exactly feel lonely, he just never slowed down enough to notice.
The Hatter was pulled from his thoughts when a giant lion jumped in front of him and examined him carefully. Jumping at the sudden invasion, Hatter quickly was on his guard but then relaxed when he recognized him.
"Tarrant what brings you here, I have not seen you in many years." Brushing himself off and straightening his hat Hatter sighed at the old Lion, he never really did get a good feeling from him.
"I am actually looking for Amor, seen him around lately?" The Lion glanced at Tarrant whom looked annoyed, The Lion could not figure out if it was at him or at Amor, more than likely it was at Amor.
"Yes I have but I am still confused as to why you need him, I thought you had … disowned that part of your life?" Tarrant narrowed his eyes at the lion, he was in no mood to play his little games today.
"Either tell or don't."
"He was escorting a lady through south part of the woods but I doubt he'll have much luck considering what that part of the woods does to people whom are not immune." He'd stopped to think about this one, why would Amor be escorting someone who was not immune to the woods? This now made even less sense than it did before. He hoped that the lion was not playing another trick on him, he always enjoyed doing that in the past.
"Do you know her name?" The lion looked at him.
"No, never caught it, but apparently she has been here before." Now he had to stop and think who has been to Underland before that would be coming back, the only person that could come to his mind was … Alice. Tarrant laughed at his own thoughts, she has not been back and if she were to come back it would be through the Rabbit Hole as it had been in the past.
"I'd find them quickly Tarrant, who knows how she could last out there and Amor is not the right one to be helping her." After listening to the lion and thinking on what he had said, Tarrant took off running towards the south, hoping that he would find Amor in time.
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Amor was feeling stupid for not realizing that Alice could not make it safely through the woods, she was not from this world and there for could not have the natural immunities that the others have. He was doing all he could think of to get her up and moving but he knew it was already too late, he should have went to Tarrant first and then had him escort Alice instead but he had felt obliged to the command given by The White Queen. Using his beak Amor grabbed some of her hair and pulled hard, hoping that this would wake for a moment, but all he did was pull out a lock of Alice's hair. Amor flew backwards into the next tree and fell to the ground. After taking a few minutes to regain his senses, he decided that there was no way to help Alice until he could get help. Flying as fast as he could Amor went towards the north hoping to find someone that could help get Alice out of the woods and to safety.