Okay, I might botch up trying to post this chapter, let's see have tech savvy I am. I rewrote the chapter so sorry it's taken me so long to update. Enjoy! (I hope)
And she was gone.
Hatter stood there frozen. She was actually gone and he couldn't move. If he moved he knew exactly where he was going. Straight thru that wall of glass after her. He needed to not move so he could think of a reason to turn around and walk away from this place. To not do what he had been doing the last three days and diving into who knows what just because she dived in first.
Problem was he couldn't think of anything but Alice and what she might say when he pops thru that glass behind her. He realized he wasn't making a choice. He was going, he just needed to start moving.
He took a breath and started to take a step when somebody walked up behind him. "Excuse umm Mr Hatter?" a young female voice asked.
"Hatter." He said turning to face the girl finding it very hard to tear his eyes off the Looking Glass.
"I'm sorry?" She asked. She was a petite young women with short, straight light brown hair and brown eyes hidden behind glasses. She was wearing an outfit just like the other Looking Glass techs and her whole persona screamed wallflower.
"It's just Hatter not mister anything." He replied impatient. Alice was thru there and he needed to go now. "Excuse me, but I got to go."
"Please Mr- I mean Hatter sir, I um, I was sent to prepare you sir, that is to get you what you needed sir, before you leave." She stumbled her words so quietly that if she hadn't grabbed onto Hatter's coat he wouldn't have been paying attention and never would have heard her. Not that she made much sense anyway.
"Come again?"
The poor mousy thing took a breath and said, still softly but with much more sense. "I am supposed to get you set up sir, you are going thru the Looking Glass with the oysters aren't you?"
Hatter raised an eyebrow. How did this little woman know that, especially since he didn't know until he watched Alice leave.
"Who told you to get me set up?"
"My supervisor sir, I'm sorry, did I make a mistake?" She asked horrified. "Oh god, oh god, oh god. She seemed like she wanted to hyperventilate, but nobody else around them seemed to be noticing her minor meltdown. "I really, really should've gone into baking tarts, my mum always said I didn't have the wits to do much else and now I've gone and botched the only task I've ever been assigned to do on my own, if the Queen were here I'd lose my head!"
Hatter smiled, seemed to him like she was doing a fine job of losing her head all on her own, he couldn't help but take pity on the poor thing, besides she was offering to get him exactly what he wanted.
"No, I was hoping on going thru the Looking Glass, but I thought all I had to do was pop thru and I'd be there?"
"Oh gracious no!" She said letting out a big breath, obviously relieved. "There are all sorts of details like hair, wardrobe, paperwork, oysters just love their paperwork."
"How long will all this take, I don't want to lose Alice." He asked worried.
"Oh it'll take a little while sir, but don't worry. Time isn't the same. It'll be moments from when she left until you show up. Days can only be an hour there, it's all kind of wonky. Come along then, do we can get you set!" She said and turned to lead him out the doors and he shrugged and followed. She was a bit shy and really kind of awkward, but she was going to get him what he wanted so he'll go with it and see what happened.
After Alice had turned down his offer to become his queen and they hugged Jack saw him walk thru the door in the reflection from the Looking Glass. He also saw the smugglers reaction to Alice embracing him, defeated. Only a small part of his wounded pride guided his actions, the rest came from Caterpillar's instructions. Jack guided Alice forward and had her restart the Looking Glass, hoping the smuggler would think it a lost cause and just leave. Jack sighed inwardly with relief as he saw him nod to himself and turn to leave when Alice had called out "Hatter!"
Damn. He thought as they made their way to each other. He worried this was going to get messy and he must do the best he could to keep Alice out of it.
Honestly though, it seemed like the smuggler, Hatter wasn't going to be much of a problem. He seemed to be encouraging Alice to leave. Why? He obviously cared for her. Hatter and Alice awkwardly embraced and then Alice suggested he could always come to her world and the cheeky bastard perked up a bit, he wanted to follow her! He signaled to the Head Tech who was obviously annoyed that he had to stop his adjustments and do as Jack instructed them earlier, their first priority was to get Alice home and keep Hatter here. The Head Tech collected Alice rather briskly and lead her to the mirror, reminded her to breath, and unceremoniously pushed her thru.
Jack watched Hatter. He watched him stare at the Looking Glass, saw the moment he made his decision, and then Jack saw he start to move.
Then he watched as one of the technicians, a young, somewhat mousy looking thing grab his arm and speak with him. Jack watched the exchange, saw the young tech being shy, then flustered, distraught, then obviously relieved and then watched as she lead Hatter out the doors.
Wonderful. He thought. Alice was home and Hatter was still in Wonderland, away from her as per Caterpillar's instructions. The young tech did a superb job and there was no mess. Jack removed the ring from the Looking Glass (it would work for more then long enough to get the rest of the oysters home) gathered the Ten of Clubs and left, secure in thinking he had completed his mission successfully.
She had Hatter change into some slightly too big oyster style clothing, using only her hands had messed with his hair until it was laying flat and in no way resembled his hair at all, it even seemed to be a shade or two lighter!
"Oi, what'd you do to my hair?"
"Just trying to make you blend in, the King doesn't want anybody knowing you're going thru the Looking Glass so we have to make you look like the other oysters. But don't worry, a couple of days or so and it'll be back to normal."
"Wait a minute, Why doesn't Jack want anybody to know where I am going?"
She shrugged. "Not sure really, just following instruction, I would bet you though it is probably because he doesn't want anybody going thru in hopes of finding a way to make their own Teas in the oysters world."
"I never thought about that, is it possible?" Hatter asked.
She shrugged again. "Don't really know, not my area of specialty. But I am sure they are quite a few desperate people out there that didn't want Wonderland to change, and now that it is, they are going to try whatever they can to stop it."
Hatter felt a chill climb up his back at her words. But before he could dwell she was popping about in drawers and cabinets
"Alright then, you look oyster-ish, now let's get you that paperwork lets see, umm hmm. Where is it that all kept? come on you silly little identities, ahh, there you are! She finally found what she was looking for in a large silver filing cabinet. "Now let's see who should you be, how about umm Arthur Davis? No, no, he's ginger. Bartholomew Stambold. Ack, that is just a horrible thing to do to a person, oh, oh here we go David Oliver. You've been a construction worker, originally from London. Sounds peachy." She pulled the file and pulled out a little plastic card and and stared at it for a moment before smiling and sticking it back in. "Yes, That'll do you nicely. Now go pick out a hat while I grab you a wallet and get all this identification set up for you."
Hatter wasn't sure what to make of all this. He went and grabbed a different hat, this one black and simple but still decent, it would do so he set his own hat on the pile of his clothes he had left folded on a chair, with Alice's coat hanging neatly on the back.
"Wallet is set, the rest of your papers are in here," She said handing him a wallet and an envelope. "As well as an instruction sheet as to what what is for."
"Thanks, but I am sure Alice will help me figure it all out." He said, with only a slightly nervous ping of what if she doesn't want me there?
"Oh yes I suppose she could." She said. "If she doesn't succumb to the Disbelief. But on the more then likely chance she does, you have instructions." Then she turned around and started to peek into drawers again. "Now where do we keep the oyster currency? Hmmm."
Disbelief? He thought, then asked out loud. "What'd you mean disbelief?"
The tech stopped her file digging and looked over nervously. "You don't know about that, oh god, why did I bring that up?"
"What is it?" Hatter asked again, he could feel his insides turn cold, he knew he wasn't going to like what he heard.
"Okay, so yeah, umm when oysters leave Wonderland and go back to their world, almost every single one finds their minds overwhelmed with the reality of what they just experienced so they forget or those who are just a bit stronger then most, or have some sort of physical proof convince themselves that it was just a dream and whatever proof they have was just something they had incorporated into the dream."
"So your saying Alice won't remember me?"
"Oh no, you'll have an advantage!" She said enthusiastically. "See she'll have only just stepped thru the Looking Glass when you arrive and as long as you are there with her before she falls asleep for the first time in her world and there are there with her when she wakes up, confirming it wasn't a dream, the Disbelief shouldn't stand a chance, oh here is what we're wanting, a safe!"
She walked over to the big metal safe and bent down and started turning the dial like she knew what she was doing, until she tried to open it and it remained locked. "Okay, so I guess I botched that one up, let's try this again." She repeated the process twice more to the same effect getting a little more flustered each time. Then she stood up frustrated and kicked the door and to Hatter's surprise he heard a click and the handle turned and the door swung open. "There, just needed a forceful hand is all, or maybe foot is a better word but no matter, let's get you stocked up!" She then preceded to pull out stacks of paper that were bundled together while talking to herself. "Let's see there is what, about two hundred fifty thousand in here, each one of these stacks is about ten thousand in hundreds, let's take it down to an even two hundred, we should be able to fit five bundles in all those nifty jacket pockets without being noticeable." She took five of the stacks and started shoving them in Hatter's pockets on the inside and outside of the oyster style brown jacket he was wearing. There were quite a bit of pockets.
"There all set, now let's send you thru."
"Wait a tick, let's go back." Hatter said. "How possible is it that Alice won't remember me or Wonderland?"
She sighed. "You should be fine, as I said. Just make sure you are there before she falls asleep the first time and then when she wakes up. Alice is strong, she might be one of the few who could remember on their own, but having a person to push back the Disbelief is the best, and she'll have you. She's a lucky girl."
"I hope she thinks so too."
"No worries now, let's get you going. And remember until you get thru you're just another oyster going home. Keep your head down and don't speak until you are on the other side."
She then grabbed his arm like the other tech had Alice's and lead him back to the main hall. Jack was gone and there were much fewer oysters left. She marched him up to the Looking Glass and said. "This one is next." and then added "remember to breath." and pushed him thru.
She pushed him thru and turned around and started heading back the way she had just lead the Hatter. She had finished her task and now she needed to tidy up. But as she walked back into the room she saw another technician picking the Hatter's clothes he had left on the chair with Alice's coat, she knew he had already seen the open safe.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The young man asked alarmed. He recognized the clothes of the man the King had instructed them to not let thru the Looking Glass, but he didn't recognize this young women, even though she was dressed like one of them.
"Don't worry now." She said stepping forward until she was closer in front of him and took off her glasses. She then tossed them at him and he instinctually caught them. She took the advantage and slugged him in the face. "You won't remember this later." she told him as he fell. She picked up the pile of clothing and Alice's coat from the chair then sat them down on the floor then she effortlessly picked up the tech and sat him on the chair to slumber. He'd just think he fell asleep. Thats the genius about her punch, It wasn't physical damage. She picked back up the clothing and went to leave, then remembered the open safe. She started to close it with her foot when a deliciously wicked idea made her smile. She tossed the Hatter's hat inside then kicked it closed with a satisfying Bang, Click! She then turned and left.
As she walked she couldn't help but think it had all gone wonderfully well. Alice was safe back in her world, out of reach and she had sent the Hatter to her, sort of a reward to them both. Besides she couldn't have Alice forgetting, not when she might need her again.