AN: So this is where the story starts... enjoy!
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The old, rundown warehouse was much as he remembered it, the day he came through the Looking Glass. Slightly damp, colder then the outside air, dimly lit. The rusty metal stairs clanged dully under their feet as they made their way up to the second floor.
Hatter held tightly to Alice's hand, trying hard not to let his tremble, as they made their way toward the looking glass. They rounded the corner, and the large, antique-looking gilded mirror came into view. Hatter swallowed hard as they approached the glass.
Alice's reflection looked into his eyes, and smiled gently, though he could see a trace of sadness in her blue pools. He didn't have to look at his own reflection to know that his eyes were betraying his own emotions: a swirling mixture of anxiety, sadness, acceptance and anticipation.
It wouldn't be long now.
…
"We're destroying the Looking Glass."
Alice and Hatter stared at the King of Hearts as though he had grown another head. They had known something was up when they had heard crashing in the kitchen early that Sunday morning, and instead of finding intruders, had found Charlie making breakfast and Jack sitting in their living room.
"Destroying it?" Hatter finally found his voice, after the shocked silence had dragged on for well over a minute. "Destroying it?" he said again, disbelief in his voice. His brow wrinkled. "Is that even possible?"
"Why?" was all that Alice managed.
Jack shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the two Heroes of Wonderland. "You know why," he stated. "The breaches." He had called on them before, to help him find fugitive Wonderlanders in the oyster world.
It had been eight months since the coup that had ended the reign of the Queen of Hearts. Eight months since Alice had brought down the house of cards. Eight months since the oysters had been sent back through the looking glass, to their world.
And it had been eight months of political and social unrest in Wonderland.
The majority of the population was addicted to oyster tea. Caterpillar had devised a cure for the addiction, but it could only be administered a few addicts at a time. Further, many Wonderlanders did not trust the new king, and rumor circulated that the "treatment" was actually brainwashing to make one loyal to the new monarch.
But it went so far beyond mere addiction. Tea was the opiate, the quick-fix that made people oblivious to their world decaying around them. There was so much rebuilding to do, so many things that needed to be done. And as people started waking up from it, they were waking up to a world that lacked magic and largely lacked hope.
Jack had decided to allow the continued sale of the remaining teas, hoping that weaning people from it slowly would keep things stable until he could establish his new monarchy. But as the tea inevitably started to run out, more and more attempts were being made to acquire more tea, more oysters. And the breaches of the Looking Glass became more frequent.
"Just last week, we rescued eight oysters that had been smuggled in from the London portal," Jack explained. "The looking glass had been hidden for weeks – only a few people knew where it was. And the ring was locked away in the palace. But somehow they still managed to get their hands on both. This isn't going to stop. This isn't going to go away. There are traitors at every level." Jack sighed heavily and looked over at Hatter and Alice. "This is the only way."
Another long silence fell. Jack shifted uncomfortably, waiting for someone to speak. Even Charlie was silent, looking rather morose as he stared at his hands. The Looking Glass was the one undestroyed relic from the Kingdom of the Knights. And soon enough, it too would be gone.
"When?" It was Hatter who finally spoke.
"The seventeenth, at around 2, your time," Jack replied. "I have people looking for any Wonderlanders living here, offering them one last chance to come back to Wonderland before the Looking Glass is gone." Jack took another deep breath. "I'm here to extend the chance to you as well – both of you. I would be honored to have you back in Wonderland, should you choose to return."
…
The Looking Glass shimmered.
Alice squeezed Hatter's hand tightly. His eyes never strayed from the glass before them.
Their reflections started to waver, blur slightly. The glass began to shake. Then came the sound, somewhat akin to a gunshot. And the first crack split the Looking Glass from top to bottom.
Hatter swallowed hard, a lump rising in his throat.
Another crack appeared, then another. And just as suddenly, the frame wrenched free of the wall, and began to topple forward. Hatter and Alice barely had time to jump back as it crashed to the floor, and fragmented into a million pieces.
It was gone.
Hatter sank to the floor, and stared at ruin of glass and frame on the concrete. He couldn't contain his shaking now. The only permanent doorway between here and the world that had been his home was gone. And as much as he loved Alice, as much as he loved living in her world, as much as he had stopped calling Wonderland home, a small piece of his heart shattered with the Looking Glass.
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AN: So, what did you think? Please review. You have no idea how much reviews make my day. Constructive criticism is always welcome as well. Cheers!
