Bells were ringing loud in the air. The entire kingdom was awaiting the ceremony, preparing to take place. Hatter had just, sadly, finished the last touches of Adele's dress, and was about to deliver it to her, when his wife came walking in.
"Hello, husband," Alice said, as she came and put her arms around him.
Hatter smiled down at Alice.
"The dress, Hatter...it's gorgeous!" Alice said, admiring what an amazing design her husband had put together. It was much more interkut than her wedding dress. But Adele was the princess, after all, and she only expected the most beautiful.
Hatter looked at his stop watch. He was a few minutes late, as this dress was the biggest thing he had ever made in his life. "Oh, my, I'm late!"
Alice giggled. "How naughty."
Just then, a maid walked in.
"Excuse me, Ma'am," Hatter said, putting up his finger. "Would you mind informing the princess, that her dress is a few minutes late?"
The maid bowed and left the room.
Adele stood on a dressing stool with maids at ever side. They were tightening a ridiculously tight corset and fixing her petty coats.
"Tighter, tighter!" Adele ordered. "What do you think I am, a peasent!"
"Yes, Your Majesty," said a maid, with all the patience she had left. After all, this maid was one of the ladies that was in love with the prince, and she wanted to take this corset and strangle Adele's pretty neck with it.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"That had better be my dress. Shabby old man has ten seconds to deliver that dress, or he's beheaded," Adele said, as one of the maids went to answer the door.
It was just a delivery man with a wrapped box. "It's a wedding gift for you, Your Highness," called the man.
Adele tightened her lips. "Put it on the table outside, in the courtyard, where the entire mountain of presents is!" she screamed.
"Oh, oh, yes, Your Highness," the man said, nervously, and he rushed off.
Adele rolled her eyes. Just then, there was another knock on the door. The maid let them in, and it was another maid.
"Your Highness," the maid said, with a bow, "your dress will be a few minutes late."
Adele lifted her eyebrow. "Well, tell that shabby old idiot that he can get beheaded after the wedding. Thank you."
The maid bowed and left the room. The servants closed their eyes. Was this Underland's future queen. They at least had hope, for they knew that the prince was very nice, and he wouldn't have all of this Red Queen behavior.
Just then, Alice came walking in with the dress.
"What took so long, Alice?" Adele said, to Alice in the mirror.
"Forgive my husband. He's been up all night making this dress and he got no sleep. It is the largest and most magnificent thing he's ever made," Alice said, as she handed the dress to one of the maids.
"Well..." Adele sighed, "for your sake, I wont say anything rude."
Alice frowned. She already had. The maids began to put on Adele's wedding dress. It had a skirt that flaired out almost ten feet, and the back of the skirt's length was almost 15 feet. There were sparkles all over it, and white flowers that trailed all the way down the heam of the bustle. The most beautiful purl work was done on the shirt, and the sleeved were long, from the small fuff sleeves at the top of her shoulders, with lace fabric and sparkles as well.
"I look like a princess!" Adele squealed. "Oh, wait...I am!"
All the ladies rolled their eyes as they pulled the dress tight and bowed the sash. Then they got started on her hair.
Suddenly, Adele wondered, who would walk her up the aisle. "Oh no! My daddy's not here, so who's going to take me up to the foot of the altar!?"
Adele thought and thought, until she came to an idea. "Oh, I know. Shabby old man can. He's as old as my daddy. Servent, go get Shabby Old Man, and tell him that he needs to try his best to make himself look slightly presentable, because he's walking the princess down the aisle.
"Yes, Your Majesty," the maid bowed and walked out the door.
Hatter was in his chambers, trying to find the best clothes he had. Nothing matched, and nothing looked near good enough to suit a royal wedding.
"What shall I do, Alice!" Hatter stressed.
"Darling, you know that you look handsom in everything."
"But not to her! She hates every inch of me!"
"Well then that's her problem," Alice frowned, with no pateince for the princess. She was sick of all of Adele's rude and nasty comments and orders. "How did she ever get the prince?"
"Precicely what I asked myself on the Frabjios day!" Hatter said, as she put his kilt on. "This is the nicest I have..."
"Well, Darling...I think..."
"You hate it! Oh, I know, you hate me! You wish that you could marry the prince!"
"No, no! I love everything about you, no matter what you wear...I just dont think it's good enough for the princess," Alice said, sadly.
"What is...besides the prince!" Hatter pouted.
Suddenly, Alice got an idea. "The...prince..."
"Yes, the prince!"
"No, no, Hatter, I have an idea! The Prince has plenty of clothes you would be able to wear!" she said, grasping his arm.
"But...I could never wear the prince's clothes."
"Hatter, the prince must have hundreds of outfits that he probably doesn't even know exist, or ever even worn! It's perfect!"
"Well...how are we going to sneak in there without him knowing? He's probably occupying his chaimbers right now."
"I'm pretty sure he's not. I believe he's down at the aisle, waiting for his bride."
Hatter thought about it for a moment. "Well...I suppose it cant hurt to borrow his clothes. After all, he's a kind spirit and I don't think he would mind."
So Alice and Hatter sneaked into the prince's chambers to find that it was indeed empty. They rushed to the closet that was as big as a living room, and rummaged through his clothes.
"You see? I told you he had out fit after out fit! There's no way anyone in the kingdom will notice!" Alice laughed, as she took an outfit of gold and she pressed against her husband. "You'll look striking in this! Put it on and meet the princess at the back of the aisle. You'll be dashing!"
Hatter looked in the mirror as he tried to button the pants. "Oh..." he struggled to get the pants to fit, "the prince is much thinner than I am..."
"Just pulled the coat down a bit. No one will notice," Alice said, as she brushed off his shoulders.
"Alice, these are the prince's clothes, not mine," Hatter said, a bit down. "I highly doubt there's a speck of dust on them."
Alice got a brush and tried to brush up her husband's hair.
"Oh, ow!" Hatter winced as his hair was tugging at scalp.
"Sorry, Dear," Alice said, as she tried to go a bit more gently.
"Alice, it's hopeless! I'm not as good as the prince, and no one will ever think so!"
Alice frowned. It didn't matter how much she flattered her husband, it was never good enough for him. "Hatter, no one will be looking at you."
"That's right! They'll be looking at the prince, since he's better than me!"
"Well...it's his wedding. I'm sure he's going to be a big part of the day."
"It's hopeless! Why does it have to be me? Why can't I look as handsome as the prince!"
"You are as handsome as the prince! You're more handsome!" Alice tried to say.
Hatter only closed his eyes and sniffed. Who could ever be as handsome as the prince?"
"Hatter, handsome doesn't matter! All a girl needs is a kind, loving man, who protects her and will do anything or her," Alice said, as she held each side of Hatter's face.
"Everything that the prince is!"
Alice was nearly glaring now. The more she tried to fatter her husband, the more he felt sorry for himself. "All right, fine," Alice said, and she started brushing Hatter's hair again. It yanked and tugged and caused lots of pain.
After his hair was brushed, it looked like a huge fluff ball of orange. But Alice didn't have time to fix it anymore, so Hatter ran down to the thrown room with the golden outfit on, tugging at his waist and causing him to have to catch his breath ever second.
"I'm here, Princess! I'm here!" Hatter called, anxiously, as he jumped in her way, trying his best to look tall and smart.
Adele glared at him. "Well, you're under arrest for stealing the prince's clothes."
Hatter looked both humiliated and exasperated at the same time.
"Come on!" Adele yanked Hatter's arm and the two went walking down the aisle. Adele grew a huge smile on her face when she saw Aksel standing at the rail of the altar, all dressed with a white jacket and gold trim on the ends of his sleeves and golden buttons. He gave a smile just as happy as Adele's, once he saw her walking up to him.
The wedding ceremony was beautiful. Queen Mirana couldn't hold her tears in as she watched her baby boy put a white gold, shining ring on Adele's finger. She could barely believe he was only an infant in her arms 20 years before.
At the wedding reception, everyone moved out to the court yard. Hatter walked around and looked at the thousands of gifts all piled up, given to the newlyweds. And the cake was nearly as tall as he was.
Hatter sulked at all of the beauty. "My wedding wasn't this big. Look at everything!"
Alice came up beside her husband and put her hand on his arm. "What did you say, Love?"
"I said that our wedding wasn't this great! We didn't get near this many presents!"
"Well...Hatter, it's a royal wedding. The groom is a prince."
"So what? Everyone should be treated equal! I'm no better than the prince, just as much as he's no better than me!" Hatter thought he had a method to his point.
"Hatter, stop! You stop behaving like a child!" Alice said, harshly.
Hatter gasped. "A child!"
"Yes, a child! You're acting like a jealous child! Now you should be very happy for the prince that he found his bride!"
Just then, Alice glanced over at the prince, as he was arm in arm with his new wife. They were standing in the middle of the courtyard, as everyone came by to congratulate them both.
"You come with me, and congratulate His Highness and his bride, and if you say otherwise, there'l be a fight when we get back home!" Alice dragged her husband over to the newly married couple. "Put a smile on your face, and be respectful," Alice whispered to Hatter.
"Yes, Dearheart," Hatter said, in a bit of an aggravated tone.
The Hightopps approached the prince and princess.
"Your Majesties," Alice said, with a bow, "how wonderful it is that you two are married. We wish you both the very best."
"Thank you, Alice! And don't worry, your wish came true! We are the best!" Adele giggled.
Aksel was glancing at Hatter a bit curiously.
Hatter gave him a strange look back. "Oh, you may be the prince, but you can't have my wife no matter how much you order it," Hatter said, as he held Alice's hand.
Aksel blinked a bit. "What?" he asked.
"Don't look at my wife. She belongs to me, all though she's in your kingdom," Hatter tried to act like he wasn't still in love with Adele by making the prince look like he was jelouse of him for having Alice.
"Oh, no!" Aksel chuckled, "I wasn't thinking that at all!"
"Good, because my Alice is the most beautiful in all of Underland, and I wont have any other men looking at her, or thinking that they can win her over by their princely ways."
"Um..." the prince gave a strange look as he scratched his head, "I wasn't looking at her...actually, I was looking at you."
Hatter froze a bit and then glanced down at himself. "Me?"
"Yes...are those clothes - "
"Yes, Darling, they're your's!" Adele interrupted before he could finish his question.
"Um!" Hatter began, nervously, "I...I'm sorry, Your Majesty! I promise, I thought you wouldn't mind!"
"Oh..." the prince laughed a bit akwardly, "it's all right. You can keep them if you want."
Hatter couldn't believe it. "D...do you mean it?"
"Sure," Aksel lifted his shoulders, "that's fine."
"Oh..." Hatter's face lit up with a smile, "how kind of you!"
"Oh!" Adele stopped him before he could say anything else. "Believe me, it's not out of kindness! The dear prince just doesn't want to wear clothes that your butt germs got all over, so save your energy."
Hatter scowled at Adele.
"Ah, ah, ah! I'm the princess now, and you can't look at me that way," Adele gave an inocent smile.
Just then, the queen announced that the dancing would begin. "May I get everyone's attention? The prince and his new wife will now shair their first dance as a husband and wife."
Adele clapped her hands. "Yay! Come on, Aksel!" She dragged him to the middle of the courtyard, and beautiful music started playing. The two began to dance a romantic Underlandian dance.
Mirana couldn't stop smiling, as she watched her son twirl his new wife around and lift her high in the air. A moment later she called for other's to join in the dance.
"May I have this dance?" Hatter asked, Alice, with a bow.
"We do love weddings, don't we?" Alice said, with a smirk, as she took Hatter's hand.
Hatter and Alice danced close to Adele and Aksel. "You know you married a mad man, right?" Hatter said, with an evil grin.
"What will that mad man do?" Alice asked as she lifted her eyebrow.
Just in that moment, when Hatter was sure that the prince and Adele were able to see them, he lifted Alice so very high in the air. But just as she was as high as his head, Hatter sprained his back and he gulped with excruciating pain filling his nerves.
Alice flew out of his arms and she landed hard, knocking Adele over, and the two girls crashed into a table.
The whole crowd looked on in shock, and gasped as they wondered what would happen next. Hatter was in the middle of the opening, all hunched over, groaning in despair.
Adele was screaming her head off, as she couldn't get up with her dress being so large. Aksel lifted her and helped her straighten her skirt.
Once Adele had her veil fixed, she scowled at the broken old man in the middle of the crowd. "You!" she screamed, as she stomped over.
"No...No!" Hatter tried to cry, but his back hurt far too much for that. He tried to walk away as fast as he could, but his back kept him walking only a few feet.
Adele came up and kicked him in the back, bending it the other way. At first he screamed out in much pain, but a moment later, he felt tremendous relief, as Adele had kicked his back right where it needed to be.
"Oh...oh my, you fixed me!" Hatter sang out. "Thank you, thank you!"
"Oh, don't you try to flatter me! You just - "
"Adele," Aksel cut her off, as he took her hands, "come on. Let's finish our dance." He tried to lead her away from Hatter so as not to start a riot at their wedding reception.
"How can I dance, when morons throw people on me so I go tumbling down!" Adele's face was red.
"Adele, it was an accident. It's not his fault," Aksel tried to tell her, as he was anxious to make her happy.
"He's too old to be swinging girls around! What does he think he appears like! He's not a prince, I could tell you that much, and he looked ridiculous trying to be!"
Hatter was about to cry, but Aksel distracted Adele with a glass of punch, and they walked away.
Hatter scowled with sadness and anger at the princess. Alice came up and set her hand on his shoulder to sooth him. "Are you all right, Darling?" she asked.
"She's wrong!" Hatter spat with a red face of fury. "I am a prince, see!" He pointed at his golden prince clothes. "How could she say I'm not now!"
Alice tried to keep from laughing. "Well...I suppose...you are then."
"Exactly! She's just jelous that you got to marry me before she could!" Hatter told himself, blocking out the memory of Adele rejecting his marraige proposal.
"Well...no matter what she says, you're a prince to me," Alice said, leaning her head on his chest.
Hatter smiled at that. But his smile fell quickly, once he caught sight of the real prince, all young, strong, good looking and far more masculine.
But suddenly, he stopped his envy. "No," he told himself. "My wife says I'm a prince, so I'm a prince! I'm wearing prince clothes, so I'm a prince! I don't care what Adele says! Her oppinion doesn't bother me, or effect me in the least! I am a prince!"
And for the rest of the reception, Hatter walked around tall and proud, brushing off his gold coat, here and there, standing strong and wise. The more and more he told himself he was a prince, the more he believed it.
Once the wedding was over, Hatter and Alice began walking back to their chambers. "I'm so glad that the prince gave me these clothes," he smiled. "I really do feel like a prince now."
"Oh..." Alice said, a little unsurely, as she looked at the stitches in the clothes that her husband wore. It looked like each stitches was screaming out in terror and that any second they'd all pop. "Well...Hatter, why don't you get ready for bed? Your prince clothes will be there in the morning."
"You're right, Love. It's time to go to bed," Hatter said.
As Alice was in bed, reading a book, Hatter came running in with a panicked look of horror. "Alice, Alice!" he cried.
"What's wrong?" Alice jumped a little, closing her book.
"My prince clothes ripped, when I changed into my pajamas!"
Alice didn't say anything for a moment, as she looked at him with wide eyes. Then she let out a sigh of pity. "I'm sorry, Hatter. I know how much you loved to be a prince."
"They were the nicest clothes I had!" Hatter flopped onto the bed as he held the golden peices of ripped fabric.
Alice saw that the stitches all split down the seems, and there were now four pieces of gold fabric. "Darling, don't fret. I'm sure even the prince tears his clothes now and then."
"But the only difference is he has hundreds more! When his clothes get ripped, he can still be the prince cause he can just go to his closet and put on some other ones!"
Alice didn't realize that he was taking all this prince stuff that seriously.
"I only had one prince outfit..." Hatter said, sadly.
"Well why do you want to be the prince so much?"
"Cause he's better than me!"
"But I thought you said everyone was equal, prince or not."
"Well, not if I'm a prince!"
"I don't think that's very fair, Dear."
"Well it's not fair that he was born from the queen and not me!"
Alice didn't really know what to say. "Well...Darling...you couldn't possibly be the queen's son. ...You're older than her."
Hatter lay back against the bed in despair. If only he didn't have to always feel so bad about himself, all would be right. If only he were 30 years younger and royal, he might have had a chance to get the girl of his dreams.
