Ch. 3

The cat winked at Hatter, its mouth splitting in a toothy grin. Hatter eyed the cat like it was a dangerous animal. In truth, they were. Cheshire Cats were very dangerous, when provoked.

"What is it you want?" Hatter asked cautiously, watching the cats' every move. The cat just grinned again.

"I want to help. You seem to be of two minds on something." the cat said, coming a little closer. Hatter didn't move, not wanting to provoke any of its nasty antics.

Something did strike him as odd about this particular cat, though. It wasn't quite speaking in riddles, or trying to trick him to his death by telling him the wrong way to go, like they'd been known to do.

His family had been friends with the Cheshire cats once, but that was a long time ago. Hatter couldn't hold them to it. They were slimy creatures, and everyone in Wonderland was taught to steer clear of them unless they wished to be dead.

"Would it help if I said I was sent by a friend?" this peaked Hatters interests. Someone had sent this Cheshire cat to help him? The only person he could think would be crazy enough to do something like that would be that old, kooky knight Charlie.

"Yeah, that old knight sent me to watch you and make sure you didn't do anything that you would regret." The cat said with a laugh, rolling around on the ground on its back, the grin still spread across its face.

Hatter eyed the cat, flexing the fingers of his right hand. It began to tingle as his mistrust for the cat grew. What was this cat talking about when he said that he was of two minds on something? How could it know about Alice? Or was it just trying to cold read him?

He was a conman, he knew all about cold reading and hot reading people. Using their reactions and expressions to guess at their weakness or the answer to the question, whatever it may be. He had to use those a few times in his line of work. He had never had to use it on Alice though.

She was always open with whatever she felt, and even if she didn't say anything out-right, he could always read it on her face or in her eyes. That's what he loved most about Alice.

Wait, was love the right word? Did he really love her? Or was it just a made up feeling, and even if it wasn't, did she feel the same?

"Oh, it's the same thing, over and over with you." The cat said with a sigh, rolling back onto its feet. "Boring!"

Hatter eyed the cat again. How could it tell what he was thinking, or dreaming for that matter? He knew that they were mystical creatures, and were as old as Wonderland itself, but he didn't know much about the powers they possessed.

"So, I see you caught on to it already. You are clever, aren't you, Hatter." The cat said sarcastically with another grin. Hatter looked at the cat, knowing that it wouldn't do any good to ask it how it knew his name. Apparently they had a way of knowing things that nobody else did.

"So, your predicament is you don't know if you feel that emotion called love for this Alice and if she feels the same right?" the cat asked, becoming serious. They often bounced around between moods fairly quickly, so this didn't surprise Hatter.

He nodded curtly, not ready to admit it out loud. The cat sat, its eyes locked on Hatter's as it seemed to read him; his thoughts, his dreams, everything. He looked away, but he was unable to stop the memories it brought forth.

The first day he had met Alice, saw her standing, soaked to the bone in his office, their bit of trouble with DoDo, their run in with the Jabberwock, meeting Charlie, rescuing her from the casino, the almost kiss (this caused him to wince as he relived being shot down by Alice as she chose Jack over him), following her, his attempt at a rescue, which lead to being tortured. The memories of being tortured left him breathless and panting, sweat beading on his brow.

"Enough." He warned, his accent deepening with the pain. The cat chuckled deviously, but the memories disappeared like a whiff of smoke from the front of his mind.

"Just trying to get a feel for you and your Alice." The cat said simply, obviously trying to seem harmless. Hatter knew better though. He also knew that back when his family had been chummy with the Cheshire Cats, they had often gone to them for answers to problems they couldn't solve.

The cat sat for what seemed to Hatter like hours before thinking again. No doubt pondering the many, many things that it had seen, Hatter thought as he waited. The cat turned to him suddenly; it seemed like it would speak, but then decided on something else as quick as a flash.

"First, there is something you must do for me." The cat said lazily as it lay down and propped its head up with its elbows, acting as if it hadn't just changed its mind on what it was going to say. Do cats even have elbows? Hatter found himself thinking that question before the cats words washed over him.

"Wait, you want me to help you in order for you to give me what I want?" Hatter spelled out, looking at the cat disbelievingly. The cat nodded as it rolled over onto its back, yet its head staying right side up.

"You got it." It said as the trademark Cheshire grin spread across its face. Hatter sighed as he closed his eyes and passed a hand over his face. Now it started acting like a Cheshire Cat. But he had no choice, he had to know.

"What is it you want me to do then?" he asked quietly, his eyes, shadowed by his hat, gazed downward. The cat seemed to think about it for a minute, its head finally rolling the way that fit its body. Then, with another haunting grin, its body began to slowly disappear until all that was left was its grin, which disappeared too.

Hatter looked around, confused.

"Wait! What is it you want me to do??" He yelled, spinning around in circles slowly. A chuckle seemed to waft through the air and into his ears.

"Find the Temple of the Ancients, and take from the heart of the temple the Book of the Ancients, then bring it to the birth place of all Wonderland." the voice spoke from nowhere and everywhere at once, and another chuckle followed before everything was quiet.

*********

Hatter rode as fast as he could through the forest, unable to stop his head from reeling with thoughts. He had no idea what the Temple of the Ancients was; let alone the Book of the Ancients. There was only one person he could think of that would know what the crazy cat had been talking about.

Before long he was back in a familiar part of the woods and heading toward Charlie's camp, and home; the place that was once the throne room of the Red King, whom Charlie had served before the Queen had came to power.

Charlie seemed to be the oldest Wonderland person Hatter had ever met, so he probably knew something about what the Cheshire Cat had been babbling on about. Maybe he would even know where it was, the Temple of the Ancients, and Book of the Ancients.

He came riding into Charlie's camp, and as usual, Charlie was asleep. He couldn't resist, so for old times sake he snuck over to the sleeping Charlie in his hammock. He counted to three in his head before anything happened.

"CHARLIE!" he yelled, his mouth close to Charlie's head so he bolted up in a snap, his eyes wide as he lept from his hammock, babbling on about intruders, and something about a ghost named Fittens when he noticed it was Hatter.

"You nearly scared me half to death!" he scolded, raising his bearded chin defiantly. Hatter shrugged, grinning. Charlie shook his head as he placed the make-shift teddy bear he had been sleeping with back in his Hammock.

"What is it you need, Harbinger?" he asked, looking around suspiciously before retuning his attention to Hatter. He sighed, then proceeded to tell Charlie all about the Cheshire Cat that had said it was sent by Charlie to help him, and that it needed him to do something in order to give him the answer. Hatter left the part out about the thing he needed help with involved going after Alice.

Charlie nodded, listening intently to every last word Hatter spoke. When he was finished, Charlie stood, very quietly, his eyes moving to the expanse of trees above and around them. Hatter sighed, hands on his hips as he waited for Charlie to get out of his little trance, but it didn't seem like that would be happening any time soon.

"Charlie!" he spoke urgently, his left eyebrow raising, a little in skepticism on his face as Charlie's eyes snapped back to him, a sheepish grin on his face.

"My apologies Harbinger. It is so very easy to get lost in the Black Arts." He said, chin rising, eyes widening, and eyebrows shooting up at the mention of the black arts he spoke of.

"Well that's all very well and good, but can you answer my question? What was that cat talking about?" Hatter asked, exasperated. He liked Charlie, but sometimes his actions were a little hard to handle.

"Mmm I don't know." He said dismissively, looking over to his horse, Guinevere for a moment. Hatter shook his head. He was getting fed up with this old mans games.

"But you're the one who sent that bloody cat to me in the first place!" he said heatedly, his fingers clenching into fists and unclenching as he spoke. Charlie continued to look at Hatter with a lost expression, so he sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

Maybe he should just give up on getting his answer. But that wasn't like him. No, he would stick with it till the end if he had to. He wasn't one to give up easily, especially when it came to Alice.

Then it hit him. Following orders, from a cat no less, wasn't like him either. He could get the answers for himself without helping that feline menace. But, then again, Alice had a way with him, unlike any other girl he had ever known.

When he was with her, he went weak, and didn't know how to do anything. That was just when they were safe. When Alice was in danger, he had went crazy, throwing himself in harms way, possibly condemning himself to death, all for her, all for her protection.

All of his feelings for her came back to him in a jumbled mess, and he felt the fear and panic rising inside him. Hell, he could use the help. When it came to Alice, he knew what it was he felt, but he just wasn't ready to admit it to himself or to her for that matter.

A/N: Sorry it took so long, I have a bit of writers block when it comes to this fanfic. Lately I've been working on my other one, Chocolate, Creamcake, and Chaos. If you could maybe give me a few good ideas to get me past my writers black, that would be greatly appreciated ;D