Even the warm golden light from the lamp did nothing to add life to the form laying in the bed. To call this poor wretch Tarrant Hightopp the White Queen's Hatter would be blasphemy any other time. That was who it was though, and the sorrow that embraced Alice from that fact burned. His hair was still red, the color still spilled from his eyes, but the colors were off, dimmed like the soul they clothed, thick and muddy instead of bright and flamboyant. Her mother had looked more alive in the pine box at her funeral. Always so pale complected, there was no color to his skin now. Just dark sunken features, and closed eyes. She was tempted to lift his lids and see if the brilliant Tsavorite colored eyes were still the same, she felt the need to search out something that was the same as the man she remembered. But she couldn't bring herself to do anything that may cause him discomfort. There was a beautiful blue velvet chair in the room, similar to his chair at the head of the tea-party table but a lighter shade of blue.. Come to think of it there was a lot of this shade of blue strewn through the brighter colors. That was neither here nor there. Pulling the chair up to his bedside she reached up and took his right hand from the bed next to him into her own small hands. It was cool to the touch, but not stiff as she feared. That was a small comfort. It fit into her hold with such ease she wondered if he had moved it.

Leaning down she whispered "I'm here. I'm not leaving... so please don't leave me this time." into his ear. Her heart jolted at the lack of response. She knew better then to expect it, but her emotional side couldn't help but wish for him to just jump up. Sniffling a little bit to fight the tears, she got out of the chair and sat next to him on the bed, leaned down and rested her head on his chest. It was originally done to comfort her but he was so cold, and she could hear his heart beat. ba-bump...ba-bump... it was so slow! And the whisper of air in and out, echoed around inside creating almost a slow sad song with the heart. What could make those vital life givers slow so much? A poison from her world... It could be anything or nothing she could think of. If it wasn't from Underland though she was the only one that had a chance of discovering it.

"This is impossible..." She tilted her head to look at the face of the faded man in the bed. "I know what you would say, the same thing you did that day on the battlefield. 'Only if you believe it is.' But how many impossible things can one girl hope to accomplish? Would you have an answer to that?" She nestled her head onto his chest again. He was so cool to the touch... Maybe there was a fireplace in the room, between the lamp chair and 'him' she hadn't seen anything in this room. Slowly separating from him, regrettably, she sat up and looked around, taking in this room as she had the last. The same wild abandon of color collided here, there were no hat's in this besides his own. It was beautiful still, no matter how singed. She ran a reverent finger over the dark green fabric, then rubbed the salmon sash through her fingertips. Here was some part of the character she remembered. The feel of it in her grasp helped to sooth her a little bit. Then over to the side she saw what she was after. A large bricked fireplace with a white mantle, a bit of the queen's style set off by his colorful wild style. There was already some wood chopped at the side and some kindling. Feeling at least moderately useful she knelt on the hearth and started working on a fire that could warm the whole room.

The wood was dry and well seasoned and a warm fire wasn't hard to work up. It's heat rolled in waves out into the bedroom. Hands on her hips with satisfaction she spun around. It felt good to do something constructive, and she was going to take that boost and use it to help him, only to seem him convulsing in the bed. His body was making horrible jerking motions over and over again and his arms flailed violently. As she paused in shock she heard the sound of his shallow breaths catching in his throat as a gurgling wheezing escaped his lips.

Crying out she ran toward the bed, stumbling over the chair leg, and lept onto the bed. Alice had never been much of a medical mind but she had once heard that it was beneficial to turn a seizing person on their side. Though he wasn't a big man by any means he was still considerably larger then she. Placing hands at his shoulder and hip, and using her knee, she pushed at the dead shaking weight. Desperation and fear pumped adrenaline though her helping her summon the strength necessary. Once he was up on his side she wrapped her self around him, using her body as a wedge to keep him propped up and her embracing limbs to fight the jerking.

Alice didn't realize till people came rushing into the room that she was screaming. As they came flooding in she could suddenly hear herself yell over and over. Fighting the urge to scream back sobs took over and racked her body so bad that those rushing in couldn't tell who was in the most trouble. Footmen tried to pull her from the Hatter, so the queen could get something into him to calm his quaking. When she started to scream again but with shrill and blood curdling sounds and started clawing to get back to him, they quickly abandoned the idea. A level gaze from Mirana was able to quiet her and calmed her to the point she sat behind him one hand resting on his, merely sobbing.

Mctwisp appeared from the crowd of people Alice didn't know and climbed up to sit next to her and hold her free hand. She felt warmth from the other side and glanced to see Chess materialize. He wasn't smiling, and his gaze was hard causing sudden inspiration to lite up her mind. "You know who did this." the statement hung in the air as she turned from him to watch as the queen was able to get a swirling elixir into the hatter. She could feel the shaking slow and then stop, allowing her to sigh.

"I may have a theory, but this isn't the time nor the place." He rubbed against her arm, and drifted up into the air. "I'll be around, if you have need of me." He offered her a small version of his famous smile now, and as the rest of him ghosted away he left that wicked grin to linger a moment behind. He also left no doubt now that she would be needing the infuriating cat in the near future. She squeezed Mctwisp's paw and smiled though her tears at him.

"What caused that?" She was so hoping it wasn't the warmth from the fire. Looking to the elegant healer for answers Alice held the lady's dark eyes.

"It's another symptom of the poison... He's had a sick stomach, hallucinations, abdominal pain, leading up to this state... this is just the latest symptom in the list."

Alice sat silently looking at Mirana and blinking. Then narrowed her eyes. "How could all those things happen to him and no one notice?"

Looking away and at the ground the queen's only answer was "we didn't have the chance." as she stood and left, to be followed by all the others in the room besides Alice, Tarrant, and Nivens.

"I don't understand." she turned to Nivens. "How could no one catch this?"

His response was similar to the queens. He looked down and shrugged.

"I'LL TELL YOU HOW!" A small yet strong voice echoed through the room. Alice and the rabbit startled at the sudden unexpected declaration.

"Who?" She looked around to see where the voice came from.

Mallymkin climbed up the bedspread to stand on the bed. For a moment Alice wondered why they were all still on the bed, holding 'him' on his side. Rubbing his held hand with her thumb, she squared herself to face the fierce little mouse. "Please do."

'

Watching as Mally's hand stretched and brushed the handle of her hat pin sword, she hoped that it was a nervous habit. She wasn't keen on bleeding at the doormouse's hand again. The small hand passed the sword and instead landed on her hip. The other pointed an accusatory finger at Alice.

"You! You are the reason none of us knew what was happening."

"Nivens and Absolem already told me-"

"Oh I'm sure they told you something, but I know they sugar coated the truth so you could swallow it without to much self hatred. You left him and he became madder. Then he started to withdrawal from all of us! Even Thackary and me. We couldn't tell what he was going through because we never got to see him! We heard him talking to you though you gone, so we knew he was hallucinating. After that since I'm small enough I started to sneak in and check on him, so I know from watching him be ill and hold his middle while he grimaced in pain. Eventually all he was drinking was tea with herbs. When the yelling and talking to people that aren't there stopped I WAS SENT IN TO CHECK ON HIM AND I'M THE ONE THAT FOUND HIM IN HIS BED NOT WAKING UP! AND YOU KNOW WHAT ALICE? IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" The little mouse ended her tirade screaming at the blond woman holding her dyeing friend's hand.

"I'm so sor-"

"Save it. You find a way to save him, then I'll let you waste the time to apologize to me." Then she turned, jumped from the bed, and fled the room.

Alice starred after her silently, not even turning to Mctwisp when he squeezed her hand.

"She was the only girl in his life for ages. She's always been a bit jealous of your relationship with him." The attempt at comfort earned him a teary smile.

"You are all too kind to me. Mally is right. But I am going to fix all of this, I promise." she squeezed him back. "Go check on her, I'm fine...We'll be fine now."

Hesitating the rabbit looked back and forth between Alice and the door Mallymkin had vanished out of.

"If I can face down the jabberwocky, I can handle guilt my friend." she offered encouragingly. Mctwisp smiled softly at her and then turned to go comfort the doormouse.

When the door was shut and it was just the two of them, Alice started repositioning the hatter. She laid him back down flat and used the sleeve of her blouse to wipe some of Mirana's potion from the corner of his lips. "Your beautiful and loved by so many." She whispered softly to him caressing his face softly. He was still cool feeling, in-spite of all the excitement and the warm fire. Abandoning propriety yet again, she decided to lay next to him and offer him what heat she could. She stretched out on top of the covers and settled her ear on his chest so he could hear that he was in fact there and alive next to her, no matter how he looked.