Chapter 3

Cheshire was slowly regaining consciousness. The first thing she noticed was pain; her whole body hurt, as if she had been bitten by a venomous bandersnatch. Or, maybe 10 bandersnatch! Cheshire's head was what hurt the most, though. She went to massage her temples and made her second discovery: she couldn't move her arms.

This worried Cheshire, deeply. She looked down to see what was wrong and, slowly, her hands came into focus.

She let out a sigh of relief; nothing was wrong with her arms. She was tied to a chair, that's all.

Cheshire leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes. Suddenly, the clouds lifted from her mind and she remembered that if you wake up tied to a chair, all is not well!

She sat up and opened her eyes, looking about her. She was back in the Truth Room. Well, not exactly back in the Truth Room. It wasn't the same Truth Room Cheshire had been in before, but she still recognized it.

Oh, yes. She recognized the room that Hatter had described to her. She recognized the room where Hatter had said that his darkest fear (being entirely helpless) had been brought to life.

Cheshire groaned. She had a bad feeling about what was about to happen.

Her greatest fear was that Hatter would reject her. That Hatter would hate her and not even be her friend anymore. They had tried to bring that fear to life but she had seen through it. Now they were going to torture her, the same way that they had tortured Hatter.

Dr. Dee and Dum noticed that Cheshire was no longer unconscious. "Ah, she's awake!" said one of them.

Cheshire looked at them closely; one of them had a recently broken nose (which meant that he had been the one who'd impersonated Hatter), and then she noticed something in their smiles.

Before when they smiled at her, they had been mischievous, like a child holding a magnifying glass over an insect, and now this insect had bitten them and they wanted to crush it. But the insect knew something and they couldn't kill it until it told them the secret or they would be punished.

"Now maybe you can tell us," said Dr. Dum (at least she thought it was Dr. Dum, as he was the one with the broken nose), "where is the Resistance hiding?"

Cheshire looked at them. "Why?" she asked.

"If you don't tell us," said Dr. Dee, "We will kill you."

Cheshire surprised them by actually laughing (humorless though the laugh was). "You're going to kill me ether way! And if I tell you you'll kill me and my friends! Well, acquaintances," She added, remembering that she really couldn't call anyone in the Resistance a friend.

Dr. Dee gripped the torture device and dug it into her side. Cheshire let out scream of pain and both Doctors smiled.

Dr. Dee walked around her and dug the device into her other side. She bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming. The pain was so unbearable! She could barely breathe! Her mind was starting to fill itself with clouds and she couldn't focus.

She tried to clear her thoughts with a happy memory. Then Dr. Dee said something to her. "Why do you care so much about this Hatter?"

Cheshire nearly jumped when he said this. Did he know what she was thinking? Why would he ask that question?

"He left you here," continued Dr. Dum, "All by yourself."

"12 years is a long time," Said Dr. Dee, "Why do you still care for him?"

Cheshire was not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She held back her tears, with some difficulty, and didn't look at them.

Dr. Dee sent another bolt of electricity through her body and laughed when she screamed.

Then, Cheshire heard something-a whistle; an impossible whistle; A whistle that she had not heard in a very long time.

The whistle was followed by the unmistakable sound of someone being punched and falling to the ground.

Cheshire resisted the urge to look up and listened closely.

"Well! Speak of the devil!" Came the Doctor's voice behind her.

It can't be! Cheshire thought, and looked out of the corner of her eye. What she saw made her heart skip a beat. Hatter! Then she saw something else, Hatter had knocked out Dr. Dum! And Dee was the one that had a weapon!

Cheshire made a quick decision. She carefully pushed her chair back so that all the weight was on the back legs then threw the chair back knocking Dr. Dee over.

She heard him scream so he must have landed on the torture device.

"Cheshire, are you al-" Hatter broke off when he saw her. "Cheshire?"

"Hatter," Cheshire said, "This is a lot less comfortable then it looks so if you could just..?"

"Oh, right, of course!" Hatter said and pulled her chair up. He took the torture device from Dr. Dee who was now unconscious, and then took out a sheathed knife that Cheshire recognized from Charlie's stables and started to cut through the ropes.

"You're older," Hatter said, "How long have I been gone?" he asked.

"12 years," Cheshire responded.

Hatter stopped cutting for a brief moment and looked at her. "12 years!" he repeated. "How long has the Queen been back?"

"6 years."

Hatter went back to cutting. "I'm sorry. I should have come back sooner."

"It doesn't matter!" said Cheshire, her old smile finally returning. "You're here now and that's all I care about!"

Hatter had finished with her hands and started cutting the rope binding her feet. For lack of something better to do Cheshire crossed her arms and studied him. "What in Wonderland did you do to your hair?" she asked.

Hatter looked at her for a moment, confused. "What do you mean?"

"It's all flat and looks terrible!"

Cheshire tried to fix it with her hands and make it curl around his hat. Hatter laughed a little, "If you don't comb out your hair in the Oyster world every one'll give you dirty looks!"

"Well you're not in the Oysters world now! You're home!"

Hatter finished cutting her ropes, stood up and sheathed the knife. Cheshire stood up too and threw herself into his arms. "I missed you so much!" she said with elation.

Hatter hugged her back for a moment, "I missed you too," He said, and then pushed her away. "But we need to get out of here." He started walking in the direction from where he'd come.

Cheshire started to follow him, and then noticed how light her head felt and how chilly she was. "Where's my hat and jacket?" she asked.

Hatter stopped walking and slowly turned around, giving her a dirty look.

"Please?" she said giving him a little girl-ish sort of begging look.

Hatter sighed. "You're a grown woman but your little girl charm still works! Come on. I think I know where they put them."

Cheshire smiled, "Thank you!"

"Over here." Hatter said, feeling the wall. "Here it is," He said and threw his weight against the wall which suddenly became a door. Hatter reached in and took out a black leather jacket and a top hat.

"This is the hat I gave you," He said, looking at it.

"Yep," Cheshire said taking it from him and putting it on her head. "Did you want it back?"

"Oh! No, no," he said, "I just noticed."

Cheshire smiled. "Come on, then. Let's go!" she said.

Hatter led the way out of the Truth Room. "Walk quickly," he whispered "keep your head down, don't look at any one, don't do anything suspicious and put the torture device in your jacket so they can't see it. I've got a horse outside. Got it?"

"Right," Cheshire said.

They were almost to the door when someone saw them. "Oi! You!" came a voice.

Hatter and Cheshire looked around, spotting a tall man that was walking toward them. Cheshire felt Hatter's body tense next to her. He recognized him, and so did she.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the man asked.

Hatter shrugged. "Trying for a job," He lied, "I think I said something really stupid, though; probably not going to get it."

"What? Both of you?" he asked.

"Oh, no," said Cheshire, giving the man a dazzling smile, "I'm just his ride home."

"All right, then," Said the man. Hatter and Cheshire started to walk toward the door again when the man stopped them once more.

"Wait a moment," He said looking at Hatter, "Do I know you?"

"Never seen you before in my life," Hatter replied swiftly and tried to walk away, but the man grabbed his arm and pulled him around so that he could look at him.

"I do know you! You're that guy that did the fancy hat trick and broke in 12 years ago!"

Hatter tried to pull his arm free but was unsuccessful.

The man started shouting. "Oi! We've got intruders!"

Cheshire took out the torture device and dug it into the man's side. He screamed in pain and, after a long moment, he finally collapsed onto the ground, pulling Hatter down with him.

"So much for 'Don't do anything suspicious'," she said trying not to laugh.

Hatter shook himself free of the man's grip. "Come on," He said, "We need to get out of here!" They looked at the doors; at least 20 Suits were guarding them now, and more Suits were coming-closing in on them

Cheshire looked at Hatter. "Run?" she asked, casually.

"Run," he confirmed. They both took off running as fast as they could, looking for another way out. Cheshire spotted the elevators. "There!" she said, and started to run to them. Hatter followed her.

They got to the elevators and punched the UP button. Miraculously the doors opened immediately.

They rushed in and the doors closed behind them. Hatter pushed the button for the roof.

"Well this feels familiar," Hatter said.

Cheshire laughed a little and looked down at her feet. "I hate these shoes!" She said looking at her black high heeled boots.

"Then why do you wear them?" Hatter asked.

"They're good to wear in a fight." She said, "If I kick someone the heel can act as a sort of knife. I can run in them too if I run on my toes. But that isn't always as easy as it sounds. I prefer to…" she stopped talking as the light glinted off something on Hatter's hand.

"What's that?" she asked staring, "You left all your rings and you've never worn a ring on that finger."

Hatter fallowed her gaze. "Oh, that's just my engagement ring."

"Engagement ring?" Cheshire repeated, "You… You mean that… You're going to marry Alice?"

"Yes," Hatter confirmed. Cheshire could feel her heart breaking. She turned away from Hatter hoping he wouldn't notice that she was trying not to cry.

She saw that they were nearly to the roof and Cheshire suddenly thought of something: Hatter had had difficulty with shaking off the Suit, something that he could have easily done before. Hatter had lost his touch!

"Hatter, let me take care of this, Ok?" She said.

Hatter looked at her. "Cheshire, you can't take on who knows how many Suits on your own. No one is that good of a fighter, not even you."

Cheshire looked at him out of the corner of her eye and gave him half of smile. "Who said anything about fighting?" she said "Just come in and take them out when I laugh, got it?" at that moment the elevator dinged.

She placed her hands on either side of the frame and turned her head so that her silhouette was facing out of the elevator then she put on a devilish smile and looked out of the corner of her eye through her long blue hair as the doors opened to reveal four Suits.

"Hello, boys," She said, her voice dropped so that it became deep and alluring. She slowly turned her head to look at them. "Lonely?"

They looked at each other then back to her. She flipped her hair back and started toward them.

"I bet they work you too hard here," She said looking from under her eyelashes.

Cheshire approached the Suit in the middle and caressed his face.

She brought her face close to his. "It's a shame." She winked at the other men. They were all looking at her pleasurably curious. They started to close in on her.

Cheshire flirted a little more, putting her arms around two while speaking to the others.

She was growing more and more uneasy and finally she said something and laughed. Then continued talking until she heard a crash and she and the Suits all looked up. Hatter hadn't been paying attention and had tripped over a pot in his hast.

"Sorry, boys!" Cheshire said grabbing the necks of two and hitting their heads together knocking them both out instantly.

"Let's see what you got!" Cheshire said to one of the remaining Suits as Hatter went to fight the other. He tried to punch her on the right but she jumped to the left. He tried to punch her on the left but she jumped to the right. He tried to punch her straight in the face and she bent back, then she reached up and grabbed his hand and did a back flip so that she landed on top of him. Then she punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.

She shook the pain out of her head and stood up. Hatter was still fighting his opponent, and losing.

Cheshire got an idea. She looked at the air just off the side of the roof next to where they were fighting, and then concentrated on moving her whole body to that spot but leaving her feet behind. She felt the familiar pain and all but her feet disappeared and reappeared where she had been looking.

"Excuse me," She said. The man looked around and was about to hit her when he saw that she was standing on thin air he froze, giving Hatter time to hit him in the face and knock him out.

Then Hatter turned to her. "What, exactly, is going on?" he demanded. Cheshire reconnected herself with her feet. "I'll tell you later," She said when Hatter found her, "For now we need to get out of here! It's a miracle that more Suits haven't come already!" She walked over to one of the three Flying Flamingos and pushed the button for it to start. It roared into life and flew off with no one on it.

"Why did you do that?" Hatter asked.

"Slow down the Suits! Now do you want to share one or go separate?" Cheshire said. She was really mad at him. Not only did he break her heart, but he broke her heart by asking a woman that she absolutely hated to marry him! And, on top of that, he had nearly screwed up their escape by tripping over that pot!

"It doesn't really matter," He said. Bet it mattered when you had that stupid Alice girl with you! Cheshire thought. "Separate then," She said crossly. She didn't want to have to be too close to him for a minute or she might hurt him.

"We should probably get the horse I brought too," He said, getting on one of the Flamingos.

"You get the horse and I'll meet you back at the fortress," Cheshire said as she got onto the other.

Hatter looked at her. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Cheshire looked directly ahead and not at him. "Never better," She lied and flew off.

Hatter looked after her for a moment, wondering why she seemed to be upset with him. What is it with women? he wondered, You save their lives and all it does is make them mad at you. He started his own Flamingo and took off.

Don't worry. The story gets better and my writing gets better.

Big thanks to my beta reader and friend, Kandis (.net/u/2348507/ConnorTempleHatterPotts)

Please review! Feel free to be as brutally honest as possible. I personally don't think that the story is very good until about Chapter 7 so please keep reading, I promise it gets better.

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