**Alice**

I ran through the gardens as fast as my feet would carry me. My suitcase was flailing through the air as I galloped full speed. I'm coming Hatter. I'll save you! I finally caught sight of the gnarled tree that held the portal to Underland underneath it. Without hesitation, I tossed my suitcase into the blackness of the rabbit hole. I faltered as I leapt forward at the hole and before I tumbled it I drew back and caught myself. Alice! You have to do it if you want to go back! If you want to save your friend! If you want to go home. Home? Yes, I suppose it is home. With that thought, I lept.

The fall was the same as last time, all the furniture and books lined the walls. I was calmer this time though, and I managed to judge exactly when I was to brake through the bottom, and I was happy to remember what to do in the room full of doors. I followed all the steps I had taken before, but skipping the part where I forgot the key on the table, and replaced it by growing back to my normals size once I was through the door.

Once I was my right-proper-Alicey size, as Hatter would call it, I rushed over to the same mushroom that I had last seen Absolem on. On the way, I was confronted with a cloud of blue smoke that clearly showed I was on the right track.

"Aboslem! Absolem where are you?" I called.

"What do you want stupid girl?" an airy voice replied. I ran toward the voice and found him relaxing on a mushroom, still smoking.

"Absolem, I need to see the oraculum." Without listening for permission, I reached for the scroll and unrolled it to the day that I guessed was today, because it showed me holding the same scroll the same way I was now.

"What are you searching for?" I heard another voice ask. I turned to see a giant, toothy grin.

"Chesh!" I grinned back as the rest of him appeared. "Good to see you again." I turned back to the scroll.

"You too luv. What's the big investigation all about?" I looked at him startled.

"You mean you don't even know?" He continued to look at me with curiosity.

"I honestly don't understand Alice." I rolled my eyes.

"Show me Hatter." I told the Oraculum and slowly watched the ink form a new shape. Chesh watched over my shoulder as the background went from the mushroom garden, to a dirty prison, and the characters in the image turned from Chesh and myself, to a diseased and beaten form of a man in a hat. Even though it was a drawing, we could still clearly see that he had frizzy hair that was matted with blood and that his clothes hung loosely on his thin form that was clearly malnourished.

"Hatter." I sobbed in a whisper. It was true. Hatter was locked away somewhere, being tortured, and I had been off in a foreign country, gaining wealth.

"This doesn't make sense." Cheshure interrupted my thoughts. "Last time I checked, he was still at the tea party table sulking over-... Ummm... I'm going to go double check." He disappeared but all I could do was stare at the parchment that showed my dear friend. Tears flowed freely down my cheeks. I looked at the next picture, but it showed a similar image. I continued to look down through time at the day before, and a few weeks before. Some pictures showed Stayne cornering him and flinging his fist in slow-motion, but the image cycle always started over before it got to the part when he actually hit his prisoner.

I eventually came to an image of Hatter being held captive by Stayne as he rode proudly upon his horse, looking like he had just won a grand prize or gotten the best game of all his friends during hunting season. The day before that Hatter had been sitting alone at the tea table, looking broken and deeply buried in a depression. My poor friend.

I continued to backtrack. It was taking Cheshure a long time. I eventually got bored of looking at the same picture for so many days, I apparently hadn't been missing much in Hatters life, because he did the same thing everyday. I skipped back through to the Frabtious day, and watched myself disappear. I was about to go back to today when I saw something.

I watched closely as I disappeared and I saw a single tear roll down Hatter's cheek. I went to the day after and saw Him sprawled out on a bed with his face buried in a pillow. His shoulders shaking, which showed he was either laughing hysterically, or crying his eyes out. I had a horrible feeling that it was the second. Each day after, I saw similar situations, and even one where he was curled up in a ball, sitting on a staircase, with the White Queen trying desperately to comfort him, as he sobbed into his hands. This was my fault. I had left, and in the meanwhile, I had selfishly stomped all over my only friend who really understood me, the only friend that would give himself up to the red knights for me.

"Alice!" Cheshur's voice shouted, I turned to look at him. "Quickly Alice, come with me." he directed me to a path, and disappeared, arriving far away on the same path. "Hurry!" He called. I began to run and I continued until Cheshure stopped disappearing and I caught up to him. We were in the middle of the woods and I didn't really understand what we were doing here. "Look down." Chesh gestured. I did and saw hoof prints. We followed them through the brush and eventually we came to a small, muddy clearing. There was a deep skid mark in the mud and a single hatpin lay about a foot away. I lifted to my eyes slowly. That's when I realized I still had the oraculum.
I handed it to cheshure and continued to inspect the hat pin. I recognized it as one of the many things that usually adorned Hatter large top hat. I looked closely at the side and saw s small pair of initials engraved.
"T.H." I read aloud.
"Tarrant Hightopp." Cheshure added. That was Hatter's real name
"Tarrant." I tried it and it felt so unnatural, but yet so good. "Hightopp." I said after, then an odd thought came to my mind. Alice Hightopp. That sounded good. Wait! What was I thinking? What was wrong with me?
"Alice," Chesh spoke. He was looking at the oraculum. "I am going to go to the red castle, I believe that's where he is because I've seen this jail cell before. Stay here just in case... If anything happens, drink this potion, it'll take you to the white queen." He handed me a vile of white potion and disappeared. I inspected the clearing for more clues, not that there was much to look for, I knew Hatter was being imprisoned somewhere by Stayne, and I knew he was hurt. Was there much else to learn other than how to get him out? I paced around, and let myself fall into the depths of my inner madness. Who's fault was this? Was it mine? I fell to my knees on a dry spot and wrapped my arms around myself to keep my body from falling apart. I spoke to the emptiness that surrounded me.
"Oh Hatter, Please be alright."

0.0
O

I am so sorry that it took so long for me to update this. I am getting horrendous at that. Not that the end of the year is upon me, I have so many assighnments compared to what I have during the rest of the year.

anyways, I want to put this advertisement out there that I am also working on a songfic for you AiW fans out there that like "hatter after Alice leaves" fictions. It's Breakeven by The Script. But back to my advertisement, I am offering to make any AiW songfic for someone if they just send me a song sugesstion in a review, I would be honord to see what I can do with it. I am not going to do any explicit songs that talk about.. well I'm just not gonna go there. (You should know what's inappropriate for a 15 year old audience, use those songs).

ThAnK yOu FoR rEaDiNg!1!1

Happy Glauphic (Gla-uh-fic*) day! (The day that Alice returns to Underland for the third time) (I did make that up, It's totally mine!)

TARRANT HiTOPP