I do not own Jervis Tetch (aka the Mad Hatter), Alice Pleasance, her boyfriend Billy. I do own Dr. Myers. I do not own any other named character present. They belong to DC Comics. Quotes and poems are from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. This was written purely for fun.

Chapter Four: Sentence First

Lord, he felt ill. The past week (or from what he could tell, it had been a week; he wasn't sure how much time had passed) had dragged on. His time in solitary confinement was interrupted only by the guards who would haul him off to an unwanted session with Dr. Myers. In the meantime, Jervis Tetch was stuck in silence, only broken by his loose sputtering of Lewis Carroll.

And now, he was sitting between two heavyset guards in a courtroom. If Arkham didn't make him anxious, the court of law certainly did. He hadn't been in a courtroom since he officially became a citizen of the United States. Jervis knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would be convicted and sentenced. He sat mutely with his eyes locked on his fidgeting hands. He couldn't bring himself to look up at the people, the same people he worked with for his years at Wayne Enterprises, testifying against him, calling him names and making rude accusations. He just sat there and took the attack silently, refusing to allow himself to speak up to defend himself in fear that he would go off on another Carroll tangent in front of the judge. No, he would not…could not have that. He was not mentally ill…he was a perfectly sane man. If he did start speaking in quotes here, they would definitely send him back to Arkham to rot.

He knew he was in trouble when they added "also known as the Mad Hatter" after announcing his name. He had sunk slightly in his chair when the words were spoken. He was not the Mad Hatter. He was just Jervis Tetch…lonely, depressed, and now supposedly-crazy Jervis Tetch.

Jervis let out a quiet sigh, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Depressed, indeed… He had been hoping to see Alice here, but she hadn't appeared. 'She's probably afraid to even come near me…' he thought sadly to himself. The Lizard had come in her place to testify; Jervis had only looked up from his hands to glare at Billy. This…this boy ruined everything. He and the Batman ruined everything. If it hadn't been for the both of them, he wouldn't have had to card all of those people…he would have never carded Alice...

"Mr. Tetch!"

Jervis jumped at the rough call of his name. His eyes shot up to the judge to find him and the entire court staring at him. Another pang of nervousness went through him as his eyes slowly moved around the courtroom. He let out a quiet squeak when the guards pulled him to his feet. He finally looked back to the judge—

His fright was instantly replaced with bewilderment when he found himself staring at the King of Hearts, his crown atop his judge's wig. 'This can't be right…' Jervis thought to himself as he continued to stare at the King. His eyes shot to the Queen of Hearts sitting next to him, an unpleasant look on her grumpy face. He gave the two curious looks.

"Have you anything to say before I announce your sentence, Mr. Tetch?" the judge asked.

"'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly," Jervis whispered to himself in a baffled manner. '"The idea of having a sentence first!'"

"Speak up, Mr. Tetch," the judge ordered.

'You're a very poor speaker,' said the King.

At this, Jervis brought his shaky hands up nervously toward his chest and began to fiddle with them. He stared at the King with fearful eyes. 'He's going to threaten to execute me if I don't speak up,' he thought to himself in terror. His eyes shot to the Queen by the King's side.

"The miserable Hatter dropped his teacup and bread-and-butter, and went down on one knee," Jervis blurted out, making the courtroom draw back in confusion. "'I'm a poor man, your Majesty,' he began."

The judge blinked before he leaned forward on his bench to study the blonde man more closely. "I'm not a king, Mr. Tetch; I'm a judge."

"'I'm a poor man, your Majesty,'" Jervis repeated in a shaky voice.

The two guards on either side of the trembling man rolled their eyes. "Your Honor," one of them finally said over the inmate's babbling, "Mr. Tetch here hasn't been fully aware of his actions for the past few days. As you just heard, he identifies himself as this "Hatter." He is currently receiving therapy from one Dr. Myers at Arkham Asylum."

"Yes…" the judge said slowly as he brought a finger up to tap against his chin, "he definitely seems troubled… Mr. Tetch."

Jervis snapped to attention and instantly fell silent. He stared up at the King of Hearts with worried eyes. He didn't hear a word of what the judge was saying; all he heard was the King ranting about what was important and what was unimportant and who really stole the tarts from the Queen of Hearts. He continued to give them confused looks even as he was turned away and herded out of the courtroom to return to Arkham Asylum to begin his sentence.

By the time he was back inside Arkham Asylum, Jervis was quite embarrassed and distraught. He had no idea what his sentence was… He remembered the testimonies against him, but he remembered nothing of a judge. He had managed to get out of the courtroom and away from the King and Queen of Hearts with his head, and for that he was grateful. His gratitude was short-lived and quickly replaced with fear, however, when he realized that the King and Queen hadn't been there… He had seen them clear as day, but they weren't real. Good Lord, what was happening to him?

"Jervis?"

The blonde man startled from his thoughts and looked at Dr. Myers, who sat behind his desk, staring at him with concerned eyes. "Did you hear anything I just said?" the psychiatrist asked.

Jervis simply stared at the man for a few moments, blinking. He slowly shook his head before his eyes fell back down to his fiddling hands. "…I, um…no. Sorry."

Dr. Myers smiled and leaned back. "I was just saying that you are going to be moved to a different section of the building today. You will be allowed one hour of recreation time as well as three half-hour meal times. Our sessions are going to be every day, like they are now, for a full hour. You will be given—"

"How long am I going to be here?" Jervis interrupted quietly, cautiously lifting his eyes to the doctor.

Dr. Myers paused in his rehearsed speech and glanced over at the wall-clock hanging over his door. "You have another five minutes here today."

"No," Jervis said. He swallowed the lump in his throat and looked around the room nervously before he gazed back at Dr. Myers. "I mean, h-how long am I going to be here…i-in Arkham?" He shifted uncomfortably in his chair when the doctor gave him a curious look.

"Didn't the judge tell you in court earlier?" Dr. Myers asked.

Oh, the dreaded question…

"…w-well…" Jervis began anxiously. How was he supposed to say this without making himself sound crazy?

"It's okay, Jervis," Dr. Myers said gently, "you can tell me. What's wrong?"

Jervis remained silent for a lingering moment, but finally drew what should have been a calming breath. "…I didn't see a judge," he said quickly.

The response inherited a raised eyebrow from the doctor, but he mulled over the words for a brief moment. "What did you see?" Dr. Myers pressed calmly. When Jervis didn't answer and looked off around his office, he folded his hands over his desk. "Was it in any way related to Lewis Carroll?" he ventured.

Jervis's eyes immediately shot back to the psychiatrist, his brow fraught with worry. The two stared at each other in a tense silence for a few moments before the blonde man looked down at the ground by his feet. He began nibbling on his bottom lip. Finally, he slowly began to nod his head.

"Okay," Dr. Myers said as he wrote this down, "how long have you been seeing things? Are you hearing things, too?"

The doctor received a horrified look, but the blonde man made no effort to answer the question. His wide blue eyes drifted over to the clock on the wall and he began fidgeting anxiously in his seat.

Dr. Myers' shoulder slumped in a silent sigh. "Alright, Jervis, we're done for today," he announced. "We're going to have to monitor this new development, okay? I'm going to start you on some small doses of medication tonight. We're also going to monitor your progress on that." His eyes lifted to the clock on the wall. "I don't think your new cell is quite ready yet, but there are some patients heading toward the recreation room now. Try to go socialize with some of them, okay?" He received a terrified look. "Give it a try, Jervis. We'll talk more tomorrow."

He wasn't sure what was more horrifying: spending nearly every waking hour alone in solitary confinement for the past week, or finally being released amongst the criminally insane. He was slowly leaning toward the latter with each inmate that was brought to the recreation room, looking more frightening than the last. There had been maybe three or four people already in the room when Jervis was pushed through the doors. No one had paid him any mind, so he cautiously made his way over to an empty sofa and sat himself down at the end.

The only features on his form to move since then were his eyes. He simply observed each inmate that entered the room, praying he wouldn't recognize any of them. He knew good and well that there were many very dangerous people here. He wanted nothing to do with them or with any of the rest of the population that made up Arkham Asylum. He sat motionless, hoping to go unnoticed. He never had to try to be ignored before; surely trying to would help—

"Hey!"

Jervis immediately jumped at the loud voice, instinct making him shrink away from the source of the shout. His eyes shot to his left at a large inmate, who was glaring down at him with hostile eyes.

"This is my seat!" the massive inmate snarled, the ferocity in his voice making the small Englishman flinch.

Jervis quickly scrambled to his feet and lifted his hands up toward his chest defensively to show he was harmless. He backed away slowly from the man as he fumbled over his words. "O-Oh dear, I-I-I beg your pardon. I'm dreadfully sorry…"

The man seemed to be satisfied with the apology, or satisfied that the seat was empty, and promptly plopped down on the sofa.

The trembling blonde man continued to back away from the sofa, his arms still hovering in the air before his chest. His widened blue eyes never left the frightening man, despite the fact that he seemed to have already completely forgotten Jervis. It was almost too much for his fragmenting mind to take—

"You're afraid."

Jervis felt a chill run down his spine at the two words that sounded from behind him. His head instantly whipped to his left. His widened blue eyes fell upon another patient, seated at a chess table. The man in the standard Arkham uniform stared at him with cold, calculating eyes and remained otherwise motionless.

"E-Excuse me?" Jervis managed to ask, squirming slightly in discomfort under the man's scrutinizing gaze.

"You are afraid," the man repeated himself, a callous bite to his words. "I can smell your fear."

Despite his efforts, Jervis couldn't stop himself from making a face or keep his brow from furrowing. 'Smell my fear?' he mused in his thoughts. 'Lord, this man is mad…' He tried to force a smile and began backing away from the strange man.

The unknown man's eyes never strayed from the blonde inmate. "That isn't a good thing for a newcomer such as yourself," he said at length.

Jervis came to a quick halt, his smile disappearing. His arms relaxed slightly, but remained in the air in front of his chest. He stared at the man with a curious expression on his face.

The man motioned for him to take a seat across from him. As Jervis nervously did so, the man spoke again. "You're the Hatter, right?" When the blonde man's eyes shot to him, he offered a half-hearted shrug. "I saw a guard reading a newspaper with the name "Mad Hatter" in the headlines…"

An embarrassed look quickly formed on Jervis's face and he began to fiddle with a pawn on the chessboard. "I guess that's what I'll be known as here…" he mumbled to himself with a disheartened sigh.

"You're better off that way," the man across from him said nonchalantly. His eyes finally left the blonde as he gestured around the room. "It sets you above the rest of these fools locked up here. You have an alias."

Jervis lifted an eyebrow in skepticism, but kept his thoughts to himself.

"Don't believe me?" the man opposite from the blonde asked when he saw the look, not sounding at all surprised. "You'll understand what I mean in time, I'm sure."

A silence soon filled the gap between them, hanging over the chess table. Jervis's blue eyes moved from the pawn he was fiddling with to the man across from him, then back to the pawn, and then back to the man. He decided to break the silence. "…I, um…I suppose you are one of the higher class criminals here, no?" he asked hesitantly.

The man gave the blonde a bored look. "You mean you don't recognize me?" he asked, not sounding offended in the least.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir," Jervis replied, feeling subtly alarmed that he should have recognized the man.

The auburn-haired man waved it off with a long, narrow hand. "You'd recognize me if I had my mask," he said casually. He extended the hand toward Jervis. "Professor Jonathan Crane."

Jervis went to shake hands with the man when his arm froze momentarily in mid-reach. His eyes slightly widened. The Scarecrow. I'm talking to the Scarecrow. He hardly noticed the subtle smirk that appeared on Jonathan Crane's face when he was finally recognized. The Englishman reluctantly grasped Crane's hand. "Jervis Tetch."

A/N: So, I realize it's been a while since I've updated this story. I apologize, and I thank you for your patience. Um...I thought a court scene would be cool, especially since there is a court scene in Alice in Wonderland, so the amount of quotes available was great.

Expect to see more Jonathan Crane, but this story will remain focused on Jervis Tetch.

Thank you so much for reading! Feedback is always welcome!