It was not yet time for me to go undercover and be a spy for the White Queen. She considered me a guest in her castle, which was brilliant. These past two days seemed like the best I've ever had. I hadn't spoken a word to that darned Hatter since day 1. But, the embarrassing thing was that we bore strange resemblances to each other. He had pure orange hair, mine was like a dark orange, he had bright green eyes, mine were dark. I tried to be as ladylike as possible at dinner. Except, me and Tarrant were the only non-fancy ones there. He was in his usual odd attire, whereas I was in my black pants, my red shoes, and my red top.

"There is a ball tonight." The Queen spoke. Everyone looked up. Her guests all cheered and clapped happily, knowing they were already invited.

"You majesty, shall I bring the buttered fingers?" Asked a man with slicked back black hair.

"if you wish, Nathaniel, but this is set aside for Leilani." She spoke, pointing to me.

"Am I invited, too?" The Hatter asked in his soft voice.

"Of course, Tarrant, you too are invited."

He smiled to himself and waited for her to explain more.

I went to grab some bread and so did the hatter. Our hands touched and we looked at each other. He looked nervous, unaware as to if I were to say something rude to him or not. He blushed a little, picked up the bread basket with a slight grin, offering me some. I pushed it away gently and grabbed my glass of water, taking a sip. My hand was shaky now.

Why?

"Now, the word shall spread around quickly. It'll get to the Red Queen, who will send one of her men undercover to the party as well. Tarrant, from this point on, you are now officially in charge of looking after Leilani." She spoke. I nearly choked on my water.

"Your majesty, as much as I do appreciate you for being so careful of me, I do object to this. I feel it's highly unnecessary." I spoke.

"Chances are you can be killed by one or possibly more of these men. You need someone looking after you." She spoke. I turned to Tarrant, who was smiling just a little bit.

"What do I do while I confront them?" I asked.

The Queen cleared her throat and looked from Tarrant to me and decided to whisper: "possible charming" but I couldn't hear her, until she said it in a normal tone. Everyone was quiet. I could hear one of her guests give a slight chuckle.

"It's the only known way, Leilani." She spoke.

I took my glass and drank all of my water. I looked at them all.

"That's all you want me to do? What if it escalates to something bigger than that?"

"Do you accept or not?" Tarrant asked.

I felt the whole room getting hot. My cheeks grew rosy red.

"I…I," I started, not sure how to answer. "I need a moment."

I left the table and went out to the balcony yet again, looking out upon the dullness. It was quiet, without the trace of noise nor nonsense. I felt something wrap around my head and I turned around, seeing the hatter. He was measuring my head.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You need a hat for the ball." He grinned, showing that cute gap between his teeth.

"No thanks, I'm not so big on hats." I studied his. Such fine detail, so different and odd…I liked that.

"I've been considering words that start with the letter B. Bounty, beloved, bewildered, ball, betrayal." He spoke.

I looked at him and shook my head. "You still believe my mother betrayed you? I beg to differ, Tarrant. You're not seeing the big picture. You're not upset that my mother couldn't help Underland. You're upset that she married someone other than you. Admit it." I said to him.

He walked towards me, his face close to mine.

"Not even a little bit. That was over twenty years ago. I'm over it," He spoke. My breathing became uneasy when he was this close to me. I wasn't scared, nor did I fancy him that way…or so I had hoped. "You look just like your mother. Same facial features, other than your green eyes and blood orange hair." He raised his hand to my face. I heard footsteps and pushed his hand away.

"Leilani," the queen called. I turned to her. "It's time to get dressed." I nodded and she went back inside. I turned to Hatter.

"You loved my mother, didn't you?"

He sighed and walked to the bench, sitting down.

"I still do, Leilani, but not in the same sense as an infatuation. I'd love her as a friend if I saw her." He spoke.

I looked at him. His eyes turned to a deep blue.

"Hatter," I said. He turned to me. "I forgive you."

He grinned slightly, his eyes turning green. "You do?"

"Yes," I nodded. He seemed jovial but I sat down next to him. I took the hat from his head and placed it on mine. "And while we're at it, why don't you make me one of these?" I smiled, walking off. He chuckled.

"I'll be right on it, Leilani!" He called.

I nodded and threw his hat back to him, and headed off to get dressed. I was in nothing but light colors, and by that I meant pale blue. My hair was down and I had to wait two hours for the party to start, which was absurd.

~2 Hours Later~

*Tarrant/Mad Hatter's Point Of View*

I stood around, looking for the guards of the Red Queen. They were no where to be found. But I stopped looking when something else crossed my mind. It was the beautiful girl with orange hair walking down the stairs with the Queen, arm-in-arm. My heart must have skipped a beat, possibly two, as I saw her. And at that moment, I started considering things that started with L. Lillies, Love, Longevity, Lazy…Lovely, lovely Leilani. I shook my head just a little bit. I couldn't fall in love with her. I'd have to stand my ground and be aware of this one, for she was the daughter of Alice, our hero. Who's to say she won't betray us just like her forsaken mother? I walked towards her, looking into her green eyes. I felt my stomach get sick, but I tried controlling myself. Instead of greeting her, I went off to pour myself some tea, to calm my nerves.

As I was drinking, my back facing her, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around on my heel, looking right into Leilani's eyes.

"Leilani, I have your hat upstairs. I figured it would give everything away if you were to wear it." I said to her. She giggled a little.

"That's what I was thinking." She nodded, holding out her hand.

"What?"

Her smile faded away slowly.

"I was hoping that you could escort me inside?" She asked. I nodded and set my cup on the table.

"Right, right." I nodded quickly, placing her hand on top of mine as we started inside.

"Do you see any of the Red Queen's men?" She asked me in a whisper.

I looked around and spotted a man with a small black heart on his chin, possibly trying to make it unnoticeable? Well it wasn't working.

"There's one." I whispered, pointing to him. The music played and she waltzed over to him. My natural instinct was to follow her, as I was following the Queen's wishes. But, I was only so far. The queen approached me and smiled.

"I see she's found him?" She asked.

I nodded in disgust. "Yeah, she's found him."

"Good, now after they exchange a few words, dance, he'll be charmed and take her back to the castle where they-"

"Take her where?" I asked loudly. Some people turned to look at me but I didn't care.

"Take her to the castle. How must she expect to retrieve information if she's no where near the sight?" the queen said. As much as she had a distinct point, I hated the idea greatly.

It was hours of them talking, and I was growing mad…madder, to be exact. I needed to take my mind off of things, and I didn't have a dance partner to show off with just like Leilani was with that git. The White Queen passed me by and I grabbed her wrist, placing my hand on her waist.

She looked at me. "Hatter, are you all right?"

I looked down at her. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Her eyes widened a little. "Your accent."

"What accent?" I asked, taking her to the center of the hall to dance with everyone else.

The whole time, I was confused on how to dance. I just needed a good excuse to be next to Leilani for a while, just to make sure everything was turning out as planned. As the Queen and I danced, she spun me around. I didn't see Leilani's curly orange locks anywhere. Instead, I saw her and the man walking out to the balcony. I dashed from the queen towards them, maintaining my composure to not make myself noticeable. I saw him bend down and kiss her on the lips. My blood boiled and I walked swiftly towards them, pulling him off of her and tossing him to the side, making him fall.

He fell flat on the floor and stood up, grinning slightly.

"Now I know." He said before dashing off.

Leilani turned to me.

"Hatter! You ruined everything!"

"He kissed you."

"If you wouldn't have intruded, he wouldn't have figured anything out." She said.

I lowered my head, my eyes turning blue.

"But-"

"No," She shook her head. She was panicking now. "I can't do anything to help her now."

I felt dizzy. I grabbed her shoulders, pulling her into a kiss. This would be the first time I'd kiss someone on the lips. She pulled away and looked at me, confusion on her face.

My heart wasn't beating fast like before. Why was this? I thought I would have had more of a reaction than this. Come on, there had to be something deep inside from kissing her. Not even a special tingly feeling crawling up my spine. No matter how hard I tried to make that happen…

Nothing

I tried digging deeper, thinking. But thinking wasn't the same as feeling.

Still, I felt nothing.

"I love you." I said to her, hoping that'd spike something up.

She frowned. "You don't know a thing about me." She spat, turning and marching off to her room. I had spoiled her day…and the plan, completely. What's going on with me?