Title - Very good advice
Chapter title - No Matter What
Author - OblivionsGarden
Genre - Romance/Adventure
Disclaimer - I do not own Alice in Wonderland or anything from it. I do however own Belle, her family and any other characters you don't recognize. The plot is mine too.
-C.9-
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To say Tarrant Hightopp couldn't think straight is an understatement. But on that particular night, Tarrant's thought were more muddled up than he could ever remember. One thing her knew for definite was that he loved Alice Kingsley unconditionally. However he also knew that she had long ago passed away in above land, with no recollection of him or anyone from his world. When she left them on the battlefield, time stopped, waiting for a champion to return. Now Underland had a new champion in the form of Belle Howard. The Hatter thought fondly on the new champion, but why he wasn't sure. Was it because she reminded him so much of his dear Alice? Or was it because in some ways she was somewhat as mad as himself?
Tarrant was sat in the gardens of Marmoreal, enjoying an early morning cup of tea with Mally. Mally had been chatting away, oblivious to the fact that The Hatter hadn't heard a single word. Suddenly, she realized.
"'atter! You listenin' t'me?"
Tarrant jumped, almost spilling his tea down himself. "Sorry Mally, what were you saying?"
"Doesn't matter. What were you thinkin' about anyway?"
Tarrant's eyes flicked around, frantically looking anywhere but into Mally's huge brown eyes. "Nothing much."
Mally raised an eyebrow. "Mmhmm."
A short while later and Tarrant noticed that he hadn't seen the new champion at breakfast. He excused himself and started to make his way through the castle, searching in each room. Eventually he remembered that she'd mentioned going to the library. He quickly made his way there, hoping that she had found out something useful.
When he arrived the library was empty, save for a pair of green boots on the floor beside a sofa. Curiously he went over and to his surprise, found Belle sat cross legged on the floor in front of the sofa, a book rested on her lap.
"Do you have a problem with the sofa?" He lisped, startling Belle who hadn't heard his approach.
"No, It's a force of habit." She shrugged, budging along an patting the floor beside her. Tarrant happily joined her, glancing around at the various mythical books that littered the floor.
"Found anything useful?"
"Not yet...Well, not exactly."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I saw Mirana this morning and I remembered that Thackerey had said something about madness and three, so I asked her what he meant. She said that it hasn't been confirmed if Iracebeth is using that rule or not but if she is then there will be three challenges and only true madness can prevail."
Tarrant was silent for a moment. "Three challenges?"
Belle nodded. "The Chimera, a shape-shifter and the red queen herself." The pair fell into silence once more as the size of their battle weighed down on them.
"The queen can be killed easy enough since her army shouldn't be allowed to interfere. The Chimera will be tough, unless I can find away to kill it. It's the shape-shifter that bothers me the most."
Tarrant frowned. Even he knew that a shape-shifter could be killed with silver. Belle noticed his expression and continued.
"They most often take the shape of someone meaningful to the attacker, in a hope to prevent the attack. I don't know if I could kill someone I loved, shape-shifter or not."
Tarrant understood. "Hopefully it won't come to that, champion."
Belle smiled lazily."Didn't I tell you to call me Belle." She asked with a yawn as she lifted her sleeve to scratch her inner elbow. Tarrant grinned with a nod before correcting himself. He glanced down at Belle's arm and noticed the faint pink and pale red scars that marred her porcelain skin. Acting on impulse he shot a bandaged hand forward and pulled her arm to wards him. Belle tried to pull her arm back but the Hatter wouldn't let go.
"What happened?" He whispered, tracing his finger along one of the lines.
"Nothing." Belle lied yanking her arm free and pulling her sleeve back down. Tarrant stared at her, concerned. Eventually she sighed.
"My mood happened. I have a psychological condition called bipolar disorder, or manic depression. I have dramatic mood swings unless I take my medication. I can have high's - manic's - which means I'm overly joyous but it also means I'm hyper, don't sleep, make rash decisions and can have hallucinations. Or I can have low's - depressives - which means I'm unhappy, can't decided on anything, have difficulty sleeping, loosed my appetite and sometimes I have a feeling of worthlessness and the desire to hurt myself..." Belle trailed off, ashamed.
"You did it to yourself." Said Tarrant. It was more of a confirming statement than a question. "Medication stops you from doing it?"
"Yes. The meds keep my mood normal."
Tarrant hated the thought of Belle hurting herself. It made him feel physically sick. "I now make it my duty to not only train you for battle but to ensure you always take your medication and do no more damage to your skin. No matter what."
