I do not own any of the named characters (except for Dr. Myers). They belong to DC Comics and Batman: The Animated Series. Quotes (italicized) are from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. This was written purely for fun.

Chapter 10: Dreaming as the Summers Die

"'A boat, beneath a sunny sky, lingering onward dreamily in an evening of July…'" The languid words filled the empty air, breaking the unending silence of his solitary confinement cell. Jervis Tetch was lying on the stiff mattress, staring up at the ceiling with unfocused and uninterested eyes. "'Children three that nestle near, eager eye and willing ear, pleased a simple tale to hear…'"

He had lost track of how much time had passed since he had been locked away in this cold purgatory, but from what he could gather, it had been roughly two days. His only contact with the outside world was a guard entering with food or a cup of pills. While they never said a word, conversations from outside leaked through the open door during these brief visits.

If he understood correctly, the asylum was on lockdown. Somehow or another, the Scarecrow had gotten loose within the building. What he was trying to do, Jervis never overheard.

He did, however, hear about how the Batman had been locked up, sputtering in absolute terror. The very thought of Gotham's Caped Crusader thrown in a straitjacket set Jervis to giggling madly. The guard had given him a harsh look and quickly left, leaving the laughing Englishman to his insane hysterics.

It wasn't until a few visits later that he learned about the Scarecrow's capture and that Batman had been released from Arkham. As the doctors and guards went about upgrading their security and cameras to ensure this didn't happen again, the asylum was put on lockdown. There were no visits to psychiatrists, no recreation time. No games of chess. Every privilege had been stripped from the inmates. Jervis hadn't even been allowed to return to his regular cell.

Not that he minded…

"'Long has paled that sunny sky: echoes fade and memories die: autumn frosts have slain July.'" He didn't mind the silence at all anymore. Why, he and Silence were practically brothers. It helped him to remember and relearn that skill that had seemed to have slipped his mind since he entered college. He had almost forgotten how to properly fall down the rabbit hole and return to Wonderland, as he had done so often in his childhood. He had been so occupied with his research, and everything after college had moved so fast. The move to the United States to work for Wayne Enterprises, working with technology, Alice—

Jervis shook his head. No, he wasn't going to think of her anymore. She would surely be happier with the Lizard. He should have realized it sooner; he and Alice were never meant to be together. Alice and the Mad Hatter bickered in the stories. In the end, it was the Mad Hatter that drove the little girl from the tea party. He had done the same with his Alice—

No, not his.

With an aggravated sigh, Jervis brought his hands up and covered his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to just let her have her happiness with that Lizard and forget her…but how could he forget that one night he had shared with her? That one night, that one dance, was more than he could have ever hoped for, more than he deserved, more than he should have ever received. Shouldn't that have been enough? Why did she still have to plague his mind every waking moment and invade his dreams in his fitful times of sleep?

"'Still she haunts me, phantomwise, Alice moving under skies never seen by waking eyes,'" he grumbled sadly, allowing his hands to fall away from his face. He continued to stare up at the ceiling, his blue orbs locked on a water stain. He knew it was hopeless to forget her. He couldn't get her off his mind, nor the fact that he would probably never see her again. His heart ached at the notion of it and his anger flared. It was all Batman's fault.

He found himself thinking about the Caped Crusader's few hours of incarceration, which only furthered his fury. The Bat had ruined everything. Had he not interfered, he would have…

…could have…

Another sigh escaped from the small Englishman's form and his anger quickly dwindled into misery. It deeply depressed him to think about what could have been. He and Alice could have been so happy together. He was so sure of this; why hadn't she seen it? Was it the Lizard that had blinded her? Theirs could have been the perfect romance, if only she had seen. She should have seen it. It was there, all there, for anyone to see. Why hadn't she seen it?

His mind took a violent turn from their time at Wayne Enterprises to that fateful night in Storybook Land. It did no good to think about what might have been, but what was. He had ruined the best friendship he had ever known, and was being duly punished for it. Arkham was the least of it; the constant torture of these plaguing thoughts was enough to drive anyone insane. The asylum only kept him from running from these memories. He had nothing but time to think over how he had ruined everything.

But no…he hadn't ruined everything. Things would have been different if the Batman hadn't interfered. That foul cur had messed everything up. Had that self-righteous vigilante left things the way they were, Alice would have chosen…

A miserable sigh escaped from the blond man. He could never make himself believe that she would have freely chosen him. She had made her decision, not twelve hours after their night together around Gotham, when she accepted the proposal from that…that boy. She made her choice, and he should have respected it. He should have—

Another wave of anger washed over Jervis and he let out an aggravated growl as he violently sat himself upright on his cot. His hands went to the sides of his head and he leaned forward. "'Still she haunts me, phantomwise'!" he shouted into the silent air. He just wanted to forget her! Why did she have to plague him?

Jervis looked up with a start when he heard metal sliding against metal. A small box of light shone on the wall opposite from him, and on that his wide eyes locked. His breathing hitched when he saw a shadow appear in the illumination. He was vaguely aware of the guard snapping at him to shut up, but his main focus was on the shadow and the sad blue eyes that appeared in it, staring out at him unblinkingly.

When the guard slammed the eye-hole shut, the light and the eyes vanished. Jervis twitched from his daze and he continued to stare at the spot on the wall where her eyes had been, searching for any hint of their existence.

After another moment of scrutinizing, his eyebrows slowly lowered over his enraged eyes. He pushed himself to his feet and began walking to the spot on the wall, muttering under his breath "'…Alice moving under skies'—" He stopped and turned abruptly to glare at the metal door. "—'never seen by waking eyes'!" he screamed to the guard long-gone.

When the guard didn't return, Jervis gave the door a disappointed look through narrowed eyes and turned back to the spot where the light had been. He studied it for a moment, as one would do while appreciating a piece of art. "'Children yet, the tale to hear,'" he began in a civil and conversational tone to the wall, "'eager eye and willing ear, lovingly shall nestle near.'" He approached the wall and leaned against it, running his fingertips lightly over where she had been staring at him.

With a sigh, he allowed his hand to fall to his side. He remained against the wall, giving the area a cynical look. "'In a Wonderland they lie, dreaming as the days go by, dreaming as the summers die…'"

A lingering moment passed before he pushed himself away from the wall and he turned back toward his cot. A scant smile appeared on his lips as he brought his arms out away from his body. He stepped lightly toward the mattress, much like a tightrope walker. "'Ever drifting down the stream,'" he recited whimsically, his smile widening. He returned his focus to the wall once he had reached the cot. He flashed the spot on the wall a cheerful grin, shrugged, and said with a laugh "'Lingering in the golden gleam.'"

Jervis sat himself back down and leaned back, allowing his feet to dangle over the edge of the bed. "'Life…'" he mused peacefully as his eyes slipped shut, allowing himself to be whisked away, "'what is it but a dream?'"

"Alright, let's go."

Jervis Tetch startled awake, jumping slightly as the booming voice resonated through the room. His blue eyes darted to the open door, where one guard was walking toward him with handcuffs drawn. He could feel his heart hammering against his ribs and a cold sweat upon his brow. What had he been dreaming of…?

"Get up, Hat."

After shaking some of the odd feeling from his head, the Englishman sat up. He was still trying to remember the dream that had left him in such a state, but he simply couldn't remember. He still felt on edge as he stood up and allowed the officer to handcuff his arms behind his back. "Where are we going?" he asked absentmindedly.

"To your cell," the guard replied.

Jervis glanced about the room he had spent the past two days in. "And where have I been?" he questioned as he stepped into the blinding light beyond the thick metal door.

The guards exchanged brief looks before they placed a firm hand on either of the small blond man's shoulders. Not another word was said as they led the half-blinded inmate out of the solitary confinement wing and back toward where the rest of the Rogues were currently locked up.

The going was slow as Jervis tried to blink the light-induced images from his eyes. The guards impatiently tried to get their inmate to move faster, but failed.

One of them finally sighed irritably and glared down at Tetch. "Will you walk a little faster?" he asked begrudgingly.

Jervis immediately straightened and looked up at the guard who had spoken with bright eyes, a huge grin spreading wide across his face. "'—said a whiting to a snail,'" he exclaimed happily, catching both the officers off-guard. He glanced over his shoulder behind him, his bucktoothed smile widening further. ""There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.""

The guards exchanged another look as the rhyming Englishman continued the poem cheerfully. "Have you been giving him too many happy pills?" one of the guards asked the other.

"Ooh, those sound delightful!" Jervis proclaimed merrily, breaking off from the verse abruptly.

As the blond man began to giggle to himself, the guards continued their way toward his new cell. His doctor was not going to like this…not one bit.

By the time they reached the line of cells, the little inmate had fallen silent, but remained immensely chipper. The handcuffs were removed and he was locked in his new cell.

Jervis glanced around his new dwellings, a content smile on his face. He turned and looked through the large Plexiglas window at the cell across the hall from his. Sitting on the edge of the cot was a lean and surprisingly handsome man, if not vaguely familiar. Jervis could only see the right half of the dark-haired man, but he could still tell he looked terribly bored. He also looked to be fiddling with something.

When the man caught Jervis staring at him out of the corner of his eye, the Englishman smiled and waved through the glass. The man stared back for a moment in a sidelong gaze, but waved back after a moment. Jervis's smile brightened at the returned greeting and he approached the glass barrier. "You know…" he began, loud enough to hopefully carry through the Plexiglas, "you seem awfully familiar." He continued to stare at the unknown man, wracking his brain for a name to go with the face. "Now, I know I've seen you somewhere before…on a newspaper or in the news or something."

"You probably have," the man replied, his strong voice carrying through the glass with ease.

"Really?"

"Yes," the man said, a slight rasp appearing in his voice. He finally turned and looked directly at Jervis.

The man's left half of his face was terribly scarred, the skin a strange tint of blue. The messy white hair on that side of his face contrasted greatly with the neat black hair on his normal half. His mouth was pulled back in a half-sneer, showing his teeth all the way back to his molars. It looked as though half of his eyelid was burned away, leaving the oddly colored yellow eyeball stuck completely wide.

"In more ways than one," he rasped harshly.

In the back of Jervis's mind, he knew this was former district attorney Harvey Dent, now known as Two-Face. Jervis suddenly knew he really had seen both Dent and Two-Face on separate occasions in the past; he remembered the district attorney's campaign as well as the terribly scarred villain's initial criminal reign. Those names, however, were not the titles that sprung to the forefront of his thoughts.

Jervis grinned wide in recognition. "I do know you!" he exclaimed as the dichotomy of a man shook his head slightly. All traces of anger disappeared from the normal half of his face and he wearily looked back to the blond Englishman across the hall from him. Jervis pointed to the unscarred side. "Tweedledee," he declared before pointing at the other half, "and Tweedledum!" He put his hand to his forehead, looking beyond amazed. "Both in the same person! 'Curiouser and curiouser!'"

Harvey Dent gave the delighted madman across from him a bizarre look. He could feel Two-Face lurking just below the surface and how angry he was at receiving the pet-name. "Um…no," Dent said in his own voice, Two-Face's distinctive rasp missing. When the blond man continued to grin at him, Harvey sighed. "I presume you're the Mad Hatter?"

"Whatever gave you that idea, Tweedledee?" Jervis replied in question with a half-crazed smile.

The former district attorney let his shoulders slump in a sigh, submitting to the new nickname.

Jervis let out a light laugh. "But you are correct: I am indeed the Mad Hatter. Although I seem to have misplaced my hat…" He glanced haphazardly around his cell as if in search for the missing headgear. He returned his brilliant blue orbs to Harvey. "I'd tip my hat, but you know how it goes."

"I'm afraid I do," Dent replied casually from his seat, his mismatched eyes still locked on his new and unusual neighbor.

He was about to continue, but was suddenly stopped when the Hatter lost his smile and looked down the hall at the other cells. "Speaking of afraid…" he murmured to himself, his words just barely carrying through the glass. His eyes twitched to Harvey. "Where's Professor Crane?"

"The Scarecrow?" Dent asked. "He's probably still in solitary for what he did. Why?"

Jervis's eyes drifted back toward the other cells lining the hall, looking almost lost in thought. "Oh, no reason, really…" he replied distractedly. "Just…I need to talk to him about something." His mind returned to the dream he had woken up from earlier. He still couldn't really remember what it was about, but he had been having plaguing dreams since Storybook Land. He didn't want to bring them up to Dr. Myers, but he wanted to talk to someone about them. The Scarecrow was the closest thing he had to a friend in this—

"Hey, wait a second."

The Englishman broke from his thoughts and glanced at Harvey.

The former district attorney was staring at him, looking half-confused. "Why were you moved to a new cell? What happened to your old one?"

Jervis blinked and gazed around the cell he was standing in. "I'm not quite sure what happened to the old one. I wasn't in it when Professor Crane did whatever it was he did. I was in solitary."

Harvey made a thoughtful noise in his throat and glanced down the hall from his seat on the cot. "The lockdown must be over," he said in an almost contented tone.

An eyebrow quirked upward on the blond man's face. "You seem rather pleased about this…" he pointed out curiously.

"It means I ought to be having a visitor pretty soon," Harvey replied warmly.

Jervis stared at the half-scarred man for a lingering moment before it clicked in his head. The gloom he had felt during his time in solitary confinement began to return to him. He did his best to hide this reappearing depression from the man across from him. "…who is she?" he asked.

Mismatched eyes met the blue orbs staring at him. "Grace," Harvey answered, "my fiancée."

Vague recollections of the district attorney's reelection campaign came back to Jervis. He just barely remembered a blond woman standing proud next to Gotham's DA. A small smile appeared on the Hatter's face; she was still standing with him, despite what had happened to him. "Congratulations," Jervis said with heartfelt honesty.

"Thank you," Harvey replied. For the first time since meeting him, his scarred half seemed to lighten, making it almost gentle. "So, how about you? Do you have a girl on the outside?"

Jervis's smile faded away and he looked off. Images of Alice entered his head unwillingly, and he wished for nothing more than to forget her. "Not anymore," he finally answered in a subdued voice.

The former district attorney noticed the change in the Hatter's demeanor and he began to look vaguely guilty. "Oh…" he said after a moment. "I'm sorry."

The Englishman swallowed with some difficulty, as if he was trying to swallow the feelings of despair. He abruptly turned back to Harvey, looking unsettlingly cheerful again. "I wouldn't think someone would be able to visit so soon after an escape," he said, quickly changing the subject.

Harvey still looked concerned, but he could take the hint that the blond man didn't wish to discuss his former romance. He reluctantly went along with the rapid subject change. "She took advantage of her ties with Bruce Wayne. It's hard to deny admittance to someone when the man who donates generously requests her entry."

"Ahh, Mr. Wayne," Jervis mused. "I used to work for him. Nice fellow, even if he did hire the Queen of Hearts."

The scarred man gave the blond a puzzled look at the Carroll reference.

They continued to chat as other inmates were led by guards to their new cells, the subjects transitioning more smoothly than the first. Their conversation was cut short when a pair of burly guards came to a stop outside of the former district attorney's cell.

"You got a visitor, Face," one of the men announced in a gruff voice as the other unlocked the cell.

Jervis watched from his cell as the guards entered his neighbor's cell and handcuffed his arms securely behind his back.

The guards began to lead Harvey out of the cell. "Is there going to be a lockdown where your girl doesn't visit immediately afterward?" one of them asked the contrasting inmate, not sounding unfriendly.

Harvey's eyes lowered to the tile floor. "I certainly hope not…" he replied solemnly.

Jervis saw a very subtle expression of worry cross the former DA's face for the briefest of moments. His eyebrows furrowed slightly before he bounced up and went to the Plexiglas window. "Bye, Tweedledee!" he said cheerfully with a smile and a grandiose wave, hoping to somehow lift the man's spirits.

Sure enough, Harvey glanced over at him with a degrading look on his face, again at being called that odious nickname. One of the guards snickered and repeated the name under his breath.

A small smile crossed half of Harvey's face. "See you later, Hatter," he said with a slight chuckle before he was led off down the hall.

Jervis stared after him for a lingering moment before his grin disappeared completely. His concerned eyes remained on the hall even after he couldn't see his new friend anymore. He slowly turned away from the Plexiglas and went to sit on the edge of his cot, looking thoughtful and worried.

Grace wasn't just his fiancée; she was the only thing the former district attorney had to keep him from sinking into madness. Harvey was fully aware of this, as she must have been. Such a heavy burden on her shoulders…and yet she continued to come and help the man she loved.

If only he had been so lucky—

"No," Jervis scolded himself and shook his head. He didn't want to think of her. Not now. Maybe not ever again. Alice would stand with the Lizard, the man she chose.

And as for him… Well, he had stood alone all his life.

Jervis let out a sigh and felt himself slump dejectedly, eyes miserably locked on the wall across from his cot. He turned his thoughts back to his dreams again. "'Dreaming as the days go by…'"

What was it he had been dreaming of? He had never really scrutinized his dreams before. Sure, he had pondered over the why and what, before, but never the how. The depressed feelings began to lift and were slowly replaced with puzzlement over the mechanics of dreams. What made a dream a dream? Why dream of certain events over and over again?

"'Dreaming as the summers die…'"

Jervis leaned back on his cot, focusing only on the rapid thoughts going through his head. He needed to talk to Professor Crane on the subject. A man of psychology could help him. He only knew the mechanics of the brain; someone who understood the more abstract could hopefully answer some of these questions dashing through his mind. A dream is a curious thing…

"'Life, what is it but a dream?'"

A/N: Hooray for new friends! I have fairly big plans for Harvey Dent and Two-Face in this story a bit later...way down the line.

I don't know why this chapter gave me such a hard time. I think after the next chapter or two, things will go much more smoothly. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be ready, to be honest. I'm surprised I even have this. I'll try to update again relatively soon...which means hopefully not in 10 months. Sorry.

Feedback is always welcome! Thanks for reading!