You guys are so wonderful. To EreshkigalGirl, Erik'sTrueAngel, Labmama, Chibi-Kaz, KCraine, BregoBeauty, Logan the Awesome, I Can Spell Confusion with a K, SleepyHeather, Ayjah, and alittlefaithinme2, this chapter is dedicated to you guys!!

Okay, Okay, fine. For all the Hatter fans that have been pm-ing me about his fate, here you go!! The reunion scene!!

Chapter 10

Elsewhere in the Casino, Alice had finally reached the Game Room, hurrying inside and blocking the doors with the stand like she had before. She was just happy that she'd somehow avoided those Suits that had chased her last time. But she ended up back on that mirror-ball stage, and the Suits that manned the floor quickly had their weapons drawn on her. She raised her hands and jumped down from the stage--

"ALICE!!" a sudden roar came from the front doors.

All three turned, Alice rejoicing at the sight of--"Hatter! You're alive!"

But something was wrong with him, she could see it. The lines around his eyes were like black veins, and his gaze was blank and raging. The same awful marks of torture marred his face, and this time jagged tears were in his shirt and his body armor was gone. Blood dripped from his clenched and torn fists, his clothing stained with the bright dyes of dozens of Teas. The faithful hat was barely hanging on his head. "Hatter?" she whispered in fright.

"You stay right there!" a Suit shouted.

But Mad Hatter wasn't listening. "ALICE!!!" he screamed again, rushing forward to attack. He ignored the shots fired at him like they weren't even there, jumping one of the Suits and taking him to the ground, hitting him repeatedly with his sledgehammer fist. One of the dealers immediately pushed the alarm button. Alice wasn't idle as this happened, and had already kicked the gun away from the other Suit and quickly twisted to roundhouse kick him in the temple. She tucked his gun into her coat pocket and rushed forward to stop the awful beating. "Hatter! Hatter, stop! You're killing him!"

"Kill 'em, yeah, kill 'em all, like they killed her," he said gleefully. It turned to howl of rage and grief, "Killed her, killed her, killed her, my Alice! Alice, Alice, Alice, ALICE!"

"Hatter, stop it!" She pulled him back long enough to slap him with all her might. He fell back to the floor, dazed, the Suit he'd beaten now mercifully unconscious. She pulled Hatter futher away from the man, unable to stop her small sounds of pain as it strained her broken arm.

"Alice? Alice? Alice, here?" Hatter murmured, shaking his head hard. He suddenly grasped her good arm and the sudden shift in weight caused them both to fall to the ground. She ended up with his upper body in her lap, his blank eyes fixed on her face as his arms barely supported his weight off her. "Alice?" he asked in a small voice, sounding absolutely lost as blank eyes looked at her. "No, she's dead. Dead. Worm food."

"Hatter, what's wrong?" she asked in horror as her hands traced over the cuts and bruises on his face. If anything, it was worse than before! But even though he was sweating with the running he'd done, his cheeks had no flush of blood, and his skin felt clammy and hard and--"Your skin is like ice! What did they do to you?!"

"They killed my girl," he said, his voice breaking as if in horrible pain. The black lines around his eyes looked like shining whorls of ink as tears began to fall. "They killed my Alice"--

"Hatter, no, I'm here, I'm right here!"

--"I tried to save her and I failed her, I failed her, I failed her! She died because I couldn't save her!" he said, collapsing against her and curling around himself.

"Hatter, please, Hatter look at me! Its me, Alice, I'm right here, please, Hatter look at me!" she begged. She held him close as she could, gasping as he suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist in a painful grip.

"You smell like her, just like her, my Alice. I want my Alice, oh god, I want my Alice back, my Alice, Alice, Alice," he wept.

"Hatter," she said pleaded, bewildered at what was going on. What can I do? What can I say to reach him? A memory came to her, of the words she'd said here once before to him, and had meant so much. Words that still meant so much. She wrapped her arms around him, shivering at the cold that seemed to radiate off him. "I trust you, Hatter," she whispered into his hair. "I trust you completely."

She prayed that this would work, she'd seen it in a movie once, and pulled his face to hers and kissed him. His lips were chilled and hard as if he'd been in a deep snow for hours, but as she kept her lips pressed to his, it felt like they softened, warmed. His wild eyes slid shut, his arms loosening enough to no longer cause pain, shifting them so he held her close against him in his lap.

This...This is familiar. This is good, his thoughts swirled. I know this warmth. I know this shape. He breathed deep, Oh god, I know this smell!

'Look familiar?' Mad March's voice suddenly rang in his head as he saw the assassin's hand full of Her hair, long and dark and beautiful and broken. Hatter tried to pull back, get away--it had to be some trick---when he felt those false lips part and--a sizzling, electric feeling that made her shiver and him growl--I know this feeling! I know this taste! ALICE!!

"Alice?" he said slowly, pulling back enough to look at her, blinking to clear his slightly blurred vision. He looked into the beautiful eyes he knew so well, more tears welling up as he said her name again in incredulous joy. "Alice? You're alive?"

"Hatter!" she cried, holding him tightly. He gasped as he felt her living body against his, closing his eyes to savor the feeling of her sweet warmth soaking into his chilled body. He felt her fingers brush the hair away from his face, tenderly tracing the injuries, and felt her lips kiss the wetness from his cheek. He hadn't the courage or strength just then to say it aloud but could not deny what she brought to life within him---I love you. I belong to you. I think I always have. I love you. "Oh, this feels good," he groaned, surrounded by his Alice.

No one worried about Hatter. No one cared enough to worry, not anymore. He had liked it that way, really. No attachments meant less leverage that anyone could use against him. He never offered to care beyond the Resistance's cause. He never let himself care, not after what happened when he was young. But Alice, Alice had slipped through every defence he'd ever built as if they weren't even there. She slipped inside his walled heart and brought a brilliant light with her, and he didn't know if he could live without that light anymore.

He pulled back to look at her once more, cupping her face in his hand as he held her shoulder. "Alice," he frowned in concern as he touched the shorn locks, "aw love, your hair." She just laughed and held him tighter, suddenly gasping at the pull on her injury. "Alice, your arm!" he cried. His hands went to her arm and hovered there, suddenly unsure of how to help her. "Are you alright? Did they let you see a doctor, 'course not, stupid question, did you splint your arm? Did you wrap it tight? You know you need to wrap it tight to brace it, and oh god, you don't have any splints on, Alice, what do you want me to do?!"

She pressed her fingers over his mouth and he went silent but the worry was still there on his face. "Hatter, I'm fine. It hurts, but I'm fine. And right now, you hold me, got that?"

"Okay. Hold you. Got it," he nodded, cradling her to him much more carefully. God only knew where else she was injured. He swore to himself that no one was going to hurt his girl again, he'd make sure of it. But really, a better chance to keep her safe would certainly come in getting her out of the Casino. With great reluctance, he pulled back from her. "We-we really should save that until later," he said shakily. "Until we're safe."

"Oh Hatter, I'll hold you to that," she said in a husky tone.

He froze as quite a bit of blood rushed from his brain to a more southern location at that tone of voice. "Oh my. Promise?"

She smiled. "Promise. But I think we have other things to worry about now. Quick, get that guy's gun, and I'll lock the other door."

"What? Why? We need to get out of here!" You're going to get hurt if you stay here!

"I have a plan!" she said. "We can save these people and bring down the whole house of cards in one go."

"Are you mad?" he asked incredulously. He suddenly held up a hand to stop her talking, shaking his head, "No, no, don't answer that." He grabbed the gun and went to help Alice bar the door. Who's the crazy one? The crazy person or the one that listens to the crazy person? And what the hell does that make me?

"Where the hell is security?" one of the dealers asked.

"They're all out defending the perimeter," the other answered as she put down the phone. "Said something about the Knights attacking. We're on our own."

Hatter found the broom as before and set it into place. Good timing with that, as the Suits that had been chasing him earlier converged on the door, beginning to hammer on it. Alice hurried to explain her plan. "Its what Caterpillar said. Mix the wrong emotions together and you wind up with a complete break down. And Charlie said that the Queen only wants to feel the good not the bad."

"So?"

"You ever play bank-robbers as a kid?"

"I was never a goat," he said. She sent him a look. "Um, yeah, yeah, lots of fun that game. Why?"

"I hope you remember how to play, because we're going to stir up some emotions," she said with a grin. She leapt onto the stage, firing her gun. He jumped up into one of the dancer's stands and fired his gun too, shouting to get their attention. The dealers all put their hands up, the dancers cowering on their stands. "Deal another hand, spin another roulette wheel, and it will be your last!" she shouted.

On the monitors in the Brewing Room, the lab techs, or Egg-men as they were called, saw it all on the screen. "Where is security?" a girl asked.

"They're all defending the perimeter," a man replied, tensing as he glanced over at Carpenter. "Sir, we have a problem."

Carpenter and Walrus hurried over to look. They saw the happenings, heard the words she spoke, and the last bit of Denial in Carpenter that had been holding off the last few memories that hadn't already broke free failed in the face of her questions. He kept his face and body still, trying to keep Walrus from being even more suspicious. The weight of the sins he'd committed nearly made him drop to his knees, shook all his body like a spasm. He swallowed hard against the memory of innocent people wasting away, the old, the young, the--oh god, the children. All for the sake of those damned Teas!

Oh dear god. What have I done? He couldnt' make it right, couldn't help the poor souls that were already gone. But he could do something now. He would find a way to atone, but right now he had to find a way to get his Alice out of there!

Back in the Game Room, Alice started talking. "Everyone, listen to me!! Wake up!! This isn't a dream. This is real! Think!! Where are your families? Your kids? Where are your kids?! Your husbands, your wives, your parents! Where are they?! You were taken away from them! Where are you supposed to be right now?!"

One of the Oysters stirred, patting down his pockets and shirt. "Where are my keys?" the security guard asked. Other people stirred at the sound, at the questions being asked.

"You were taken away from them," Alice said. "Try to remember them. Your names, tell me what your names are!"

"Taylor," a man called out. "No, no. Wait. That's my son. My son," he said in wonder, glancing at another woman that smiled at him.

That's it! They're almost there! "Look down at your feet! Try to move! Hurry! Try to move away from the tables!" The people began to shout and cry out in surprise and shock as they found that they couldn't move.

"We're getting a lot of negative emotions coming through," the girl technician said in the laboratory, trying her best to stay calm. "Fear, panic, confusion, worry. The tanks are beginning to strain, sir."

"Its that girl's fault," Walrus spat.

On the monitor, they saw the girl's eyes snapping fire, determination shining in her gaze. "Wake up, everyone!" Alice shouted to the edges of the room.

Carpenter glanced down at the watch he still wore, the bright memory of his little girl calling for him to wake up coming to his mind. Robert Hamilton had to work very hard to supress the proud grin on his face as he saw the woman she had become. That's my girl, he thought. He began to walk out of the room, "I'm going down there, see if I can't help the Suits get things under control."

Walrus' beady black eyes narrowed as the man left the room, and he fingered the gun in his pocket. With a hurried waddle, he went after his long-time 'partner'. As they passed into the Red Hall, he shouted out, "Robert!"

Robert turned, eyes locking on the gun in Walrus' hand. There was no use pretending. Walrus knew. "Come back," the fat man ordered.

He nodded, walking back towards his jailor when he suddenly lunged, grabbing for the gun. They struggled, and with a hard twist, the gun was between them and went off. And Walrus sank to the floor.

Robert yanked the gun away and stared at him. "You knew. All this time you knew who and what I was, and what you'd taken from me. Well, you can't stop me now. I'm going to make things right, and I'm going home with my little girl to see my wife, and you can't stop me anymore!"

He shot Walrus in the head.