Forget Me Not
Summary: "You won't remember me." "Of course I will, how could I forget?" The Hatter feared that Alice wouldn't remember him, but he never considered the possibility that he would forget Alice. AxH
A/N: Okay, be ready for some drama in the beginning of this chapter. xD; I'm sorry you're all so frustrated with me! Haha, but isn't this more exciting than the two of them just randomly professing their love for each other?
...No?
Okay, well then I seriously have to rethink this plot... XD
Disclaimer: I only own my OC's, this fanfic, and the two poems in this chapter.
Chapter 10: A Fake
The Hatter withdrew his hands from Alice's, and he felt an odd wave of emotions rush over him. He began to shake, as though he were stuck between the emotions anger and hurt with no idea which to pick. Alice watched, crestfallen, as his eyes flashed between green and blue.
"L-leaving where?" he managed to ask, and Alice reached a hand out and placed it over his. He withdrew it almost immediately and stood, turning his back to her.
"Hatter-" she tried to say, but he shook his head.
"Leaving where?" he asked again.
"To Naural," she answered quietly.
"Where the King's new palace resides?" The Hatter asked quietly.
"Yes."
The Hatter couldn't stop shaking. He wanted to walk out but he wanted answers at the same time.
"Why? I thought we-"
"Hatter. Please, don't make this harder than it already is."
"Oh," said the Hatter, turning to face her. "Oh yes, I can see how this is very hard – for you."
"Hatter-"
"Don't Hatter me!"
He turned to face her, his eyes blazing orange. Alice cowered slightly beneath his gaze, looking away. How she wished she could tell him that this was all for his own good. If only she could tell him that this was the only way he could stay in Underland - that she would be back soon.
"Yeh lied! Yeh lied, Alice! Lied!" His accent was thicker than usual. The Hatter turned his back to Alice again, bowing his head in his hands as his shoulders shook, hands cold. Alice ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him, but he sharply recoiled.
"I tell yeh I love yeh and this-" The Hatter held up Alice's hand, waving her new ring in her own face. "This is what yeh present me with? Wha' happened? Why? Wha' did I do?"
"Hatter, you did nothing-"
"I did something!"
Alice faltered, at a loss for words. She had never been the reason for Hatter's outbursts before. He finally walked up to her, and grasped her arms roughly. He was having a breakdown. She could tell. His eyes were practically glowing, and she turned her face away from him.
"Tell me wha' I did!" he begged. Alice made the mistake of looking at his heartbroken face, and she felt herself begin to tear up.
"I can change," he whispered, his eyes flickering green as he caught sight of her tears. "If you want me to, Alice, I can-"
"No, Hatter," she whispered, holding his cheeks in both of her hands. He was clammy.
"Don't change. Don't ever change."
The Hatter let out a very quiet sob, and Alice's eyes closed tight when she felt his lips meet desperately with hers. Against her better judgment, she returned the kiss, and he held her hands in his, squeezing her left hand tightly.
"Alice," he whispered upon pulling back, Alice kissed him between his words. "Alice – please – don't go. Don't leave again. You said you wouldn't marry a- a stranger-!"
Alice tears stream down her face, and his strong fingers wiped them away. He held her against him, and brought her into a passionate kiss. Neither of them wanted to let the other go. His hands ran through her beautiful yellow hair, her hands pulled him closer to her. They fell back onto the bed. This was the breaking point. This was it, and they both knew it. This was their last chance to be together.
"I love you, Alice," the Hatter whispered desperately between fervent kisses. Alice wrapped her arms around his neck, the solid weight of the gold ring a burden on her left hand. How she wished she could return the sentiment without making it harder for the both of them.
"I know, Hatter," she whispered quietly instead. "I know."
In the end, Alice and the King had decided not to hide their marriage. Those close to her would never believe she wasn't Alice, and Alice did not wish to drink any potion that would change any of her physical features. By the end of the night, all of Underland knew of Alice and King Vlakobeth's engagement, due to be married at his castle two mornings from then. The White Queen wandered her own castle, wondering just what had happened between her champion and her ex brother-in-law. It didn't seem right, and not even Absolem could find an answer as to why this was happening. He simply said, "it is what the Oraculum has foretold. Try as we may, everything will happen."
She found herself outside of Alice's bedroom door, raising a hand to knock. Before she made any contact though, she lowered her fist again. Alice was scheduled to leave in a few hours, when the sun rose again, and the White Queen doubted she could pry some answers out of her in that short span of time. She continued to walk, her heels softly clicking against the stone ground. Then, she heard the creak of a door opening, and she turned.
The Hatter was stepping out of Alice's bedroom. The White Queen watched, silently, as he tucked his shirt in and straightened his cravat. Finally, she stepped forward. He didn't jump, but he turned sharply to look at her. His eyes were a bright and vibrant blue. He was a broken Hatter.
"Oh, Tarrant," she whispered, placing a hand over her mouth. The Hatter's lip twitched downward in a momentary frown, and he walked up to his Queen.
"I could not help myself," he whispered. "In the end, no matter how hard I tried- but it's not like we- I just stayed with-"
"Hatter, she is a soon-to-be-married woman. You have no business being in her room so late at night, no matter what the deed." She watched as his expression faltered, and it seemed as though she was watching his heart break before her very eyes. She wrapped her slender arms around him and comforted her Hatter as he cried into her shoulder.
"It wasn't meant to be," the White Queen whispered to him. The Hatter dabbed at his eyes with his handkerchief.
"It was supposed to be meant to be, was it not?" He managed a sad sort of smile before he continued walking, and the Queen let him go.
"Do you regret your time with her?" she asked before he disappeared into his room. The Hatter pushed the door open without looking at her.
"No."
The sun rose some time later, and a very solemn-looking Alice met a small crowd of creatures outside the entrance of the White Castle.
"Are you sure, Alice?" the Dormouse said to her. "Are you sure you don't want to reconsider?" She reached down and kissed Mallymkun on her tiny head.
"I'm sure. Take care of everyone for me, will you, Mally?"
"Of course, dear."
Alice gave each one of them a hug, though Absolem and Chessur were nowhere to be found. When she reached the Hatter, the last in the crowd of people, she offered him a sad sort of smile. She leaned in to hug him, but he gave her a half-hearted, one-armed hug, a very guarded expression on his colourful face. His eyes were still blue.
"Goodbye, Hatter," she whispered. He said nothing, and simply bowed, tucking something into his back pocket. Alice paid the action no mind.
"Will I see you at the wedding?" she asked him, very quietly, and his eyes hardened slightly.
"Of course, if that is what you wish."
"It is."
"Then I will see you in a day's time."
Alice smiled at him, trying to ignore the pain it brought to see him acting so distantly towards her. She turned away from him as King Vlakobeth landed on the grounds, maneuvering a hot air balloon. Alice watched as he walked out and kissed the hand that held his ring.
"Good morning, Alice. Shall we get going? We have plenty of things to prepare." Alice took one last close look at the Hatter, who was watching them with a stony expression on his face.
"Of course," she said.
She climbed onto the hot air balloon, turning to face the creatures as she heard cries of "Goodbye, Alice! Goodbye! We'll see you tomorrow!" She looked quite sad as the King pulled a rope, causing them to rise high into the air. After one final look upon the crowd, Alice realized that the Hatter had already left.
"How quick the fate of death condemns.
How young the victims are.
Everything I ever loved
left nothing but a scar.
I'd figured all there was to learn
a Cat would then supply.
And yet unanswered questions stand:
Why must the noble die?
In time, my wounds grew numb to pain;
I simply didn't feel.
But then, I mused, perhaps in time,
I'll find I'll never heal.
Distractions are my only world,
and logic I may lack.
But feelings are my only life
wherein I may fight back.
How then, you ask, could I suppose,
that hope for me exists?
How could there be a prospect left
that all this time I'd missed?
The answer is a simple one,
and one I may regret:
Even if she is not my Alice love,
Her kiss I won't forget."
The Hatter licked the tip of his pen, humming as he looked over his words. Pretty good for five minutes' time. Inspiration had hit him hard, he supposed. Perhaps he could write another one! He sat up and put his pen to parchment yet again.
"The best of friends,
too quick to part.
A hug, a bye,
a broken heart.
Tears don't end.
I am sincere.
I want you back
and your love severe.
Instead you're gone,
all hope is black.
I'm an empty soul.
You won't come back.
Continue to live
as a vacant shell.
I've lost, I'm gone,
I've fell.
But that's okay
because sometime soon,
we'll meet again
in Heaven strewn.
Until that day,
I must be true:
Never will I
lose my love for you.
Goodbye my friends,
I'm the last to go.
I'll wait for Heaven,
as you so know.
Take me now.
You've set a trend,
When I go
my pain will end.
The best of friends,
too quick to part.
A hug, a bye,
and my depart."
The Hatter stared at the two poems he had written.
"Nah," he said, crumpling them up and tossing them over his shoulder. No muchness to them. He sighed as he rolled and unrolled the Oraculum like a common scroll, an act he had taken to doing the past little while. He had taken it from Alice's bag whilst hugging her goodbye – to this very moment, he was unsure as to why. The wedding was scheduled to be in the next few hours, and only a few of them were attending. Many did not want to see Alice wed the new royal that had forcefully taken the crown from the White Queen, but those close to her were there to support her every step of the way.
Now, the Hatter did not support her, but he could not say no to Alice, either.
He was wearing a lime green suit, a powder blue bow tie clashing terribly with his pale skin. His hat no longer read ten-sixth but six-tenths, and his orange hair had grown slightly longer since their return from London. He almost looked like the old Hatter – except for his blue eyes.
He laid himself down upon his bed with a quiet sigh. He was still at the White Queen's castle, seeing as it would be better to head to Naural as a group as opposed to alone. After that he would return to his home, which was just past the dancing stone statue and the operatic willow tree, only a few feet away from his wonderfully pathetic tea table.
"She left," he said to no one in particular, unraveling the scroll and holding it above his head. The early morning sun shone through his window and through the scroll.
"She really left."
He examined the new venues of the Oraculum and spotted one of Alice and the King eating at a table that looked surprisingly like his tea table. He held it closer, letting the sun's rays shine through the thin parchment.
"What is that?" he said to himself, squinting. In the light, it looked as though there were a faded hat on top of the King's bald head. He sat up, and the hat disappeared. He lied down, held it against the light, and the hat reappeared. The Hatter furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, rolling the scroll out further despite the protest of his held up arms. His gaze landed upon the marriage venue, and the same thing happened: a faded hat was atop the King's head. The Hatter studied the following pictures closely, finally coming across the picture of himself. The hat, he noticed in the sunlight, was drawn in a thicker kind of black ink, on top of a bald head. In the last venue, where Alice was supposedly stabbing him, the hat was drawn in that same unique ink, a bald head visible behind the lines.
"Interesting."
The Hatter sat up with the scroll and walked out of his room. He looked left and right, finally spotting a butterfly resting on the petal of one of the flowers placed neatly in a vase. The Dormouse was there, too.
"But I'm certain I heard them!" squeaked Mally.
"Well," came the butterfly's drawl. "You heard them wrong."
"I didn't! Alice specifically said that the King told her the Hatter was adopted."
"He's not."
"But she said-"
"I'm not adopted."
Mallymkun squeaked, jumping slightly when she heard the Hatter's voice.
"Hatter!" she exclaimed nervously. "How are you doing?"
He blinked his blue eyes.
"I'm confused. Why are you saying I'm adopted?"
"Well," the Dormouse said, swishing her long tail slightly. "That's what Alice and the White Queen were talking about, before she left."
"I'm not adopted," the Hatter said again.
"Oh, Tarrant, they said you didn't know," the Dormouse said sadly.
"He's not adopted," said Absolem, slightly aggravated.
"Yes," the Hatter agreed. "I'm not. I have pictures and photos from when I was born, and when Neenie was born."
"Then why were they-?"
"Listen," the Hatter interrupted, shaking his head. He didn't have time for silly things like the ridiculous assumption he was adopted. He was a spitting image of his father!
"There's something funny about the Oraculum."
"Where did you get that?" asked Absolem, his antennae twitching slightly.
"I nicked it from Alice," he said, mimicking Chessur's words from before. "And I was just… looking at it; something seems off. Here, take a look." He held it flat against the window in the hallway, the sun streaming through the parchment.
"Here, Absolem. Right here."
The butterfly landed on the parchment, and the Hatter pointed to one of the drawings.
"See how it looks as though the hat was drawn on with moving ink?" he asked, and the butterfly hummed. "And here… it looks as though the hat was erased. It's even in different ink from the rest of the Oraculum."
"What are you getting at, Hatter?" asked the Dormouse, crossing her tiny arms across her chest.
"Silence," said the butterfly. The Hatter and the Dormouse shared a look, and barely a moment later, Absolem's droll voice met their ears:
"This Oraculum is a fake."
It really was a lovely knife.
Passed down to him from his father, the knife held the dual ability as a wand. It was the reason for his success. He had led all of Underland to believe him dead after his tyrant of a wife arranged for his execution. Imagine his surprise when, disguised as a flamingo, he had come across the Oraculum, after the Frabjous Day. It had been hanging out of a White Rabbit's waistcoat pocket, and he quietly removed it when the animal hadn't been looking. He demanded a future from it, and was pleased to see the newest venues appear right before his eyes. He was to become King again, he saw, and then…
Murdered.
For real this time.
Apparently, the Hatter was to marry Alice, and the King was to attack her. He had yet to figure out why he would want to do such a thing given that type of scenario, but he really didn't want to find out. Alice was to stab him in self-defense, and if she did, he would die.
As if he was just going to sit back and let that happen.
"Um, King Vlakobeth?"
Vlakobeth subtly slid the knife into the breast pocket of his suit and turned to face Alice, a compassionate smile on his blue face.
"Hello, dear Alice. Are you ready?"
The young lady was dressed in a beautiful white gown, made from only the finest silk of the Underland silkworms. She looked like a statue, well-cut but with a cold expression.
Alice wouldn't be able to kill him if he killed her first.
"I- I think so."
"Good. You look beautiful, by the way." He walked up to her and placed a fatherly kiss on her forehead. She looked away.
"I thought the groom was not supposed to see the bride before the wedding," Alice said.
"What an odd thing to say. Why ever not?" The King asked, and Alice shrugged.
"I suppose it's only a practice in my world."
"Ah. Come, Alice, let us make our way to the courtyard."
Alice nodded, and they walked together for a time. Eventually, she spoke and he sent her a contemplative glance.
"Why weren't you angry when I left? After you captured me, I mean."
"I'm sure you've heard the saying, 'Finders keepers, losers weepers?' Well, Alice, I graciously accepted my loss when I realized you were gone." He was patient, his gentle face expressive. Alice, however, still spoke up.
"Why hold me captive in the first place?" she asked.
"For a terrible reason, though it had to be done: I wanted to win the crown by default. I didn't want to risk you challenging my champion."
"Why?" she prodded. The King withheld a sigh.
"Well, I'm not a fan of violence," he said mildly. "I avoid it if I can. And I am quite the ah, what would you call it? Ah: sore loser. I so did want to win and make things right in Underland."
Alice nodded, growing quiet again. Usually she would get mad at someone for using her so blatantly, but she just felt so… empty. It had already passed, anyhow. He was going to change the law soon and the Hatter would be allowed to stay in Underland. That was why she was doing this, right? Her mind flashed back to the night she had previously spent with the Hatter, her heart aching. This wasn't right, this marriage, and she knew it. But she had to do it, even if her heart belonged to somebody else.
"So, the Hatter's really adopted?" she asked him quietly as they stepped out onto the grass. King Vlakobeth reached a blue hand behind his back and crossed his fingers very slightly, out of her line of vision. The other hand slid into his pocket, running his fingers along the weight of the hidden knife.
"Of course, Alice," he said. "Would I lie to you?"
A/N: Is it terrible that every time I wrote the word 'adopted' I thought of Ray William Johnson from youtube? Oh gawd. xD Way to break the drama. Anyways, R&R for the next chapter!