Up From Wonderland
Full Summary: Everyday, people go missing. Sometimes they return and sometimes they do not. Sometimes people ran away of their own accord and sometimes people were kidnapped. Just this one time, this person was found. She was found by a Hatter, and he was in a place that he truly did not belong in. AxH
A couple of years have passed since Alice's last trip to Wonderland, and she has managed to accept the hand of a business man who is much more to her liking than Hamish. But what happens if, closer to their wedding day, Alice starts acting 'curiouser and curiouser' before completely disappearing? And why does her fiancé keep seeing flashes of orange and a bedraggled-looking hat after the announcement of their engagement?
A/N: Okay, so one or two people suggested changing everything to Underland, but the others said to just leave it as is and remember for any future fanfics I may write. So I will leave it as Wonderland, but I'll put an author's note in the first chapter explaining why I don't refer to it as Underland, so that any future readers aren't confused.
Chalcedony Rivers: Don't be sorry. You're bringing things to my attention that I missed. It's a good thing. :)
Heartsong's Fanfictions: No, there is no backwards spelling or anything, but it does mean "A Great Power Has Come" in Dayak, according to the internet. And the internet can be very untrustworthy sometimes. But let's pretend that's what it actually means, in spite of the very high likeliness that the translation is wrong. :)
Totally Lori: First of all, congratulations to writing the absolute longest review I have ever received, and thank you for the high praise. :3 It means a lot to me. Yes, Chessur has inherited a bit of a more pessimistic side to him from time to time, but his character is so smug in verbal nature that I feel, once in a while, it comes across as slightly hostile. But that's just my interpretation – everyone's is different, and I hope it's not too annoying for you to read. The March Hare I have not mentioned, but he has been captured along with the "Fat Boys" and the White Queen. Don't worry, he will appear in the story, (in this chapter, very briefly) and I'll do my best to do justice to his character. If only I had the DVD for character study! I saw it once – on opening day, so my memory is very, very fuzzy. So I apologize to you for any out of character moments, but I am trying my best to keep them as in character as possible while still having the plot develop logically. Aughh! I may resort to a cam recording (I hate those) of the movie if I find I'm losing my grip on keeping everyone in character.
Good to know you enjoy my OC. Here's a little secret: He was originally supposed to only appear in the first and second chapter and never be heard of again until the last chapter. Clearly, I had some other plans for him. I never expected his character to develop this much, let alone be so important.
draegon-fire: Tarrant Hightopp is the actual name of the Hatter given in the movie for 2010. The Cheshire Cat called him that. You can look it up on Wikipedia, as well as all of the character's real names. :3
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Alice in Wonderland characters; just my OCs.
Chapter 10: An Alice Necklace
Alice had experienced a lot of unusual things in her life. She'd had 'nightmares' in which she fell down a rabbit hole. She had been accused of being Alice and not being Alice. She had been told what not to do and what she must do. She even talked to flowers, animals, and managed, somehow, to fall in love with a Hatter in the process.
Yet she found this weird.
"Are you saying you're planning to amuse yourself by watching people risk their lives to save me? That's the only reason you're not killing me at this very second?"
Lampang looked as though he were considering a proper response.
"Well, when you say it like that, you make me sound… mad."
"No," Alice said, looking away. "You're not mad." Only the best people were mad, and there was no chance that she was going to give him the honour of telling him he was.
"So what am I, then?"
"Evil."
Lampang sighed, running his fingertips along the length of the blade.
"Yes, I am that… Alice. Dear, naïve Alice." He took a step closer to her, reaching a hand out. She stepped back, but he quickly reached forward and yanked the thin golden chain from her neck, ripping off the ring he had given her back in London.
"You care for the Hatter, do you not?"
Alice said nothing, just watching Lampang suspiciously.
"It's hard not to notice, what with all the time you've spent with him in the past few days. The way you almost kissed him beneath that tree, when I found you…"
Alice remained silent. Lampang grinned, though it was not the same grin that the Cheshire Cat would send her. It was much more malicious.
"Well," he said. "Getting on with it, I plan to kill the Hatter the minute he steps into this prison to find you. And, based on past events, it is highly likely he will. He's been much too loyal to the White Queen, and much too loyal to you. He is more cunning than he lets on, and uses his insanity as a guise to hide whatever insane plan he has forming in his head. He is, in short, a threat to my plans to rule Wonderland."
Alice swallowed, but did not say anything. She remembered how the Hatter had turned all of the Red Queen's court against her in one persuasive speech; how he had whispered, 'Down with the Bloody Bighead' in order to form alliance. She knew Albert – Lampang – was right.
"I won't let you kill him," she said boldly, though in truth she had no idea how she would stop him. She was in a torn and bloody blue dress with absolutely no armor or objects to fight him with. All she knew was that she couldn't let the Hatter die.
"Oh, good!" said Lampang, chuckling. "You see, Alice, I want to play a little game. If you play along with me I may just spare the Hatter's life. If you don't," His light-hearted, mocking tone immediately darkened as he took a step towards Alice, towering over her. "I'll kill him in front of you."
Alice's heart was pounding, though she did not let it show on her face. She went over various scenarios in her head: what would happen, what might not happen, and what she could possibly do to turn things around – but suddenly a high-pitched beeping distracted her, and she watched as Lampang pulled a small device from his pocket.
"Ah. That would be them now." He walked out of Alice's cell, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her roughly along to the barred window. Sure enough, the Hatter and the White Rabbit were running into the prison, the Cheshire Cat nowhere to be seen. That beeper must have gone off as soon as they entered the property, to alert Lampang of their arrival. She felt a leap of joy. They would save her. Someone would have a plan up their sleeve and find a way to get them all out of this mess.
He turned her around to face the door that Hatter, maybe even the White Rabbit, would enter through. Holding the sword behind their backs, Lampang pressed Alice's side against his, digging the tip of the blade lightly into her back. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to show just how serious he was.
Alice's hands felt clammy. Her mouth went dry and she felt light-headed. In her position, the only way to save the Hatter was to play along. But what would that lead to? Would they be able to save her while she was so close to Lampang? She drew in a breath, preparing herself for whatever was about to happen. A ruckus soon arose outside the door. A few yells, a few thuds, and then—
Lampang kissed her.
Alice almost pulled back and slapped him, but his tight grip on her and the sword against her back reminded her that she was supposed to play along. Barely a second after their lips met the Hatter shoved open the door, holding a pistol in his hand. He pointed it at Lampang.
"Get away from her!" Without even a glance Alice knew his eyes must be orange. He was yelling in that brogue, his breathing heavy. Lampang moved off of Alice and stuck to her side again, hiding the sword behind their backs and smirking at the Hatter. Clearly, he was enjoying this. Vengeance was sweet.
"I don't believe you have the right to order me not to kiss my own fiancée."
"Fiancée?" the Hatter repeated, accent thick, tone murderous. "She's not your fiancée."
"No? Oh, my sincerest apologies, Tarrant, you must not recognize me. I'm Albert. Out of disguise. So actually, that makes me Lampang. What terrible timing you have though, Tarrant, for such formal introductions. I am busy-"
"I said get away from her!"
Lampang's eyes fell on the pistol as though he had just noticed it.
"Your pistol's not loaded." The Hatter paused, though his form did not falter.
"What?"
"Your pistol," Lampang said again. "It isn't loaded."
"How would you know?"
"It's mine. You stole it off the entrance guard, yes? Presumably after you rendered him unconscious and before you ransacked the place? I gave it to him for repairs. It's not launching bullets properly."
The Hatter kept the pistol pointed at Lampang. Lampang sheathed his sword and took one step towards him, then another. Once close enough, he snatched the gun out of the Hatter's hands and checked it.
"Not one bullet in here." He had a curious look on his face. After a few moments, he looked up to the bloodthirsty Hatter.
"Did you bluff your way past my guards with an unloaded gun?" His tone was pure disbelief; clearly he had thought the Hatter would get up here with a struggle – not by pointing an unloaded weapon at his followers. The Hatter said nothing.
Lampang threw the gun harshly to the ground.
"That was a risky move, Tarrant. But I'm afraid it won't help you. Alice here… she won't go with you."
"I think that's for Alice to decide," he said quietly, looking at her. She was not, he realized for the first time, looking at him.
"Hatter," Lampang laughed, regaining his spot by Alice's side. "Alice works for me. She brought you all here so I could kill you. You, that Cat, that damned three-legged Rabbit. And everyone else is here, too: all your friends, all because of Alice. She's been a great sport, playing along. Being the double spy." His fingers were resting dangerously on the hilt of his unequipped sword.
The Hatter's eyes became green again as he shook his head in incredulity.
"That's not true," he said with a small smile. He even dared to laugh. "Alice slayed the Jabberwocky. Alice is the Wonderland Champion. She restored the White Queen to her power – she doesn't work for you!" The Hatter looked at Alice, amusement in his eyes. He looked so certain, and Alice felt an odd rush of warmth to heart to realize how much confidence he had in her.
"Right, Alice?"
Alice opened her mouth to say something, to agree, but then she caught eye of Lampang, playing with the sword and ready to draw it at any moment. It was two on one, they could outnumber him, but in this room there were literally no other objects to use as weapons, except for possibly the unloaded gun. But a sharp sword was more likely to win.
"Go ahead," he said to her. "Tell Tarrant, Alice."
He actually wanted her to say something! She looked Lampang in the eye, and his gaze was menacing. The Hatter, meanwhile, was just standing there waiting for Alice to prove Lampang wrong.
Alice drew in a breath and looked at the Hatter. She wore no expression on her face. This will save him, she reminded herself.
"I'm sorry, Hatter."
"What?" said the Hatter, confused. "Alice-"
"Guards!" called Lampang. "Take him away! Lock him up with all the others."
Alice averted her eyes again. She could actually feel her heart being torn into tiny pieces: the Hatter's expression had faded from one of amusement, to one of disbelief, to one of absolute devastation – to nothing. He simply stood there as the guards arrived and hand cuffed him. He looked like an empty vessel; a body without a soul. It was as though nothing he could do could possibly help him comprehend what had just happened. There was no plan, Alice realized. No great scheme to help them escape. The Hatter took one moment, one last moment before they escorted him out of the room, to look at Alice. Lampang had just slid the ring back onto her left ring finger.
Instead of seeing a look that may give him hope, a look that perhaps, would give him some recognition that she were lying, he saw Lampang step in front of her, blocking his view. He looked down at him, disgust written all over his expression.
"You actually thought she loved you, didn't you?"
He slammed the door in the Hatter's face.
He had been so sure.
He had been so sure she was lying. It was all supposed to be a practical joke to try and trick the Mad Hatter.
But it wasn't.
He looked down into his hands: he'd made it for her, too.
This necklace.
This necklace he was holding in his hands.
When he'd woken up to find her missing, he'd simply thought she had gone for a morning stroll. He took his jacket back off of the ground that morning.
It was a reversible jacket. It still is, come to think of it.
From it, the Hatter had made a very Alice-y necklace. He'd ripped a thin strip of fabric off the cuff and twisted it into the most intricate fabric chain, thin as string. Simple but complex. Quiet but bold.
Just like Alice.
Just like the dress he had snipped for Alice when she came out of the tea pot as tiny as the Dormouse.
But this? Oh, it was the most perfect Alice necklace. It complemented the yellow in her hair, the colours in her eyes. And at the end of the chain was a ring.
A most perfect ring.
A ring made of silver that would never tarnish; a ring that would creep from the base of her finger to just below the knuckle, with four diamonds lined along the center. Similar to the water drops on a spider's web after a rainstorm.
Imagine his surprise when, after making the most perfect and most beautiful Alice necklace, that she wasn't going to return. Imagine his surprise when he realized that she hadn't left of her own accord. That she was missing.
He was caressing it now.
The necklace.
He'd been so determined to save Alice from Albert – who wasn't really Albert – and give her the necklace. It would be a good and happy event, in which they would kiss and kiss until the sun went down and maybe she would even cry tears of joy over his splendid gift. Maybe he would Futterwhack even if it weren't Frabjous Day.
The necklace was like her, though.
Perhaps that's why he liked touching it.
The necklace.
The necklace which was like Alice, while Alice was not like the necklace. They were alike but not alike.
He hated that Alice was not like the necklace.
He would build a wall. Yes. Ten feet high. No, ten hundred feet high!
That would be a big wall. Then no one could talk to him and fool him again. For what a fool he was indeed, to think she might love him. Maybe if he were a hero, with a sword and some armour. Perhaps if he looked… not like a Hatter. Maybe then she would love him.
But she didn't love him!
He would never trust Alice again. He would never trust anyone again.
The Hatter threw the Alice necklace against the cement wall of his cell with a loud yell. The ring hit the wall before falling to the ground with a clatter.
"Hatter!"
"Sorry. I- I'm fine."
Just like that, the madness left him. His eyes, which had flickered back and forth between green and orange for the past several minutes finally settled on a stable green as he walked over to the necklace and picked it up again. He pocketed it after making sure there were no scratches.
"Are you all right?"
"Are you not all right?"
"You asked my question."
"I asked my own question."
"Stop asking your own questions."
"Stop asking mine."
The Tweedles were in the cell next to the Hatter's. They had watched him pace back and forth, lost in his thoughts and his murmurs, only calling out to him when he threw an object randomly at the wall.
"Maybe the wall hurt him in some way."
"Maybe he hurt the wall, eh?"
"Boys," said a gentle voice.
Mirana, the White Queen, was in her own cell. She sent the boys a slightly reprimanding look, and once they apologized she offered a more gentle smile.
"Tarrant, McTwisp: it is good to see that you are both still alive."
"You too, your majesty," the Hatter said softly. The White Rabbit, in a tiny barred crate in the corner, nodded in agreement. But the Hatter was not looking at her. He was playing with the necklace again.
"What of Chessur? Where is he?"
"He can evaporate. They can't put him in prison," the Hatter answered automatically. It had been a very long time he had been in that cell. A long time indeed. Perhaps a good few hours. Everyone was there. Except Alice. But no one had talked to him, for when the March Hare cheered madly upon the Hatter's arrival and thrown a tea cup at him through the bars per their usual greeting, he'd yelled loudly in rage and thrown it back. They left him to his thoughts after that, the Hare shaking violently, only saying his name nervously to remind him when he was beginning to get out of hand.
They had been patient with the Hatter long enough. Now was time for some answers.
"What bothers you so, Tarrant?" asked Mirana kindly. The Hatter's gaze was focused on the necklace. He caressed the fabric chain.
"Alice."
Hyena-like laughter came from the March Hare's cell and he jumped up and down.
"Alice. Alice is here. She will save us all again!"
"Alice is a traitor," he said, interrupting the Hare's proclamations of Alice and his jumps for joy. No one said anything for a few seconds. But the Hatter could hear. He heard the footsteps coming closer and closer to his cell. It was one of the eagle guards.
"Tarrent Hightopp?" No response. "Hatter?"
"If you were ever to wonder who was the Hatter, if to you it truly mattered, then you would realize that I am the Hatter. But I am the Hatter that doesn't matter."
There was the sound of metal clanking as the eagle unlocked his cell door.
"Someone is to see you outside."
Alice swallowed as she stood outside the door to the Right Wing of the prison. She couldn't believe what she was doing there. No, she was not there to 'play along' with Lampang and hurt anyone. In fact, after the Hatter had been locked up she became very unresponsive. Lampang left her to herself in her cell for a few hours. Upon his return, he claimed to have noticed how sad she had been since the Hatter was locked up, so he had a new proposition: If Alice could convince the Hatter that she had in fact been lying, that Lampang was behind everything and had in fact made her play along, then he would take it one step farther. Not only would he spare the Hatter's life, he would release him from prison.
If she couldn't convince him, then she would die right then and there. No more games. She was beginning to think he was taking too much pleasure from their pain. He liked drama, she decided. They were all actors in his own little tragedy; pawns in his own chess match. He was playing with his food excessively before eating it.
"But the Hatter will be spared nonetheless?" she asked, and Lampang chuckled.
"Yes. The Hatter will be spared."
It was a crazy proposition. It was mad, insane, and terribly risky. She even had a feeling the only reason he was allowing it was because he felt the Hatter would never believe her. But she had to take the offer. If she didn't, he could be locked up in prison forever for his framed crimes. She had to at least try, and with his death not on the line she could do so guiltlessly. She was going to die apparently anyway, according to Lampang's plan, be it now or later, when he grew bored of the drama.
But it sounded illogically simple: Convince the Hatter, and he goes free. Fail, and you die. What did alternate plan was Lampang hiding? It was just… too simple.
It seemed an eternity before the door opened again, the guard leading the Hatter. Once the Hatter and Alice were standing beside each other, the eagle nodded.
"You have five minutes."
He joined Lampang at the other end of the hallway, where they could keep an eye on them without blatantly invading privacy.
Alice drew in a breath, but before she could even try to begin, the Hatter spoke first.
"Back again, Alice?" His tone was low and guarded. The happy, curious innocence he usually greeted her with was gone. It was replaced by an aura of pessimism and self-pity.
"Hatter, I- I'm here to explain everything. Lampang and I – we're not together. We're not. I never helped him capture you, I never worked for him. He just wanted me to play along in his own sick, twisted game." She sounded like a fool. She was terrible at this. It did in fact, end up sounding like she were the part of a dramatic play.
The Hatter said nothing.
"He said that if I didn't play along he'd have you killed, and I couldn't… I promised, remember? That I wouldn't let you die?"
Again, the Hatter said nothing.
"Hatter," she said softly. "Don't you believe me?"
"If you were ever to wonder who was the Hatter, if to you it truly mattered, then you would realize that I am the Hatter. But I am the Hatter that doesn't matter," he recited again.
"You matter to me," she said softly. He didn't reply. This, clearly, was not working. She could only think of one more thing:
Alice wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, hard.
But he didn't budge.
The Hatter did not tense nor respond. In fact, he stayed perfectly still and perfectly distant. Alice pulled away, looking up at him, worried.
"Hatter. I wouldn't lie to you."
"You already did."
His face was turned away from hers now. He didn't step back, instead waiting for Alice to do so. After a few seconds, she did. She unwrapped her arms from around him and stepped back, trying to think of something clever, something witty: a line that every story was supposed to have, in order to make him realize that she was telling the truth. But nothing came to mind.
"Time's up."
Alice's eyes closed in defeat. When she opened them again, the eagle guard was once again standing behind the Hatter, and two more guards were approaching Alice from behind.
"Take him to my office in the Upper Wing," Lampang ordered. Alice watched as the Eagle took Hatter's shoulders in his claws and flew out the window.
"Wait," she said. "Wait a minute. Where is he going? Why isn't he going back to his cell?"
Alice's heart started to beat twice as fast when the guards placed their hands on her shoulders. Before she realized what was happening, her wrists were bound behind her.
"You said you would spare him!"
"Ooh," sighed Lampang. "About that." He wiped the blade of his sword in a thick cloth, cleansing it of any blemishes.
"I lied."
A/N: So, how did you find it? Not too horrible, I hope. :S This chapter should have given you a little insight as to how corrupted Lampang is at this point, if you didn't realize the extent of his corruption. People have been asking me why I end most chapters in cliff-hangers. I do that with fanfics because I only upload one chapter at a time, so it gives the readers something to look forward to in the next upload. I hope it doesn't annoy you too much!