A/N: So I'm truly sorry about it very long wait for this chapter, but I was going through end of the year exams, and a wicked writer's block. Anyway, hope this was worth the wait.
P.S. Reviews make for a happy me, and makes me eager to write more!
Chapter 10: A Touch of Mad
Hatter had an uncanny sense of direction. He still remembered the way to the remains of the White King's castle, where she was sure Charlie still resided. Unfortunately for them, their Flamingo ran out of gas when they were halfway there, so they had to walk. Luckily, it wasn't too far.
They hadn't made it all the way to Charlie's outer perimeter when he was suddenly twenty yards in front of them, wielding his sword menacingly. "Who dares to enter here?" he called out. He was still dressed the same way Alice remembered him. However, it was clear he didn't know who they were. "Just turn around and go back to the heathen place you came from!" he shouted, shaking the sword angrily.
Alice took a step forward, hoping he'd be able to see her better. "Charlie, it's us."
"You dare to call me, the White Knight, by my first name? Be gone, foul witch, and accompanying familiar!"
"Great," Hatter muttered, "now I'm a witch's familiar." He took hold of Alice's arm and pulled her back. "Just stay put love, let him get a good look at us." He sounded worried, which worried Alice. So she took a faltering step back, wishing she knew why Charlie didn't recognize them.
"It's Alice," she called out, "and Hatter."
"Alice?" the name seemed to make him pause. "The Alice?"
"No, just Alice."
Charlie pursed his lips, thoughtful, and cautiously stepped toward them, so he could see them more easily.
It wasn't until he got a good look at them that he dropped the weapon to the ground, totally forgetting about it, and rushed towards them happily. Charlie was extremely excited and pleased to see Alice. He excitedly threw his arms around her in a very tight hug, and she hugged him back, as hard as she dared, considering the fact that he hadn't recognized them a moment ago. The years didn't look as if they'd been very kind to Charlie.
He looked similar to what she remembered, but he was...less. He was looking frailer, and was thinner than Alice remembered. He was less...present as well. He had always been a bit flighty, or "mad as a box of frogs", but it was worse now. And it was clear to her that Hatter could see it too. A glance in his direction showed his jaw set tighter than what it would normally be around the old man.
"Charlie, how are you?" she asked, slightly afraid of the answer she would get.
"Oh perfect, you know, a few years left in the old bones yet. I am a knight," was Charlie's response. He led them back to the camp that he evidently still lived at, every once in a while singing "hey nonny nonny."
They walked a few paces behind Charlie, and Alice whispered in Hatter's ear. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's mad," Hatter replied quietly.
"Excuse me? He was mad before, but it's different now."
"Mad with a capital M. He's been touched with Mad."
"Touched with Mad?" Alice asked, confused. "How does someone get touched with madness?"
"It's not that he was touched with madness, love," Hatter explained. "It's a kind of virus, a sickness, here in Wonderland. You Otherworlders might refer to it as a mental illness, but it's more complicated than that. We call it the Madness, or say someone's been touched by it. But madness is just a symptom of the disease as a whole."
"How do you mean?" Alice asked, worried. "If he's sick, why isn't anyone taking care of him?"
Hatter sighed, taking off his hat and dragging a hand through his hair. "People are afraid it's contagious, so if someone has it, most will steer clear. And the rest of the symptoms of Mad are not all as seemingly harmless as being mad or forgetting things. The later stages of the disease...are not good."
"Not good?" Alice inquired, furrowing her brow, "how not good?" she asked, suspicious.
"Not good as in dead."
That stopped Alice in her tracks. "What?" she nearly yelled it, hoping she'd heard him wrong, and she felt a weight in the pit of her stomach. Hatter took hold of her arm and pulled her along.
"Alice, love, don't yell. You may startle him into an episode. I suspect that Charlie was infected a short time ago, perhaps even just before we met him. In the early stages of the illness you see periods of forgetfulness, madness, even violence and aggression, interspersed with periods of perfect lucidity. But it's hard to tell how long each period will last, or what could set him off. This is a reason why most steer clear of those diagnosed with, or even suspected to have Mad."
"This disease...is going to kill him?" Alice asked.
"Unfortunately....yes," Hatter replied. He cleared his throat. "But that won't likely be for a while yet. The disease moves slowly. And it's not til the later stages where the bad symptoms start to show."
"What are the bad symptoms?" Alice asked, fearing the answer.
"Being sick a lot...vomiting, diarrhoea, coughing up blood, sleep apnea, going blind or deaf for periods of time, hallucinations, depression. Some will try to commit suicide...." Hatter trailed off.
"Isn't there some kind of vaccine? Or cure?" Alice asked, feeling tears build up behind her eyes.
"I'm afraid not," Hatter replied. "Once you catch it...you have it for life." He smiled weakly at her. "I do know that it's not contagious to Otherworlders. So you won't catch it. And I think Charlie is past the time when he's contagious, if he was ever contagious at all."
Alice didn't ask any more questions for the rest of the trip to Charlie's home. She didn't trust herself not to cry for Charlie and the fate that awaited him. She wondered if Charlie himself even knew that he was sick, or if he was blissfully ignorant of the fact that he was dying.
Once they reached Charlie's home, he sat down on his customary stump and started breaking sticks on his knee. "So, what brings you and your harbinger through the Looking Glass and out into the Tulgey wood to look after an old white knight? That King Jack, he's been captured hasn't he?" Alice and Hatter just gaped open-mouthed at him. "And, my guess is his kidnapper wants the Stone of Wonderland, a piece of which you have hanging on your ear." He went on without missing a beat.
"How did you know that?" Alice asked, incredulous.
"I may be old, and quite mad, but I still dabble in the Black Arts every now and again," Charlie answered with a waggle of his eyebrows.
"Great," was Hatter's response. "Also, could you stop calling me a harbinger? Or a vessel? Or anything other than Hatter?"
Charlie waved him off and looked at Alice. "So, how can I be of service to you, my dear Alice?"
"Well, Charlie, we have a slight problem. We have this piece of the Stone, and I have to go meet this guy tomorrow at sunset, but I don't much want to bring him the final piece. So I was thinking of pulling the old switcheroo."
"The old switcheroo?" Charlie echoed, clearly not understanding.
"The old switcheroo," Hatter also echoed, but his tone was akin to what Alice referred to as an 'Aha!' moment. "Alice, you are a genius!"
'Thank you, I do try." She looked at Charlie. "My plan is to find someone to make a copy of this piece, hide the real thing, and go to the meeting tomorrow night, get Jack and Duchess back, and give the guy the fake one. Now, there are problems with this plan. One: I don't know anyone who could do this for me. Two: I will need a place to hide the real piece, where this guy is not going to think to look. Clearly when I meet him I can`t have the piece on me."
"Three," Hatter interrupted, "she is not going to meet this guy alone, if at all."
Alice sighed, annoyed. "Hatter, did you read the note? Did you see the carving of Jack? They're probably torturing him, or worse."
"There was a figurine?" Charlie asked, perking up.
Alice frowned. "I guess you could call it a figurine. I would call it a wood carving."
He leaned forward, a gleam in his eye. "Do you have it?" Hatter and Alice exchanged confused glances.
"Yeah, I brought it with me," Hatter said, taking it out of his jacket pocket, along with the note. He handed them over to Charlie, who took them and immediately poured all his attention into them. "Charlie," Hatter said, snapping his fingers. "What do they mean?"
"It means, you useless harbinger, that I know who has taken the new King, and possibly where he is holding him captive." Charlie paused for dramatic effect. "And I can tell you how to get them out."