AN: You people have floored me once again! 76 reviews? I never thought my little story would be so popular. Huge thanks goes to all who reviewed (you know who you are), and you all get cyber cookies! I think you deserve them. This chapter's a bit on the short side, but fear not, the chapters from here on get more interesting. And the Knave makes his grand entrance in the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Once again and for the hundredth time, I own absolutely nothing. Credit goes to Tim Burton and Lewis Carroll. Oh, and the Trews own the song below. Gotta love them.

But when you leave, I lose control
And I hate to have to even lose control
When you leave I lose control
And I'd hate to have to leave and lose control

- The Trews, When You Leave

Tarrant knew something was wrong after he tumbled out of the looking-glass and onto the marble floor of Marmoreal's castle. His falling on the floor wasn't what was bothering him; he had handled torture at the Red Queen's hands, so a little stumble wasn't going to cause him harm. It was when his hat, which always seemed to defy gravity- well, Gravity was a rather poor fellow anyway- fell off his head with the force of his impact and it rolled away across the white marble tiles that Tarrant began to panic.

The Hatter got a strange feeling in his stomach then, as if something was dreadfully off with the world and he just hadn't realized it yet. Then he came upon the source of the uneasiness of his stomach: his head felt frightfully light. He brought his head up and gasped in shock.

He stared at his top hat with wide eyes as it sat on its side on the floor, mocking him silently. He slowly pushed himself up from the floor and was about to make a remark about his unruly hat to Alice-

Alice.

With a fearful glance backwards he found himself staring at his reflection in the looking-glass. Tarrant scanned the room with worried eyes, all the while hatless and scared. He stood up, walking forward until he was face-to-face with the looking-glass.

The mirror had tricked him again: it had lured Alice to him, only to have her disappear once more. It had filled him with hope, only to have those expectations dashed to pieces as he studied his reflection in the glass. Anger began to bubble deep inside him, and if Mallymkun had been there she would have been quick to call him back.

But Tarrant was alone in the room.

"Where did ye send 'er, ye bloody piece o' glass?" Tarrant shouted. Alice wasn't there in the room with him and that meant she was most likely not in Marmoreal, either. And if she wasn't in Marmoreal…

Then she could be anywhere in Underland.

Tarrant was about to unleash all Outlandish curses he knew when a grating noise stopped him in his tracks. His eyes still tinted a dangerous orange, he whirled around as Nivens McTwisp cautiously entered the room. When the poor rabbit caught sight of him he nearly died of shock. He looked between Tarrant, his hat lying on the floor, and the mirror. When he put together what had happened he let a gasp of shock escape his lips.

"T-Tarrant, where is-"

"Out, ye bloody nuisance! Alice isn't here, can't ye see tha'?" Tarrant was going to lose what sanity he had left if the pesky rabbit didn't leave him alone this instant. Without Alice, Tarrant knew his last strand of patience would snap. It was like having tea without sugar, a party without guests, a Jabberwocky without the Vorpal sword, Underland without a champion. "This mirror, this slurking urpal slackush scrum-"

"Tarrant, it will do Alice no good for you to yell that way," a calm voice stated.

The Hatter spun away from Nivens, who was shaking like a leaf, to the woman who had just entered the chamber of the looking-glass. With one look from her cool eyes Tarrant slowly composed himself. He hung his head in shame at the White Queen, who had witnessed his latest outburst in its entirety.

"I'm fine," he squeaked, directing his gaze to the floor.

"No, you most certainly are not," Mirana said with a hint of sadness in her stare. "But fear not, Tarrant. I am certain our Champion will find her way back to us. She always has." The Queen floated over to Tarrant's hat and she picked it up gently, brushing the dust from it carefully. Holding it in both hands she walked over to the Hatter and offered the item back to him.

Tarrant looked at it with a certain amount of fear before accepting the cherished hat, placing it with a flourish back on his head. It would no longer be Gravity's plaything. Mirana, seeming pleased with this simple action and satisfied that Tarrant was done yelling, turned from the Hatter to Nivens.

"My dear friend, would you let the others know that Tarrant has returned?" her hands, held ever-daintily in the air, faltered for a moment.

Mirana couldn't let the public see that Alice's disappearance frightened her a great deal. She was usually good a hiding her emotions behind a mask of indifference. The Hatter, on the other hand…well, he never was one to hide what he was feeling. Every single emotion was laid out for the world to see by the change in his eyes or the colour of his clothes.

The White Rabbit, who had been absolutely petrified at Tarrant's outburst, appeared to come to his senses. He bowed slightly at the Queen before uttering, "Absolutely, Mirana. But what of-" he checked himself before finishing his sentence. Tarrant looked like he was close to snapping a synapse- his eyes had rapidly changed from green to molten orange.

Mirana spoke before the Hatter could form a response. "If they ask, tell them she is in Underland, but we are unsure where at this moment. It would seem the looking-glass was rather temperamental with our Champion."

Nivens gave one last panicked stare at Tarrant before scurrying from the room.

Mirana sighed to herself, her carefully constructed air of gracefulness disappearing for a second. It would do no good to have anyone worry about Alice, not when she was back in Underland. Even if no one knew where she was at that moment, Mirana assured herself that their Champion was back, and it was only a matter of time before she was safe in Marmoreal again. As for how long that would take, she was unsure.

"Temperamental? That's hardly the word I would use," Tarrant muttered. "Words beginning with the letter 'f' seem far more appropriate: frustrating, foolish, finicky, foolhardy-"

"Tarrant, please," Mirana sighed. She needed him to have as much calm in him right now, but it would seem he wouldn't rest until Alice was with him.

"Sorry, your Majesty," the Hatter said rather quickly. It was becoming harder to reign in his anger now that he knew Alice could be in danger at this very moment. He tried to keep his thoughts from wandering to Stayne, but that was a venture that was becoming hopeless.

"You don't need to apologize, Tarrant. But perhaps you should stay at Marmoreal for awhile. We can consult the Oraculum if you are still ill at ease." Her soft voice rang out loudly in the small room.

"Yes, yes, the Oraculum. Nifty little thing, I'd almost forgotten we had it!" Tarrant smiled for the first time since returning to Underland without Alice. With its help they would surely figure out where Alice had gone. It was a wonder he hadn't thought of it before.

"As had I," Mirana chuckled. "Come, my friend. Let us see what has befallen our dear Alice." She glanced back at Tarrant as she held her hands high and glided out of the room.

Hatter made sure to give the looking-glass a sound kick before following his Queen.

AN: Don't kill me for separating Hatter and Alice again. I swear they'll be reunited again soon!

Read and review, please and thanks!