A/N: Yeah, for once you get something very long, it's seven pages and 400 short of 5000 words(minus this note that is) -.-'' Sorry, I guess it's to make up for all the short chapters you get and not updating during the weekend like I normally do? I had an actual life going on for once this past weekend, I went to a party on Friday and didn't get back home until almost two in the morning, then my sister was having a bonfire at our house on Saturday, I didn't participate because the people she invited were all her friends, but still, it distracted me a bit. Then I had a bunch of homework, which I didn't even do half of because I forgot most of it existed.
Now enough about my life, time to thank all of the people who have reviewed/favorited/alerted this story since I last updated, big virtual cookies to jocelyn1234, cause she added me to her favorite authors list and reviewed :D, Jhinra and James Birdsong as always for reviewing, and Amarylis Cemetery for alerting this story, you guys are all super awesome for doing that stuff for me, love you all to bits and pieces, not to worry though, not really to bits and pieces, then you wouldn't be able to review, favorite, or alert, but you know what I mean.
For whatever reason, I really like this chapter, and it explains so very many things about Hatter and a little about Cat, not very much about Hare though, more on those two isn't until the next chapter, which I hope you guys don't think sucks, you'll know why in about a week or so, like always.
Anyway, RER, Read Enjoy Review!
Alice walked with the other members of the party through a long winding maze of red rosed hedges, until they reached a tall, grand, wooden door, it opened inwards to admit all of them into a large, palatial looking room, with such clean tiled floors that Alice could see her face shining out of them, like a perfect mirror; the walls had intricate moldings and were painted with beautiful murals from what Alice could only guess were scenes from Wonderland's history, the murals had depictions of fallen Jabberwockies in the Volcanic Plains, coronations of past Queens of Hearts, and epic battles with foreign people over numerous things, in each one the Wonderlanders seemed to emerge victorious. The murals were complimented with marble sculptures of the royal family and important historical figures, or so Alice assumed, who ranged from regular looking people like Alice, to those who were stranger, like Cat and the White Rabbit, as well as those who seemed stranger still. Alice tilted her head up to find an enormous crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, where again there was another mural, only this time it was the Queen's face staring imperiously down at them, making Alice feel very small and insignificant indeed.
The group approached an even larger set of doors that were made of some material that although not seeming to be wood, but had a sort of greenish crystalline look to it that shined in the glow of the chandelier. The doors opened easily, softly, and quickly, not at all how Alice had expected, she had thought they would be rather heavy, but it seemed they were lighter than even the size of an average door, yet as she got closer to the door and touched its surface secretly, she found the material to be very hard and of the sort that anyone would have said the door should be heavy, well except for the natives to the land, for why else would they use the material if this was so?
If Alice had thought the entrance room to be palatial, then the room they just entered was simply magnificent, it was made in much the same manner as the one before, but it seemed as though the artist that had made the murals here, used both judgmental scenes and the crystalline substance in his paints. It seemed to be a sort of courtroom, for there was a large amount of seats for an audience, and a high pedestal for two people, here the Queen of Hearts and her King were currently seated, next to their pedestal was a smaller one, where a witness should be seated Alice assumed, and not too far from there, off to the side was another set of twelve seats, where the jury was to sit; Alice knew this all from the law books Father had, she often got bored with only her fairytales to read and would often sneak into Father's office and take a book or two for a change in pace.
The party was directed to take seats in the ones set up for the audience, while from some door that Alice had not before noticed, came out a set of twelve people who sat in the seats for the jurors. Somehow in the confusion of the party intermingling, Alice was separated from the Duchess and was seated in the front next to a very tall man with very blond hair, very green eyes, which she felt she might have seen elsewhere, but could not recall just where, and very white skin. He wore some intricate yellow suit, quite reminding her of the one that the Caterpillar ad worn, only not nearly so wrinkled, and he wore a deep scarlet red cravat, he also had a black chain coming from his breast pocket, which Alice found stranger still, since Father also sometimes had a chain coming from his breast pocket as well, but his was gold and led to a pocket watch, and Alice had never before seen a black pocket watch.
The man seemed to notice Alice's staring and raised an eyebrow at her, "They let children come to these trials now, how crass of the Queen." he said aloud to her, which made Alice frown.
"I am not a child, I am fourteen, and I also happen to be good friends with the Duchess." Alice replied, which was something of the truth, if a bit bent to her will.
He stared at her quietly a while before a small smile found its way onto his face and he chuckled lightly, "You are funny girl, friends with that woman, I didn't realize anyone could with her."
"My name is not 'girl'," Alice replied, not at all liking this man, finding him very rude and of bad character, "my name is Alice."
The man then smiled strangely, "Well then, allow me to introduce myself as well Miss Alice, I am Justin Time." Alice furrowed her brows together.
"Yes, you did just make it in time for the trial, but what is your name?" she did not realize that he was not saying 'just in time.' but rather 'Justin Time'
He chuckled a bit more loudly, "No dear, my first name is Justin, and my last is Time."
"Oh, I'm very sorry then for not realizing at first, Mr. Time." Alice replied, he actually laughed quietly a bit and Alice again furrowed her brows at this, but before she could ask what was so funny, the Queen of Hearts ordered for silence.
"Everyone, quiet or it's off with your head!" that was exactly what she said, and immediately everyone was silent as the grave.
A small woman who was seated at the bottom of the pedestal, in front of a typewriter typed away as she announced, "Now then, we shall begin with the trial of the once Sir Mark "Hatter" Time, charged for the following crimes of treason, attempted murder, possible murder, possible kidnapping, and relations with a minor that are deemed unseemly, and the commoner Jason "Hare" Ears is charged for treason and the crime of aiding a criminal."
Once this was said, two men were brought out by a set of men in black suits with the numbers, two of spades, four of spades, eight of spades, and ten of clubs; Alice recalled the men who had taken away the nice men she had met before in the garden upon seeing them, and she blanched when she saw who they were guiding to the criminal's side of the courtroom. Why, it was the Mad Hatter and the March Hare! She glanced at Justin, who merely watched the red headed Hatter walk to the criminal's seat with his head high, and Hare tried to follow his example, only, anyone could see the young boy shaking with fear at being in this predicament, so he tried to stay close to Hatter, if only the guards between them would let him get closer. Now Alice realized why Justin's eyes were familiar, they were the same as Hatter's, and with the same last name, this meant they had to somehow be, related. Alice was amazed that Justin was not doing more to help his relation out of this predicament, surely he knew that Hatter was too nice a person to do something as horrible as the crimes charged against him; never mind that Alice barely knew Hatter and Hare, she knew them well enough that they would not commit crimes.
While Alice had been thinking this, the last few preparations for the trial had been finished and the trial was to begin, so Justin rose, opened the small gate blocking the audience from the court area and sat down in a seat at the table, opposite from the table where Hatter sat. Now Alice was confused, as she was quite certain that where Justin was seated, was where the side going against Hatter was supposed to be, and Justin was very soon joined by a very beautiful woman with wings sprouting from her back, who sat next to him.
The woman who had yet to stop her typing announced, "Now the trial of 'Hatter and Hare vs. the Queendom of Wonderland' will commence." and finally she stopped typing waiting for something else to be said so she could type it down.
The woman who had been seated with Justin rose from her seat and the clack of typing began, "Your Majesty, I am Jillian Vanchre, representative of Sir Justin Time." and she curtsied to the Queen.
"Yes, the Caterpillar's older sister, much better than he is though, now aren't you?" the Queen replied, a smile on her still much more beautiful face.
"Yes, Your Majesty." just what she was saying 'yes' to was uncertain, but she continued, she turned to the jury and began, "Now then, the first of Mark Time's many crimes began on a night nearly ten years ago, on the night our beloved, currently missing and presumed dead by some, princess's fourth birthday party, where she did not even get to blow out the candles on her cake, but I will get to that later. As many of you know, and some do not know, Sirs Justin and Mark, arrived to the party together, at the time Mark was a twelve year old boy and Sir Justin was in the sole guardian of his little brother since their parents' recent death. The death of their parents had many, suspicious, traits to it, as many know, the police have still not identified the murderer of the Lord and Lady Time, and their only suspect was the criminal we have here." Jillian finally took a pause in her speech, and then turned to the Queen, "I should like to call Sir Justin Time to the stand."
"Sir Time, to the stand." the Queen replied, and so Justin rose from his seat and took the one of the witness, one of the black suited guards came up to him with a black book.
Justin placed his hand on top of the offered black book, "Do you swear to both show and tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" the black suited man asked, in a rather monotone, very plain voice that Alice could not recall after hearing it for the life of her.
"I do so swear." Justin replied, and so the black suited guard returned to his post next to Hare.
Jillian turned to Justin, her wings slowly opening and closing slightly, in the same lazy way that a cat might swish its tail while sunbathing, "Now, Sir Time, if you might tell your account of the ordeal to the jury."
"Well, it began like this," Justin started, and the walls about them glowed, surprising Alice very much, although no one else was, before the murals suddenly disappeared and were replaced with an outside image of the castle appeared with people surrounding it and entering through the huge doors, which were taller than two of Alice's houses stacked on top of each other. The image suddenly turned, like someone shifting their head to look at someone else, and a younger version of Hatter was in the view, his mouth moved and he seemed a bit upset, but no sound escaped his mouth, the image then changed quickly to another scene where Hatter was again staring angrily and even appeared to be shouting at Justin, who's point of view Alice now assumed the video was in, the scene once again changed to Justin looking out over a balcony at the maze garden, then he suddenly turned around, showing himself to be alone, save for the bystanders from the party quite some ways off. The image turned back to the maze garden, but occasionally glanced of his shoulder, after some time he went inside and was walking through a hallway alone when he was encountered by Hatter, who was this time, speaking civilly with him, and then got closer to hug him for one reason or another, once he backed away, one could easily see the blood stained knife in Hatter's grasp, and a hand to his own side; he frowned at Justin, said something to him and then ran down the hallway. Justin instead bent his head down, and while his vision was blackening, pulled out a black pocket watch from his breast pocket, he smashed it on the floor before his image turned completely black, and after that the images revealed by Justin disappeared from the walls and the murals appeared again.
"Thank you, Sir Time." Jillian said, "And there we have obvious proof of Sir Mark Time's attempted murder of his elder brother, who, if not for his quick thinking of stopping his own time by smashing his Pocket Watch, would not be alive today, his dear little brother might have gotten away with this most heinous act." she told the jury, who all nodded their heads.
Alice suddenly stood up, "Objection!" she screamed, making everyone turn to stare at her, wondering why such a young girl would ever shout such a thing in the Queen's court.
The Queen of Hearts frowned deeply at Alice, "On what grounds, little girl?"
Alice hesitated for barely a moment before replying, "On the grounds of missing evidence and poor representation for the accused." this rose a reaction of surprise from the audience, who were hoping to see what sort of evidence could have been hidden with such a display, "Perhaps none of you may be able to read lips, but I happen to excel at this skill, and I know exactly what Hatter was saying during this event that clears him of this so called 'attempted murder', but if I might see Hatter's side of the event, then I would be able to give out the whole story."
The Queen stared at Alice a good long time before mouthing something at her with a glare in her eye.
"Well, I am sorry, but I quite like my head on my shoulders, Your Majesty."
The Queen's glare and frown got worse, then she whispered something the King who was seated next to her, and he mouthed something at Alice.
Alice smiled and curtsied, "Thank you, Your Majesties." and so she entered through the gate and motioned the guards a bit back from Hatter and Hare, who hesitantly moved away, and then took a seat next to Hare, while the audience stared on in awe that Alice could successfully argue with the Queen and didn't get her head chopped off for doing so.
Hare looked at Alice with obvious shock on his face, and while the typist had halted the trial to type down what she had missed, from her utter shock at how someone had dared t argue with the Queen, he whispered in question, "How did you do that?"
"Oh well, I've had lots of practice reading lips." Alice answered simply, which was the truth, she had learned how by watching the help whisper about her back at home, which was also why they now covered their mouths when they whispered about her.
"No, you argued with the Queen of Hearts, no one does that unless they want their head chopped off."
Their conversation was cut short as the trial could once again continue since the typist had caught up on her typing and could now keep up with the pace of the trial and recording it again.
"Well then, Vanchre, you have showed us your evidence against Hatter, now it is time for um, what did you say your name was again?" the King asked, he had taken over, since the Queen was silently fuming at the moment.
"Alice." was all Alice said, even though there was an expectant silence after she answered, and so the King merely nodded.
"Well then, Alice, you may present your evidence for Hatter." he replied.
"Um, Sir Time, please remain in your seat for now, I may have to refer to your evidence frequently." she told Justin, who had been about to rise out of his seat, but then remained where he was, "Um, jury, I am very far from where I once was, I am not from Wonderland, and I have been lost here for quite some days, but when I first came here, Hatter and Hare were some of the fist people I met, and so far, they have perhaps been some of the nicest, and although they gave me a map that turned out to be fake, they gave me a goal to reach, this castle, so that I might hope to find a way back to my home. They gave me tea, it was the very first time I had ever drunken such a thing, and I can honestly say, that earl grey is now my all time favorite, and when I left them, they gave me a whole thermos and food so I wouldn't get hungry, which I lost," she told them, and then turned to Hatter and Hare, "I am terribly sorry about that." then she turned back to the jury, "That is besides the point though, what I mean is, as far as I care, they are too nice to ever do something truly evil." then she turned to Justin, "Um, Sir Time, if you might show us the part of your memory, right in the very beginning where you are fighting with Hatter?"
The walls about them changed to the scene that Alice had asked for and Justin look at the scene with the others, "Here, Hatter is arguing with Sir Time, about that he had not wanted to come to this party and instead had wanted to stay home and read a book of his, is this not true, Hatter, Sir Time?" both of the men nodded their heads, "Now, please go to the next scene you showed before." the scene immediately changed to another one of the brothers fighting, in a different setting, though still at the party, "In this scene Hatter is yelling at Sir Time for tripping him so that he landed in a punch bowl, embarrassing him in front of everyone at the party." a few people chuckled at this, perhaps they had been there and recalled the incident.
"You fell in a punch bowl once?" Hare asked quietly, not quite believing this.
"Shut up." was Hatter's reply as he bowed his red head, which helped to hide his very red ears.
"Now, if you might please show the final scene that you presented to us." Justin stared at her with something like a glare in his eyes, but the scene changed anyway, Alice was watching the scene this time, "Here Hatter was apologizing, for thinking his brother might have killed their parents, and that he felt stupid for thinking so, then he and his hugged Justin, but before any conclusions are made, I should like to see Hatter's side of these memories, for what Justin says is just as important as what Hatter has said." Alice finished, "Sir Time, if you might step down, and Hatter, please take the stand."
Justin stepped down from the stand, if anyone were paying him close attention; they would notice his composure was just a little less sure than before.
The guards were still, until the Queen nodded her head, and they too led Hatter to the stand, where they made him swear on the black book to both show and tell the truth to the people present. Alice then approached him, gave him a small smile, and then said, "If you would please show us the night as you recall it, Hatter."
"With pleasure, my dear." Hatter replied with a smile of his own before the walls changed to show Justin looking at him with a bored look on his face and then he told Hatter something.
"Here Justin is merely telling Hatter to stop being a baby and have fun at the party." Alice told the audience, and then the scene changed to one of Justin smiling smugly at Hatter before his mouth moved in the motion of words escaping his mouth, "Justin is telling Hatter that he has no clue why he is being accused of tripping him into that bowl of punch as well." the scene changed one final time to the one in the hallway, here Justin merely stared at Hatter while he apologized, then Hatter went forward to hug his brother, and suddenly the image went down, to where a knife was sticking out of Hatter, the image went back up to where Justin was smiling at his brother, suddenly Justin fell to the floor and Hatter looked at some small, broken capsule in his hand, before tossing it to the ground, and removing the knife from where it had been sticking out of him. Then Hatter turned to get away from his brother and then he looked down at his pocket, finding something missing, and he turned back to see his brother smash his Pocket Watch on the ground; Hatter doubled over in pain, but kept running from his brother, not sure of what else to do, and then the present Hatter decided that was enough and the image returned to the original mural.
The audience was quietly murmuring amongst themselves, and Jillian stared at Alice and Hatter with distrustful eyes, the Queen and King were conversing over something concerning the trial before they turned back to where it was taking place, "The questioning of the witnesses may now begin." the Queen announced, "Vanchre, you have the floor first, beauty before age, Alice." she said with contempt in her voice on the last word.
Jillian approached Hatter and said, "Now Mark-"
"Hatter." he corrected, making Jillian glare at him.
"What?" she asked, with a snarl playing along her lips.
"Mark Time doesn't exist anymore, just the Mad Hatter now; you know, I make hats, unfortunately, there's not one hat, that anyone can dare to make, pretty enough to hide your ugly." he told her with a smile, and it looked like it took every fiber in Jillian's body to not attack him for that, even Alice would never have dared to make such a remark to any girl, if Sister was enough of an example, then there was good reason that most men never did so.
"What was that capsule that you had in the final scene?" Jillian asked.
"Sleep-EZ medication." Hatter replied.
"That was a bit big of a capsule, don't you think, that much might possibly kill a person, and better yet, what were you doing with such an amount?"
"Actually, that was only enough to knock out a person for twice the regular amount of time, not nearly close to even harming, and my parents were just killed in my own home, I should hope that I would take precautions to keep myself safe in case if the murderer came after me." Hatter replied, and then glared at Justin, "And even though no one else believed me, I knew it was Justin, he killed our parents because they were going to have me inherit the Time Line instead of him, and he could not stand that, could you? That you were shown up by little old Mark, who was always behind in the lessons, but somehow was always stronger; that's why, even though you stopped my time at three o'clock, I can still age, I can't recognize morning or night, I don't know when it's spring or winter, but my body does and it can react accordingly."
"What do you mean; Justin stopped his own time when he smashed that Pocket Watch." Jillian told Hatter, still trying to save her case.
"Really, how about it big brother, show them the watch, let them see that it has my name, so carved in that there is no way of ever removing it, even if you tried to melt it off." Hatter told his brother, who had somehow regained his composure and still had it even under these circumstances.
The Queen nodded at the guards and they approached Justin, holding him in place as he frowned at his brother and removing the black Pocket Watch from his breast pocket, they then opened it, finding that Hatter was absolutely correct, the Pocket Watch had his name inscribed in it, "Off with his head." the Queen replied calmly, and off they went with Justin, who glumly faced his fate, and Hatter watched him be escorted off, with sad eyes even for the brother that almost killed him in more ways than one; "Don't think this trial is over yet Hatter, you still have another four crimes to get through while we're here." she told him, "Now, we shall cover your possible kidnapping and/or murder of my dear daughter on this same night."
"Of course, Your Majesty." Hatter replied, and then the walls showed Hatter stumbling along until he got to a room where a little blond girl was merely seated on her bed and stared with brown eyes as Hatter stumbled onto the floor before her. Her only reaction was to reach for a nearby toy white rabbit, but her hand suddenly stopped as she saw Hatter was only lying there, her eyes asked him her question. She then glanced up at someone outside of Hatter's view, then through the depth of the crystal, her voice was heard as her mouth moved, and "We're helping him." were her only words as Hatter's vision apparently blacked out at this point. "After that, I woke up, alone, in the forest at the abandoned house your guards finally found us in, I've been there ever since." Hatter explained once the walls returned to their murals.
"Well, that clears you of possible kidnapping and/or murder, as well as of treason, but there is no denying your improper conduct with a minor, we will continue this trial after a short recess." the Queen finished, and as Hatter and Hare were led away by guards, Alice followed after them. The guards allowed her to follow, she was their lawyer after all, besides her age; she was led down a long, dreary looking hallway to a cell where Hatter and Hare were placed in it together, and Alice was allowed to stand outside it.
"Um, so what evidence do we have for your final part of the trial, Hatter?" Alice asked.
"Very incriminating evidence." Hatter replied, "Because I admit that I am completely guilty."
"You shouldn't admit to being guilty about something like that!" Hare shouted, his face turning a bit red, and he mumbled something else softly beneath his breath.
Hatter suddenly hugged Hare and smiled, "Ah, but having only one bed where two men live, one of them being much younger than the other, is more incriminating than our memories combined." Hatter replied.
Alice was very confused during this whole conversation, as she still wasn't very sure as to what an 'improper relationship with a minor' even meant, but she wanted to look smart and hadn't said anything earlier, but now she really needed to know. "What is this charge against you supposed to mean?" Alice asked Hatter, who at first was staring at her civilly, but then suddenly was glaring and Hare looked quite nervous himself now, making Alice extremely confused.
"It means that they think Hatter and Hare are having sexual relations." a new, but always familiar, voice answered bluntly to Alice's question.
She quickly turned around to see the one and only Cheshire Cat, and suddenly hugged him.