~O~

"What!" the Red Queen shouted, causing the White Rabbit to flinch back at the sudden outburst. He had just returned back to the palace and delivered the news of what fate had become of her Champion and the human girl. The Queen abruptly stood up from her throne and began to furiously pace back and forth before the short blonde.

He was trembling, filled with fear at what her Majesty would do in her rage. He watched as she ran a hand through her semi-short, blue hair and scowled. Her green eyes fell back onto the small boy, and she delivered a piercing gaze that could have made her Champion shudder.

"Are you sure that they fell down an entrance to the Lake?" she asked harshly. The White Rabbit swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat and nodded. "Yes, your Majesty. I am positive. I saw the entrance closing with my very own eyes," he said and tried to keep his voice steady, but was failing miserably.

The Queen returned to her seat on the throne and clenched her hands tightly into fists. "How dare this happen right now," she hissed under her breath. Marucho cautiously lifted his hand up to ask to speak. The Red Queen gave him a momentary glance, then looked away and said coldly, "What else do you have to tell me?"

He flinched back at the hostility at her words, but felt that what he was about to tell her would lighten her rage. "If it makes any difference to you, I believe that the girl was walking from the direction of the forest that surrounds the Hatter's old home. It's possible that she may have holed herself up there, and if that's the case, then we might be able to find something of use there."

The White Rabbit waited nervously for a reaction from the Queen. She stared down at him, eyes piercing and cold, and made it to where the small boy was unable to hold her gaze, forcing him to advert his eyes. She then snapped her fingers, calling forth several Knights of the Heart from somewhere nearby.

They stood at attention, and to the White Rabbit, they didn't look nearly as intimidating as they did when the Champion stood in front of the crimson-clad soldiers. The Queen raised her hand and pointed a well-manicured nail at the door. "Go to the house of the Hatters and investigate for me.

If there is anyone else inside, I want them brought to me. Preferably alive so I can question them personally. But if this is not possible, then do as you wish to them," she said callously. The Knights fisted their hands over their hearts and filed out of the throne room to take out the Queen's request.

The White Rabbit, gnawing nervously on his bottom lip, stuttered out a question, "Is there anything you want me to do, your Majesty?" The Queen leaned back into her throne and rubbed the temples on the side of her head with frustration. "Nothing of great importance. You are dismissed," she said flatly and continued to rub her temples.

He nodded and gave her a quick bow before fleeing from the throne room. Once her was out of her Majesty's sight, he let out a long sigh that he had been holding in since telling her what happened out in the forest. "That could have been my head," he said with a shudder, and touched the base of his collarbone where his head would have been severed if his audience with the Queen had gone wrong.

~O~

"Do what!" the Hatter shouted and slammed his hands down on the table in front of him, causing a candle to nearly topple over. The Cheshire, Julie, stood before him, a grim expression gracing her usually smiling face. "It is just as I have told you. I witnessed Alice and the Queen's Champion fall into the entrance to the Lake," she repeated, even though she knew that the Hatter had heard her clearly the first time.

Dan ran a hand through his shaggy, brown hair and shook his head. "No. This can't be happening. Not now. We need her if we are to take down the Queen!" he snapped as he began to lose control over his emotions. Standing not far off behind the Hatter, was the March Hare, Runo.

A look of sick worry was on the bluenette's face as she adverted her gaze to the floor and said with a heavy sigh, "I shouldn't have let her leave the house. I should have known that something like this would happen, and yet, I let her go anyway." Julie frowned and joined Runo's side, and placed her hand on the March Hare's shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Runo. Nobody could have foreseen any of this happening," the Cheshire said gently. "No! Anyone could have seen something like this happening! You know why? It's because the Queen's Knights and Champion are searching Wonderland with a fine-toothed comb for her! And yet, you allowed her to leave!" the Hatter yelled.

Julie narrowed her eyes at Dan and snapped, "Hatter, calm down." The brunette felt his anger die down a bit, and he slumped into his chair at the table, then buried his face into his hands.

He then lifted his head away from his palms and sighed. "Alice is just too important. We can't fight the Queen without her. Without her…..Our plan and intentions are worthless," he said softly with a grimace.

Runo frowned and said, "There has to be some way we can get her back, right?" The room was silent, but it was broken by the Hatter not long after. "You know just like the rest of us that finding the entrance to the Lake is nothing more than a stroke of luck. It's probably moved all the way to the other side of Wonderland by now…."

His voice trailed off. It was obvious that he was seriously distressed by the loss of their human guest, and he had every reason to be. With Alice, they had a very good chance at standing up against the Queen and her minions, but now, they were back to square one.

They could wait for another human to come along, but what were the odds of them being just like Alice? They probably wouldn't be as kind, or humble. Or perhaps they would be slaughtered by the Queen before any of them even knew of their presence. They needed Alice.

Not another human. Just Alice. Suddenly, the door to the house busted open, and Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum came waddling in, carrying overstuffed duffle bags on their shoulders and sweat pouring down their bald heads. Hatter stood up and asked them, "What's going on?"

The two short, round people set their duffle bags down and tried to catch their breaths. Finally, one of them spoke up and said, "We saw the Queen's Knights heading in this direction…We brought some weapons that we've kept hidden in case of emergency."

Hatter reached down and opened the bag to look inside, finding swords and daggers sheathed inside. "How far away from here were they when you spotted the Knights?" Hatter asked and took out a medium-length, sheathed sword.

The duo stood before him and said in unison, "Not that far off. We were out making merchant runs when they passed by. After that, we rushed back to our place to gather the weapons. Odds are, they're probably close to closing in on us."

Dan scowled, furious that bad news was piling up more and more on him as the day went on. He turned and faced him friends and told them, "Grab something to defend yourselves with. The Champion won't be with them, so the Knights won't be as strong. But that doesn't mean you should let your guards down."

They all nodded and selected a sheathed blade; even Runo was able to wake Joe the Dormouse and get him alert enough to wield something. As they stood there and began to psyche themselves up for the inevitable, a window shattered into tiny pieces, sending flying shards of glass onto the wooden floor.

Everyone ducked down, not knowing what was going on. Cautiously, the Hatter peered into the room and saw a small, heart-shaped canister just as is broke apart, sending red smoke into the house. Coughing and blinded, the group tried to find a way out, knowing all the way that whatever waited for them outside would put up a fight.

After feeling around for a bit, Runo located a door to the outside and shouted to her disoriented friends, "Here! The door is here!" They quickly poured out of the red smoke-filled house and stumbled outside, where they all proceeded to greedily take in fresh air.

The Hatter, still coughing and wiping the tears from his eyes, glanced up and felt himself tense up. All around the house, were crimson-clad Knights of the Heart with swords and spears at the ready. The Hatter and his group slowly brought their own weapons at the ready, feeling confident that they could possibly fight their way through the foes that surrounded them.

And like Dan had said before, the Champion was not with them, which would end up greatly decreasing their fighting ability, for the Knights of the Heart were nothing without the Champion. Regardless, the Hatter was going to enjoy cutting some of these brutes down to size; it would give him a way to take out his frustrations that had piled up.

The first Knight charged at them, setting off a chain-reaction and causing the rest of the warriors to attack as well. The Hatter let out a cry of battle, and he and his fellow Mads countered the initial charge of the Knights. Swords collided with one another as the six of the fought back against the twenty or so Knights.

Dan caught a glimpse of Joe just as the Dormouse impaled a Knight with his sword. Despite how much the Dormouse slept, the Hatter had learned one thing about his narcoleptic friend; he was one hell of a fighter when he needed to be.

As the Mads fought back valiantly, Dan noticed that they were slowly being overwhelmed by the Knights, and he instantly knew that there was no way that they would make it through. Not in one piece, at least. He shouted to his friends, "Don't worry about fighting now! Just run!"

He caught a glimpse of Julie as she vanished into thin air, leaving several Knights in a confused daze. The next to flee was Joe. He cut his way through a wall of Knights and fled into the surrounding forest. Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum curled their round bodies into balls and rolled their way out, knowing over Knights like bowling pins.

Dan was in the process of making his own way out, when he heard a high-pitched scream come from Runo. He glanced over his shoulder and saw as the March Hare was grabbed by a Knight, who was much larger and stronger than her.

The Hatter felt his anger boil back up to the surface of his very being, and he charged at the Knight that held his dear friend captive, and sliced the blade of his sword into the crimson armor. The Knight fell to the ground, releasing Runo. "Go!" the Hatter shouted at her, "I'll hold them back! Go!"

Runo gave him a pained look, but knew there was no point in arguing with the Hatter. So, she took off while she had the chance, not taking a moment to sneak one final look at the Hatter. Dan held his own for a little while, but was soon overcome by the sheer number and overwhelming strength of the Knights.

They pinned him to the ground, tied his hands up so he couldn't fight back anymore, and took away his sword. One Knight even went so far as to drive an armor-clad knee into the Hatter's back, stunning him. The Hatter laid there, surrounded by the Knights of the Heart, utterly defeated and humiliated.

He closed his eyes and asked painfully, "What are you planning on doing with me?" One of the Knights laughed and said, "Take you to the Queen, of course. She wants to question you, and I'm sure after she gets what she wants, it will be off with your head."

The Hatter could feel the cold hand of an inevitable death already snaking its way up his body. He decided right then and there that he would not tell the Queen what she wanted to know. He would keep the information to himself and watch her struggle, and fail, to get it out of him.

The Hatter knew by doing that, that he probably would end up speeding up his execution, but it would be worth it just to see the source of all his suffering, suffer some herself. The Knights of the Heart lifted the Hatter up and drug him back to the Red Palace, where the end would soon come to take the Hatter away from all his pain.


in the next chapter the whole concept of the Lake that was mentioned will be explained, so hold your horses. in other news, i am officially on Spring Break, which means a week of no school and early uploads. X) hurray! read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~