A Hatter's Hatred

As Alice entered the room, she was pushed back by the negative atmosphere, 'Is everyone okay?'

'Hello, Alice,' The Hare greeted, 'Did you have a nice day?'

'It was wonderful,' she replied merrily, 'I've had such an amazing day.' She did a twirl across the room. She was taken with happiness. Although, the Hatter felt differently, 'We have some news to tell you,' he said.

Alice's bliss halted, as did she, 'What news?' she asked concerned. The Dormouse and the Hare moved away from the Hatter. They anticipated the moment. The Cheshire remained where he was, but was very uneasy by the Hatter's remaining frustration, 'You know the White Rabbit?' He asked.

Alice nodded, 'Yes, what about him?' The Hare and the Dormouse looked at eachother, nodded, and rushed up the stairs out of the way. The Cheshire slowly followed them.

'Hatter, what about him?' Alice asked again, anxiety in her tone. The Hatter arose from his armchair and paced towards Alice. 'Just to let you know,' he said casually, but anger ensued gradually, 'he is dead.'

Alice gasped in horror, 'Dead?' All of her bliss rushed from her, and absolute grief took her, 'Oh my,' she gasped, 'How could that be? What happened?'

'He was killed, Alice,' The Hatter's voice wasn't very friendly, 'He was killed by somebody that wields a bladed weapon,' He took steps towards her, and she took steps back, 'Know anyone that carries a weapon like that with them, Alice?'

Alice was daunted by the Hatter's angered eyes, and she suddenly found herself up against the wall, 'Um...'

'Um?' The Hatter said, 'I've never heard of this 'Um' character. Who is he?'

'Tarrant,' The Cheshire said from the top of the stairs, 'I think you'd better calm down-'

'Leave, Chessur!' He commanded. Alice jumped from his shout. The Cheshire sprinted back upstairs. The Hatter turned to face Alice, darkness in his eyes. 'Are you going to answer the question?'

'I... uh...' Alice was extremily intimidated, 'I don't know.'

'You don't know what? To answer the question or who wields a sword?' His anger arose, and he whacked a tea cup from the nearby table. It shattered on the floor. Alice was petrified, tears began to swell in her eyes, '...Luh... Luh...'

'What was that?'

Alice gulped, 'Leo...'

The Hatter smiled, 'Leo. Yes. A person who does wield a sword.'

Suddenly, Alice's temper rose, 'Are you acussing Leo of killing the White Rabbit?'

'Well, who else would there be?'

'Other people,' she retorted. All of her fear left. Anger took its place, 'You have never liked him have you? And now you're acussing him of killing the Rabbit?'

The Hatter strayed away, quite taken aside by her fury, 'To answer truthfully I haven't. And yes, I am acussing him-'

'Well he didn't do it!' She shouted. The Hatter flinched by her retaliation. He began to regret his outburst upon her. He forgot she was quite tough, 'Don't acuse someone unless you have prove that they did it.'

The Hatter lowered his eyes, 'You make a point,' he whispered. He was beaten down by her words; he couldn't stay mad with her. 'Yes I do make a point,' she hissed.

He nodded feebily, 'You do... I'm sorry.'

'Of course,' she murmured, 'Good night.' With that, she stomped up the stairs. The Hatter stood in regret. Why did I do that? He thought.

. . .

She barged into the bedroom, and collapsed onto the bed, weeping rather loudly. The Cheshire appeared beside her, and overlooked her sorrow, 'Alice,' he whispered, 'are you okay?'

She shook her head, 'No, not at all!'

He rested a paw upon her shoulder, 'You shouldn't let the Hatter get to you.'

'I've never seen him that angry before...' She remembered his glaring eyes piercing into hers, 'it was horrible.'

'The Hatter does have his occasional outbursts. He's been unable to control his emotions for a very long time... after an incident that occured many years ago.'

She gazed at him, curious, 'What incident?'

'... I'm unable to say. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone. But, maybe I will tell you oneday...'

'Okay...' She rubbed her eye, brushing the tears away, 'so he's always been like this?'

The Cheshire nodded, 'Indeed. They don't call him the Mad Hatter for no reason, you know.'

'Of course.'

The Hare and the Dormouse entered the room, and went over to console the forlorn girl. The Dormouse hopped up onto the bed a patted Alice arm, 'Are you alright?'

Alice shrugged, 'Who knows...'

'Are you seeing Leo again tomorrow?' asked the Hare. She glanced at him, and nodded. The Hare grumbled, 'Not sure what the Hatter is to think of that, then.'

'We're going to have to keep him away, because knowingly he will lash out... he can be violent at times,' informed the Cheshire. The Dormouse nodded in agreement, 'Very violent.'

This made Alice feel more uneasy than before, 'Oh, well that makes me feel much better...'

'Just pointing out the truth.' said the Cheshire.

'So when are you seeing him again?' asked the Hare.

'Midday,' she sighed, 'he's coming to the house...'

The Dormouse gasped, 'That's not a wise choice. Now we're definatly going to have the keep Tarrant away.'

Alice nodded, 'It's best you do. Now, I'm rather tired. I'm going to get some sleep.'

'Alright.' The others got off the bed and made their way to the door to exit. The Chesire halted, and turned back to face Alice, 'It'll be okay,' he comforted.

'Okay,' whispred Alice. The Cheshire left, and Alice curled up sadly, thinking of what tomorrow would bring...

. . .

Morning was upon them, and Alice awoke nervously. She dreaded to think if those two met, something terrible was to occur. She shuddered to think of it. She didn't want anything to happen between them. As much as she held devotion to Leo, she still cared for the Hatter deeply.

She went outside. It was almost midday, and her stomach was tingling with anxiety. She fiddled with her fingers, forboding a bad event to happen.

As she waited, a figure approached her from the distance. He smiled at her, and Alice smiled back with unease. 'Hello, Alice,' Leo greeted.

'Hello,' she whispered.

'Are you okay?'

She nodded quickly, concealing her nerves, 'Oh, yes, I'm very good.'

'That's nice to know.'

As they shared looks at eachother, another figure appeared from behind Alice. She turned to see, and there stood the Hatter, a mixture of aversion and discontent in his expression. He had finally laid eyes on the person who was dominating Alice. He scowled at him. Leo tried to manage a friendly smile, 'I take it you are the Hatter, am I correct?'

'Yes.' He hissed. Alice gulped, and she was shaking. She had anticipated the horror of these two meeting, and now they finally did. She looked at the Hatter, 'Um, I'm going to go with... uh, Leo to the um... castle...'

The Hatter glared at Alice, 'Why?'

'Because we want to?' She replied softly.

Leo approached Alice's side, and from the Hatter's posture he loathed his approach. Leo shared a glance at the Hatter, than at Alice, 'I take it the Hatter isn't too fond of me?'

'You're right about that,' snapped the Hatter. Alice, with a sudden frustration, wished to end this now, 'Hatter, please, just drop it.'

'Why should I?' he asked angrily, 'Why is it that you are so blind to it?'

Alice's fury ensued, 'Hatter... please, stop it now.'

He shook his head, 'You're not going to the castle.' he commanded.

Alice's eyes widenened, 'What? You can't tell me what to do.'

'I already did,' he smirked.

Leo felt uneasy by the Hatter's behaviour, 'We can go tomorrow, if you like?' he asked Alice.

She shook her head, 'No, no, we're heading up now.'

'You're not going to the castle,' The Hatter repeated.

Alice approached him furiously, 'Hatter,' she hissed, 'You've got to stop with this now. You can't keep ordering me around! I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I came here because I felt as if I could have the freedom to make my own choices. Seems now I can't either way.'

'Oh, I let you make your own decisions, Alice,' he moved his head closer towards her, and whispered quietly, 'But you've made a bad decision...'

She backed away from him, 'I haven't.'

'We'll come to see about that,' said the Hatter.

She turned to Leo, 'May you leave us for one moment, please.' Leo nodded in reply, and walked away from them. She glared at the Hatter, 'Listen now and listen clear, I don't know what is posessing you to be the way you are but I'm telling you now you have got to stop what you're doing immediatly-'

'Why?'

She gritted her teeth, 'Because I said so,' she observed him, and shook her head, 'You know, I thought you were a lovely person, but now all I see is hatred and anger. And that's all I will ever see.' The Hatter lowered his eyes. Alice glared, 'Mad indeed,' and she turned away and walked over to Leo, 'Shall we head off?' she asked him.

'Is everything alright with you and him?'

She shrugged, 'There's no changing it. Let's just go.'

As they left, the Hatter scowled at them leave. With all the anger risen to the surface, he punched the wall furiously beside him, and let out a scream of annoyance. The Cheshire quickly sprinted outside, and found the Hatter kneeling on the floor engulfed in fury. 'Tarrant?'

The Hatter turned to the Cheshire, gave him a strong glare, stood up and stormed off into the forest. The Chehsire called after him, 'Tarrant!' He watched as he left, 'Oh no, I was dreading this moment.' And he followed the Hatter into the forest...

. . .

He stormed down the pathway, stomping his feet violently as they touched the ground. Fury was present in his burning emerald eyes, and his fists were clenched tightly. He ignored wherever he found himself, but when large circular shadows appeared upon the floor, he stopped suddenly.

They were mushrooms; larger than he. A majority had rotted away, but others were still healthy, their spots and strips remained proudly. The mist that had disappeared, had suddenly began to brew again. It wasn't similar to the same haze; it smelt quite foul. It hovered among the giant mushrooms, and crept along into the forests. The mist arose into the Hatter's nose: it was smoke. He observed his surroundings, searching for something, or someone. He made out a faint shadow sitting upon one of the mushrooms. He paced gradually over towards it, the smoke getting stronger by every step. As he moved closer, he smiled sadly to a familiar face.

'Absolem.' He whispered. The creature looked down at him, hookah in its mouth, puffing out rings of smokey fumes. A caterpillar it was - a sapphire one. It had a monocle placed upon it's right eye. He casually crept down towards the Hatter, no expression upon his face.

'Who are you?' He asked in an apathetic tone.

'The Mad Hatter,' The Hatter answered. He gave him a bewildered look, 'I didn't know you were okay.'

'Why would you?' He didn't face him, but continued to smoke through his hookah. The Hatter shrugged, 'I don't know.'

The Caterpillar stopped for a brief moment, and inspected the Hatter's forlorn posture, 'Why so glum?' He asked half-heartedly.

The Hatter sighed, 'So many things,' He took hold of his hat and examined it ligthly, 'If it isn't this land, it's something else. I'm not feeling myself lately, you see.'

'I do not see.' The Caterpillar slanted away from him.

'No, of course you wouldn't,' He placed his hat back onto his head, 'How come you haven't been corrupted like the others?'

'Why would I be?'

'Well, it seems everyone else is. But if they're not, they're mad anyway.'

'You should know that by now,' said the Caterpillar, who moved his face towards the Hatter's, 'being as you've spent enough time here.' He blew a cloud of smoke into his face. The Hatter coughed and waved the smoke away, 'I guess so.'

'You know so!' There was stern sound in his melancholy voice at that point. The Hatter nodded, 'I do.'

There was pause. The Caterpillar took another puff from his pipe, and turned his gaze upon the woebegone human who stood before him. 'What of the girl?' He asked.

Suddenly, his face lit up like a lantern, 'You know Alice is here?'

The Caterpillar nodded, 'Yes,' he began.

'Have you seen her, then?' The Hatter questioned. He rested the palms of his hands upon the mushroom. The Caterpillar shook his head, 'No.'

'But you know she's here?'

'Yes.'

A whirlwind of musing memories had suddenly infiltrated his mind. The rapid images fell upon Alice, embraced in the arms of the man he loathed deeply. The Hatter pulled a disgusted face to remember the scene he witnessed last night, and sudden outburst he underwent a while ago. His misery immediatly turned into revulsion. He let out a venomous sigh, 'Lately,' he started, the poison present in his voice, 'she's been around this man. I don't really know who he is but, he hides darkness. I can see it,' his repulsion altered into remorse, 'Nivens was killed. There was a puncture wound from a weapon - a blade. It can only be him. Unless there's someone else that's walking around that we don't know of.'

The Caterpillar resided in silence. He had kept smoking from his hookah whilst the Hatter had spoke to him. The Hatter starred at him, 'Of course, what interest is it of yours?'

Quite let down by the Catepillar's apathy, the Hatter began to stray away.

'Tarrant.' The Caterpillar called. The Hatter turned back to face him. 'Yes?'

All of the Caterpillar's attention turned to him, 'Nothing interests me. Seems to be a lack of interest here. Grey skies, grey mist. Anything interesting at all?' He took a puff from his pipe, 'You can see that this man has darkness, and you assume he's killed Nivens. To my own surprise, this does interest me.'

The Hatter was confounded, 'It does?'

'It does.'

'Why is that?'

The Caterpillar's face was solemn. He gaped into the Hatter's eyes, 'Leo does hold darkness. You can see it, so can I. You believe he's killed Nivens, so do I.'

He turned his gaze off the baffled Hatter, and continued to smoke once again from his hookah.

'You know his name?' asked the Hatter, amazement in his voice, 'You know all this?'

The Caterpillar nodded, 'Yes.'

'Alice,' he started, 'she has gone to the Queen Of Heart's castle. What should I do?'

The Caterpillar ignored his entreaty, always puffing and smoking. The Hatter sighed at his unresponsive mannerism, 'You're not one to give advice are you?'

'Tarrant!' A voice called out in the distance. A galloping feline rushed over to the Hatter's side. He panted as he stopped, 'Oh, I'm so glad I found you. You just stormed off!' His gaze befall upon the Caterpillar, 'Hello Absolem.'

'Hello Chessur.' He replied.

'What is wrong?' The Hatter asked the Cheshire, concerned.

'Nothing,' he answered, 'but you shouldn't bring yourself down to this level. It's not like you.'

'It is like him.' The Caterpillar interrupted, although he didn't face the two below him.

'Excuse me?' The Hatter asked.

'What for?' He faced him, 'It is like you. You know so.'

The Cheshire frowned at the Caterpillar, 'Don't encourage his despair, Absolem.' He directed himself back to the Hatter, 'Listen,' he began softly, 'you can't let Alice go with Leo to the castle. We know of what he's done! We believe your words. We must stop him!'

The Hatter paused at his bold decision, but anguish ensued inside of him, 'What's the use?' He slumped himself upon a rock, 'She hates me.'

'She does,' The Caterpillar agreed. The Cheshire scowled at the insect, 'Absolem, hush for a moment,' he commanded. The Catepillar, quite bothered by the Cheshire's orders, faced away. The feline sat himself by the somber human, 'She doesn't hate you. Don't listen to him. It's not wise to take advice from a caterpillar,' He glared at the puffing larva, 'You don't want Alice to suffer. The only way to stop that, is to do it yourself.'

'How?' He murmured. The Cheshire grinned, 'Sometimes choices are chosen for yourself. But today you choose the choices.'

The Hatter appeared perplexed, 'What does that mean?'

'See, you don't understand this anymore,' The cat verified his doleful friend, 'You're turning back to who you used to be.'

The Hatter eyes strayed to the Cheshire's large ones. In the Hatter's eyes all the despair was beginning to conquer his state. His heart already fell for the plunge, now was his head?

'He reminds you of him, doesn't he?' The Cheshire's voice turned cold. He knew of what the Hatter was feeling. He knew what suffering he was going through. The Hatter gave him a strong glance in reply, and nodded. The Cheshire gave him a mischevious large smile. 'I think you should conquer the despair, by conquering the cause.' He pulled out a long, lustrous blade and placed in on the floor infront of the Hatter. He looked at it questiongly, 'A sword?'

'Yes.'

The Hatter reached out and lifted the sword infront of him. Feelings of an immoral desire struck him, but was cast out by cynical impulse, 'No,' He whispered, 'I can't cause pain,' and he dropped the sword onto the ground.

'But you wish to.' The Caterpillar was sat on the end of the mushroom, his long body hanging off the edge. The Chesire sighed, 'You're not helping...'

'And you are?' He retorted. The Cheshire grumbled in reply. The Hatter sat for a moment in silence before realization took hold, 'Absolem is right.'

'How?' The Chesire asked.

'I do wish to cause pain,' The Hatter's face restorted colour again.

'On him?' asked the Cheshire. The Hatter nodded, 'Yes.'

'He reminds you of him,' The Caterpillar began, 'You think so. You feel so. You know so -'

'- I do so.' The Hatter arose boldy, but a relentless shadow hung over him.

'Then are you going to let that sadness take you, or are you going to fight it?' The Cheshire fortifidly asked.

A strong occassion of silence lingered, before it was cut by the darkened smile, 'I will!'

'Brilliant!' The Cheshire jumped for joy at his friend's recovery. The Hatter lifted the sword and clasped it valiantly in his hand.

'I have advice for you,' The Caterpillar said, quite happy at the Hatter's restoration.

'What is that?' He asked curiously.

The Caterpillar managed a small smile, 'Don't keep your temper.'

The Hatter chuckled, 'Oh, I won't. It's something I've been holding back for many years.'

'Shall we get the others?' The Cheshire asked, already on his feet eagerly.

'Yes.' The Hatter replied. The two were overcome with a sudden spiritual force, and madness definatly had won over them. 'Perfect! Goodbye Absolem.' The Cheshire waved.

'Goodbye.' The Hatter farewelled, running off back into the direction of the March Hare's house, sprinting out of the circling mist. The Caterpiller gazed at their leave, and smiled, 'Goodbye,' and he continued to puff from his hookah.