One for One, O Monster-Mine
"This? THIS is that worthless Page who failed my Queen??"
Alice kept her body between the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit. She scowled at Hatter, her own anger beginning to boil over. How dare he say such things? The White Rabbit had kept on struggling to help, even after death. And why did every damn thing that everyone was fighting about have to do somehow with a mother she didn't even know? To hell with this.
Hatter advanced slowly, his mouth twisted in cheerful malice, fingers curling at the air in front of him, as though anxious to have poor White Rabbit in his hands. *Monster, am I?* Alice thought. *Get ready Hatter, here comes your monster!*
She crouched low, steadying herself. Then she lunged. Her shoulder slammed into the Hatter's unprotected belly. After all, it wasn't Alice he'd been fixated on.
They rolled along the leaf-strewn forest floor. She'd knocked the air from Hatter's lungs, so she made quick work of planting her knee on his chest. For good measure, she pinned his arms over his head as well as she could. She wasn't as strong as he. Her rage would have to suffice.
"That's ENOUGH! Enough with your obsession with my mother! Enough bickering between you and the Cat!" At this, she glared at the Cheshire Cat over her shoulder. The big cat's brows arched, but he said nothing. Alice resumed scolding the suffocating man underneath her.
"And as far as me, or anyone else I'm fond of, being a monster or worthless, well, we're no more monstrous or worthless than you!"
"Alice…" Hatter whispered, the blue of his eyes crystalline and lovely. He cupped Alice's cheek. But he said no more.
Alice only scowled down at him, tightening her grip on his wrists.
Hatter's eyes fluttered. "Can't…quite...breathe…"
Her scowl deepened. But she rose, and dusted her skirts in aggravation.
Hatter gulped air and coughed on it.
"Fine pair you two make," Cheshire quipped. "Like two peas in a pod."
The great cat tenderly lifted the little White Rabbit in his great maw, and began to stalk away from them.
"But, Cheshire, wait! Where are you going! We've got to get to the Duchess, don't we?" Alice called.
Cheshire unceremoniously spat the White Rabbit onto the ground. "YOU need to get to the Duchess as quickly as possible. I need to get this one," he said, waving a paw lazily at the Rabbit, "to a safe place, then run an errand, then meet up with you later. And that's precisely what I'm doing."
He gingerly gathered the Rabbit back up in his maw, and began to de-materialize as he stalked away.
"My, but the White Rabbit will suffer a shock when he wakes!" Alice murmured. She smiled as the last of the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit disappeared. "The Mad Hatter and I. Two peas in a pod. Two monsters, off to save Wonderland." She laughed.
Alice turned back to Hatter to see him staring at her, brows furrowed. He'd sat up, legs still akimbo, hat sitting crooked, hair mussed and covered in leaves.
He held one hand before him; fingers splayed, and began ticking ideas off, raising fingers to make his point at no discernibly reasonable time in his train of thought. "My Alice tackles me in defense of the White Rabbit, whom I would surely have destroyed."
Alice startled. *My Alice? When did that happen? *
Hatter continued. "I tackle my Alice in defense of Jes- erm – Caterpillar, whom she would surely have talked to death."
Alice glared. *He destroys things, I talk them to death. Cheeky bastard. *
"Much as I hate the Damnable Cat," Hatter gritted, staring at four fingers he'd ticked through to make his points, "I fear he's right. Two peas in a pod. Two monsters in a mess."
With a sudden lurch, Hatter regained his feet.
There was a skittering in the undergrowth. Alice didn't notice.
"How unfortunate for you, to be a monster like me," Alice retorted.
"No," says Hatter, pulling his hat from his head. "Well, perhaps unfortunate. But no more so for me than for you." He pulled a teacup from his hat, and then lifted his knee to rest his hat upon as he pulled a full kettle from his jacket. The skittering grew louder, and Alice turned to find the source.
"Monsters…" Hatter whispered, pouring himself a cup of tea.
A few branches from a nearby purplish-leaved bush groaned, then spat out the skittering creature. Alice gawked. It was a couch…no…a divan. A red velvet divan, with golden wood trimmings that, as one got closer to the legs of the thing, transformed into massive claws with black talons that it skittered about on.
"Monsters…" Hatter began to sit, teacup in one hand, kettle in the other, hat still resting on his knee.
The divan rushed to Hatter, then scooted itself under him just in time for his tush to hit the cushion. "Monsters?"
Alice watched the whole scene with interest, her anger starting to evaporate. She almost jumped as a second creature erupted out of the same undergrowth that had just spat out the divan. It was a little side table. The round top of the thing was quite normal, but the stand holding it up was a shadowy thing that she couldn't readily identify. It held the tabletop over its head with two hands, and rushed about on two legs…maybe it had a tail? But it made no sound at all as it moved, a shadow racing across the leafy ground.
It perched itself next to the divan, and Hatter automatically set his teakettle atop it. He kicked his legs up onto the divan, stretching out. "Monsters…me and my Alice. My monster and I. Hmm…"
Hatter smiled to himself. Alice was sure it was the gentlest smile she'd seen on him, and it was still broad and just a touch wicked.
She just stared at him, all comfortably mad, pouring out a second cup of tea. He held it out to Alice, and she just scowled.
Oh, how she wanted to pummel him, or shake him 'til he made sense somehow. First insisting on taking her home, then calling her 'his'. Now he reclined there, all inviting, kind and…and maddeningly sexy.
Alice reddened as she realized it. The tousled red hair, free of the hat, the red of the divan making the black and white stripes of his vest and hat, the black of his pants and the white of his jacket stand out shockingly. The slow, thoughtful blink of his intense blue eyes, and the ever-present mad, black-lipped grin.
Hatter wasn't sure what Alice was thinking. Women were, after all, stark raving mad. The whole lot of them. He was sure. But she just stood there, looking furious, her cheeks flushed, her sapphire eyes almost black, hair still mussed from tackling him (damn, but she was a tough biscuit!) and lips parted and reddening as he looked. Was she breathing harder? Was he about to get tackled again? He weighed his options…he could dodge, or he could just lie beneath her. Again. Heh…simple choice there. His grin spread.
Alice watched his grin grow, and let him hold out that cup of tea a little longer. *That's right, Alice. Just walk right into the spider's web, like a good fly. * The thought was unbidden, but it was clear that joining the Mad Hatter on a divan, alone in Wonderland, was a bad idea. The wind blew a few leaves across the short paces between them. She curled her lips lightly and whispered, "Monsters."
Hatter sucked in his breath as she approached. Had a hammer begun wailing on his chest, or was it just holdover from having had her knee lodged there not too long before? His heart felt as if it would slam its way out of his chest. He'd felt this a few times before; as he watched her through her mirror, trying to figure out the riddle that was her…missing her, wishing he could just speak to her.
She took the teacup, and then looked at the divan, clearly wondering where she should sit. Hatter did not respond, but the divan did. It obligingly widened itself enough for her to recline next to him, rather like a bed.
*Oh, this is a very, very bad idea, * Alice thought. Hatter said nothing; he just gazed at her. But something about that grin grew more pleased by the moment.
The seconds ticked. Alice licked her lips nervously. Hatter's breath hitched. She sat carefully, almost primly in front of him, never taking her eyes off him. It was an awkward way to sit, but she certainly would not lie beside him. She prayed silently that she would not spill her tea, so unsteady were her hands becoming. It was she who broke the silence. "We should really be on our way, you know…"
The divan lurched in response to what it perceived to be a command aimed at it, beginning to skitter about. Alice fell against Hatter, who held her. Her tea spilled down the front of her blue satin dress. *Lovely, * she thought.
Hatter reached across her, nearly atop her, as he snatched his cane from the ground when the divan skittered past it. Alice was forced to lay low against him as he then used the end of the cane to catch up her forgotten long black overcoat. He tossed the overcoat against the back of the divan, then tapped twice with his cane against the side of the divan. This seemed to give the divan direction, and it altered course in response, leaving the little clearing quickly behind them.
Alice was just beginning to catch her breath, when she suddenly discovered the little shadow-table-thing on her chest. It weighed nothing. It still held the tabletop over its head, with the teakettle atop that. It seemed to be rubbing its foot furiously over the spot on her chest where the tea had spilt. As quickly as it appeared, the little shadow side table was back on the ground, following the divan by a mere inch.
Alice craned her neck to watch it, but was suddenly distracted by something else on her chest.
Hatter was tracing the spot between her breasts where the tea had fallen, and where the shadow creature had scrubbed with his foot. Alice's face turned a bright red.
She sputtered, but Hatter cut her off. "Hmmm…the tea spot's all gone. Looks like your birthday dress shan't be stained."
Alice looked down. Indeed, the stain was gone. But his fingers were still there. Her glance shot back to the Mad Hatter, who was simply watching the tips of his fingers as he traced along the space between her breasts, over the laces that held her dress closed over them. Alice was fairly certain she should make him stop this. She was equally certain she had no clue how to ask him to stop. Especially when she didn't precisely want him to.
"Your tea will get cold, Alice," he murmured.
"Oh!" Alice squeaked, eagerly trying to sip the little that remained of her tea. Hatter moved his cup from one hand to the other, but did not sip. "Do you make it a habit to eat and drink anything you're offered in Wonderland?" he asked.
She gulped hard. "Yes, as a matter of fact. I suppose I do."
"And you've no worry about its contents?" he pressed.
"Should I be? From a cup you hand me?" Her voice quavered. She licked her lips again.
"At the moment, no," he whispered. "But I've a mind to drug you."
Alice looked from her empty teacup to Hatters full one. "Did you drug me, Hatter?" she asked, not sure whether or not she minded if he did. What strange thoughts she had of late…
"No," he grinned, quaffing his tea in one gulp. "But if I did, I would give you something that would make you smile." He tossed his cup at a tree. The tree caught it and kept it. He traced Alice's lips with his index finger, watching her chest heave, delighting in the way her eyes dilated. Alice dropped her cup.
"And would you take the poison with me, or would I be smiling alo—" she didn't finish her sentence. Hatter had dipped his head down over hers, his mouth an inch away. *Oh, this was such a bad idea! *
"For now, Alice, you will be my monster, and I will be your drug."
He brushed his lips against her mouth, slowly, carefully. Alice put a hand against his chest, as if she would stop him. But she didn't push him away. He took her hand, and gently put it over her head, curling his long fingers into hers.
Alice's face burned. Her stomach twisted delightfully. Tentatively, she returned the kiss. He was right. He was like a drug. A drug that made her chest pound and her toes curl.
He pulled away from her, just a few inches. He took a lock of her hair between his fingers, and sniffed it lightly. He stared into Alice's eyes, his own lidded and entirely dilated. Alice waited, wishing he wouldn't stop kissing her.
He spoke softly, sounding almost sane. "Finally, you're back on the right side of the mirror. Finally, you can see me, too." Alice's chest tightened. He had been alone here, watching her, and knowing she could not see him. How many years? How long had he been as lonely as she'd been on the other side?
"Finally, I can touch you." He caressed her face. "Finally, I have my Alice to myself. Am I mad, or is this real?" he asked. He pulled her close to him, searching her face with his eyes.
Alice's heart fluttered wildly as he pulled her into his embrace. "Both," she sighed. She laced her fingers into the tangled locks of his hair, pulling him to her, kissing him, feeling him, breathing deeply of his cinnamon madness.
Hatter was lost in the sensation of her, the earthy lavender smell, the cool softness of her skin that was warming as he kissed her, the matching hammering of both of their heartbeats. He'd been so lonely for so long…so many terrible things, so many nightmares. And here was his sapphire monster, ready to destroy the nightmare with her blades and heal his soul with her kiss. He felt he was drowning. She was here! And she was in his arms, and so…so…intoxicating. He deepened the kiss, wrapping both his arms around her, burying one hand in her long chestnut hair. He tangled one of his legs about hers, anything to draw her closer, closer…
…And snagged the leg of his pants on one of the knives tied around Alice's boot.
Alice pulled back at the sound of fabric rending, looking down at the hole in Hatter's pants. Suddenly aware of how precarious her situation was, she sat up fully. Her skirts were up around her thighs, her creamy legs showing above the black and white stripes of her thigh-high stockings. She moved to pull her skirts down a bit, but Hatter grabbed her hand and didn't let it go. He turned to her boots, studying first the toys on the left boot, then the blades on the right one. He touched a blade, testing it. It wasn't too sharp, but sharp enough. Not so sharp as to cut an errant piece of cloth as she walked, but sharp enough to slide between a man's ribs. Hatter almost shivered.
The other boot he took more time examining, caressing the tiny bottle that read "drink me" in such tiny letters that one almost could not read them. Then he slid the tip of his pinky into the top hat that looked so like his own.
Alice watched him, trying to nudge her skirts a little lower. Hatter was having none of this. She turned her head to hide the brilliant cherry red of her cheeks, and spied something on the back of the divan.
"Hatter—Hatter look!" she cried, wriggling her hand free. Hatter looked on mournfully as she managed to scoot her skirts down one leg to the knee. Then he finally looked up.
Two creatures sat on the edge of the divan's back, peering down at the two of them. The oddest part was how much one resembled Alice, with her blue dress, chestnut hair and all, and the other resembled the Hatter, clothes, hair, hat and all. The only things that stood out uniquely about them were their solid black eyes, huge and almond-shaped, and their insect-like wings. That, and they were less than a foot tall from head to toe. Their bodies seemed to flicker, as though they were holding up and image of Alice and an image of Hatter, and those images weren't quite steady.
The one that resembled Alice stared deeply at her, and the one resembling Hatter gave him the same treatment. Alice had the oddest sensation of an itch in the back of her mind. For no reason she could decipher, her chest suddenly felt heavy.
Abruptly, they turned to each other, and held each other in a close, almost scandalous embrace.
They sighed to one another, their sounds eerily melodious, and then Hatter and Alice could just make out the words of their terrible little song:
Hatter-creature:
One for one, O monster-mine,
Tell me who you killed.
Alice-creature:
Aranmula's boy
Who made me his toy
His skull cracked—then he was still.
Alice-creature:
One for one, O monster-mine,
Who by your hand has died?
Hatter-creature:
The March Hare is dead,
For the Door Mouse he bled,
After betraying my Queen and I.
Hatter and Alice could only stare at one another, too shocked to move or speak. Neither one of them had any denial about their features. The creatures sang again.
Hatter-creature:
One for one, O monster-mine,
Would you weep to kill again?
Alice-creature:
My sharp knives would feast
On the doctor and priest;
They hunger for all such men.
Alice-creature:
One for one, O monster-mine,
Who is next to die?
Hatter-creature:
That false Queen of Hearts,
Foul, loathsome tart,
She'll bleed for my Alice and I!
From having been so flushed a few moments before, Alice and Hatter were suddenly quite pale. It was more than a little unsettling to have your darkest thoughts sang out to your new lover.
The little Hatter-creature stopped crooning, and turned to the original Hatter. "But where are you taking her?"
The Alice-creature suddenly looked at Alice, then at Hatter. "Where are you taking me, lover?"
Hatter just stared back at them. "Where are you taking my Alice?" the Hatter-creature repeated.
"Where are you taking me, monster?" the Alice-creature cried, fear and betrayal so naked in its tones. It fluttered its wings in a fit. Alice herself was not doing much better. Panic was rising. What were these frightening little things going on about, now?
Finally, the Alice-creature grew so panicked, it fluttered away. The Hatter-creature advanced on Hatter. He touched the Mad Hatter's forehead, and asked once more, "Where are you really taking my Alice? What will really become of my Alice?"
The divan stopped suddenly. Everything was so still. The Hatter-creature fluttered off after the Alice-creature. Hatter finally met Alice's gaze again.
She'd somehow managed to curl herself against the arm of the divan, skirts safely over her knees, arms wrapped around them. "Oh, my Alice. Where am I taking you?"
"To—to the Duchess, of course," Alice offered, not really believing her own words.
"No. No, not to the Duchess."
Alice choked. "Then…where…"
"I've been a fool, Alice." Hatter laughed. "A mad, mad fool!" He sprang from the divan, reaching quickly into his jacket. He pulled out a little glass cordial. It seemed filled with some purplish-black fluid. He quickly un-stoppered it, and emptied it into his mouth.
Alice panicked. Was it some kind of poison? Just what was happening?!? She threw herself at him, with no clear idea of what she'd do.
But Hatter caught her, and held her tight against him. Then he tipped her head up, bent his head down before she had a chance to catch her feet, and kissed her deeply.
Alice never had a chance. Warm, sweet liquid rushed at her throat. She swallowed on reflex, then coughed. She reeled from him, and Hatter let her go. She didn't make it far before she stumbled and fell to the ground.
Hatter spat the rest of the blackish liquid from his mouth.
Alice tried to regain her feet, but her muscles were locking fast. "Ha—tter…wha…why…"
"Don't try to speak," he said, gathering her into his arms, and carrying her to a mossy boulder. Alice noticed with the only still part of her mind that the moss was strangely iridescent, more pink than green. The rest of her mind was utterly terrified.
He sat her up against the rock. The poison didn't numb her, it just made her incapable of moving anything but her eyes and her lips..though her jaw would not pry open, nor her tongue move. She felt the rock against her back, his arms around her, the strangely soft grass beneath her legs. Where was she? She hadn't noticed, and couldn't look around much, now.
"You can't speak, and you can't move. Not for a while. So you must listen instead," he said. Alice finally noticed what was wrong. He wasn't smiling. And he sounded so…sane. His eyes grew soft, and he caressed her face. "I am a madman and a fool, but, by all that is left of me, I love you."
The terror-filled whirlwind of Alice's mind finally paused, and she listened.
"Seeing you for so long…I knew peace in the locks of your hair, joy in the curl of your fingers, and the softest sadness from those lips that never smiled." He stopped, and ran his fingertip gently across her bottom lip. When he brought his finger back, Alice realized she must have been crying. His finger dripped with her tears. The long black lines that cut over Hatter's cheeks were also filled with small rivulets of tears.
Alice was no longer frightened. She was just waiting for him to hurt her. To betray her. "Never trust the Mad Hatter," the Cheshire Cat had said. Fool, fool, Alice the fool.
"The Black Widow…she's your…your enemy. Do not trust her, do not trust her agents. Any of them," he whispered, still holding her close. He laughed to himself. It was a hollow, strange sound. Alice's mind wrapped around this. Why tell her this now? Who were the Black Widow's agents?
"Your brother, William…I'm certain he's in the Court of Hearts." If Alice could have cried out, she would have. Hatter seemed to see her reaction in her eyes. "You cannot go alone. You will not survive, and you'll do no good for William. Go to the Duchess. She'll help you. She has many allies."
Alice tried to crease her brows at him, and grew frustrated when she couldn't even do that much.
Hatter stopped giving her instructions, and just sat there, caressing her face, his tears coming down faster. But he never so much as hiccoughed. It was as though his eyes were just bleeding tears. "I meant to drug you with something sweet, didn't I? Something that would make you smile. But neither I nor my little poison will make you smile. I think I've failed you. I tried reunite you and your mother, but I failed her, too, failed all of Wonderland. Because I am a fool, and I let myself be blinded. But you'll not fail. And I will do everything I can to make sure you succeed, my Alice."
He leaned in, and kissed her softly, gently, with no demand, no apology, no promise. Alice's heart twisted when she realized it. He was saying goodbye.
Hatter stood finally. He shrugged his coat off his shoulders, turned it inside out, then lay it across her. Alice knew she'd be invisible…just another part of the boulder. Still, Hatter did not grin. Alice could see him through an opening in the fabric. She wondered if he'd done that on purpose.
He strode to the divan, and set the Caterpillar's cane carefully across it. He lay Alice's black over coat on it, then spoke quietly to it. "Hide yourself well, but wait. When I'm gone, take Alice to the Duchess. Quickly." The divan rushed to some nearby scrub, and Alice could hear and see it no more. Hatter took one last, long look at where Alice lay. She could tell that he couldn't see her. Finally, the grin began to creep along his face. It looked blacker somehow, much more sinister. He took the top button off of his vest. Was it a little skull? He tossed it on the ground. The earth rumbled a bit around it, sending out strange shockwaves.
He just stood there, looking off into the distance. Minutes ticked by. Alice imagined the White Rabbit's huge waistcoat watch. She couldn't tame her mind enough just now to figure out what was happening.
Then Hatter's head snapped in another direction. Alice heard nothing. All she saw was a massive, black-furred creature slam into Hatter, knocking him to the ground.
"Brakes, Kitty," Hatter groaned from beneath the thing.
But Alice didn't hear him. She heard nothing. Her mind was reeling as recognition grew. The black fur, the kittenish ears and paws, all on an otherwise utterly misshapen form. *Kitty… * she thought. *No, no, no, no….not Kitty… *
But it was. It was Dinah's baby…her beloved little black kitten. He'd grown bigger here, but still grossly deformed. And all through his fur there glittered thousands of tiny red spots that moved. When her tears cleared enough, Alice realized what they were. Spiders. Black spiders with the red hourglasses on their abdomen.
Alice thought back to that day, years and years ago, when she bartered her future in Wonderland to a woman on the other side of the mirror, all in exchange for the protection of Kitty. She remembered the long, spindly white fingers tipped with long black nails. Alice had always secretly feared she'd given Kitty to one of the queens of the card deck. After all this time, she knew who'd had Kitty—the Black Widow.
Hatter finally regained his feet, and jauntily bowed to Kitty. Alice was a bit confused. Suddenly the spiders all over Kitty became agitated. They moved in waves across Kitty's fur, their ruby marks glittering. It would have been pretty were it not so horrific to think of all the poison they contained, writhing on her dear Kitty.
The waves of spiders crashed on one another, as Kitty sat silently on her oversized haunches. They pooled in the air, then spun into a human-ish shape. The shape they formed was certainly a woman, though Alice could still see through the spiders to the woods behind the form. She had six arms. Alice had a bad feeling about this…
The click of the spiders over one another's bodies seemed to be forming sounds. Once Alice realized this, she listened closer. "Hhhhaaatta…youuu fiiiinally sssummon me." As the body seemed to solidify, so did the sound of the spider-voice. "I had begun to wonder if you'd lost yourself."
"Oh, but I did!" Hatter quipped. "To which I owe thanks to your pets in the forest, I might add." Hatter wasn't grinning so much as showing his teeth.
"The nagaini are no enemy of yours. They should not have bothered you at all…but why were you so far? I awaited you near the Duchess's side of her bedroom mirror," the spiders whispered.
"Well, Widow, Alice navigates her own way, and Wonderland bends to her. We were lucky that the Cheshire Cat found us, I suppose."
The form of the six-armed woman snapped her neck towards Hatter, seeming to use Kitty as her legs, forcing him to walk to Hatter. "WHO?? The Cat? Am I to guess that this is why you failed to bring me Alice?"
"Whatever do you mean, bring you Alice? I thought we were bringing Alice to Faelyn." Hatter's voice was soft, high and slightly mocking, as if even he did not believe what he was saying.
The Black Widow noticed. "After so many years, when we are so close to resurrecting your Queen, now you doubt me? Now you lose your nerve, and decide not to serve your precious Queen of Hearts? What happened, Hatta? Did Alice's pretty face make you forget where your fealty lay?"
"Damn near did, as a matter of fact," Hatter shot back. "But don't worry. Cheshire Cat may have Alice, but she trusts me. I even convinced her that she should trust you. I told her what marvelous care you're taking of Kitty," he lied, venom dripping from his words.
"Hatta, you would do well not to mock me," the Black Widow hissed. Kitty began to growl. It was a strange, not-quite-kitten sound, and it made Alice sick to hear it. "I am the only one who can bring Faelyn back. I don't think your little Alice would thank you for estranging the one who holds the key to her mother's future."
Hatter bowed again, grin reaching back to his ears. "It can't be helped, you know. It's in my nature to be wicked." His eyes were so very cold, his grin so sinister, that Alice believed him.
The Black Widow seemed to stop and consider him a moment. "Of course. I forget, when you're away for so long. You're wicked, and you're mad. And…you're missing the coat I gave you…"
Suddenly, the mass of spiders and cat swiveled, seeming to examine the entire clearing. Alice's mind raced. No way to escape. Stuck. Frozen. Helpless.
"It turns out," drawled the Mad Hatter, "that keeping the White Rabbit alive long enough so that I might still be trusted by the Duchess takes a considerable amount of my protection. Had I known things were going to go so awry, I would have saved myself the trouble and let him die early on. Then I'd still have my jacket." He looked down at his sleeves in irritation, as though it was their fault for not being covered by the jacket.
"Enough of this; tell me, where is Alice now?" the Black Widow demanded.
Despite herself, Alice grew afraid again. Would he change his mind? Would he suddenly turn on her and give her to this woman? Alice couldn't say why, but this woman truly frightened her.
'I overheard him saying he was going on an errand. Any idea what he might have meant?" Hatter asked.
The Black Widow seemed pleased by this. "So he's not taking her directly to the Duchess? Good…this gives us time. And I think I know where he's going. And this time, you will not lose your precious Alice to the damnable Cat." Alice could swear she could see a slow smile forming on the Black Widow's spider-construct face.
Hatter returned the smile, nodding. The spiders dropped back down to Kitty's body, and Hatter and Kitty turned to walk away. Alice wanted to scream. How could he walk with her? How could he smile at her?
Hatter did not turn back, did not acknowledge Alice in any way. She knew she should be relieved, but he was just leaving her. She watched him go, without his jacket, hat cocked askew, flame-red hair flying off in strange directions from beneath it, and cascading down his back. His jaunty stride was a fitting compliment to the tortured, uneven shuffle of Kitty.
Alice wanted him to destroy the Black Widow, there on the spot. Hell, she wanted to do it herself, so that she could save Kitty.
Kitty. There was no way to get those black widow spiders off Kitty without killing…well…everyone involved. He was right to leave. Alice could feel her tears, but she wanted to do more. She wanted to wail, to throw a fit.
But she was stuck, petrified on the floor of the forest, waiting for the poison to wear off. Now she knew why he'd poisoned her. There was nothing he could have said to make her sit still and quiet through that. And if he'd tried to leave, she would have followed. Bastard.
*Well, * she finally thought, *at least this poison keeps me from throwing my fit. How ashamed would I be, later, had I risked the life of Kitty, Hatter and I just because I wanted to…"
Alice paused. *…I wanted to rip her face off. Hmmm. That's interesting. *
She began to laugh, but her lungs weren't moving. Was she suffocating? Could one suffocate in Wonderland? Her chest didn't move, her shoulders could not have shaken even had she wanted them to. Still, the absurdity of her own desire to kill, of calmly agreeing that the man you trusted was right to poison you. How was the mind supposed to wrap around such things? Alice's mind was, clearly, going to have nothing to do with it anymore. The tears streamed faster down her pale cheeks.
She realized just how recent the feel of his lips on hers was. She realized she still ached to be touched again. She'd never been held that way, never caressed so gently. When so many girls her age already had beaus or fiancés, Alice had happily shunned the opposite sex. And now, when it was so new, so exhilarating, he'd poisoned her and left. How terribly funny.
She wasn't sure when her sobs became audible, or when the incessant cackling in her head rose to a fevered pitch from her own lips. Small Alice, huddled under her lover's jacket, laughing alone in the woods of Wonderland.
It took her a moment to feel the repetitive nudging of one of the long, ebony claws of the divan. Slowly, she pried her arms from her sides, the muscles cramped as though they'd been stone only moments ago. She pulled the jacket inch by aching inch from her head to find herself in the strangest purple-pink forest she'd ever seen. The evening was coming with creeping finger-shadows of spiky trees, and a strange bioluminescence was starting to gather strength in the foliage.
Uncurling her locked legs made her cry out in pain. The poison left her muscles sore and angry. Even her toes moving in her boots shot knives of pain up her calves. With each effort, she had to stop and catch her breath, and then she'd start to laugh again. She tried to use the divan to help her gain her feet, but standing was not possible. She feebly pulled herself onto the cushions. The shadow-creature helped as best it could, placing itself where she could cling to the tabletop for support and haul herself up onto the divan. With a graceless 'oomf', she landed her hip on the cushions. Hatter's coat was still bunched in her lap, a rumpled mess. She didn't know if she wanted to curl around it or toss it to the ground. Good thing she couldn't move very well, and, thus, didn't have to decide.
The divan made to move, but her boots were dragging so much on the uneven ground that she might be pulled off. The shadow-creature kicked at her boots, but could do little else while he held the little tabletop over his head.
Finally, the divan bucked, tossing Alice fully onto it, so that her legs dangled over the far end, while her head rested against a cushion near the arm. Alice cackled at the sensation, her throat already hoarse from the relentless crying and hysterical laughter. The divan began to move, this time very, very quickly. Her laughter subsided to throaty giggles. The glow of the strange, spiky, prickly forest grew, curtains of spines trailing down to the divan as Alice watched the canopy above her. "Thank you," she finally whispered.
The shadow-creature hopped onto the divan, bending at the waist to peer closely at her face. It never allowed the teakettle that rest on the tabletop to slide an inch. Alice wondered if it had been a 'patient' at Kazan, too, and if it shared a soul with the divan. Or perhaps the table and divan were like Tweedledee and Tweedledum: a matched pair; brothers, perhaps.
Tentatively, it reached one of its shadow-feet to her face. Alice could barely feel it, and made no move to try to stop it from toeing her face. She didn't know if she even could, her whole body ached so badly. It seemed to be trying to scrub at her tears, as it had scrubbed at the tea on her dress. Alice smiled. "Some stains don't wash," she said softly. The thing seemed surprised. It had no facial features, only an outline of where its face and head should be. But it jerked back a little, then cocked its head to the side. It seemed to consider her statement a long while, as though it had never encountered the sentiment before.
Finally, and somewhat bashfully, the creature hopped off the divan and resumed skittering along silently behind it.
Alice stared at the canopy again. She thought of her brother, his soul here for ten long years. She wondered if he'd been treated well. She wondered if he'd been lonely. And in the Queen's court! What an atrocity.
She thought of the March Hare, and wondered why he would have killed the door mouse. She wondered how he had betrayed the Que—Faelyn? Should Alice call her that? Should she call her…mother? It was strange to do so, but no moreso than trying to think of Clarice as her mother.
And what of the Black Widow's claim? Alice did not trust her, but the thought of someone capable of…resurrecting…her mother…
It was a strange and frightening thought. What did they need Alice for? Resurrection did not bring good images to her mind. Given the chance, would she help give her mother life again? Alice thought that she would, and that she should. But she could not bring herself to believe that the Black Widow would help someone without demanding something in return. After all, she'd not only managed to somehow take Alice's ability to travel to Wonderland when she took Kitty in, but she'd turned Kitty into her errand-cat. It angered Alice deeply. She felt that her 9-year-old self had been betrayed by yet another stranger.
Alice's mind was slowing. The fear, panic and pain of the last…few minutes? Hours? Days? How long had she been in Wonderland? It was all gaining on her, making her entire being beg her to rest before the next beautiful, terrible, wonderful thing came along to tug at her heart strings.
As she drifted off, she thought of what Hatter had said. "Alice navigates her own way, and Wonderland bends to her." What a strange thing to say. Her cheeks grew rosy. She chose not to think of how silly it was to blush about the Mad Hatter now. She'd told her father that the Mad Hatter did not lie, that because he was mad, and had no need to lie. But he'd just told the Black Widow lie after lie after lie. Was he truly mad? Or did even mad people need to lie from time to time when it was important? She almost smiled, despite herself. So very, very tired.
Her eyes closed. She became insensible to the glowing forest around her, and the falling night. Just before sleep caught her, she wondered how the Duchess.
Above her on the back of the divan, the winged Alice-creature looked down at her. The Hatter-creature joined her. They fell into an embrace, watching Alice sleep.
"Sweet dreams, Alice-monster," the Alice-creature said.
"I will wait for you," the Hatter-creature whispered.
…………………………..
A.N. Oh. My. Gods. I really thought I was never going to finish this chapter. It's an amazing thing to continually get new reviews, to hear from fans that are still waiting for the next chapter, even as I wrestle with the characters, the wild land of Wonderland, and the motivations and secrets that keep them all spinning.
I wanted to do two more reviews of this chapter just to make everything PERFECT, but that's just too much time to ask of the people who are interested in what actually HAPPENS. Still, feel free to comment on anything wonky that catches your eyes.
And now, tokens of my undying love.
To:
-dani hyde : Reading your reviews as you went chapter by chapter was delightful! I hope you like this chapter, too! And, yes, I'm another lover of Labyrinth, but I'm sorry to say I haven't read it in years, and I don't remember her room very well. Lo siento!
-Cybernetic Mango : Biscuits. I miss biscuits. I haven't had any in the 7 months I've been in Argentina. Snapps want!!!
- stemilie69 : Hope this next one was also worth the wait! Thanks for being so patient thusfar.
-thechickenlittle : I did settle well here in Buenos Aires! And friends keep moving down here from my hometown of Austin, Texas. It's feeling more and more homey here. My Spanish is still laughable. *sigh *
- watergoddesskasey : Oh, how I dig being awesome. ^_^
- Viciously Witty : I was then and I am still looking forward to seeing Johnny Depp play the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. The movie isn't in theatres here, yet. It was so nice of Tim Burton to do a fan fiction movie based on my fan fiction story…and before I'd even finished it!
*wink *
- framedhim : I'm a shamefully slow updater, but I hope you're still willing to read along!
- SmeagulTheWeasul : Ooh, I devastated someone?! I'm not sure if that means I get a gold star or a swift kick in the butt…
- Alanna : sorry for the delay, but here you go!
- Indiana Smith : as requested, I'm continuing the story! Still so much to write…
- Labmama : I love him, too!
- Ellnidra : I'm glad you appreciate how closely I've tried to stick to Carroll's original works. It was so very important to me, because I've been a fan for so long of both of the stories. Can't tell you how many times I've re-read them to find new ways to introduce the characters from 11 1/2 years before!
- Alaksandra : As always, I love watching readers' reactions to individual chapters. And the thought of mad people roaming the streets of the real world because an asylum shut down makes me sad. I'd rather they had a wonderland, though one less hellishly dominated than mine.
- Flos : Not trying to MAKE people cry, but I certainly cry while I write. And I wanted to make everyone wait before Clarice got punched in the face, but I got so frustrated with her I did a double-punch on her. I get antsy.