Chapter 11: Escape

Hatter POV:

I rushed down the hallway, opening doors and looking for Amethyst. I was so worried about her. I was worried at first about her getting hurt, but once Alice told me Amethyst's history I was worried about losing her to the oversized, carrot eating, looser. I shook my head and kept opening doors. I stopped dead in my tracks when a familiar voice penetrated my thoughts, "This is for tricking me! *thunk* this is for lying to me! *thunk* this is for hurting me! *thunk*this is for making me trust you! *thunk*" I rushed towards the sound and skidded around a corner into some sort of training room. I saw Amethyst kneeling on the ground, throwing knives with deadly accuracy without looking where she was throwing. I looked around and saw chunks of training dummies on the ground along with a sword, Amethyst had clearly been angry about something. I looked back to her and saw that her dress had been ripped and her skin was marred by small cuts that were oozing blood. Tears made small tracks in the blood on her face as it slowly pooled around her legs. I kneeled down next to her and gathered her into my arms, "Thank God I found you!" I whispered into her hair. She ignored me and continued to throw knives. I wrapped her cold dainty hands in my rough warm ones. "Amethyst, what happened?" She looked up hopefully, "Hatter?" She sighed in relief before throwing her arms around my shoulders and burying her face into my neck, shoulders shaking. I breathed in her warm vanilla scent and nuzzled my face into her hair mumbling "Good to see you too, gemstone" She giggled through her tears, "Gemstone?" I shrugged, "it suits you. You're beautiful like a gem, and tough like one too." I blushed, where did that come from? She smiled up at me, pulling me into a hug. I relished the moment until she stiffened and pulled away from me. "Hatter, where's Alice?" She questioned, voice trembling pitifully. I wanted nothing more than to pull this sad and beautiful girl into my arms and protect her from the world, but I knew that wasn't what she wanted. She wanted the truth, so I told her what happened. I told her all about Charlie and out adventures. When I finished my story, Amethyst got up and wiped her tears. I handed her my jacket, and she laughed that amazing tinkling laugh. I smiled at the memory of the first time we met. "Well, what are we waiting for? We have an Alice to save!" I chuckled at her mercurial change of mood. She put some knives into her pocket and we went to save her sister.

Amethyst POV:

We met up with Charlie on the third floor. He bowed and kissed the back of my hand, telling me that he had heard much about me from Hatter and Alice. We went to the room Charlie claimed would contain my sister and I opened the door. I looked in to see our old house, the one we had before dad left. The room was full of spiders and there was a desk in the center. Alice was perched on the desk quivering, but refusing to write directions. I ran in and distracted the arachnids, stabbing them with my knives. Alice took this opportunity to barrel over to the door and run into Charlie's arms. I turned to leave, but the doors closed. I saw my friends banging on the now glass door, but it wouldn't budge. "Ooh! Another toy!" a man squealed to my left. "And she seems important" squawked an identical man to my right, gesturing to the door. Maybe she knows where the stone is. "The stone of Wonderland?" I asked. Why couldn't I keep my mouth shut, just this once? They grinned identical evil grins, "Let's see, what will make the girly sing?" I glared at them, but stopped when floorboards began to disappear under me. I scurried around while they laughed maniacally. Eventually there were only two boards, I was on one and the other was on the other side of the deep cavern, too far to jump to. My breathing became labored as I panicked. I felt a presence in the back of my mind, rooting through all the locked away memories. I blocked it out until I felt the force retreat.

I looked up when I heard screams, and all my friends- Hatter, Alice, Jack, Marchy, and Charlie (though I'd only just met him)- were tied to the ceiling by their wrists. The twins shrunk themselves down, and paced along the large floorboard. One of the pulled out a knife while the other appeared next to me and held me back at knife point. The first man walked over to Charlie and began slicing at him. I held my chin up defiantly so they moved on the Marchy. When they cut him, I screamed, but it clearly wasn't the desired effect, as he moved towards Jack. "You better not hurt him!" I threatened, but the man holding me back just chuckled and dug his knife into the soft flesh of my neck, my crimson blood staining the shining steel blade. I quieted at this and closed my eyes as I heard Jack screaming. "The girl next!" The man holding me cackled to his twin. I opened my eyes, "If you fu-"The man holding me clapped a hand over my mouth and smirked at me "Do you know what I say when I feel like swearing? Fudge" I struggled against him "If you Fudging touch her, I'll Fudging kill you!" (A/N: Supernatural reference :D) I yelled, emphasizing the word fudging. I heard my friends stop banging for a second and laugh at my sassiness. I watched, still struggling, as he began to slice at my sister…my best friend. I couldn't stand it, she was the person I turned to when life got tough, she stood up for my when I was bullied at school, she loved me more than my mother, she was my best friend. The man across the abyss glared at me, expecting a better reaction, Sorry buddy, pretty hard to break a cop, I smirked internally. Then he moved in from of Hatter. That was the last straw for me. Just as the blade pierced his skin, I screamed. I kneeled suddenly and sent the twin flying over my back and into the abyss. I swallowed my fear of heights, determined to save Hatter even though I could clearly see the real one was alright. The mere thought of Hatter being hurt steeled my resolve. I took a running leap and my fingers managed to scrape the end of the floorboard. I slowly pulled myself up and tackled the other twin to the ground. I straddled him, pinning him to the floor and raising his own knife against him. "I swear on my life, if you EVER hurt ANYONE I love again, I will hang you from the ceiling by your toes and skin you alive with a rusty potato peeler!" I growled at him, and I was serious. No one hurts my friends, ever. The door opened and everyone ran in. Hatter wrapped up my trembling frame into his arms. He kissed the top of my head, "You're ok, Gemstone, I'm here…we're here." I nodded pitifully and collapsed into his muscular chest. I was exhausted emotionally and physically. He put one of my arms around his shoulder and wrapped one of his arms around my waist, resting his hand on my stomach.

We rushed upstairs and ended up on the roof with no means of escape except a few…pink flamingoes? I didn't have much time to think about it because the door behind me opened and a familiar voice met my ears. "Ace, where're you goin'?" I turned and saw Marchy standing in the door frame. "Back off, she's coming with us." Hatter's voice was strong and assertive. I looked back and Charlie and Alice were on one flamingo and Hatter was standing by the other. A lone suite that had been patrolling the roof came around the corner. Hatter yelled and pointed to something behind the man's head causing him to turn around. Hatter whistled and the man turned around only to be met with Hatter's fist. The man almost flew off the roof until Hatter grabbed the front of his coat and pulled him back from the edge, laying his unconscious body near the door. My eyes softened and I could finally see the difference between Marchy and Hatter, and why I preferred the adorable, tea obsessed, Brit over the rude, impulsive, New Yorker. March glared at Hatter, "She's mine!" He growled and grabbed my arm, his nails digging in to me and drawing blood. I was about to speak up until Hatter spoke my exact thoughts, "What do you think she is, a prize to be won?" Hatter looked disgusted. "Yea, she is. And guess what Boss? I've won!" I was frozen in shock, I had thought Marchy had more respect for me than that. When he saw my rage he loosened his grip, still keeping his hand around my arm. "Ace, I'm-" He began gently. "No! You have no right to talk about her like that! Amethyst is more than just a prize, she doesn't need either of us! She's independent, kind, beautiful, smart and-" Hatter ranted angrily, fists clenched. "Can talk for herself, thank you very much." I smirked at Hatter. "You!" I rounded on Marchy, "We worked together for years! We solved crimes, got shot at, and put away bad guys. When did I ever seem like a trophy to be won? I SAVED YOU'R FUDGING LIFE FOR GODS SAKE!" I pulled away from him, slapped him, and walked over to Hatter who was giggling mirthfully and wiping away tears. Alice was shaking with suppressed laughter, and Charlie was guffawing loudly. "Ace, I-" Marchy tried again. "Nope!" I popped the 'P' and got onto the flamingo behind Hatter. He pressed a button and I screamed as we took off. I shut my eyes and buried my face into Hatter's back, balling my hands into his shirt. "You comfy?" He asked, trying to distract me. "No. Of course not" I responded dryly. "Why don't you just lean forward and put your arms around my waist and let my body take the weight?" He offered. I giggled and wrapped my arms around his waist leaning my chin on his neck. I nuzzled into his neck and he chuckled, knowing he had managed to distract me. We made small talk until we heard a crack.

A/N: HEY, HEY, HEY! I'm back :D I spent a while on this one, so it's quite long. There's a bit of fluff, sassy Amethyst, and lots of action. I'll try to post tomorrow and I think I'll do a special Hanukkah one (because that's what I celebrate) at some point. I was also thinking about adding the Cheshire Cat as a separate person instead of the shoddy representation of Ches/Dinah they put into it, because he is awesome and I am totally unbiased. Review if you have any strong preference on anything (and I mean anything from more/less references to adding another OC as a MINOR -not major- character) anyway… Thanks for reading :) –Cheshire Cat