This is my longest chapter so far lol. Thanks for all the reviews guys, please keep'em comin'.

He was tired, so utterly tired.

He had been running through the forest for days. He hadn't eaten and for him sleep had become a luxury. The only objects he had on him were the clothes on his back and the only thing that he possessed of his father's was clenched in his hand, an old hat.

Without realizing it, he once again tripped over something in his path. As he had done many times before, he let a harsh string of obscenities escape his lips as he got to his feet. At that moment he heard something he had been fearing for days, a human voice.

"Hey kid," a man's strangely accented voice said before Hatter could turn to face him. Afraid that he might turn only to face nothing, Hatter took a moment to build up the courage before performing the act. An odd relief passed through him when he saw that the man was in fact solid and standing a few feet from him.

"Jeez kid, where the hell did you come from, huh?" the man said as he looked Hatter over. "You look like ya crawled outta the underworld or somethin'."

A few minutes passed before the man starting coming toward Hatter. He looked normal enough; short brown hair, dark eyes, tan skin, and a rather large sent of front teeth, but he had an air about him that made Hatter uneasy.

"Name's March. Mad March ta some. How 'bout you kid, you gotta name?" Mad March asked as he paused in front of Hatter. The man waited for him to speak as he shifted the heavy hunting rifle that he had been carrying from one shoulder to the other, but Hatter did not comply. "Not much for talkin' I guess….Hows about you come on back to the city with me and I'll get you set up with a thing or two? You look like you need a hand kid and there's very few people worth trustin' out there in the big world, but I think I may just be the man for you….I ain't saying I'm gonna do this for free, but nothin' is exactly free these days is it?"

Hatter was quickly beginning to suspect that Mad March was going to pull him from this forest whether he wanted to leave or not.

"Come on kid, I'll put some food in ya and then we can see what you're worth."

"Hatter," Hatter mumbled as Mad March took him by the arm.

"What's that?"

"Call me Hatter." he replied as he placed his father's hat on his head.

**************

"Aah," Hatter gasped as he opened his eyes. A sharp pain in his right arm had dragged him out of his dreams, not that he minded much. As swiftly and gently as possible, Hatter disentangled himself from Alice and headed to the small bathroom that his new bedroom contained.

Once the light was on, Hatter looked down at his arm. On the outside there didn't appear to be anything wrong, but there was a throbbing in his veins that Hatter couldn't ignore, especially since it was getting worse.

"Alice," Hatter said as loudly as he could before he sank to his knees.

************

She had felt him leave the bed but being that they were, you know, human Alice figured that he just needed to well….but once she heard him call her name she jumped out of the bed and went to him.

"Hatter!" Alice yelled as when she opened the bathroom door and saw him on the floor. "What's happening to you?!"

She was kneeling beside him now. She was able to see that there was most definitely something wrong. He looked completely exhausted, almost like he had been awake for about a month despite the fact that he had just woken up. Hatter was also clutching his right hand to his chest.

This was the weirdest thing of all. His right arm was covered in dark lines as if his very blood were turning black.

"Alice," he whispered, his voice filled with pain that scared Alice more than she would ever be able to admit.

"Hatter, tell me what to do." she said as she looked at him with eyes that she knew mirrored the fear in his. Wanting to provide whatever sort of comfort she could, Alice wrapped her arms around his waist and helped Hatter to his feet before leading him back to the bed.

"Get Jack." he said. The look on his face told her how much he hated what he had just said.

"Get Jack?! Get Jack how?" she replied as she knelt in front of where he sat at the edge on the bed.

"There's a mirror, by the door. It's like a phone or somethin'."

"Okay," Alice mumbled as she got to her feet and ran a hand through her hair, "How does it work?"

"No idea," Hatter groaned as he leaned back.

"Great…I'll figure something out I guess."

*************

"What makes you think, that if you get the ring and open the Looking Glass, that the Hatter will return? He's there in that other world with that….tart." the Queen asked Chess as they went over their strategy. With the promise of an abundance of human emotion once the portal was reopened, people flocked to the image of their old ruler. It was almost too easy to get them hooked again on the small amount of emotion that still existed in Wonderland.

"Because he has to. He cannot survive in her world. His body may have already started to turn against him." Chess replied between orders to the men in her human guard.

She was a strange creature the Queen thought. She looked almost human, but Chess seemed to despise humans unless they could help her further her plans. The Queen had spent enough time with the girl to know that once she was back on the throne, Chess could no longer be allowed to exist. At the moment they had a symbiotic relationship, they needed each other, but the Queen knew that once she got what she wanted Chess would turn on her as sure as a Jabberwock on a hot day. Thinking ahead, the Queen also knew that she now had enough followers to act proactively and end Chess before she did the same to her.

"Really now? Why is that, I wonder? He's a human as sure as the rest that have gone through the portal. Why would it be any different for him?"

Chess turned on her with a look of annoyance, "Dear Queen, please do not trouble your tiny mind with things you do not understand. The Hatter is not all that he appears to be. Leave it at that before your confusion destroys our plans."

"My lady, we have found the old man as you asked." a young man said with some urgency as he approached Chess, his pride and nerves clear on his face.

"Well, don't just stand there you dunce, bring him in." Chess said with authority as she continued to stare at the papers in front of her.

Barely a minute passed as the people in the throne room worked before the young man returned with others, including a battered old man in the rusty armor of a white knight.

"Get your hands off me, you sniveling cretins! Do you know who I am?! I am the White Knight! I shall call upon the abyss and the might of the heavens shall rain down upon you." he said as he struggled against him.

"Don't!" Chess snapped as she vanished from the Queen's side, a breath later she appeared in front of the old man, "Do not continue with your lies here, old man. I know that you are not what you say you are. Be glad, because if you were truly a knight, you'd be dead before you took your next breath."

"You," Charlie sighed as he looked upon Chess with fear in his eyes and a quiver in his beard. "…I thought you demons were wiped out long ago."

"Ah," Chess sighed with a smile as she walked in a circle around him, "Seeing you, sweet Squire, brings back memories of the old times. Take him to the dungeons." she said with a wave of her hand.

Before returning the her plans she called after the retreating men, "Be weary, Squire, for I may come visit you to…reminisce."

**************

"God damn it!" Alice yelled at the mirror. She had been examining it for about ten minutes, but she still had know idea how to use it. She was tempted to smash the thing to pieces, but that definitely wouldn't help the situation.

Quickly, she rose from the couch to replace it on the wall. She decided to try the easiest thing she could think of, though she had already done it to no avail, but maybe this time someone would hear her.

"Jack! Jack Heart!" she yelled at the mirror as it hung on the wall, not really caring that the occupants of the apartments around her might very well call the police.

To her surprise, a face appeared in the glass before her, but it wasn't Jack's.

"May I help you?" asked a confused looking Club. His face was in the middle of the glass surrounded by the blur of time passing around him.

"Thank you," she replied to no one in particular, "Yes, I need to speak to the King. Tell him that…Hatter is sick."

"Ummm, I'm sorry to inform you, but the King is busy at the moment."

"He's not busy enough to talk to me."

"But mama-"

"Go get him now, or so help me God, I will find away back into Wonderland and finding you will be on the top of my list, followed by 'use deadly force.'" Alice said in a turn of phrase that was really not like her.

Looking Alice over, the Club decided that he valued his life and left to get Jack who appeared on the glass a moment later. His tired face smiling at her.

"Alice sweetheart, I really don't have too much time to spare at the moment."

"Can it Jack. What the hell is happening to Hatter and how can I stop it?"

Jack shook his head with a sigh before muttering, "He's half human despite whatever else he is, this shouldn't be happening this fast."

"What?"

"Nothing…it's just, the only way to help him now is to have him return to Wonderland."

"Great, that shouldn't be too hard." Alice replied with relief.

"Alice, the Looking Glass is closed-"

"So open it."

"It's not that simple."

"Why not? Just do whatever it is that you do with that stupid ring."

Alice was in a hurry and she couldn't help it that her pissed off level was off the charts, especially when it looked as though Jack was struggling to keep from rolling his eyes, "He hasn't told you."

"God Jack, whatever he hasn't told me doesn't really matter until he's okay."

"Alice, it isn't safe in Wonderland. The Queen has escaped. She's working with something that I've never seen before and I cannot risk removing the ring from where it's hidden, not now. It could destroy everything."

"Then there has to be something else I can do." Alice said as she fought back the tears that had begun to sting her eyes. She would not let Hatter die; not now, not ever.

"I am sorry, Alice. If there is another way, I don't know it."

Gathering up more confidence than she felt, Alice decided to speak the only words that could possibly have any affect on the situation. "Jack, you're the reason why this is happening to us. You brought both Hatter and I into this with your lies. And if you ever loved me you will do this for me, because if he does die... part of me dies with him."

Jack looked at her through the void, his face stoic, "So that's how it is then?"

"That's how it is."

With a heavy breath Jack said, "Take him to the Looking Glass, I'll send someone through when it's opened. Though, Alice I can't promise you anything."

"Thanks Jack."