A/N: Ugh, there's been signs that I should not get on the computer lately, so I've kinda been listening to them, cause a few days ago, the cable company was down and the neighborhood didn't have cable or the internet, which was also the night I had something to do for chem class online, so I got three quiz grades, all as twenties, because I didn't get to finish the assignment(admittedly I had a very long time to do it, but that is what being a procrastinator does to you), and then today the power was out in the whole neighborhood for a good few hours, for some people their power is still out and they've just been at the nearby Barnes&Noble so they don't have to stay at home with no heater(it was about 25 F last night/early morning and I live in southern Texas) and very bored children.
Anyway, enough about my life, now to the thank yous for people who reviewed/favorited/alerted, since I last updated and the list this time includes: Jhinra and James Birdsong, as always, for reviewing; again, there were no other reviewers/favorites/alerts.
Ok, just so you people know, if you happen to like Cat and you already like his brother, well then, you might hate me for this chapter, just fair warning; also Cat's brother likes to curse a lot, it's just how he talks, especially to Cat, sorry if it offends anyone.
RER, Read, Enjoy, Review!
"I said, what the fuck are you doing here?" the man spat again at Cat, tail swishing more angrily, if it was possible, as he stalked towards them, Alice did not realize the tense atmosphere and instead poured yet another cup of tea for the tabby like man.
"How many sugars?" she asked him, having taken the small bowl of sugar in one hand and the sugar tongs in the other.
The man looked at her for a moment before suddenly turning to the butler, who shook his head and so he turned back to Alice before replying, quite civilly, "Two, thank you." Alice placed two sugars in his tea and handed it to him; he then took a sip of it like a proper gentleman and set it down on the table once more, before turning back to Cat with that fierce glare in his eyes and again asking, "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"What, I can't bring some friends to meet my own dear brother?" Cat asked with a raise of the brow and relaxed swish of the tail.
"Not if you don't want to die." the man replied, "Besides, who are these people, I almost thought she was a maid for heaven's sake!" Cat merely glanced at the butler before glancing at his brother again, "What?" he turned and looked at the butler, "Oh, Butler, I would trust him with all nine of my lives if that's what you are implying."
"Right then, introductions, this is my brother, the Tabby Cat; Brother these are Hatter, Hare, and-"
"You mean they're the fugitives that the Queen has sent a messenger to warn the guards about?" Tabby asked with a raised brow, taking a seat in the armchair across from his brother and sipping at his tea; Alice briefly wondered how he knew this when the guards had not yet even been informed, but decided it was just one of the strange things about the Cats.
"Yes and not even her fastest messenger will make it in half the time we did." Cat replied, then he glanced at the butler before motioning to Alice, "And this, is Alice, the Princess of Hearts."
Butler immediately bowed to the young girl and Tabby merely stared at her in quiet surprise, "Well then, that is certainly a most convincing disguise then, I fully believed she was indeed a maid that simply didn't know the limits of this household, although that might have more to do with that if she looked any worse she could look like a beggar."
"Come now, she's royalty, be nice." Cat told his brother, who instead continued sipping his tea.
"Now then, what do you want?" Tabby asked his brother.
Cat put a hand to his chest, feigning shock, "Why, dear Brother, you would believe me to want something of you, can I not just come to visit a dear relation?"
"If it's you, never." Tabby replied.
Cat quickly dropped his act and leaned back in the couch he was seated on and smirked, "Well then, you'd be completely right, we need housing, clothing, and a hat making business, if you could not tell; I was hoping you might supply us with these things."
Tabby took a long drink of his tea, sighed deeply with eyes closed, opened them and then turned to Butler, "Give them the keys and the deed to the old apartment that we don't use, the one with the store beneath it, sign it over to a, um, Gregory Hatter, correct?" he asked his brother, who nodded, "And supply Hatter with new clothing, Hare, give him something old of mine that I never wore too often, give some old thing of one of the servant's to my brother and get the tailor to make something suitable for the girl, chop, chop, we haven't time to lose." he finished to Butler, who immediately left to do all these things.
"Seems like he's good help." Cat replied, earning him a glare from his brother, who just sighed and shook his head at something.
"You know, Mother died, and Calico had two kids." Tabby informed his brother.
"Really, good for them." Cat said with a smile, making Alice wonder just why the Cat family seemed to have such a bad relationship with one another.
Again Tabby sighed, and then called in maids to lead Alice, Hatter, and Hare to take baths before changing into their new clothes, "You and I need to talk." he told his brother, and Alice saw one final glimpse of her Cat before the doors to the grand room shut her away from him.
The maids rushed her away from the boys and into a bath far greater than any she had seen back at home with Mother and Father. They stripped her of her clothing, threw those away quickly, before she could have any say in the matter, and scrubbed down her body and hair harshly, causing Alice, actual physical pain, and great discomfort. They finished washing her briskly and quickly, dried her with a soft, fluffy towel that almost made her forgive them for their painful bathing routine, and then forced a dress over her head and combed her hair harshly, all in all, in about, little more than an hour, they had finished bathing and dressing her and so allowed her to see her own image in the mirror.
Alice was surprised, of course, at the castle, there had been a mirror on one of the walls, and Alice knew her appearance was certainly no pretty thing, and she supposed that having slept on forest ground for yet another week didn't really help her look any better, but she certainly never thought she could look this, well, good, after just a bath, or maybe it was just that the difference between her extremely dirty state and her clean one really were that great. Whatever it was, Alice quite liked it right then.
Her hair was at long last, less brown and more blond, like it had been; her skin was a shade lighter now that the dirt had been removed; the dirt under her nails was also gone, giving them a nice white look. The dress she had on also helped, a gorgeous light blue color with white ruffles at the sleeves, collar, and tactfully placed along the dress; she found that the dress had a set of pockets, one of in which she found the jubileedee sleeping contently, so she at least did not have to worry about where he had gone off to. She had even been given a choker, a black velvet ribbon with a blue gem hanging from it, the jewel was very expensive looking and she wondered why she would be given such a thing in the first place; but she merely shrugged it off and continued to admire the dress in the mirror.
Then the maids led her out of the room to another waiting room where she met up with Hatter and Hare, who were dressed in green and brown suits respectively; it was in this lesser waiting room that they awaited the arrival of their friend.
Cat's three companions left the room as he stared at his brother, only four years older than him, but he still acted as though Cat was a newborn and he was a hundred and fifty; it was really too annoying in Cat's opinion, and he liked to make that well known, "Someone really needs to take that stick out of your ass."
Tabby glared at his younger brother, but then sat down across from him and suddenly his head fell to his hands and Cat blinked in surprise. He was very sure that the brother, who had told him to stop blubbering like a walrus when he broke his arm so that the bone tore through the meat and flesh, and had actually been the one to break the arm that badly, was crying.
Cat could only stare, unsure of what to do, tempted to go forward and see if his brother was alright, but unsure if that was the right action, having never before been faced with anything like this situation. Tabby lifted his head, his face wet with tears, "Cheshire, she had a Tabby and a Grey." and Cat now understood why his brother was so distressed, Cat had begun life as a Grey, "You might be dying, too."
Alice, Hatter, and Hare were made to wait for quite a long time, before Cat finally exited the room with his brother, they spoke in hushed tones, not letting their conversation be heard, then the brothers hugged quickly and Tabby continued standing at the door, waved a goodbye to Alice and the rest, before reentering the waiting room and going back to his office, tail barely swishing behind him. Cat also seemed a bit down after speaking with his brother, Alice wondered why and wanted dearly to ask him, but could not bring herself to do so.
"Well then, to the townhouse." Cat told his companions, twirling a set of keys on his finger.
They then walked out of the house, to find a small carriage awaiting them, Cat helped Alice onto the compartment and then Hatter and Hare got on themselves, Cat decided to instead ride in the front with the driver, leaving the other three to themselves.
"Cat seems sad." Alice stated to the two men, who looked at her in surprise.
"He does?" Hare asked, having not noticed and Hatter also raised a brow in a questioning matter.
"Yes, I wonder why." and then she took to looking out the window at the still confusing sights of the city about them, her two companions were left to be confused over her instead of the bustling city.
The carriage stopped moving after some time and the scenery outside of Alice's window was suddenly replaced by Cat's upside down face, "We're here." was all that he told them, before jumping down from on top of the carriage and helping Alice down from the carriage, which the others exited quickly after her. Once they were all down, with the luggage that Tabby had provided them, so as not to allow them to look so suspicious, just appearing at some new home with nothing at all; the carriage turned around and left them, whether to go back to Tabby's or elsewhere they did not know, nor really cared about at the time.
The group entered the townhouse, finding a large, empty room, with well situated shelves and counters and a large display window in the front, there were a set of stairs leading to what Alice assumed was the house portion of the building. Near the counter at the back, there was a door, that when Alice opened it, she saw led outside to a large yard with nice green grass, and there was another building altogether as well. She walked to it and walked up the stairs at the side of it, when she reached the second floor, she found an open floor with a large window that looked out over the wall of the city, out towards a sea of lavender leaved trees.
"So, I guess you want this as your room."
Alice turned around quickly to find that it was Cat looking over her shoulder at the sea of trees with her, "Um, yes." she replied, quite liking the idea of the room being hers.
Cat sighed and leaned against the wall next to her, she stayed quiet, knowing he had something to say and waiting to hear it, "I'm leaving."
This was not what she had wanted to hear and she turned to face him quickly, "Why?" she asked quietly, "I mean, isn't, wouldn't it be bad, if the Queen found you?"
"There are things I have to do, since I'm a Cat, I don't have to worry about the laws here, they don't apply to me, I've literally gotten away with murder." he looked uncertain about something, and then turned away from Alice, "Well, I don't suspect we'll ever see each other again, so, goodbye." and he raised his hand in a lazy farewell.
Cat was walking towards the door before Alice snatched the back of his shirt, "Cat, wait, I mean, at least, I want to see you again, or at least hear from you, please, I don't, I don't want to lose you."
Cat was silent for a long time before he finally said, "I'll send you a letter." and then he shrugged her off before leaving Alice, the house, even the city, and going to do, with what time he had left, what he had to, leaving behind Alice with a broken heart.