Authors note: Well hi, do you remember me? Yeah I know it's been forever but being sick and grounded kind of pulled me away from this story, plus I've just been in a terribly mood all week. One disappointment after the other I suppose does that to you. Anyways I really hope this chapter makes up for it! Please enjoy and don't forget to review!

Peace in!

Mel Swirls!

OH! Also, I'm going to be doing some RP, but basically, I'm the Mad Hatter and The Red Queen, in Kate 'n Kase 's fanfic, the name I'm not actually sure on, but when I figure it out, it would be kool if you could all go check it out! ^.^

A Hatter in Otherland

Chapter 21: Maybe love isn't as bad as it seems

~Echo still!~

I let my head drop so that my hair was covering my face.

"Well, quite a few things, but right now I want to inform you that-" "Melicia is pregnant? I'm already aware. Though Tarrant, I fear, will not be willing to take responsibility. He has chosen Alice for better, and for worst," She told me sadly and it made me wonder if she wanted Alice gone too.

"Why are you here, Echo?" She asked as she realized I wasn't just visiting and I wasn't just coming down for tea. I don't even like tea. It's all warm and gross, but that's coming from the guy who doesn't even like coffee.

"Well I was going to beat the living daylights out of Hatter," I told her honestly and she nodded. "You wont," She said knowingly and I just smiled the smallest smile that seemed to make her smile grow before telling her, "I know, but it was worth a shot,"

She waved her hands in the air when a black hare walked in wearing a pink top hat and I took it as a signal that she wanted me to leave, so I slid down the hall and looked around for things I left here or any sign of Edge.

I walked down the cold and white hallways of her palace before looked desperately for a mirror. I had forgotten how fast time seemed to go here. It was already sunset! I picked up my pace and ran faster down the corridors and I couldn't find one person to help me, that is, until I saw Edge. He was just sitting up against a wall banging the back of his head on it every so often.

"Edge?" I asked as I bent down and saw he was crying, I may have hated his guts, but I loved him. Well, as much as you can love a person without knowing who they actually are. "What are you doing here? I thought you hated me? I thought you didn't want to have anything to do with me? Oh, is that why you're here? To kill me?" He said in a morbid and cold voice, each word slicing me. His words hurt. But what hurt most of all was that I probably had said something like that.

Ignoring him, I sat down in the same position he was in beside him and looked at him in the eyes. "What's wrong?" I asked and he snorted, "Like you don't already know, my own freaking mother pitted me against my first real boyfriend, made me kiss his sister-which was one of the most disturbing things I've ever done- and make him hate me just so she could get some half assed revenge or something. I hate her!" He told me in a rushed and angry way before banging his head against the wall again.

After that we sat there in silence, except for the occasionally sob in his part. I was thinking things through. A third of me wanted him back, another third wanted to beat him up and the other third, the last third, well, it just thought that he was the crazy sonofabitch I've ever met and that I need to work on who I fall in love with.

"Echo?" I looked at Edge when he said my name and he smiled the most pitiful, weak smile I've ever seen in the world before saying, "I know this might mean absolutely nothing, because I'm pretty sure you hate my guts right now, but I wanted you to know that," He stopped then and took a deep breath before looking me straight in the eyes, and I in turn, looked straight into his. "Well I love you, Echo." He said with determination and sadness in his voice, "And I'm sorry I scr-" he never got to finish his sentence because I pressed my lips unto his softly.

When we pulled away, I smiled weakly back at him while grabbing his warm hand before saying, "You know what, Edge?" I told him and he let his head tip sideways to a bit before asking, "what?" My smiled grew here and I let my free hair push his hair back before letting it fall to my side carelessly. "For some reason I love you too," I answered.

~Melicia!~

I was talking with Alex and my mood shifted dramatically. I didn't explain to him about Underland, I just told him that Tarrant lived a few towns down, but Alex still assured me that Echo would never be able to kill anybody, though he'd probably fight him, and he'd most likely win.

Though Alex was giving me new found hope, I was still miserable, it's just he made it easier to put it out of my mind for awhile. He made things a little bit better.

"You know what my older sister told me once?" He asked me to break a silence. And I shook my head, I didn't even knew he had a sister, "My sister used to tell me that 'hope, is anything or anyone that can make you smile or laugh for a few moments' though she told me that just before she was diagnosed with cancer." I was taken aback by the fact that he could say that with a smile on his face, but it was funny how right she was. "Is she ok now?" I asked him and he just laughed. "Ok? She's still in the hospital but with the way she's been doing I don't think she'll ever die! She's like a god! Invincible even!" He told me and I smiled. I was glad she was doing all right, although, with Alex, I could already tell that he would have said the same thing if she was dying.

"What's her name?" I asked him and he just smiled, "Jennifer, if you want to meet her I can introduce you guys sometime, I'm sure you'll love her." I smiled back at him and nodded.

Things didn't seem so bad any more.

Authors note: Sooooo how are you guys liking the Alex/Melicia pairing? Is he toooo happy? And what about his sister? Anyways I hopes you liked it, it always makes my day when I get a couple reviews for this story, so don't forget to, REVIEW!

Peace in!

Melanie Swirls!