(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ - that means we're in Wonderland

DISCLAIMER: characters – Kishimoto, in honor of mu149

For how long I was in Wonderland, I wasn't sure. I stopped considering time and just appreciated being with Hatter. He was the only one I was with but I had no complaints.

He treated me better than anyone else in the world. He had given me more kindness in the time alone in Wonderland in the past ten years of my life. We had tea together, he read me books, told me stories, and told me constantly that he loved me. I never got tired of his musky vanilla scent.

It was more than I could ask for.

But still, no matter how wonderful Wonderland was we couldn't be here forever.

While I sat in Hatter's lap, I considered telling him that maybe it was time we left Wonderland and go back to reality. But I didn't know how to tell him. I didn't know how to tell him but I had to tell him.

"Why is a raven like a writing desk? I asked.

Hatter looked at me and chuckled at the question that he had used on me previously. He kissed my cheek and pulled me down onto the soft grass. He curled an arm around my waist and pulled me close to him as we looked up the sky.

"I haven't the slightest idea." He answered.

I bit my lips. I didn't want to hesitate.

"You have something on your mind."

I nodded against Hatter's chest. "Yes, I do. How did you know?"

"What troubles you?" he asked, not answering my question.

I sat up and folded my hands on my lap. I looked down at my hands instead of looking at Hatter.

Hatter sat up beside me. He was silent; I guess waiting for what I wanted to say.

I took a deep breath and looked at him. "When we will be going back?" I asked slowly. I couldn't rush my questions asked. I needed to be calm about this.

"Going back Alice?"

"To, you know, back to the real world."

Hatter raised an eyebrow and leaned close to me. "Why would you want to go back to that place? You just came back to Wonderland and you want to leave so soon."

I shook my head. "No, we've been here for a while Hatter. It's just that we can't be here forever and-"

He cut me off with a chuckle. "You want to go back to reality? Where they treat you so awfully, wish that you didn't exist and bully you? Why? We're here so that you could be happy!"

"I know, I know. I love Wonderland, thank you so much Hatter. But there's something about pain that we experience helps us grow up. We may not like it, my pain in particular, but I can't honestly say that I want to be without it. No one person lives a continually peaceful life without some sort of disruption. And I may not enjoy being in real life sometimes but if I just lived in Wonderland forever just being happy then I think I would be in some sort of delusion."

Hatter stood and glared down at me. "I made this place as a refuge for you." He said lowly. "I made this all for you and now that you've had your fill you just want to up and leave me again?"

I stood up and looked at him. "I didn't say that! Can't you follow me out of Wonderland too, so that we can be together?"

"We're here together right now. I have more control here, to make sure that you're with me and that you'll be happy here."

I shook my head. "You're being delusional about this! We can't be here forever! I'm sorry that we didn't spend the last ten or so years here together while you were away. But you've come back to the village so now we can be together out there!" I said desperately.

Wonderland was wonderful… but the fact that Hatter wanted to chain us here… it scared me.

Hatter's eyes began to become red again but instead of being scared or hypnotized, I stood my ground and held my gaze to him.

If Kyuubi were awake, maybe he would have given me some answers on how to get out of here.

I expected Hatter to have a tantrum but to my great surprise the red receded in his eyes and he was back to giving me that gentle smile. "I think you may need a nap Alice."

He picked me up and began to carry me back towards his house.

I struggled in his grasp, hitting him in the back and kicking my legs. But Hatter ignored all my actions and was acting as if I was being completely docile. "Hatter put me down! I want to talk to someone else! Where's the Rabbit? He's sensible!" I yelled.

We were back inside the house but Hatter had yet to put me down as he walked through the halls.

Hatter set me back inside the room I had been staying in. "Take a nap Alice, a little rest will do you good." He said before shutting the door quickly. I ran to it and pulled on the knob but it seemed that it was locked from the outside.

"Let me out Hatter and listen to me! Hatter!" I yelled from inside the room.

For sure he was gone by then. I kneeled by the door and pushed my knees to my chest.

I had no idea what to do and how to get out.

There was no one else to help me. No Kyuubi, no Rabbit, no Cheshire, the Knave, or that strange man that looked like Hatter…

Tears gathered in my eyes but I wiped them away before they could even fall.

I wanted to go back home to my room. I wanted to see my sister, Jiraiya, and Iruka.

"I need help…" I whispered.

I thought back to when I first arrived in this place, before it was Wonderland. I had some memories but not all of them were back. I suppose that I wanted to wipe out all the bad feelings of missing Wonderland by trying to bury them in my mind.

I remember staring at a waterfall and then suddenly I was in outer space.

I remember when Wonderland became Wonderland and I was first called Alice.

Hatter was there… wait…

Was it Hatter?

When I first arrived in Wonderland, I don't remember seeing a hat. But there was still a vanilla smell. It wasn't musky but it wasn't unbearably sweet either.

My head began to hurt.

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes.

I needed out of this place. I needed to get Hatter in the right sense of mind.

But to do all that, I needed to get out of this room!

I put my forehead down against my knees and shut my eyes. I wished I knew how I could leave the room…

My head jerked up and I looked around.

I expected to be in the room still but I was in a different room… a room that I hadn't been in before.

"Did… I make myself come here? I did wish really hard to get out of that room!" I said to myself. And more than that, time had passed. The only window in the room showed a full moon in the sky when not that long ago, Hatter and I were in a field with the sun shining down on us.

Just like the bedroom, there wasn't much to this room either.

All there was in the room was just a single wooden desk.

With a blue rose in a small vase.

I walked to the desk and looked at the surface.

There was just a single letter on the desk, the same one that was left when I joined the tea party with Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse.

"The raven glanced at the sun

And gasped at its beauty

'I have waited a long time for you' the raven called out

'How long?' she whispered endearingly

'Forever…'

'That's a long time.'

'Yes. Yes it is.'"

Looking away from the desk, I glanced at the door. It was only the only exit in here other than the window. I walked up to it and looked down at the doorknob. I slowly reached a hand out and grasped it. With some hesitation I slowly turned the knob.

I hoped that it wouldn't lock and I hoped that Hatter wouldn't know that I wasn't in the room he locked me in.

Slowly… slowly… the knob continued to turn. An excited smile came on my face when I realized that I would be able to leave the room. Maybe even leave the house!

Even slower, I pushed the door open and prayed that it wouldn't creak.

Everything seemed to be in the clear. I got out of the locked room and somehow ended up in a different unlocked room and (hopefully) Hatter had no idea that I was planning on leaving.

I walked with caution down the halls on my tiptoes, not wanting my shoes to clack against the floor. I was constantly glancing all around me, from above to behind me. I wanted to be extra sure.

"You've been bad." A voice said.

I jumped and looked behind me.

But Hatter wasn't behind me.

And when I thought of the voice, it definitely didn't sound like Hatter.

It was someone else. It was someone familiar, someone I knew.

"Oh? And what have I done wrong?" Hatter asked somewhere in the house.

I listened even harder to listen where they were. In fact, the sounded rather close.

"Ten years has passed and our deal is done. It's time that you returned to what you once were when you started all this. You've done a wonderful job keeping all this up by yourself. But I think you have let this gone to your head. I know you missed Alice, but you can't keep her trapped." The voice said.

Finally, someone who understood!

"Hn. Trapped? I'm keeping Alice safe. And fuck our little deal; you really had no role when you first discovered my jutsu."

"But you allowed me one. I didn't intrude. I simply wanted to be sure that the power your brother let you have wasn't being used recklessly and guess what? You let me in; you allowed me a role as long as I didn't interfere too much. You wanted to maintain the control of the world and I came in merely to supervise."

Who was this man?

And what was his connection to us?

I was coming closer to them!

"Yes, I did let you have a role and I let you in. But now you have no more reason to be here. I don't know how you got in when I locked Wonderland up but-"

Locked it up? Hatter really was keeping me trapped.

"See what you just said? Locking up Wonderland. I don't know what you did to the other civilians of Wonderland but I know that it's dangerous when you're trying to isolate Alice away from others and keeping her from her duties in the real world. And she has a family to return to."

"Hn. I saw Alice's family. A rotten bitch of a sister."

Naruko… I miss her.

"Don't say that. What about your brother?"

" …I just need Alice."

"You're in a delusion you little brat! This isn't healthy for either of you! You're losing your grip! Has Alice fallen into the same madness as you?" the other man yelled. He sounded angry now, getting fed up with Hatter.

"We're all mad here…" Hatter chuckled.

"You really have lost it… you need to get yourself out of here. You need to bring the kiddo out of here. Why would you keep her here?"

"I went so long without her… Wonderland was the only middle ground to meet on and Alice had no idea that she would be welcome anytime she wanted. I wish I could change that but I can't. I'm simply making up for lost time by keeping her here."

The other man growled and I heard a crashing sound, probably throwing something in his frustration. "If you're going to be together and make up for lost time as you say, then be together in reality. You may not be able to control the world out there and there may be things that will harm you but you'll grow stronger together. You can't protect her by just staying here in the genjutsu. She's more in danger here than in reality."

Genjutsu… this is what Wonderland is.

I arrived at the door where the voices were coming from. But I was scared.

"I want Alice to stay here. It's because I can control this place is why I'm keeping her here, to make sure that nothing bad is happening to her. I'll protect her here."

"Wonderland is bad for her!"

But I needed to do this. I needed to see who was on my side!

I pushed the door open and stepped inside the room.

"Alice!" Hatter gasped when he saw me.

My eyes weren't on Hatter though.

They were on the other man, dressed exactly like him. Only this man was…

"Jiraiya… you're…?"

"Yes, I'm the Hatter."

But the Hatter I was with… I glanced at him. I could see something in his eyes break when he saw me standing there. He looked… crushed. I pointed to him and looked at Jiraiya. "But he's Hatter… he's been Hatter ever since-"

Jiraiya shook his head and walked towards me. Carefully he put a hand on my shoulder and kneeled down before me. "No kiddo… I simply let him borrow my role. I'm the original Hatter when your little boyfriend made Wonderland."

"But if you were Hatter from the beginning…" I looked away from Jiraiya. "Then who was he?"

Hatter took a step towards me. He shook his head and gestured for me to come into his arms. He looked scared, like he was going to lose me again. That same look when I arrived into Wonderland later on the day when I showed him where Edgar Allen Poe was in the library.

"We had a deal… I would let him be Hatter for a certain amount of years if I stayed away from Wonderland. I let him borrow my role."

I took a step towards Hatter, unsure of what to say to him. But the right question came to mind. "What was your role?" I asked in a strong voice.

Hatter said nothing, simply stared.

"Time. He was Time." Jiraiya answered for me.

A/N: Are you guys like mind blown? I hope you are! This twist was in mu149's notes & at first I didn't know what to do with it but after thinking on it for the past few months or so, I believe I wielded it just right! I hope this chapter made sense!