It hadn't taken Hatter and Alice long to set up the monitoring system in a private room off Jack's bedchambers, and both Duchess and Jack had been pretty quick to pick up the basics associated with the spy equipment. Both cameras gave fantastic surveillance of the room. No one could enter or approach the looking glass without their image being recorded. The plan was in place – the trap was set. Now, hopefully it wouldn't be long.

They had met with the council as well, though that had been a rather futile exercise. They hadn't found out any new information about the tea – the news reports had been repeats of the same information for a couple of days, then stopped altogether as new stories took its place.

But reporting to the council gave Hatter and Alice a reasonable excuse for being back on this side of the glass, so it had been done. And after that, they had been shown to their bedchambers and summoned to breakfast with King Jack and Duchess Charlotte for the next morning.

Alice had initially protested the overnight stay, stating that, as it was such a quick trip back, it would make more sense for them to just go home.

But Jack had been very insistent that they stay the night, and they relented in the end, though they were unsure what his reasons were.

…

Alice was surprised at how quickly she had acclimated to the bedchambers they had been assigned. Unaccustomed to sleeping anywhere but her single bed in her mother's house for over ten years, it had taken her quite a few overnights before she slept truly well in Hatter's flat. But somehow, their bedchamber here in the palace in Wonderland had become, in a way, a bit like home to her.

She quickly pushed that thought out of her head, because she truly did not know what to do with it. It was like she was living two different but simultaneous lives now.

Hatter was lightly snoring on the bed beside her, his arm draped softly around her waist. She relaxed into the warmth of his body, and closed her eyes.

But quickly opened them again, when she heard a familiar meow, coming from the foot of the bed.

"Dinah?" She couldn't feel the cat's weight, but it was curled up on her feet, just like when she was ten. But then she awoke more fully and remembered her last encounter with this creature.

She sat up and faced it. It blinked back at her with green-yellow eyes. "You're a Cheshire," she whispered softly, trying not to wake Hatter up. The cat just continued to stare at her. So Alice, after a moment, trying not to think about the fact that she was talking to a cat, continued. "They tell me that your kind are really rare in Wonderland now, but that you are a part of the old magic." The cat tilted its head to the side, as though pondering her words. "Does that mean the old magic is coming back to Wonderland?"

The cat turned and jumped off the bed, and padded toward the door. And it turned back and looked at her. "Coming?" The sound seemed like an echo, and it felt like it came from behind her, instead of from the cat.

"Do I have a choice?" Alice pushed the covers back slightly and swung her legs off the side of the bed. But when she stood up, the room melted, and she was standing on a narrow ledge, many levels up in the city. She could feel the wind blowing past her, blowing her hair around.. She gasped in fright, once again, and plastered herself to the side of a building. The cat appeared at her feet, and wound itself around her legs before walking onwards. Alice took a deep breath, and, still hugging the buildings, began to follow.

Even in the pale light, the area looked vaguely and unsettlingly familiar. "Where are you taking me?" Alice asked, trying to keep her voice calm. The last time she had followed the Cheshire, it had led her to a door in the tree that had opened to reveal her childhood home. But then, that time she had woken up to find it all to be a dream.

Of course. She was dreaming again. It felt real, but it had to be a dream.

With a little more confidence, she continued to chase the Cheshire, as it lead her past a collapsed building and around a corner.

It was then that she caught sight of a familiar looking set of doors, just up a short flight of metal railed stairs. Large frosted glass panes, with a large white rabbit symbol emblazoned on each.

This is where they had caught her, when she had chased Jack's kidnappers through the looking glass. And it was to these doors that the Cheshire was leading her. It paused at the threshold, waiting for her to catch up, then, as she approached, one door swung open, seemingly on its own.

But it wasn't to the plant-filled halls that they had opened to originally. This time, she stepped through onto the casino floor. There were dancing girls, and roulette and card tables. And standing around them were dazed men and women, with green leafy patterns on their faces and arms, and bare feet.

Alice recoiled. "No!" she yelled. "It was destroyed!" Images flashed through her mind, of that day in the casino: the panic, the shooting, the screaming, the blood. Her dad's blood. She turned and rushed back out the door, but instead of being back outside, she found herself in a very different room.

It was a room full of large metal vats. Men in white scientist smocks were bringing in boxes of glass tubes and machinery, and putting pieces together, trying to build something.

Unsure of exactly what she was seeing, and still horribly shaken from the vision of the casino, she turned to look for the Cheshire.

It was perched on the rim of one of the large metal vats, watching the men on the floor below. And there was no grin to be seen on this Cheshire's face. Rather, its features were pulled back in a wide, sharp-toothed snarl.

And directly below it, written in white paint on the side of the vat, was one word. EXCITEMENT.

…

Alice took a sharp intake of breath. Hatter shifted slightly and wrapped his arms around her waist, without even waking up. Alice was grateful to see she was back in the bed with him, and the Cheshire was nowhere to be seen.

But the dream had badly unsettled her, and she couldn't just go back to sleep. She slowly freed herself from Hatter's arms, and climbed out of bed. There was a window-seat under a large window, through which the half-moon was shining. She sat down, curling her knees to her chest, and gazed out at the endless city before her.

If it was more then a dream, then somewhere out there, there was another casino. Or would soon be.

"Please let it just be a dream," she pleaded softly to the air.

"A dream?" The words were a faint echo that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

Alice clenched her eyes shut.

…

"Alice?" She heard a soft voice behind her, felt a warmth as a body enfolded her, smelled the familiar scent that was all Hatter. She hadn't heard him get out of bed, hadn't heard him approach. But he was there, standing behind her, holding her, comforting her. "You okay, love?"

Alice wrapped her arms around his and squeezed them tighter around her, and took a steadying breath. "Bad dreams," she stated finally.

Hatter moved, sliding around until he was in front of her, but never letting her go. His chocolate eyes were full of concern, and just a little bit of apprehension. "What about?" he asked, his voice soft and soothing.

"Casino," she said softly. "I was there, they were harvesting emotions again."

Hatter wrinkled his forehead. "The casino was destroyed, Alice. They can't do that anymore."

Alice shook her head. "It wasn't the same casino. They were rebuilding the machines. There were scientists. And big metal tubs with emotions painted on them."

She could feel Hatter tense, see apprehension in his eyes. "Jack would never let that happen," he stated, but his voice sounded a little less calm.

Alice looked back out the window. After a moment, she could feel Hatter's hand rubbing circles on her thigh. "Let's go back to bed, Alice. It was just a dream." At least he hoped. But her next words chilled him.

"The Cheshire was really angry." Alice's voice had taken a far away, almost child-like tone.

Shit.

…

AN: Thanks for reading! Please review! :)