AN: So sorry for the incredibly long update time. My mind has been hijacked by the new Primeval series, and refused to stay on my Alice stories for more then a paragraph or two at a time. Finally was able to get this chapter written, and get it up, and I am already working on the next. So, thanks for your patience, hope you are still with me here.

Cheers! Happy reading!

...

The resounding crack of a gunshot.

Her father groaning, slumping in her arms, his weight pulling him away from her to crumple to the floor.

"Daddy, it's my fault."

The light slowly draining from her father's eyes, a red halo growing on the floor. She had just found him, just gotten him back, and she was losing him again.

"I'm sorry Jellybean. You're on your own."

"No!" A sob, tearing through her chest.

But it isn't Walrus shooting. It's Dodo. He's shooting at Hatter.

Hatter, flying backwards, into a pile of books. She can only see his legs, but he isn't moving. She's sure he is dead. He had been only inches from the barrel of the gun when it went off.

"Hatter!"

He's running after her, tackling Dodo. He's alive after all. He's wearing body armor.

He isn't wearing body armor this time.

…

Something hard and solid collided with Alice's stomach. She shuddered back to reality, gasping for breath and trying to regain her balance. She couldn't quite dodge the next hit either, the fist colliding with her ribcage, and sending her spiraling backwards. If she hadn't crashed into someone else, she would have fallen entirely.

Her attacker, the large man in the Diamond suit, pressed forward, barely giving her a chance to recover. Over his shoulder, she could see Dodo's retreating form. But she didn't have time to think about it now, because the suit was swinging at her again. This time, she dodged and caught his arm, flipped him before he could react. The man gave a surprised yelp as he crashed hard to the ground, and in a heart stopping second, Dodo turned.

His eyes met Alice's across the crowd, and his entire countenance darkened as he scowled hatefully at her. She couldn't make out what he was saying, but it looked like he was cursing, and she was sure she saw his lips form the word "oyster", but she had no time to think about it further, as a hand wrapped around her ankle and yanked her leg out from under her.

Alice was bruised and in a fair bit of pain by the time she made it back to the far wall, and around the corner to catch her breath. She had been woefully unprepared for the fight she had been in, and knew she was lucky to not have been badly hurt, or worse. She had run, completely unarmed, into a battlefield.

Chock it up to yet another instance of her not being careful in Wonderland. In her world, there was no way she would have run in unprepared, to tackle a dangerous man with a gun.

A gun. Dodo's gun had gone off. He had shot at Hatter and Dormie. She peered around the corner, desperately scanning the crowd. Dodo was nowhere to be seen, but she couldn't see Hatter either. Panic started to grip her stomach again, and she fought against it. She marked approximately where she thought she had last seen Hatter, then retreated around the corner again.

If she was going back in, she needed to be prepared.

The idea of touching the bodies of the fallen repulsed her, but she knew she needed to arm herself if she was going back in the fray. And Dodo knew she was there now, so she was in even more at risk then before. He had shot at Hatter. What would keep him from shooting at her if he got the chance?

Most of the Wonderlanders were not well-equipped, but she did manage to find a knife. One of the fallen suits would likely be a better bet. And as she neared a dead suit, leaning against the wall, she spotted a glimmer of metal under his jacket, and breathed a sigh of relief.

…

There was blood on the wall. Nausea gripped Alice's stomach as she stared at the spattered red stain on the black and white motif. She had managed to make it through the crowd this time without much incident. Most of the fighters had moved past the mark, though there were still plenty to be contended with.

She was sure this was where she had last seen Hatter, before she had tried to stop Dodo. And she found herself desperately hoping that the blood was once again Dormie's. Because if it was Hatter's...

Hatter flying backwards into a pile of books. She can only see his legs, but they aren't moving. But now he is on the casino floor. The books have disappeared. And there is a bright red halo spreading from his body. His eyes are open, but they are empty, staring up into hers.

No, no, no, no, no! Alice forced her eyes open.

"Focus, Alice!" she snarled at herself. "Find Hatter. If he's hurt, he won't be far."

She hadn't noticed how many people in the crowd had fallen. There were so many more then what she had come across in the hall. Now that she was having to look, having to check if Hatter was among them, she felt horribly dizzy and ill, and she started trembling uncontrollably. "Where are you Hatter?" she whispered, a lump rising in her throat, threatening to cut off her air.

She shouldn't have heard the whimper. It was barely audible, unlike the din of the fighting.

"Dormie!" She threw herself in his direction. The small man was sprawled against the wall, trembling and twitching. His eyes were closed, and he was mumbling. When she got close enough, she could make it out. "Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle..." She couldn't tell if he was sleeping or unconscious.

"Dormie!" She reached her hand to shake him, but pulled back at the last second. The right side of his oversized suit jacket was covered in blood. She was trembling again as she peeled it back, gently in case it was stopping a wound. But there was no blood underneath. Dormie wasn't hit. It wasn't his blood.

Hatter. A wave of panic and nausea swept through her before she could stop it.

She took a deep breath, gripped Dormie's shoulder and firmly shook the little man.

Dormie didn't open his eyes, but started muttering again, "... that begins with M, such as mouse-traps, and the moon, and memory, and muchness..."

Alice growled in frustration. Hatter could be dying, and Dormie seemed to be asleep. "Dormie!" She yelled it this time, and slapped him hard across the face.

Dormie jumped up with a shriek, and started twitching and trembling fiercely, and flailing his arms about so that Alice had to actually jump back to avoid being hit. When he saw her, he gave a surprised gasp and sank back against the wall.

"Alice!" he squeaked. "What are you doing here?"

"Where's Hatter?" Alice demanded. She was trembling and feeling close to losing it entirely.

"I don't know." Dormie was looking around frantically for his friend.

Alice swallowed hard, not wanting to ask the next question. "Is he... is he hurt?"

Dormie looked down at his jacket, as if noticing the blood for the first time. He seemed to recoil from it, becoming even smaller within the oversized piece. "It... it's not my blood," he squeaked finally. Then his head fell forward, and he began snoring and muttering again.

…

Hatter wasn't among the bodies. That offered Alice a tiny grain of comfort, but did little to quell the growing horror in her stomach. She had interfered, changed things. She had saved Dormie's life, but would it be at the cost of Hatter's?

…

AN: So, maybe I am a tease and didn't answer the question of "is Hatter okay?" Guess you'll just have to wait for next chapter, which I promise I will try to have up faster then this last one. Kudos to anyone who was able to pick out the quotes from the original Alice in Wonderland book.

Thanks for reading, please review. Cheers!