And Dream Away
Chapter 44
"There's something else you need to know," Ten said as we all stood to go. "um.."
"What is it?" Hefted a pack on me shoulder. "What's wrong Ten?"
"I can control the Suits and I've sent a messenger to Duchess, but there's one thing I have no control over." He twisted his hands.
"Spit it out." What else could possibly go wrong.
"Well…" He swallowed hard. "It's March. Mad March."
"March!" Rufe and I exchanged glances. "What about March?"
"When Carpenter couldn't fix his head by the Queen's deadline, he sent it to medical." Ten looked at me and then looked down. "And…and I … he…"
"What?" Rufe growled. "He what?"
"The body you left behind, in the Truth Room?" Glanced at me. "Well, um there was time to recover it and have it sent to medical before the place came down."
Bloody Fucking Hell.
"The one we destroyed?" Alice asked hopefully. "The one Chess blew up?"
"No, M'am." Ten smiled nervously at her. "That was just for the Candy and of course the Casino. Not the main medical facility."
"So he's put March together again?" Sat down abruptly. "Is the process finished?" We'd have to go there and try and stop them.
"They found some machine and figured out it can do reconstruction. No one told the Techs to stop and then Jack found out and after Chess…. He…um…well I think the process is complete."
"March is alive again?" Rufe whispered. Looked at him and shook me head. He hadn't seen what they'd done to him in the end. How insane they'd made him.
"Our March has been gone a long time." Got up and paced around trying to think. "Is March on the loose? Who's giving him orders?"
Ten shrugged.
Cat? What's the deal with March? Why didn't you stop this?
"Believe it or not, there is a reason."She whispered in me head.
A reason? Bloody Hell! What reason?
"Hatter? Are you ok?" Alice took me hand, peered into me face.
"Yeah. Let's go. This doesn't change anything." Stood up and held on to her hand.
"I have your best interests at heart at all times." Cat whispered in me head. "But even you can't know all things."
"Where are those horses?" I asked Ten. "Let's go." Palmed the lock on the door after we were all out on the porch.
We're no' done with this. You just better no' let him hurt Alice.
Ten stayed behind to keep things running and see if he could get more info on March. Hard to believe he was alive again. How many more times did I have to kill him. It wasn't fair. Shrugged, nothing was fair.
Watched Alice riding the horse and wished she was sitting behind me with her arms wrapped around me waist. There hadn't been time to do more than hug her and get a quick kiss. Here we were again running through Wonderland, only this time we were the pursuers instead of the pursued. Unless March was after us already. Didn't know what to think about him having his own head again, but it was better than a ceramic rabbit head. Would I feel any different, would he be harder to kill, me own March looking back at me? Only he wasn't the old March, he'd been changed, adjusted by Doctors Dee and Dum and who knows what chemicals. Should've made sure they hadn't made it out alive too.
The horse stumbled and I came out o' the reverie. Looked around and tried to figure out where we were. Wait. That was familiar, and that building…I knew that building.
"Stop." Pulled the horse up and looked around.
"What is it?" Alice turned her horse and looked back. Charlie moaned and shifted Chess in his arms. Alice had bound Chess's hair so it wasn't all over the place. I'd convinced him not to sling her face first over the back o' another horse. She was mad enough as it was.
Rufe turned his horse and looked around, looked for trouble. "Did you see something?"
"Charlie, you go on ahead. We'll catch up in a bit." Walked the horse up to Alice and slid off. Held me arms out to catch her as she slid off her horse. Took the reins and started down an alley.
"There's someone I want you to meet." Smiled at Alice. Rufe slid off his horse and followed us. "An old friend o' mine lives around here. Or she used to."
"Hatter, we don't have time to go visiting!" Alice complained. "I can meet your friends on the way back."
Took a deep breath and smelled the roses. "I promised her, a long time ago, that if I ever was stupid enough to fall in love, I'd introduce her."
"Stupid enough?" Alice looked at me in surprise. "Why stupid?"
"Alice." Thought how best to explain this. "You know how old I am, yeah? Didn't you think it was strange that I never fell in love before now?"
"I didn't think about it." She smiled at me. "I'm just …happy. You don't look much older than me, so I try not to think about it."
"Can you guess why?"
"Cause you were waiting for me?" She grinned.
"Yeah." Touched her hair. "Cause this loving only one person is more o' a curse than anything else. Me parents loved each other, but for the most part it just a source o' despair. I've seen too many people who fall in love with someone who's already in love with someone else. I promised meself I'd never fall in love. It wasn't worth the pain."
"You don't still feel that way?" She asked hesitantly.
"No. No, I wouldn't trade it for anything. The Countess, she told me it would be this way." Tied the horses to the gate. "She'd been in love, but her husband had been dead a long time. She was a lonely woman, so that wasn't much o' an incentive to me. I did just fine, loving 'em all and none o' them."
"I'm sorry. That must be hard for her."
"You have no idea." Rufe said opening the gate and going through.
Alice looked at me in question. I shook me head. "Anyway, she taught me a lot. She… I worked for her awhile. She took me to Court. She's the reason I won't live without you. Nothing I've seen in the years in between has convinced me differently."
"Ilsa!" I called, not seeing her sitting in the garden. The roses were blooming madly, the scent surrounded us. "Ilsa! I never meant to love you Alice. Never meant to love anyone. But one look in your eyes and I was lost."
"Are you sorry?" Could see her twisting the diamond on her finger.
"No." Stopped and took her hands. "No matter what happens, I'm not sorry for loving you."
"Countess!" Rufe called going to the kitchen door. She opened the door and stood there looking at us. She looked much older than the last time I'd seen her, tried to count up the years. Blimey, had it been that long?
"Hatter?" She asked softly. Rufe stood behind the door as she stepped slowly out onto the stone path. "Is it really you?" She ignored Rufe and walked toward me. I ran to pick her up in a hug and swing her around.
"You're looking great." I lied. Someone had combed her hair, but she was nothing like the vibrant woman I'd known.
"Smooth talking liar." She laughed and saw Alice. "Well, who's this?" She smoothed her skirt down.
"This is Alice." I said taking Alice's hand and leading her to meet the Countess.
"The Alice?" She laughed. "I heard all about you two." She held her hand out to Alice and pulled her into a hug. "I'm happy to meet you child."
"I'm happy to meet you too." Alice made eyes at me over her shoulder. I grinned and led the Countess over to her chair under the tree. Sat at her feet after she arranged her skirts. Alice sat down beside me.
"She's the one." I said.
The Countess narrowed her eyes then smiled at Alice. "Well then." She laughed. "Was I right boy? Is it worth it?"
"Yes." I said simply. "Yes." Reached for Alice's hand.
The Countess nodded and looked back at Rufe who was standing by the door. "Is that you Rufe? Why are you hiding over there? Come here." She beckoned to him.
He swallowed and took a small step, then another, pasting a grin on his face. I frowned at him. What was going on?
"Countess." He took the hand she held up and brought it to his lips.
Her eyes softened and she reached up with her other hand and held his hand between hers. "Ah, Rufe. How've you been?"
He shrugged and sat at her feet. "Same as ever." A slight grin. "You?"
"Your roses are beautiful." Alice interrupted, not sensing any undercurrents. The Countess turned to her and dropped Rufe's hands, folded her own in her lap.
"Thank you. Hatter took care of them, when he was just a boy." She smiled at me. "Hatter, you remember where the piano is?"
I nodded. "Will you go and play something while I talk to Alice a bit?" She asked.
I got up and Rufe followed me into the house. Was feeling a bit guilty for letting this visit go as long as I had. The years had just piled up. Rufe fell back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Looked out the window and saw Alice and the Countess laughing, wondered what stories she was telling.
Closed me eyes and played the lullaby first. Me Mum's lullaby, the first song I learned. "So, you wanna talk about it?" I asked Rufe.
"No." He answered shortly.
"Shall I beat it out o' you?" Me fingers remembered the music. Someone had tuned the piano.
"If you think you can." Rufe sat up. "I wish.."
"Ok. Tell me about Jack then."
"He knew, all these years he knew." Rufe shook his head. "She must've suffered for it."
"Did he touch Alice." That's the only thing I cared about.
He looked at me, and finally nodded once. "He….gave her some Dream. She was pretty much out of it. I don't think she remembers. I tried to stop him, but …"
Bloody hell. Me hands crashed on the keyboard. A long, slow, torturous death for the bastard then. I'd had a lot o' experience destroying people, surely I could make one bastard King wish he was dead.
"Rufe?" Watched me fingers.
"Yeah?"
"Why didn't you tell me?" Looked at him, looked for truth in his eyes.
"No point." He shrugged. "Nothing you could do about it. It wasn't gonna happen." His voice was low and he took a deep breath. I could see him pushing it down. Don't know why he kept on living except, he was a survivor.
"Is it worth it?" Could feel him looking at me.
"I don't know any more. I just don't know." He whispered. And Alice wondered why his eyes were frozen. They didn't used to be, I remember when they were as warm a blue as a summer sky on earth. Before I brought him to Court. Before he fell in love with a woman who loved someone else.
AN: Just because you're thinking what Hatter's thinking, doesn't mean that's what Rufe is thinking. Things get confusing when you think the other person knows what you're talking about. And if none of this makes any sense, please refer to Pages from Hatter's Notebook, specifically, the chapter - A Rose Garden. And then some of it will make sense.
Please R&R. Hope you like it.
