"Hatter."

"Ah, it's you," Hatter said, turning to face Maggot. "It is my dear friend Maggot." Maggot's eyes narrowed. Hatter shook his head, chuckling. "Your nickname has circulated far. General Samien is a rather influential person when it comes to titles and such."

"Hatter! Call me by my proper name!"

"Which is..?"

He was hopping mad at that point. "You know VERY WELL what it is!!"

"Very well, Renny."

"Yes. Renny. Do you even know what it means?! It means MIGHTY!"

Hatter thought for a moment, delving into the chambers of his mind, and thoughtfully looked down at him. "I have remembered it as meaning 'SMALL but mighty.'"

"Small matter," he snapped. "I've brought you something."

Hatter was immediately interested. "Oh really?" he asked, leaning in. Only now did he notice the sack that ...Maggot had dragged in. He peered in closer and poked it, startled when it batted his finger away. "It's alive?"

"Yes," Maggot said suavely. "I thought a little rat for your maze of mirrors would be lovely."

Hatter drew open the sack somewhat. Faith was in there, groggy and rather bruised. She looked at Renny impassively. "Ah. Maggot." Then she turned to Hatter, not really caring about Maggot's steadily pinkening face. "Hatter... what happened to you? You look awful."

Hatter blinked a few times. "Awful, my dear?" She nodded slowly, her eyelids drooping. "Poor thing," Hatter said cajolingly, bending over behind her. "So tired. So... injured." Slowly he brought a syringe down to her arm. He tapped the plunger twice to get rid of air bubbles, and slowly slid it into her arm until he hit a blood vessel. Then he pushed down, allowing his chemicals to enter her bloodstream.

"What is that?" Maggot asked, coming up and watching, with great interest.

"This will make her vulnerable beyond belief. You may not comprehend just yet, but you will."

"How so?" Maggot looked interested, but then he turned, listening to some unheard call. "I must go," he said disgustedly. "Duty calls."

Hatter nodded, and looked down at Faith. "What of her?"

"Just let her explore the maze. If this wonder serum does all that you promise, she will be no match for your automatons."

Hatter grinned. "And what makes you think she would be in the first place? ...Oh. And no hard feelings?"

Maggot grinned and vanished.

Rabbit bounded up to Cat. "She has been taken captive!"

Cat whirled around. "What do you mean?"

"I saw her... she was knocked out, and then that damnable man took her to Hatter!" Rabbit hopped frantically around, waiting for Cat's reply.

It was slow in coming. "But why to Hatter? Why not straight to the Queen?" he asked. "Many things here demand answers."

Rabbit nodded. "What are we to do?"

Cat paused, thinking. "Are you going to guide her?"

"What do you mean?" Rabbit was immediately wary. "I'm not going near Hatter for anything. You know what happened last time." Cat nodded. "What will we do, then?" Rabbit asked.

"I will guide her." Rabbit stared at him.

"What do you mean, you will guide her?" He got up, right into Cat's face.

"There is no way that she will complete that maze all on her own," Cat said quietly. "She must have a guide. I, myself, would much rather prefer staying as far away from Hatter's domain as possible. But it seems I have no choice."

"But why you?" Rabbit asked.

"I know that maze. I've seen it many times, from when it was not so evil to the beginnings of Hatter's menace to the bitter result."

"And the madness it brings on?" Rabbit asked. Cat nodded. "And the possibility that Faith will die in there, under your care? Are you prepared to take that risk?"

"You took it many times yourself. Do you know where they took her, exactly?"

Rabbit nodded. "And, if Hatter is not there, I will take you, my friend."

Faith looked up, dizzy. She'd seen the syringe coming to her arm, Maggot's leer, and Hatter's serious concentration... but looking back, was it serious, or the look of one with an evil purpose? And that dream... what the hell was that? Why had she been dressed up for a ball that she didn't even attend? And... she shuddered, remembering what had happened. She'd nearly given herself away when he'd pounced at her like that - she'd nearly shrieked, and if she had... If it was like he said, he knew her by sight but had never met her. He must be trying to make her afraid of their next... or would that mean it was their first? meeting. He was just trying to scare her, drain her will to fight him. And the ball... perhaps it just meant that she had really bad timing when it came to dreaming.

Time. If she dared dream, Wonderland's time was altered. She dreamt of things that couldn't... SHOULDN'T happen. She created paradoxes. Samien wasn't a friend... he just posed as a sort-of friend to keep her from attacking him. Now she knew why Cat and Rabbit had kept her awake in the woods - who knew what would happen if she had taken a nice, long, undisturbed nap then??

She stood and stretched, but soon became conscious that she was not the only one in the room that was moving. There was something in the dark, with a single light - too far away to see clearly.

"Hello?" she called, sitting up. She was on a small bed - rather like a gurney. The straps, used by Reynald to hold her down sometimes, hung loosely at the sides. "Who's there?"

The figure stood, and Faith strained her eyes to see. It was tall, and bent, and slowly it approached. "Faith."

She was confused. "No, F-Faith is me."

"That is true. And yet, a delicious little lie, is it not?"

"Don't start on the lying bit," she warned. "I've been over it with the King several times already."

"Yes, and then you gave him a little shove, and he went to join the others you've killed." She nodded, fairly satisfied. The figure laughed, and came into the light. "Friend and foe alike, and it's amazing that you've still got time to talk after all of this," Hatter said, chuckling. Faith stared.

"You look dreadful," she said, by way of greeting.

He raised an eyebrow. "Ah, but the winner of Wonderland's beauty pageant, you are not, either." Faith cracked a smile, uncertain as to whether he was friend or foe, serious or joking. Her arm hurt.

"What did you do to my arm?"

"Just a little serum that I've been dying to try out. It doesn't affect you at all while in Wonderland."

Faith shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, nothing, dear. Nothing. Just the ramblings of an old friend. But so prompt! Three o' clock, on the dot! If you finish a little chore within the next three hours, you are welcome to join me for tea."

"What little chore?" she asked.

Hatter gestured around with his cane, almost losing his balance. She hurried forwards and steadied him. "Thank you, dear. This little maze I've concocted. It's positively dying for exploration."

"What sort of maze?" she asked suspiciously.

"I concocted it during better days," he sighed wistfully. "Now, I rarely ever am able to use it. My funhouse is not terribly fun anymore, with no one using it."

Hadn't there been some piece of advice regarding this sort of thing? Yes... she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Hatter. Maybe in better times, I would have been happy to. But now, I can't. I have too much to do, and not nearly enough time to do it in."

Hatter glared at her and backed away. "Too late, Faith. We are already in the middle. You still must find your way out, only this time, the reward won't be half as sweet as tea."

He reached up and pulled a lever, and the floor dropped out from underneath him, closing immediately after his hat had passed through. The lever was too high for her to reach... on her own. She took out the mallet, and looked down. None of her weapons had been taken - that was surprising.

Using the head of the mallet, she managed to ease the lever up a bit, but no good; she needed more height. Thinking, she took out the jackbomb and gingerly set it on the ground. It didn't open, and she stepped onto it. There! That was the height she needed, and she felt the lever sliding up further.

Then a rocket came, blowing it up. She whirled around, to see a strange being made out of machinery. She stared at it for a moment. "Wha-??"

Then it raised its arms, revealing nasty spinning blades on one end, and an assortment of hooks, knives and other sharp things on the other. "Oh my GOD!"

She cringed, thinking of the damage those things could cause. She picked up the jackbomb and threw it in the thing's path. It almost immediately exploded, but hardly deterred the machine's progress. She backed up, and knocked an electrified croquet ball at it. It didn't seem to like that, as its gears shorted out, and it halted, only a few feet away from her. She dashed under its chainsaw arm and quickly backed away.

Then it powered up again, and turned around. It sped towards her, and she dodged out of the way, pulling out the ice wand as she went. Then a rocket exploded at her feet, throwing her forcefully back. She landed hard on her rear with a rather loud THUD, and sat where she was, recovering her breath. Even as she did, it closed in on her. Frantically she looked around for the ice wand, finally spotting it across the hall. She dived for it, and the machine fired another missile at her. Fumbling around, she switched the wand's function and made a protective wall of ice in front of her. The missile crashed against it harmlessly.

She leaned around her shelter and fired at it. First its wheel gears froze, followed quickly by the joints in its arms. Then the neck gears froze, and it stood completely still. Faith let the ice work its magic for a moment, and then threw the knife at it, shattering both it and the ice.

"Faith!"

She whirled around at the familiar voice. "S... Cheshire!"

Cat nodded, and beckoned. "Come with me, quickly!" She nodded and dashed up, putting various weapons away as she ran. "Isn't that rather dangerous, running with knives, and putting them away as you go?" he asked.

"Still have time for sarcasm?" she asked simply.

"Yes, and apparently you do too. Let's move." He sped forwards, sometimes leading her himself, other times allowing just his shadow or smile to guide her. Through many twists and turns they ran, until they reached a long hallway.

"Hatter said that he would destroy this hall, as soon as he and the royals were done using it. That time doesn't seem to have come yet. Hope that our luck holds."

Faith barely had time to glance at the long hall, carpeted and mirrored, until Cat had led her to a door. "Go in," he commanded.

"Why?"

"There is much that you need to see, Faith. And there is almost no time for you to see and to understand everything."