Lizzie's POV

I felt guilty for leaving the two of them behind and a little bit worried considering they barely got along with me there, at least they were separated by iron bars so at least I knew they wouldn't be able to kill each other with actual blows but I'd made it out of the tunnels and was now in the Tulgey Woods, no doubt on the run given my Aunt would know that I was missing by now and all the places I knew of weren't safe because she knew of them which meant I had no idea what to do next...

It didn't feel like it was very long until I heard the heavy marching footsteps of the royal guards and immediately hid out of sight of them feeling out of my depth given that I didn't know this place as well as they did but I couldn't allow myself to get captured again, I had to find the mirror and Ace's heart but the place I knew was the only possibility was they were both back in the White Castle but I had no way of getting back there without being seen.

"Could really use a bit of Mal magic right about now" I whispered to myself annoyed with this entire situation as I peered around the stump I was hiding behind to check if the path was clear and when I didn't spot any guards I took off at a run but I felt like I was a bit conspicuous in this outfit and I needed to change.

I hesitated on the edge of the first village that I came across in case the news had already reached that I was 'WANTED' but there didn't seem to be any strange behavior so I slipped in and kept my head lowered as I made my way quickly towards the tailors shop hoping to get in and get out quickly with what I needed.

"Hello" I looked up towards the counter spotting a middle aged man and I offered him a smile praying that I wasn't recognized as my hair could be a very big give away at least since my red streaks weren't exactly normal for Auradon and even less in wonderland as I've noticed the color red was gravely avoided at all costs.

I headed over to the clothes racks and immediately grabbed the first decent but inconspicuous shirt, pants and I grabbed a hooded cloak so that I could hide my hair along with some new boots as heels weren't ideal to run in.

"How much for all this?" I asked and his reply nearly had me panicking since I really didn't have even close to the amount he was asking. "Can I trade?" I asked with a sigh and pulled off my heart bracelet and earrings off, I've had them for so long that I kind of wish I didn't have to but I didn't have a choice.

"This is costume jewels" he shook his head after inspecting the red rubies which I knew weren't actual rubies and unfortunately my Aunt had taken the crown off my head so I had nothing else. "How about that ring, it looks like a real pearl" he nodded at my left hand.

"Not for sale" I glared at him. "It's my engagement ring"

"Well then I can't help you sweetheart" he shrugged and I frowned looking around.

"Please what if I give you the bracelet, the earrings...and this dress would that be enough?" I asked and he came around and started looking at the dress I was wearing more closely.

"This is very high quality fabric, almost of royal quality..." I started panicking a little. "I'll accept the deal as long as the necklace is also thrown in" my hand shot up to my necklace.

"I can't do that, sentimental value...I'll give you the shoes" I countered and he looked down at them.

"Done" I frowned as I slid my bracelet and earrings over before taking the clothes.

"Change rooms?"

"Just through there" he pointed so I followed his direction and went into the change room pulling the dress and shoes off before changing into the black leather jeans, white flow top, black buttoned over top and slipped the horrible brown cloak over my shoulders before slipping my feet into the boots then grabbed the dress and shoes handing them over. "Pleasure doing business with you"

"Thanks" I nodded with a heavy sigh, feeling the missing of my jewels already but it had to be done and I left slipping the hood up to cover my hair as I left the shop and began my trek back towards the Tulgey Woods in order to come up with a plan to get back into the White Castle and find the mirror and Ace's heart.

I stumbled my way through the Tulgey Woods with no destination, I just knew that I had to remain on the move since I wasn't as dimwitted as my poor excuse for a father and refused to stop so when I stumbled upon a small cottage I frowned since who on earth was daft enough to live out this way but it looked pretty abandoned so I started towards it making sure to keep my eyes moving around as I approached the door then hesitantly knocked but there wasn't an answer so I let myself in...to a house full of hats...all top hats...the Hatter.

This must have been his place well aside from his place near the White Castle but this one seemed more like a madness house as it looked like he did nothing else but make hats here and there was at least a hundred of them all stacked around the room and left over fabric and tools littering the table and I frowned actually feeling sorry for him since this must be what he does when he loses his mind but why I didn't understand.

I picked up a top hat and twirled it in my hands inspecting it since it was exactly like every other hat in this room before I looked up and spotted a mirror, I shrugged and placed it on my head looking at myself in the mirror from every angle, the hats were beautiful don't get me wrong but why did he need so many...

"It suits you" I jumped nearly hitting the roof as I spun around eyes wide in shock that I wasn't alone.

"Jefferson?" I questioned seeing him sitting towards the darker side of the room and he smirked leaning forward with one of his hats, his magic hat atop his head. "Are you here to turn me over?" I asked him with a slight glare.

"No, your in my house" he replied causing my glare to drop into one of confusion.

"I thought you lived in the White Castle gardens"

"I do majority of the time" he nodded seemingly stable for right now. "Quite the mess you've caused your naughtiness"

"What can I say I have a knack for mischief" I smirked before I removed the hat from my head and set it back down on the table in front of him. "So why do you have another house all the way out here?" I asked curiously.

"I make my best hats here" he smiled and I raised an eyebrow looking around the room.

"You don't have enough already?" I questioned.

"None of them work" he responded making my frown deepen.

"What are they supposed to do, there hats" I argued and he frowned and it was then my eyes fell on the one on top of his head. "You want...you want to leave Wonderland?" I questioned and he looked up.

"I want to move on, free myself from this place and it's hold on me" he replied and for once I truly felt connected to another person besides Harry and no it wasn't romantic, I felt like we were kindred spirits.

"What if I said we could help each other out?" I purposed and I had his full attention. "We both want out of this hell, I need to get back into the White Castle"

"That's madness" he cut me off and I smirked a little.

"We both know I'm capable of a little madness" I shrugged and he smirked back nodding his head. "I escaped but Harry and...my father weren't as lucky so I need to rescue them but I need to get some things before I can do that, one of the items is a magic mirror in which my father used to get here and maybe we can use it to get us all out of Wonderland"

"What do you need from me?" he questioned and I smiled nodding towards his hat and his eyes widened a little before he took it off. "You know it doesn't work to transport out of Wonderland"

"I know but you said for it to work we had to think of where we wanted to go, what I wanted to achieve...can you think of an item?" I asked and his eyes widened even more.

"Clever, yes it used to" he nodded and my spirits lifted with hope. "I don't know if it can still do that"

"I'm willing to risk it if you are, my partner in madness" I smirked and he stood up walking towards me.

"My service is to you, your naughtiness"

"Then let's do this" I smirked nodding at him and he took his hat off as we walked outside and he tossed it with a small spin and it immediately began spinning around creating the portal and I grabbed his hand before we jumped, our feet landing heavily on the floor inside the hat. "Okay" I approached the looking glass door but looked around at all the other curtains since there was so many doors that I wish I had seen this hat at full power since it must have been amazing to travel to all the different lands.

"Think of what you want to achieve, what we need to find?" I nodded my head and started thinking about the mirror...remembering every detail of it when Ace had shown me it then held out my hand putting that through the watery glass before stepping through and my eyes widened when I appeared in the royal vault with Jefferson following me through picking up the hat as it appeared next to him and spun it in his hands before placing it back on his head making me smile a little.

"Okay look for small mirror about this big, I'll try and find my fathers heart" he nodded his head and went to one side of the room while I went to the other and I started looking through all the cases and draws finding a lot of highly prized jewels that I was tempted to take but I left them reminding myself of the priority items I was after. "Ah...he'll be glad I found you" I smirked when I spotted Harry's hook sitting atop a self and I grabbed it hooking it through the belt loop in my pants.

"I found a glowy heart" I heard Jefferson call out and turned around seeing the box in his hand so I approached him and flipped it open checking for myself and smiled when I saw the slow beating glowing heart.

"Now we just need the mirror, keep looking I don't know how much time we have" I went back to my side of the room and started looking a bit less caring and settled for emptying out draws and cases deciding to pocket a few coins in the process but it didn't look like the mirror was here and I didn't want to stay here much longer in case. "We should go, I don't think it's here"

"But you asked the hat to bring you to the mirror, it has to be here" he argued and I frowned since he had a point.

"Well if you were a deranged overoptimistic fake where would you hide a small looking glass?" I asked myself but I heard him chuckle at my name for my Aunt moving towards the center of the room and looked around again frowning when I spotted the crown that was mine back in it's case, I'd subtly avoided it but I couldn't help walk over and looked at the case frowning when I noticed something peeking out from under the pillow my crown was sitting on.

I reached for the case and lifted the lid but jumped when I loud alarm suddenly started going off making us turn to each other with wide eyes especially when the case locked shut but I wasn't giving up that easy and I didn't hesitate to punch at the glass smashing it and cut up my knuckles but the pain was in the back of my mind as I knocked the crown off not giving two shits about it and lifted the pillow smirking when I saw the mirror.

"This is it!"

"Then no time to waste, let's haste" Jefferson said and I nodded hearing the footsteps outside and he grabbed his hat and threw it with a spin and once it opened the portal we jumped right as the vault door opened and I just managed to catch my Aunt's face before the portal closed behind us.

"We have to hurry" I ran towards the looking glass. "To the dungeons"

"That's the first place they'll look for us, we have to reconvene to the rescue" I frowned not liking it but he made sense.

"Well she knows were working together now so where do you suggest Hatter!" I argued a little snipper than I intended but I was ready to get the hell out of Wonderland.

"Take my hand" I grabbed his hand and he walked us through the looking glass. "Welcome to the Rambling Woods" I sighed since I knew the was the furthest East you could get in Wonderland and I was once again miles away from Harry.