AN: School can be hell sometimes, especially when it comes to essays. Anyway, I thank you all for reading and your support! I'll try to update as soon as I can. Until then, good reading!

Tarrant had just entered The Wonder when the thought came to him again. It was a sweet expectation embittered by a harsh truth.

He would see Alice soon.

He would leave Underland for good.

When those two realizations fused, they became a humming voice that dragged him back to his home, to his family and friends.

He was leaving them all behind, lured away from them by his desire to be again with the woman he cherished.

That was his prime motivation, of that he had no doubt, but not his only one. Helping the fruit people and dealing with Time had kept Tarrant's mind from dwelling on the matter for long, but now that he was at the brink of accomplishing what he desired, he could no longer hide behind those walls.

He was fleeing.

A nobler man would have put aside his selfish wishes and fears and return to his parents, siblings, grandfather and nephew.

Tarrant longed for them all, but Bim above everyone else. The lad still believed his mother was lost but alive, and Tarrant would leave without revealing Poomally's true fate to him.

He would sacrifice any amount of seconds of his vital clock in exchange for a fleeting instant to tell his nephew the truth, but he knew Time would never agree to a deal of that nature.

It was but one of the many matters he would leave unfulfilled in Underland.

He faltered, with the images of the people he loved surging in his mind with a clarity that almost tricked his eyes into believing they were real. It wasn't too late to give up this madness and go back home. The opportunity was at hand, he only needed to grasp it.

Tarrant clenched his fists around the lever in front of him. Rust left its mark on his palms. It was a dust of a crimson, bloody shade.

Like an ebb after a storm, his thoughts settled.

His hands were full, and he could grasp nothing more. His resolution, though brittle, remained unchanged.

Tarrant had not time for second thoughts.

Maybe later, but not now.

He would see Alice soon, and that's what truly mattered. He had to believe that.

He had to…

"Hatter!" Time punched the machine with enough strength to make it tremble. "Stop staring into a distance only you can see and listen. Whatever you are thinking can't be more important than what I'm saying."

"Uhm." Tarrant looked to the right and bit his tongue. "What?"

"I don't believe this." Time rubbed his temples as if he was trying to appease a migraine. "Why did I agree to help a fool like you? Why?"

"Well, you know what they say, only a fool helps another fool."

"It was a rhetorical question! And who is this they exactly? They always say everything, but has anyone ever met this they?"

"…"

"Hatter, I asked you a question."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't notice your rhetorical mood was over." Said Tarrant, so casually that Time became a little offended. "Mmm, I can't say who they are, but I can tell who they are not. They are not one, so they can't also be no one. If that's true, then we can say that they aren't nobody."

Time glared at Tarrant, who had a proud finger raised up in the air.

"I can surely say that this is the most ridiculous discussion I've had in my eternal existence." Sighed Time, wondering why they were pondering in matters so trivial to begin with. "Even my Seconds wouldn't speak such nonsense, and all they say is tick and tock".

"Speak for yourself. I liked our conversation, even if it just wasted time…you." Tarrant shrugged. "Because you know what they say, time you enjoyed wasting is not time- "

"Enough! I don't want to hear more of they and their smug little sayings. I have more important things to worry about, like getting you back to that kindergartner." Snapped Time, his patience running short. "Once this fool's errand is over, I must go back to my castle. I just hope Wilkins was able to keep the Seconds under control, because the last thing I want is to clean whatever mess they made in my absence. They are lost without me, I tell you."

Tarrant breathed a laugh too faint for Time to hear.

"I'm sure they are." He quipped in a low voice, though his taint was free of malice.

Time stepped away. He formed a perfect square with his fingers and inspected the area through it, gazing occasionally at the sky. He was so immersed in his calculations that Tarrant dared not interrupt him. He waited inside The Wonder, still and silent like a statue.

To Time, it looked as if Tarrant was just pleasantly hanging around and doing nothing, but he was making great effort to keep his thoughts from drifting back to his family and friends again. He didn't know how many times he could fight against the temptation of going back home before he yielded to it.

"Tick!"

A small pink puff was trying to sneak into the machine like a mouse a little too fat to fit inside a hole.

Tarrant crouched down and put a hand on top the feather-covered Second.

"Good timing, as always." He laughed. The Second replied in a happy babbler and his attempts to enter the machine became more relentless.

Had it not been for Tarrant's hand holding it back, it would have succeeded. With a twinge of sadness, Tarrant pushed the Second down until it fell back to the floor and rolled away from The Wonder.

The Second recovered and shook its feathers. It charged again towards the machine, its determination not having diminished one bit.

"No." Tarrant ordered, not harshly but with a severity that had a touch of his father's voice on it. For a moment, it was hard for him to believe his father wasn't talking from somewhere nearby.

The Second stopped and stood still next to the machine like a pup confused by its master's orders.

Tarrant wanted to pick it up and assure it everything was alright and that he would return soon, but he knew there was no point in tricking the Second with comforting lies.

"No, little one." Tarrant shook his head and raised his palm. "To where I'm going you can't follow."

"Tick?" The second bobbed its head to one side until it touched the ground.

"You must stay." Tarrant wondered if the Second understood what he was saying at all. "You know you must."

The green light in the Second's eyes flickered. Then, it dropped flat to the floor. Oil surrounded him and turned its feathers black.

Tarrant tried to cheer it up, but the Second seemed deafened to his call. It laid there like melting puddle until Time returned.

"What's the matter with you now?" Time scooped the Second in his hands. He shook it in all directions, but the Second remained as stiff and unresponsive as a rag doll. "Foolish trinket."

Very gently, Time put the Second back on the ground and wiped the oil dripping from his gloves.

"Great, just what I needed." He scoffed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset it." Tarrant sighed, regretting not having the chance to wish his small friend a memorable Fairfarren and leaving him in such a pathetic state instead.

"Don't mind it, the Seconds are too dramatic for their own good. It's just one of their many flaws." The little sympathy Time offered stung Tarrant, but he had grown too used to his indifference for it to hurt him more than it should. "It'll get over it sooner or later, whether he wants it or not."

Had he been in a sunnier mood, Tarrant would have teased Time by asking him if that meant time healed all wounds.

Thackery and Mally would have loved the jest, and his brother Pimlick would have enjoyed it too.

His father would have forced himself to smile, if only to indulge his son. His mother and sister would have chuckled so softly that their voices would have passed unheard.

His grandfather and nephew would have…

"It's all ready." Time announced. "Hatter?"

"It's nothing." Tarrant rubbed his eyes.

"Are you crying too?" Time asked, honestly confused. "Why? Isn't this what you wanted?"

"It is."

"I don't believe that, not when I see how much it pains you." Time stared at him as if he was a puzzle to be solved. "If leaving makes you so miserable, then why leave at all? Stay. It's as easy as that."

"It's not." Muttered Tarrant. "You wouldn't understand."

Time's patronizing confusion transformed into a repulsed bewilderment.

"You are right. Sometimes, I don't understand you mortals." He said, more to himself than to Tarrant. "I truly don't. But enough wasting me with these banal matters and your tears. I'll ask you again: do you want to leave or not? "

"I do." Tarrant said without hesitation, shocked at the swiftness of his answer and how much he feared to let his opportunity to see Alice go to waste. It felt like a slight betrayal to his family and friends, and he hoped they could forgive him one day.

"Then stop crying and mean what you say. Otherwise, this won't work." Sentenced Time. "And if we fail because of your fecklessness, do not expect me to help you ever again. Are we clear?"

Tarrant nodded, and Time gave him no quarter to go back on his word.

"Then let's us begin." Time cracked his fingers and neck, with a small blow of steam accompanying the clanking of his gears. He closed his eyes and joined his hands together on his chest, as if immersed in deep meditation.

Before anything could happen, an anxious Tarrant raised his voice to catch his attention.

"Wait! Aren't you supposed to teach me how to handle The Wonder first?" He urged, sweat shining in his forehead and his heartbeats visible on his temples. "A manual, a drawing, a riddle... anything that might give me a clue of how it works!"

Time frowned at the uncalled interruption at first, but in the blink of an eye, he started to laugh until his belly and sides hurt.

"Are you serious?" He asked as he wiped tears of laughter from his eyelids. "You really thought you'd be handling it? Please, you can't even handle your own emotions, even less something as sophisticated as my wonderful machine!"

Tarrant's blood began to boil.

"Then what is this lever for? Just another waste of yourself and space?"

"That, you blabbering oaf, is what will keep you from falling into an endless space-drift on your way up. As long as you don't let go of it, obviously. So I suggest you to hold on tight to it , because there's much more than your life at risk." Time face's became somber. "Should you fall , you will be trapped in an endless fate worse than death. Don't forget it."

Tarrant's mouth dried. He scratched his forehead with his knuckles.

"I really wish you had told me that sooner, you know."

"Why? Are you too scared to proceed now that I have?"

"Not at all, but I would have liked some time to prepare for it. At least mentally."

"It would have been in vain. You'll discover if you can survive when the moment comes." Time warned. "Think of whatever that may strengthen your determination. You still can fail, but it is also more likely that you won't."

"I understand." Tarrant took Time's words to heart and kept Alice's memory in his mind like a treasure that could be lost at the slightest moment of doubt. "Let us hope Space doesn't get angry at us for this transgression."

"Nonsense." Time refuted in the same manner a teacher dismisses a foolish claim of his student. "Space is but a part of Time."

Smugly, Time was again ready to begin. But once more, Tarrant importuned him with his meddling.

"Time."

"What?"

"I just want you to know." Tarrant humbled his voice at the same level he did whenever he spoke to Mirana. "Well, in these last days we were at each other's throats most of the time, we fought over the silliest of things, and I don't think you will ever stop being a rude, pompous old timer …"

"You were doing well until the insults, Hatter."

"It's just me digressing, an old habit of mine. I guess what I really want to say is… "Tarrant cleared his throat and stretched his arm through one of the machine's holes, offering his hand to Time. "Thank you, my friend."

Time said nothing, did nothing. It wasn't until Tarrant began to retract his hand back inside The Wonder that he felt Time reciprocate the handshake with faked reluctance.

"There. Are you happy now?" Time asked, shaking his hand in an exaggerated manner. "You are annoying, but apparently that's a requisite in the mortal's friendship code. What a folly. You mortals and your weird perceptions never cease to confuse me."

Tarrant grinned at him, and Time almost found himself doing the same.

"Fairfarren, Time."

"Auf Wiedersehen, Hatter." Time nooded. "Now, I hope you don't have any more of your inopportune interruptions or petitions under your sleeve, have you?"

"I do."

"Wait! It was all rhetorical question. RHETORICAL!"

"Just a couple of things that won't take much of yourself." Reassured Tarrant. "First, if you see the Schnozzless, give her my thanks. She's been so busy ever since you gave her the pump cart that I had no chance to bid her farewell. I wish I could repay all she did for me with something more than words, but since I can't, please be sure to give her my gratitude."

"Am I your messenger now?" Inquired Time with indignation.

"And secondly, something much more important." Tarrant bowed his head and held Time's hand with more strength. "Tell my nephew of his mother's death, Time. Tell Bim. Please, he needs to know. If you can't do the first, then promise me that this you will."

"Hatter- "

"Please."

"You ask too much." Declared Time, getting free from Tarrant's grip and keeping his distance from The Wonder. He almost tripped over the Second , and kicked it out of his way. "I have to return to my castle to see if everything is in order. That's my one and only priority. Once everything is settled, and if I find enough motivation to come back here, … then we'll see."

It wasn't a comforting answer, but Tarrant knew it was the best offer Time would give him. There was nothing more he could do other than putting his trust in Time. Worrying about it would amount to nothing. Counting on Time had always been a risky bet better left in the hands of luck and destiny.

"Be ready, Hatter." A sky blue energy surrounded Time like a cape. He canalized it in his hands resting in the center of his chest, and with snap of his fingers, he released it in the form of an incorporeal, exploding wave that altered continuum and reality for a moment too short to understand. "Come, Pendulum."

The energy passed through Tarrant's body without touching him, but it still stole all the air in his lungs and the strength of his legs.

His movements slowed down to the point where Tarrant could no longer tell if he was moving or frozen in time, or in a bizarre point in between.

The world went back to its original course with a subtlety that seemed out of place.

Tarrant took a deep breath and felt how his blood rushed through his body like a river, giving him back the sensation of being one with Underland's reality.

He was about to ask Time for an explanation when he caught a golden glimpse behind him with the corner of his eye. He looked over his shoulder and saw the gigantic bob of a pendulum retracting slowly from the machine, preparing to swing and crash against it once it reached its maximum altitude.

Tarrant looked up with his mouth open. His eyes wandered off towards the pendulum's rod. He inspected it from start to end, only to discover that the whole pendulum was suspended in thin air, with no other support or force to hold it in its place other than Time's power and concentration.

"Focus, Hatter. Feebleness of mind and body are not allowed anymore." Urged Time with a calmness tainted by exhaustion. "Time transcends space, and you may too if your will is strong enough."

The pendulum's bob halted in midair.

Tarrant felt as if his heart would explode in his throat. The waiting worsened his nerves.

The Pendulum's strike would be mightier than the blow of a hammer against an anvil. It still hadn't happened, and yet, he already knew.

The rusted metal lever lacerated the flesh of his palms. Tarrant closed his eyes. He could only wish the machine wouldn't break into pieces at the Pendulum's touch.

Doubts and fears overflowed in his mind, but Alice's memory dispersed them just like darkness fades in the presence of light.

My Alice.

It was the last thought Tarrant kept in his heart before the Pendulum swung swiftly, as if it was marking the hour of the whole universe. The hit came as Tarrant had expected.

The machine went up at a speed that would make a shooting star turn green with envy. Air crashed against Tarrant's face like a thousand cuts. It made it impossible for him to open his eyes, regardless of how much he wished to.

Deep down, the regret of his inability to take one last glance of his home world almost made him waver, but Alice guarded him from any surging doubts.

My Alice.

Tarrant smiled.

He had nothing to fear.

Once he opened his eyes again, she would be the first thing he saw.

He was sure of that.

She was waiting for him at the end of his journey.

All he had to do was to wait and believe as The Wonder took him up, and up, and up and…

Patience, Time told himself.

There was no margin of error.

The Hatter was already halfway through. All that was left to do was to give The Wonder one final Pendulum's strike when it reached Underland's highest point.

Time needn't see the machine to know its position. He could feel the presence of his own invention like a distant call muffled by distance, but not silenced in its totality.

Intuition, mortals would call it.

For Time, it was as natural as existing.

"There!" The Wonder was close to its goal.

He gathered his energy once more and summoned the Pendulum to a new position, far away from him and closer to the machine.

It all would be ready for the Hatter.

All Time needed to do was to synchronize the Pendulum's swing in perfect timing with The Wonder's arrival.

Total synchronization was the last step, and also his specialty.

It was a piece of cake, a task so simple that Time resented its lack of challenge.

A fool's errand in all the extension of the word.

"It's all done." Time exclaimed with triumph just as the Pendulum's bob and The Wonder were in position "It was fun. Good riddance, Hatter."

"Wait!"

Something…. Someone hit him from behind.

His connection with The Wonder and the Pendulum faded into nothingness as his face touched the Outland's freezing ground. Time felt abandoned by the sudden disappearance of the bond between him and his inventions. The burden resting on his back hurt him, but that pain would heal.

What truly mattered were The Wonder and the Pendulum. Laying down on his belly and with his face caked with dust , Time searched for his lost inventions hanging up high somewhere in Underland's sky.

He founded them in a matter of seconds, but they were different.

The Pendulum had made its swing, but not in accordance to planned.

The machine was still moving, but it wasn't going up.

"No!" He shouted in frustration. He stood up, forcing the intruder off his back with the same hostility a horse unsaddles an unworthy rider.

It was the Schnozzless. She held a small pot in her green hands, but when she realized Time was no longer in company of Tarrant, she cowered away from him in fear.

"You moron!" Time shouted at her, his anger deepened by the fear in the Schnozzless' eyes. "Do you realize what you've done?! You seed-brain, clumsy-legged, over-grown weed!"

"It blossomed." She stuttered.

"What?!"

"Look."

Schnozzless showed Time the small sprout inside the pot, not out of enthusiastic happiness as she would have done with Tarrant, but more out of fear that Time would froze her and her little sprout in one moment for all eternity if she didn't.

The sprout, a miniature replica of the Schnozzless, waved hello to Time with a tiny leaf hand. For something so small, it was full of life.

"I tripped. I just wanted to show him..." She muttered. Her hands trembled as much as her voice. "I'm sorry."

Time felt how his anger died down, but it transformed into shock when the machine appeared again in the sky. It felt like a meteor, and found the end of its journey in the form of a fatal hit to the red castle.

It crashed right in the middle. With a deafening smash that came together with an earthquake, the castle separated into two like a broken heart.

Schnozzless gasped and suffocated a whimper with her free hand.

Time looked at the scene in disbelief.

He, Time, the Immortal, the Only, had failed.

Again.

He fell to his knees.

"Hatter." He said in an impulse.

He saw the Second lying on the ground like a rock.

A rock that could get on the way and make someone trip.

A rock he had put in the way.

He laughed. It was all so ridiculous, starting from his presence there.

What was he doing? What had he been thinking? Had he been thinking at all?

Like all previous times, his attempts to help a mortal had ended in chaos.

It had always been that way. He'd had no good reason to think it would be different this time, and yet, he had tried.

"It was all a mistake." Time gnashed his teeth. "I never should have left my castle. Wilkins, he … he was-"

He would have continued to talk to himself all day long had it not been by Schnozzless' frightened voice reaching his ears in the form of a warning.

"Look!" She was standing next to him, her little spout imitating her scared expression without understanding the reason behind it.

Time couldn't ignore the urgency in her words and looked to where she pointed.

Like tiny dots of ink on a blank page, a group of figures became visible into the distance. They were far, but were on their way with a steady pace.

They were coming right at their direction. Soon, they would get there.

Soon, Time thought.

He had never thought he would dread the sound of that word.

Time had never understood what mortals had against the idea of too soon. Now, he was beginning to see why the concept was so dreaded.

His moment of doubt disappeared to give place to his instinctive need to push forward.

The intruding group would indeed arrive soon, that was a fact.

But it wasn't too late to do something about it, Time thought.

It was never too late to make amends for one's mistakes.

Mortals believe that.

Perhaps, just for that one desperate occasion, Time could believe it too.