Chapter Four:

"Rise and shine!" Hatter's loud voice said in Emblym's room. Emblem groaned, annoyed by the old man. "Yes, I was talking to you, Emblym," Hatter continued.

"Go away," Emblem grumbled, it was far too early for him to be in her room, and although she didn't sleep, she was still exhausted and perpetually tired because of it. The voices never let her sleep peacefully, not for four years. Sometimes, she would get the chance to rest some, but to actually sleep well? That was never possible.

Emblem felt Hatter yank on the end of the blanket and before she even had the chance to react, he had yanked her, and her covers, out of the bed.

Emblem landed in an angry heap on the floor. Hatter, oblivious to her obvious annoyance, continued to talk, "I want you downstairs in ten minutes! Get yourself dressed and ready! If you're not out of the bathroom by then, you'll be washing outside!" With that, Hatter left, leaving Emblym in a steaming rage on the ground, doing everything in her power to not get up and drive her knife in his back.

•️️️️•

As Hatter instructed, Emblym was out of the shower and dressed in ten minutes. To most, it'd be quite the feat, but Emblym was used to quick, cold showers back at the Asylum, so this wasn't too different. What she didn't expect, however, was when Hatter led Emblym to a foul-scented cow stables. The ground littered with manure and flies.

Emblym had to keep herself from gagging, and instead focused her attention on Hatter, glaring. The cow turned, it's beady black eyes starting at her, unyielding. "Why did you bring me here?" Emblym demanded, annoyance evident in her tone.

"Your first chore is to milk Damsel," Hatter instructed calmly. Emblym let out a sarcastic scoff, roiling her dark brown eyes.

"Like hell I'm milking your dirty, stinky cow," Emblym sneered. "I came here to train, not do your field work."

"Then later," Hatter continued, as if Emblym hadn't just completely declined his previous order. "You'll feed the horses, and watch the sheep. Make sure to move them to a better, greener place to eat. I think there's some on the other side of the field. After that, collect three eggs from the henhouse, rotate the sheep again, and we should be good."

"I don't think you understand me," Emblym growled. "I'm not milking your stupid cow, and I'm not moving your sheep and feeding your horses and whatever else you asked me to do! I came here to train too kill a Queen, not play farmer girl."

"If you need help milking Damsel, just call, and--" Anger flared in Emblym's eyes as she summoned her knife, ready to kill the cow. Hatter moved faster than she could see, snapping a red bracelet on her wrist. Immediately, her knife disappeared, leaving Emblym disarmed.

The voices began to laugh at her, some demanded blood to be shed when the band was placed on her. Emblym glared at Hatter, trying to take it off, but it didn't budge. "What the fuck did you just do?!" Emblym growled, trying to summon her knife, but the action only left her wrist burning in pain.

Fury welled inside Emblym, "Take this off!" She hissed, "Now!"

"I will," Hatter responsed calmly, almost enjoying her struggles. "Once you have finished your chores." Hatter kicked a stool, landing it next to the cow, who let out a grunt, swishing it's tail. "Milk the cow, feed the horses, move the sheep collect the eggs, bring the sheep back. That's it." Hatter gave Emblym a lopsided smile, "I'll leave you to your chores then."

Hatter began to walk out of the stable, Emblym, staring incredulously at his retreating figure. Then, he stopped, and turned around, "And, if you could weed the garden, that'd be--" Emblym threw the stool at him, leaving him laughing.

•️️️️•

Emblym hated this goddamn farm. She wondered constantly why she was still there, doing absolutely nothing productive. She hadn't had a single bit of actual training in the month and a half since she came. She was beginning to wonder if this all was just a hoax, and she really had just been kidnapped.

Despite her growing case of Stockholm, Emblym had to admit that she was a little curious about the farm's existence.

Whenever she asked Hatter how it was, possible for the farm to be like this, completely invisible to the outside world, he simply smiled and said, "Magic." That always frustrated Emblym, but she had to admit, it was cool.

Emblym had also been cooking a lot as well. Since the only things the others wanted to eat was either pasta or pizza, she refused to have either. For once, her voices actually came in handy, instructing her on what to cook, and how to cook it. She was even able to distinguish a few from the others, and although they never really said their names, she still knew them by their voices. For example, the voice that helped Emblym cook the first day she arrived, her accent sounded like it was from Louisiana. When she commented on this, however, the voice got angry with her, so she decided to keep her observations to herself.

As the days passed, Emblym learned more about the farm and it's owners. Mallymkum, or Dormouse, as everyone else seemed to call him, never left Bayard's side. He always rode with the dog, whether on his back, or his head. They were inseparable.

Cheshire and Tweedledee where always pretty strange, though. Cheshire could -- and most certainly would -- appear out of nowhere, just to shock you. He was always rather lazy, and loved to bother Emblym about her lack of pumpkin or fish-based pastries, even though she didn't bake. She constantly shooed him away, annoyed, or threw her knife at him, lazily. He always seemed to evade it, which irritated her.

Then, there was Tweedledee. Emblym was only able to find him when dinner started, or any meal, really. Emblym hadn't really been able to interact with him much since she joined, but when she did greet him, it was always sour. He would glare at her, as if she had done something that she most certainly never did! Even if she looked guilty, he would be angry with her.

So, Emblym avoided him. In the month or so since she arrived, she hadn't had a full conversation with the short man.

As the days grew by, Emblym began to fall in step with their system. She'd wake up early, do her chores, get back inside late, and hang out with the others. Sometimes, she was told epic tales about their time in Wonderland, or about a good friend of theirs named Alice. Other times, she'd just rest in her room, plagued by her voices, or annoyed by the others.

It wasn't that she didn't like their strange tales, or funny stories, but she was just getting restless. She came to their farm to kill a queen and it had been nearly two months now! If Hatter was on a time limit, he certainly wasn't showing any sign of it. This bugged Emblym for weeks, until one day, she snapped.

The cause of her snap was from the night before. She had to stay up until nearly three AM to find a baby sheep that had gone missing. After she found the lamb and hauled it back to the others, Emblym was ready to go to sleep, but the voices thought otherwise. They were bloodthirsty after staying up so long to find the animal, and not having her knife for nearly three days -- Hatter refused to take the bracelet off because she almost butchered Damsel for rear ending her. They screamed at her, not allowing her sleep all night.

Once the time came for her to wake up Emblym refused to come out of the bed. After staying in her room for thirty minutes, Hatter finally came in.

"Emblym! Get up, you are wasting daylight!" Hatter demanded, opening her door. Before she could say a word, he had yanked the blankets, and Emblym out of the bed.

Emblym stayed on the floor for several minutes, rage slowly fueling her. "Emblym?! Get up, you have chores--" Emblym snapped and jumped at the man, knocking him to the ground, her hands in a tight grip around his neck.

Hatter gagged as Emblym strangled him, her eyes akin to a wild animal's. Hatter managed to grab his hat, that had fallen, and dug inside it. His hand came out and he shoved a small pastry in her mouth.

Emblym fell back, choking on it, forced to swallow it down. Instantly, the world shrank around her, and Hatter grew dangerously tall. He was on the ground, coughing, trying to regain his breath.

Emblym scrambled away, for once in a long time feeling scared and helpless. She was the size of a dollFix me!" Emblym growled, wishing she had her knife. Her voices accented this, demanding she'd take Hatter's head. Hatter turned to her and gave her a sour look. He easily grabbed her, raising her to her nightstand. Emblym's heart beat erratically as the room moved at light speed around her.

Emblym glared at him, her arms firmly crossed. "Now," Hatter spoke calmly, coughing for a moment. "I am sure you have a very reasonable reason for attacking me, yes? It is very rude to do so, you realize, and especially at this hour. If there was something you wanted, then we very easily could have talked and--"

"I don't care for such trivial things!!" Emblym growled at the man, nearly shaking from anger. "I came her kill the White Queen, not do your yard work!"

"This 'yard work's is to help you learn, Emblym. You need to be patient," Hatter chided patiently.

"Patient?! I don't need to be patient, I need to murder this queen, and if you don't start actually teaching me instead of all this other bullshit you're having me do, then I'll leave! To hell with your queen!"

Hatter was silent, allowing Emblym to finish her small rant. Then, he stood straight, and Emblym glared at him. He pulled something out of his hat and handed it to her. It was a bottle cap full of some liquid. "Drink this, it's the antidote," Hatter explained. "It'll make you big again." Hesitantly, Emblym obeyed, and chugged the small bottle cap's worth of antidote. As quickly as she shrunk, Emblym began to grow. She jumped off her nightstand when she was tall enough, and soon was returned to normal height, give or take a few inches.

"Now, get ready and meet me outside," Hatter instructed, then turned to leave the room.

•️️️️•

Emblym was angry by the time she was outside. Hatter was standing in the yard, surrounded by the others. His arms crossee neatly over his chest. Emblym glared as Hatter beckoned for her to come closer. Her fingers were grasping for a knife that wasn't there.

Hatter took off his hat, revealing the curly plane of red hair on too. He handed his hat to Cheshire, who was floating behind him in amusement. Hatter stepped forward and snapped off the bracelet on her wrist. Immediately, Emblym's knife was in her hand and she relaxed. "We will spar," Hatter spoke. "If you win, I'll properly teach you how to kill the Queen," Hatter informed her seriously.

"You're not going to use your hat?" Emblym asked curiously, flexing the fingers around her knife.

"There's no need. This'll be over soon," Hatter replied with a smirk. Emblym took that statement as her cue to start. She slashed at him, making a wide arc across where his chest was, but Hatter dodged it, taking her by the wrist.

Anticipating this, Emblym transferred her knife to her left hand, the one he wasn't holding, and moved to stab him in the abdomen. Hatter moved, pivoting on the spot amd managed to kick Emblym under the legs, landing her on her bottom.

Hatter chuckled, offering her a hand and Emblym felt her esrs grow hot with embarrassment. "That didn't count! I was warming up! Again!" Emblym claimed, jumping to her feet. She steadied herself, glaring at Hatter.

Hatter agreed, and she lunged. Hatter moved, taking her arm and forcing her to her knees. Emblym growled, but twisted out of his grip. "Again!" She growled, and a few minutes later, she was again, pinned to ground, and not a scratch was on Hatter. "Again!" She hissed, jumping up.

Hatter and Embym sparred for hours upon hours, neither of them willing to take a break. The sun was beginning to set, the only signal of time actually passing. The others had long past went inside, and probably cooked dinner by now.

Emblym was muttering swears under her breath, forcing herself to rise. Everything was sore and she was having a very hard time keeping oxygen in her lungs.

"Maybe we should call it a night," Hatter commented. "You still have chores to do.

Hatter himself only looked slightly winded from the rare times she actually got to him. Anger engulfed her and she lunged at him, not thinking, not caring about anything except for the very real fact that she wanted his head.

Hatter twisted her arm, making her wriggle in an attempt to escape. "Let go of me!!" Emblym screamed, but he didn't move a muscle. "This isn't fair, damn it! I said let go, Hatter!" After several more minutes of ineffiencet struggling, Emblym finally slumped, giving up.

"Why are you trying so hard, Emblym?" Hatter asked, his voice gentle. "We've been at this for hours."

"I came here to kill the White Queen," Emblym growled. "If I killed her, then the voices go away, and I hate the voices. They ruined my life! They made me kill people, they made me... They made me hurt people that I used to care about. Everything was simple, until... Damn it," she swore as tears fell from her eyes. "I just wanna be normal, Hatter. I didn't ask for this. I didn't! I just want everything to go back to normal..."

Now the tears were coming at full force. Emblym hadn't had the chance to rant like this in four years, since the voices plagued her mind.

Hatter stood released her, and she sat on the ground. He snapped the bracelet back on her wrist. Emblym didn't complain, and he also called his hat back to his head. Then, he sat down beside her.

They were quiet for a few moments, just listening to the wind blow around them. Then, Hatter spoke, "I don't make you do chores because I don't think you aren't capable to learn how to fight, Emblym," he told her. "The chores are to build your stamina and muscle, make you stronger naturally. And you have been growing, I can see it. You used to be as thin as a stick when you came here." He chuckled and even Emblym had to laugh.

"Besides," he continued, sighing, "I have over three decades of war experience, and even more so from this hellish mission. Holy hearts, I'm old," he grumbled, rubbing his face. "Despite that, you put up a very good fight. So..." He grinned at her, "I think it would be in all of our best interests to get you training."

"Really?" Emblym asked, emotion still dragging down her tone.

"Really," Hatter smiled. "But, you'd still have to do your chores."

Emblym laughed heartily, wiping her tears. "Unfortunately," she laughed. Emblym looked at him, smiling, "I still think I could defeat you..."

"Ha!" Hatter laughed, "I have way more experience than you, my friend. It's be impossible."

"Yes, but..." Emblym gave a small smile, "A very wise person once told me that he believed as much as six impossible things before breakfast." Hatter looked at her, surprised. Then, without warning, he hugged her.

Emblym was shocked for several moments, but accepted it. For once, the voices were silent, and she loved it.

As Emblym began to go inside and wash up, she realized that it had been more than four years since someone hugged her. She was glad that the first person to do so was Hatter.