Hiii.

Thanks for the compliments on my writing style. I'm trying to sound a bit more…elegant since the story's set in the Victorian era, but really, I think I'm doing a terrible job. I'm glad you, readers, are more optimistic.

I promise I'll try to make the chapters longer and less...dialogue heavy after this.

So, everybody just loves the Knave, huh?


I was suddenly jolted awake at the sound of a crash. My eyes cracked open lethargically—it felt as if I'd been lying there, on the bed, for months. The sky was light but grey outside, I noted, before slumping off the bed. Dishes clattered in the next room and something twinged within me.

Staggering into the room, I barked, "Be gone…get out of here—"

And then the thing caught me in the eye. I felt myself do a double take and my head spun.

"Hello, Hatter," the Cheshire Cat mumbled. He was licking the side of his paw, perched on the corner of my kitchen table, ignoring the collection of teacups he'd kicked over. A bony tail flicked back and forth and threw the things to the ground, a few of which shattered.

My mouth had fallen open at the sight.

"Why the look of shock?" the Cat grimaced. "Unhappy to see an old friend?"

"It…was unexpected," I replied after a moment.

"Prefer the company of a robber?"

"…why? Why are you here, Cat?"

"Your personal failings."

I drew a short breath. The Cat had been keeping a closer watch of this world than I had. And I'd failed to see him anywhere.

"Please go," I whispered. My hand curled around the doorframe and went white. A tremor shook my arm when I caught sight of it.

The Cat shook his head. "Can't do that, Hatter."

"I've done what I can. She wants to stay here. She does not want to remember Wonderland, anymore…"

The Cat continued to stare. I edged backwards. He leapt from the table, appearing at my feet in an elegant bound that made me feel incredibly clumsy just by watching. My mouth opened in attempts to protest, but the Cat cut me off.

"Hatter, you were the one to follow her here. You cannot simply walk away, not when she is in such a fragile state as she is. Keep her company and keep her safe—your suspicions about the Knave are on the right track. I do not know how, but this world has a way of restoring, perhaps even glorifying the evil in ours. There is something here that is frightening her, scaring her into submission. Wonderland is suffering, Hatter. You did not leave her at the opportune moment and now you have become the link to her sanctuary. If you fall off the map now, she will surely break in two."

I shook my head. I did not understand. I did not want to understand.

"Hatter, look at yourself!" the Cat snarled. "She's left you unaffected…perfected your image, even…while if you look at me…." His words dropped off.

"How can you say that? How has that...that girl perfected me?" I barked. My fist slammed on the table and sent yet another cup to a shattering demise.

The Cat leapt onto the table again and knocked a cold teakettle over. Amber liquid spilled across the table's surface. For the first time in a long while I was given an opportunity to get a good look at myself. The most striking thing wasn't my face. It was my hair. It lay peacefully against my head, dark and tame as it had been so many years ago. The fact that I knew the image reflected in the tea was my face, that mere fact made tears prickle in the back of my eyes.

"I won't be offended. Go ahead, flatter yourself," the Cat chuckled darkly.

The word "handsome" drifted across my thoughts as the Cat spoke. He must have developed mind-reading skills somewhere along his travels. I glanced to him after a long moment, knowing my eyes were now darker than his, an emerald versus the cat-like yellow they had practically resembled. My face wasn't white as a sheet.

"It is impossible," I whispered. I swiped blindly at the tea, irritated that the Cat was, of course, right again.

"Even you don't believe your words," the Cat smirked, "I can see it in those pretty eyes."

I grimaced at him. "Let me go back. She'll be free of the burden of Wonderland. She'll be free to run her life however she so chooses."

The Cat's ears fell flat. "Are you insane? Oh wait, don't answer that…" He disappeared and rematerialized beside the window. "We've already established that you cannot simply leave…"

"Make up your mind then, Cat!" I snapped. I wanted him out of the house. I wanted to disappear myself.

"Don't let her wander, Hatter. She needs guidance and safety from whatever it is that chases her. You swore yourself to protecting her, so protect her, Hatter. She needs to heal."

Silence suddenly reigned. The Cat's ears sprang stark straight. His eyes went wide—pupils dilating though the light had not changed, and then he growled, "We're already too late." The cat's thin body faded into nothingness as he jumped forward once again, snarling, "Get dressed, quickly!" The Cheshire was standing at the door the next time he appeared.

"What—what? What—"

"Stop stammering. Get yourself together. We must go, now!" The Cat implored.

And so, that morning, a talking Cat had roused me out of bed and into dress. In this world, it was a once in a lifetime occurrence. Then I chased said damn cat for several acres worth before he finally came to a pause.

In a single breath he whispered, "You must stop this."

My eyes went wide. "Me? And what's wrong with you?"

The Cat grinned slightly. "Your vision, or your mind, must truly be failing you, Tarrant."

And then he was gone.

"No… Oh…dear God."

We had appeared at a familiar piece of lawn. Several dozen chairs were set up, flowers adorned every flat surface, and scrumptious smells floated from the house across the way.

The last wedding I had heard of was that of the Red Queen and her king.

I much preferred to keep it that way.

It took several long minutes—during which I could have sworn I must have had a pocket watch lodged in my ear because I could literally hear the ticking—for me to actually find a face I knew. It was Mrs. Kingsley who I chanced first.

"Oh! Mr. Hightopp, good, you've arrived just in time for the celebration…"

"Mrs. Kingsley," I stuttered, "Mrs. Kingsley, what is this? What's going on here today?"

"Oh dear, did you not get the letter? Well, lucky you showed up when you did… We're having a formal party for Alice's engagement." The woman seemed very delighted and pleased with her daughter, but after announcing the celebration aloud, her expression dampened slightly. She looked me in the face for a long while before muttering, "You would have done well too, I suspect. We all loved you, Tarrant." The woman then huffed and apologized, "Oh, dear, I'm so sorry, please forgive me for my rambling…"

It was hard to simply nod my head. The woman shattered my heart all over again. And Alice had refused to listen when it was putting us all in danger.

"May I speak to her? Wish her well, and all," I proposed.

"Indeed, of course, of course!" Mrs. Kingsley swept aside and pointed to the house.

I took the stairs two at a time and was nearly to the top when a blonde bob appeared downstairs.

Her eyes were terribly sad.

My mouth fell unhinged for a moment, paralyzed at the sudden sight of her there, looking small and breakable once again.

"Hatter?" she asked, her voice so high and disbelieving one would think she hadn't seen me in years.

I took the stairs back down one at a time and called her name in response. To me, her name sounded broken as well. It didn't taste as sweet nor sound as melodious as it should have.

Alice put a hand on the banister as I neared the bottom step. Her eyes never left me. She finally spoke, her voice so small as I stood close. "What are you doing here?"

"Evidently your mother invited me," I replied sheepishly. Alice seemed not to hear me. It stung deep inside to see her eyes look beyond me. "But it was the Cat who dragged me here."

"The cat?" The girl sniffled again. I reached for her but she suddenly turned away, her mere whimper turning into a light cry. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Her tears beckoned me closer. I could not not stand beside her in this hour of pain and despair. But this being said, it took everything for me not to turn and run the other way—her pain was so immense I felt exhausted while simply standing there.

"I-I'm sorry. Dinah just ran away this morning, we think someone left the door open too long and he just slipped out…"

"T'was the Cheshire that brought me here, Alice," I quickly clarified.

She glanced over her shoulder and seemed surprised to see me so close, but at the same time her expression was questioning my words. "The…chess…Cheshire?"

"Indeed, he's grown a bit bony but he appeared at my abode and all but destroyed what few teacups I have…"

"What are you talking about, Hatter?"

Her words struck me like ice. If anyone were to be called a character, it would be the Cat. Fear began to work its way into my mind, just as it slowly seeped onto Alice's somber face. If Alice did not remember the Cat, what, if anything, was left? I could not let her slip away…I could not let Wonderland fall through her fingers.

"The Cheshire Cat, dear girl," I repeated, "Blue and gray fur, round eyes…he can evaporate?"

She shook her head. "Are you trying to make me think I'm more mad than I already feel?"

"Not at all," I sighed. It was so hard to reach her. 'No, no, Alice, that isn't what I mean in the slightest."

She shrank away from me.

"What are you doing here? Why do you keep showing up? What have you done to trick my family into thinking you belong here?" she jabbed. With each step I took towards her, she jogged away another three. It soon turned to a chase, with me repeating her name while she threw the same questions at me. I just need to reach her. I just need to touch her, to hold her and have her look into my eyes and see the truth of it—that this, that I and she were both real…

"Why? Just tell me why you're here, Hatter!" she screeched. Alice stumbled across the front porch, pushing past chattering crowds and staggering over the lawn while I struggled to keep up. At the same time, I was shocked that no one stopped me or even her, the screaming girl who was running at full speed away from her house and home and the people she loved.

"Alice!"

She froze not two steps into the forest. Then, as she turned to face me, I froze. All words were lost.

Tears muddied a spotless face. The dark, tangled forest made her look entirely too small and too delicate. My fingers twitched as I began to reach out for her but thought better of it at the last second; I stood frozen in her wake.

Alice was broken. I broke Alice.

"I…I" she choked.

My heart seized in time with her stammers.

"I do not know…what it is…I want…anymore," Alice whispered. "I thought I knew… But then…whenever…you… I can't…I can't decide." She was crying soundlessly.

Out of nowhere I found the words to speak. "All I've done, Alice, is try to keep you safe. I did not know the dangers of this world nor was I ever expecting to face them…never in my wildest dreams would I have come up with this… I do not wish to hurt you. I do not like it when you cry. I want you to go home," I implored while knots welled in my throat, "…but I want your home to be Wonderland. I cannot make the choice for you, Alice. You must make it on your own. Only you can decide your fate."

She blinked and sorrily shook her head. "Do not make me choose," the girl whispered. "I cannot choose."

I took a step towards her. "Is this what you fear?"

"W-what?"

"The future?"

"I will not go out there," she suddenly barked. "I will not go out there and make a fool of myself again!"

"Alice, no body's making you a fool—"

"I will not go out and face them, you cannot make me!" She was screaming once again.

"Alice—"

As I stepped towards her, the ground gave way beneath us. The last things I recalled were a horrific shriek and the sound of a hundred ticking clocks.