BOOK TWO: Interesting & Confusing Twisting Events
By Rurple101

Chapter Six

Mally Gives Up

Mally was fed up with Alice.

She had been very irritated when the 19 year old version of Alice Kingsley appeared and Tarrant took an interest in her in more ways than one. Mallymkun had waited her entire life to find the right dormouse to settle down with.

But no, she had fallen for a human, a mad hatter, and the maddest in all the land, Tarrant Hightopp.

Mallymkun may have been just a dormouse, but she was certainly not mousy and cuddly with her friends. She's feisty, determined, brave and always en garde.

She first met Tarrant on ironically a date itself but turned into a disaster. She was walking paw in paw with one of her friends who had suggested going on a fake date. But it had turned out that being the good friends they were, they hadn't realised they were crazy about each other.

But they had been walking through a field and ran into some field mice.

Mallymkun, not scared had brandished her (at that time) was just a needle but snapped as one of the field mice bit through it! Her friend had been taken and never knew what happened to him.

If Tarrant Hightopp hadn't been walking among the Windy Field at that time, then Mallymkun would have been taken as well.

As one of the field mice had grabbed her from behind, Tarrant had bent down and whispered "You should never manhandle ladies like that" and picked him up himself until he let go of Mallymkun.

He ran off as soon as he was lowered by the Mad Hatter and never looked back.

Tarrant went down on his knees until he could see the cowering dormouse carefully. He helped out his smallest finger to her in a friendly gesture "Tarrant Hightopp, nice to meet you Miss…?"

Mallymkun felt her fur turn slightly red and took his finger and shook it gently. "Mallymkun" she finished. Tarrant smiled at her.

"What did you do to bother the field mice?" he asked, curiously.

"Nothing!" Mallymkun spluttered before bursting into tears. Tarrant frowned and found a piece of tissue in his pocket and handed it to her. She took it gratefully and blew her nose.

"They took my friend!" she cried, the sobs shaking her small frame.

"There, there Mallymkun, I'm sure that your friend will be fine. Ok, those field mice seemed quite nasty but it must be a silly game their playing." Tarrant said softly to her, hating how he couldn't even put his arm round her.

"They grabbed him, he bit through my needle!" she continued. "So now I won't be able to defend myself!"

The Hatter held up on finger "One moment."

He took off his hat which (she noticed) had a pink salmon coloured ribbon around it, was tall and slender and held many hat pin. Tarrant peered closely at it before choosing a very small hat pin right at the back and handed it to her. She took hold of it and felt it. It was very stiff so no field mice could bite through it. It didn't bend and was nice and shiny. It had a nice looking end with a small pearl on it.

"Better?" he asked as she inspected it. She nodded and beamed up at him. "Thank you…Tarrant was it?"

"Aye" he answered. He leaned closer still to her. "Would you want some tea? Some friends of mine and I have tea parties nearly every day!"

"Why every day?" Mallymkun asked.

"Because we, well just me I suppose, are waiting for Miss Alice to return. She must be…I don't know how it changes in Upperland but I suppose she is around twelve now? She came here six years ago." Tarrant explained eagerly.

"I would love to come!" Mallymkun squealed. It sounded fun and she already was in love with Tarrant. (Crap did she JUST think that?) Instead she blushed.

He offered her his hat. "Why are you showing me your hat?" she asked, confused.

"You can travel by it. I should know, I came up with it. I am the Mad Hatter after all!" Tarrant giggled hysterically as if to prove a point.

Mallymkun remembered. His name was Tarrant Hightopp.

She had been in the palace when Her Majesty, Queen Mirana had fallen from her horse on Horunvendush Day, when the entire Hightopp clan had died at the hands of the Jabberwocky. So Tarrant was the only one left.

"Climb aboard! I put the hat on my head and then I can still speak to you as I walk." He explained. Mallymkun obeyed and climbed onto his hat. It was a weird experience and was careful as he put the hat on his head and started walking through the field.

"Just a tip for later" he whispered to her. "Don't hang around here for your outings with other dormice, Mally."

Even though he couldn't see her, she had blushed furiously. He had called her Mally, a name she hated people calling her. But strangely she loved how he made it sound.

I need help, she thought.

But she had gotton on well with Thackeray and Tarrant at the tea parties.

Tarrant made her some special clothes and hats for her and treated her specially. But then after a while, it had worn off and she was just Mallymkun again. He barely called her Mally after that and she missed it.

Seven years passed…

Then one day she had heard McTwisp and the Tweedles arguing over something. She followed then to where the rabbit hole portal from Upperland. Having not a lot of experience with it she had asked "What's going on?"

McTwisp had then told her to look through the keyhole. What Mallymkun saw was a younger looking lady, around twenty years old and blonde curls cascading down her back as she crawled out under her dress in her petticoats.

"Who's that?" Mally had asked again.

"ALICE!" the Tweedles had yelled excitable.

"Who is Alice?"

"The person who is supposed to slay the Jabberwocky on Frabjous Day!" McTwisp said. Mallymkun in all truth hadn't understood.

"It's the WRONG Alice" she'd said, determined to convince them – no dice.

"She's the right one, I'm sure of it!" McTwisp had argued back.

A few minutes later and the young lady called 'Alice' stepped out of the door, walked down the stairs looking around at Underland curiously. But the interesting thing was that she was only two feet high! "Curiouser and Curiouser…" she'd spoken, amazed.

"I am NOT convinced!" Mallymkun half screamed at McTwisp.

"Well, that's gratitude for you! You cannot know how difficult it was to find her. Trailing one Alice after the next for weeks on end...not to mention almost being eaten by large drooling creatures waving meat cleavers at me. And you would not believe how uncivilized the animals are up there. They wander around entirely unclothed, growling and barking and yipping. And they do their. ..ahem... shukm in public. Can you imagine? I had to avert my eyes! I'm still very upset by the entire experience." McTwisp exploded in frustration.

The Dodo bird studies the young lady – who stares right back in fascination, as if she'd never seen a dodo bird before. "She could be the right Alice."

The the Tweedles got started. "And if she was, she might be."

"But if she isn't, she ain't."

"But if she were so, she would be." Mallymkun just blocked it out.

But then Tweedledee asks "Who are you?"

"Alice" the young lady answers, in a posh but gentle tone.

"She's the WRONG Alice!" Mallymkun announced, satisfied. She was also scared, this Alice was very pretty and if the Hatter set eyes on her…

"How can I be the WRONG Alice, if this is MY dream?" Alice huffs back at the dormouse.

"We should consult the Oraculum." The dodo bird says quickly before a fight starts out.

Alice meets Absolem and he says she is 'hardly Alice' whatever that means.

But as they showed her the Oraculum it seemed to her that Absolem was correct. Despite the moving image looking exactly like her, 'Alice' backs away. "That's not me!" she says, fear in her eyes.

Mallymkun is delighted, now 'Alice' can bugger off home.

But 'Alice' closes her eyes, stands still and pinches herself. She then opens her eyes again. "That's odd" she muttered to herself "Pinching always works."

"I could stick you if you like!" Mallymkun offers a bit too gleefully.

"It might actually work. Thank you." Alice says kindly.

"My pleasure!"

Mallymkun approaches and stabs her toes. Alice screams "Oww!"

But then there's a CRASH and they all turn around. There is the Bandersnatch and they all run away.

But Mallymkun notices as Alice runs, she stops and faces the Bandersnatch. Desperate, Mallymkun runs forward. "Run you great lump!" she screams to her as she stabs her gift from the Hatter into the Bandersnatch's right eye.

The Bandersnatch roars as Mallymkun runs away with its eyes happily. She runs back to the tea party and settles into the atmosphere.

She had going to ask Tarrant then about their feelings. She was considering declaring her love for him as she started her walk across the table top towards him. He was either snoozing or in his madness covered mask with his head bent low and his hands in his chest. But then…

They heard the sound of Cheshire, an annoying and teasing cat who got on everyone's nerves. Only he didn't seem to be alone.

"Are you coming or not?" he said in his sneaky voice and he appeared in the clearing in the teas onto the blank patch in front of Thackeray's house.

Tarrant's head snapped up and gasped, along with Thackeray. But Mallymkun groans as Cheshire leads 'Alice' into the gate but this time she has scars, Bandersnatch Scars.

But Mallymkun is surprised when Tarrant leaps up from his chair and runs along the table top. As she looks on, her heart breaking, he leans down to her and whispers "It's you!"

"No, it's NOT. McTwisp brought us the WRONG Alice!" Mallymkun screams at him.

Tarrant mutters to himself distractedly. "It's ABSOLOUTLEY Alice!" I know you anywhere!" He turns back to the table to scowl at her "I know him anywhere!"

Thackeray giggles madly and grins back at his friend. Then Tarrant grabbed Alice's hand and lifted her over the table, not scared by the hand contact at all.

"Your late, you know. Naughty!" he says playfully and makes her a chair.

Ever since that day and the days that followed, Mallymkun had hated Alice. She had stolen the Hatter from her; all hopes and chances to get to him were lost as he was always with her.

All she had to do (which she had never done in her life) was give up and watch as this was a battle she couldn't fight.

Ahh poor Mallymkun (yay i learned how to spell her name right!) and soz if this chapter is too small. but 'alice undercover' is coming along nicely. :)

CHAPTER 3 OF THIS STORY HAS BEEN EDITED AS WELL AS I GOT A FEW MISTAKES WHEN I WAS ANGRY :d only a few facts have changed