Summary: Alice has come and gone from Underland as a child and now as a Champion. She touched many hearts in the realm, but her actions may have permanently broken the fragile sanity of the Hatter. A story that addresses Alice's eventual (and promised) and promised return, and the Hatter's reactions as he fights to regain some semblance of normalcy in his feelings for her.

Rating: Right now, it's pretty safe with a T. Eventually, this will probably move closer to a M...but it'll be a while.

Pairings: Alice and The Mad Hatter

Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with Alice in Wonderland (2010). It is property of the various

owners, Mr. Carroll and Mr. Burton to name a few. I just want to play in the world of

Wonder/Underland for a bit with the lovelies that reside there. This is purely a creative/entertainment endeavor and not for profit. No infringement is intended!

Chapter the First: The Finding of the Champion

The White Queen had seen Mally immediately, offering a sympathetic ear as the dormouse told her of the tales of the Hatter's destructive tendencies and fitful nights. When she finished her story, Mally's eyes trailed up to meet the Queen's, hope battling against fear. She waited, hoping that the Queen would pat her head comfortingly and tell her that all would be well.

That reassurance never came.

The Queen looked just as sad, and fearful, as the dormouse—she had no solution to give. She had made the agreement that Alice would be free to return to Underland when she had completed her Upland tasks. Because of that promise, the White Queen could offer no way to reach Alice and beg her to return to the Hatter. She offered her apologies to Mally and promised that she would do anything possible to protect the Hatter, even from himself. The dormouse nodded her thanks and told the Queen of her plan to go and seek Alice from Uplands—though hesitant, the Queen had little choice but to agree with Mally's plan and she made arrangements to have the Hatter, and the Hare, moved into the palace for safekeeping.

Satisfied that the Hatter would be kept safe, Mally set off to see Alice in the Uplands. Someone had to fix the Hatter, and if the Queen couldn't retrieve Alice, then Mally would.

For days, Mallymkin traveled the wayward roads of Underland, looking for a way into the Uplands. The Queen had no mystical vial of blood to send her upwards, and the rabbit hole that Alice initially fell down was, as far as she knew, inaccessible from Underland. She hoped to be able to find Absalom; the Butterfly was a known traveler between the Realms and if anyone could help Mally navigate Upland, it would be him.

She sent out pleas with each gust of wind, each wayward petal, for Absalom to come and collect her—to show her the way to Uplands.
After a week, again if one can measure Underlandian time in such odd measures, her call was answered, though not with the butterfly. She opened her eyes one morning to find a disheveled-looking Alice sitting cross-legged in a nearby flowerbed. The dormouse swore and started backwards, drawing her small sword and standing defensively. "What are ye doin', ye great lump? Sneakin' up on sleepin' folk!"

Alice's eyes widened, seemingly caught surprised by her surroundings, and she stood, tripping over the flowers. "M-Mally! Am I really back? Returned to Underland?" Her voice, usually so sweet and sure, was hoarse from disuse.

Mally looked at the newly-returned champion with a closer eye—Alice looked exhausted. She had dark smudges under her eyes and she looked, if possible, thinner. Her hair, normally golden and tangled, was dingy and in some spots matted. Her eyes held a quality that Mally recognized all too well—in Alice's time away from Underland and the antics and lunacy of the Underlandian inhabitants, she had fallen into some kind of madness. She needed rescuing as much as the Hatter did, and Mally only hoped that the two of them could find a way to pull one another back over the brink...

It took double the amount of time to lead Alice back into Underland proper; she was so easily distracted and extremely skittish. As they traveled, Mally tried to impress on the fragile girl the state the Hatter was in. It was useless, Alice would understand for a moment and then she would dissolve into a puddle of guilt and anxiety. Each time, it was the same bout of mumbling; it got so bad that for a brief moment, Mally took her to be a true inhabitant of Underland—she spoke with the same Outlandish brogue as the Hatter when she fell into her fits.

Always, it was that She had caused the Hatter's pain, it was all her fault that he had fallen to pieces. She had broken the Hatter and she had no idea how to fix him, how to put the pieces back together. When the fits would take her, accompanied by gasping breath and shaking body, she would cry and whimper out her failures—she had failed the Hatter and it was her fault that he was so lost...

It took all of Mally's strength to get the champion back to the security of the White Queen's court. It took all of her patience and stealth to keep the Hatter from seeing Alice directly. The Queen had first priority to see to Alice; perhaps she would have some kind of remedy that would alleviate the madness that had settled over Alice in her time away.

The Queen, upon seeing Alice initially, looked at Mally with her sad eyes and shook her head. Her voice was soft, she didn't want to upset Alice or any of the court's inhabitants with her words. "Mally, my dear, I do not know if I can remedy this. Her madness, much like that of the Hatter's, comes from sources outside of my control. The time apart has done the both a great disservice," she paused, and watches as Alice dissolved into another fit of panic and worry, "Perhaps we can hope that being reunited with one another will help both our Hatter and our champion regain some semblance of their sanity..."