Notes: SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY! I apologize profusely for not updating on this story in such a long time! The only excuse I have is that my Internet connection has been wacko recently, and chances are it will have to get worse before it can get any better. But I assure you, good readers, this story will be completed!

To make matters worse, in this particular chapter not much development happens: as well as acting as a prelude to the next chapter, its primary purpose is for me to introduce a very special OC – my "alter ego," for all means and purposes – who will become a prominent character in many of my future stories/chapters of stories. He will not appear again in THIS story, however, until the very end. Please, tell me what you think of the character, and forgive me for the lack of plot-driving in this chapter. The next chapter will make up for any disappointment caused...I hope and pray, anyway.

Enjoy! (Or not. Preferably the former...)

Chapter XIII: Exxe-traordinary Encounter

It had been a long time since Mally had found herself opening her eyes up…to total darkness.

The first time had been long ago, before the Horunvendush Day…before she had even met the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. The second time was the night before the Horunvendush Day (Forbodean Day, if she recalled correctly), followed by a third time on the night of that terrible day. The fourth time did not come until much later, when she was held captive by the Red Queen, before the escape from Salazen Grum.

An escape managed in no small part by a certain cat…

She groaned.

Now what is it?

"Hello, Mallymkun. Long time, no see."

The voice, dark and whispery, almost like the voice of a serpent, but clearly human (or human-like), seemed to come from the air itself…it was nowhere, yet everywhere, at once.

"Hello again. I can't see you…where are you?"

"Look to your left."

The dormouse did. Slowly, the setting before her faded into view, as if the darkness had wound itself into shapes and images, to create something not quite as dark, but not of light either…a grayscale of forms.

She was, as she had fully expected, in The Library. Not a library, but THE Library. The Library of Worlds. Books she could not rightly see lined every shelf, or else were stored in glass cabinets. The few titles she could make out she could not understand, written in foreign languages, many long forgotten. Scrolls and even carved pieces of wood or stone, inscribed with ancient symbols and hieroglyphs, were seen on/in some of these, partially hidden behind the multitude of books. The tops of the shelves, and the length of the shelves themselves, could not be seen, extending off into the inky blackness beyond her already mostly-shrouded gaze.

From the darkness came a spark of light; a candle flickered into view on a table…a table on which she stood.

And, at the end of the table, sat a shadowy figure, draped in a black cloak, black gloves, and a wide-brimmed black hat. The fingers of the gloved hands were long and thin, tapering at the ends, perhaps to conceal claws, or else really long nails. Beneath the hat brim's veil of shadow, glittering like black, shattered pieces of glass or sharp, metal filings, were a pair of obsidian colored eyes. The only thing not black, or veiled in shadow, was the medium-length, sandy-brown hair that spilled out from under the hat brim.

Mally still shivered, as if from cold, when she saw him, no matter how accustomed she'd grown to his sudden visits.

"Hello, Exxe."

In the candlelight, Mally could see the immortal's chin, and thus spotted his smile. His teeth were not human teeth…or snake's teeth, for that matter. They were patterned like the dentures of a jackal, only set in a humanoid mouth, the canines long and wickedly sharp, the incisors pointed and deadly.

Only the dormouse knew that grin was meant to be a kind one.

"It's good to see you, Mally," hissed the dark librarian.

"It's good to see any of me, you mean."

Exxe laughed…a cackle of amusement that never seemed to match his cultured, seductive voice.

"How true."

"Why are you here now? What is it?"

The obsidian eyes widened in mock surprise.

"Why, Mally! You wound me! Do I really need a reason to say hello to an old friend?"

"An old story, you mean. And, yes, you do. You always do. You said so yourself, once."

The laugh came again.

"You know me so well!"

"Well?"

The gloved hands steepled.

"I've been going over you these past few weeks," he said. "The last few pages have been…perturbing."

"How so, Exxe?"

The librarian was silent.

"…This is about the cat, isn't it?"

The hat on the immortal's head moved forward and backward as he nodded.

Mally sighed and looked down.

"Let me guess: since you've been reading through my life, you know my feelings – mixed up as they are – for him are, and you don't approve."

"On the contrary; I approve completely."

The dormouse looked up, surprised.

"Wh-what?"

The cackling laugh was softer now.

"I am very fond of you, Mallymkun, but, please, do not forget you are, in all reality, only a single dormouse in a vast ocean...an ocean of oceans, to be more accurate. I have travelled the entire universe, and many others. I am as old as the night, as ancient as the dark side of the moon. Do you honestly believe that, in the boundless volumes of my Library, in the infinitesimal number of worlds I have seen, visited, or read about, you and your beloved Cheshire Cat are alone?"

Mally eyed him doubtfully.

"Actually, yes. I did. And I still do."

Exxe sighed; the Librarian of Eternity's breath was shallow and cold, like a chilly breeze on a cold winter's night.

"Mortals," he muttered. "Sometimes I forget…"

"I don't understand."

"That is not important," rasped the shadowy figure, waving a hand carelessly. "All you need to know is that I worry about you: I can only care about seven beings in all the vastness of eternity, and there are no refunds, as far as I know. Your comprehension, therefore, doesn't signify at all."

"What do you want of me, now?"

"I want nothing of you. I want to help you."

"Well, then?"

Exxe paused before speaking again.

"What are your feelings for this…feline, precisely?"

Mally bit her lip. Hard.

"I don't really know…" she said, petulantly, and immediately scolded herself for her tone.

"Clarify your confusion, please."

"Well…I think…I THOUGHT I loved him…but, even if I do, he doesn't seem to love me, and I think it would be silly if he did. It would be wonderful, yes, but it would be…unlikely. But, at the same time, I want to tell him. I suspect the attempt will get me killed, but I want him to know, nevertheless. Every time I want to approach him, though, I find hostility or a loss for words – on my part, for the latter – interrupting me before I can get the chance. I don't know if he already knows about my feelings, but, if he knows, perhaps that's why fate hasn't given me the chance to tell him…"

"Hasn't given you the chance?"

"The first time, I went to find him, to tell him, and…"

"And what?"

The dormouse glared harshly.

"I think you know what."

"Yes, but I want to hear it from the rodent's mouth, so to speak."

Mally snarled, temper rising.

"You know that I hate being called-!"

"WATCH YOUR STEP, MALLY." Exxe's voice was louder now, the hiss echoing everywhere, madness and irritation spilling out in a torrent. After a pause, he added, calmer, "I might get upset."

Mally shuddered.

"You…you once told me you weren't God. Sometimes I'm not so sure, though…"

"I only keep the stories in order; I never write them. Besides which, I can only read one at a time."

Mally nodded, silent.

"Continue, my dear."

"…As you know, I found him…'playing,' and I guess something about that angered him. He grabbed me, hissed and yelled…put a claw to my neck…"

"In short, tried to kill you."

"Yes. Then…he stopped. He let me go. I still don't understand what in henfan was going on then…and I am really not sure if I want to know."

She looked up at the librarian hopefully.

"Though I don't think I'd mind if I found out."

"As I said before, I can only read one book at a time. Besides, even if I did know, I would not be allowed to tell you."

Mally sighed.

"Go on."

"Well…he came to apologize, and I…snapped. In more ways than one. I instantly came to regret it. I wanted to apologize for my own actions, and forgive him for his, and then tell him, at last…but he evaporated before I could."

"Then came your new friend."

The dormouse smiled grimly, and laughed a mirthless laugh.

"Yeah. And now, I'm watching my tail every waking moment, because he is terribly jealous of Russ, and says he'll eat us both."

Exxe arched an almost unseen eyebrow.

"If he has such contempt for you now, what's there to be jealous of?"

Mally shrugged.

"He calls me his…once upon a time, that was a good thing, I thought."

"Who says it isn't anymore?"

Mally glared at the librarian again.

"You DO know something…don't you?"

"Naturally."

Mallymkun growled softly.

"Naturally, natural, nature…I'm getting sick of those words."

"I can imagine."

"Can you tell me, please?"

The smile on Exxe's face was like that a grandfather would give to a newborn infant. In the immortal's eyes, that was probably the exact case.

"If I could, or had intended to, tell you, don't you think I would have by now?"

"…Yes."

Exxe chuckled, and then his expression grew deathly serious once more.

"How DO you feel about your…friend?"

Mally shrugged again, but only one shoulder.

"Oh, well…he's nice enough, you know…"

"You are avoiding my real question, and painting a lie. This is very dangerous. I repeat, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HIM?"

Mallymkun sighed, defeated.

"Honestly? I don't have any clue as to what I think or feel about him. I mean, I've only known him for a little over a month now,yet he feels so…familiar, like I've known him all my life. What's more, I hardly know anything about him, but I can't seem to bring myself to ask him questions about his own life, though he clearly has no compunctions about inquiring towards mine…it's as if my mind already knows what it wants and needs to know. It's as if…"

"As if you do know him. Perfectly and completely."

The white dormouse nodded.

"Exxe," she asked quietly. "I'm not sure but…I think I'm falling for two different people. Does that even make sense?Does ANY of this make sense at all?"

Exxe did not reply. He was silent for a minute or two. His eyes briefly disappeared, and then returned to view…he'd blinked.

"Tomorrow," he hissed darkly, "You will encounter a much more intolerable foe than your current emotions...I fear for your safety, mentally if not physically. It lies in wait, PURRING with anticipation of its revenge. Once it has been dealt with, your tangled web of emotions will only tighten and expand at the same time. In short, keep your blade handy, or there will be Hell to pay, and take heed of this warning: Beauty is often hidden by the Beast, and the Beast often uses Beauty to hide its dark intentions. In this case, the latter is not entirely true...for the Beast you seek has Beauty, within and without, but does not fully know it. So do not be afraid, worried, or frustrated, but only try to keep appearances and things in plain sight at a distance, where they may be more safely studied."

Mally raised an eyebrow, trying to hide her worry behind indifference, and only half-succeeding.

"I thought you were telling me not to be afraid of Chessur."

"Who said I was talking about him?"

"Well, you were very deliberate when you used the word 'purring.'"

Exxe's smile was sinister and strange. He laughed loudly, and, as he did, the Library of Worlds began to blur and fade, as if the darkness needed to stretch, and had decided to unwind.

"My time is nearly gone," he said. "I try not to stoop to trite sayings, but I feel this one is necessary: expect the unexpected."

"I usually do."

The Library itself was gone, and the candlelight was flickering away. Exxe's hat seemed to vanish, followed by his arms, into the shadows.

"Wait!"

"Hm?"

"One last thing…"

"Make it fast."

Mallymkun gulped, and then put forth her query.

"Does he love me?"

"They both do…and they both don't. And one of them is in the middle. The three are circles, intertwined, like rings of fate and romance. One knows what to do, another follows orders, two follow their heart, but it is leading them both astray. The fourth is you, and she knows what to do…she just doesn't know it YET."

The dormouse blinked.

"Beg pardon?"

Exxe chuckled, and then the candle went out. He was gone.

"You will understand," his voice whispered, "At another time. Now, however, the time is the time to wake up."

A flood of sudden, blinding light, broke out. Mally covered her eyes at the burning flash…

"MALLY!"

The dormouse opened up her eyes. She blinked rapidly and put a paw to her forehead.

She was back in her teapot. She groaned from both grogginess and frustration.

Must he always see me in my dreams…?

"Mally, are you all right?"

Tarrant…

"Yes, Hatter. I'm fine."

"Cup! Bowl! Ye didnae soun' fyne!"

Thackery…

"Hare, please, keep the noise down…"

"We're sorry if we disturbed you," Tarrant whispered. "You were mumbling in your sleep again…do you want to go back to sleep now?"

"NO."

The Mad Hatter jerked back at the bite the dormouse had put into that single, one-syllable, two-letter word. Mally took a deep breath, rubbing her eyes to clear them.

"No…I'm fine. Besides, someone's waiting for me, remember?"