They were a couple

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What do poor people have. Rich people need. Something a man fears more than the devil. And what a person takes to their grave.

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"Is there any particular reason you're taking Dormy?" March asked warily as his hatted friend happily placed Dormouse under his hat, knowing that his friend didn't like the sunlight.

"Dormy always said he wanted to see the Looking Glass after Bill Lizard's stories about it," Marchy nodded in agreement.

"Yes, he was a good story teller." Marchy said, Hatter interrupted before he could rant about it.

"Anywho, the second reason is that I don't trust both of you alone in the shop." He stated. Marchy looked to his friend, offended.

"We won't be alone. I'll look after Dormouse and Dormouse after me, how are we alone? Wait! Hatter!" Marchy shouted after him as he went to walk out the door to Alice. Hatter rolled his head as if fed up, although March knew that it was just Hatter being impatient - and turned to him.

"What now Marchy! If we don't leave now we won't make it to Cheshire Cat Territory by sundown. And you know Wonderland gets dangerous at nightfall." Marchy sighed, his ears flopping down.

"Be careful. You know the Queen of Hearts will be after you when she finds out about Alice, if she hasn't all ready that is." This is what Hatter meant, Marchy was a stupid genius. Unlike Hatter, Marchy would think this through, most likely not take an Oyster back to the Looking Glass. He wouldn't turn her in either, he just wouldn't help. Hatter smiled as rubbed his hands together.

"All the more reason to get cracking then." He cackled, marching out his office to find Alice.

Alice had left the office as Hatter got ready to leave, now sitting at one of the white tables in the main shop, needing to be away from both of them. She couldn't be in Wonderland, she knew that, -or at least believe that – yet she couldn't look out the windows, they just had "Out of order" flickering over them as if they were TV screens. Heck, it would be a clever way to trick your captive, show them pictures of some far off city to freak them out. Turned out he really did own a tea shop, she saw that much when she left his office. It looked like a simple cottage cafe, yet tables and chairs were also stuck to the ceiling, hanging over Alice's head. The walls were a bright sunshine yellow-suited his disposition perfectly – and more posters hung on the wall. Leaning her elbows on the white wooden table she sat at, Alice let out a sigh before running both hands through her hair. She needed to be calm; she needed to be focused.

"Alice!" Hatter shouted as he marched out his office.

There went her calm.

"How are you holding up?" he asked in seemingly genuine honesty. Alice smiled back falsely.

"I'll feel better when I get home." Hatter nodded as if he understood and took her hand, pulling her out of her seat.

"We better get going." He explained letting her go as they reached the door and pulling out a handkerchief from his coat pocket. Noticing her confused look he smiled.

"Handle gets hot after making tea." He stated, not answering her at all. The door opened, and the breath of fresh air was magical after the stuffy tea shop. In fact, it didn't smell like air at all, it was crisper, sweeter, like the spiced apple candles her mum used to light around the house.

"It's magic." He answered her unasked question, causing her to turn to him in confusion.

"The air," he motioned upwards, waving his hands around. "it's magic." Noticing that the confusion didn't leave her face he rolled his eyes, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Come on." He said, taking her hand. "We better get going. Night will fall in a couple of hours and we need to get to Cheshire Cat Territory as soon as possible." He said happily, dragging her along.

Now that she was outside she could see that she definitely wasn't in the city anymore, more like in the countryside only there were no cows or sheep, only trees and grass. The tea shop seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a thick covering of trees, although the trees didn't look exactly normal.

"Mr Hatter!" a shrill voice called from behind them, causing both of them to turn. Alice didn't see what harm the old lady walking towards them would be but Hatter seemed to think differently, groaning in annoyance. Quickly he reached under his hat and placed Dormouse in Alice's hand.

"Don't lose him and don't breathe." He whispered to Alice, swiftly turning the face the woman with a fake smile and polite tone as Alice held her breath. "Ah Mrs Habberdasher! What a pleasant surprise!" he exclaimed politely, hands behind back as he bowed lightly to the lady.

"Mr Hatter!" she breathed out as if she'd just ran a marathon. "What is the meaning of this! I come for tea here every- "

"Unbirthday I know." Hatter interrupted. "But unfortunately I have some personal business to attend to this week so the shop will be closed, but!" he started quickly, stopping the woman before she spoke again. "We will be back open next week and you tea shall be on the house. How does that sound?" he questioned, not truly wanting an answer. Mrs Habberdasher went to nod slowly having not kept track of Hatter's fast speech. "Very well." He smiled, turning back to Alice and lacing her elbow through hers.

"Its okay." He muttered, leaning in close and not looking back. "Only a few more seconds."

Four.

Three.

Alice clasped her eyes shut as she began petting Dormouse automatically, relying on Hatter to guide her.

Two.

One.

Alice let in deep breath, Hatter smiling softly.

"Well done. You can hold your breath for a while." He stated. Alice shrugged.

"Don't make me do that again." She breathed, chuckling slightly, her eyes still closed.

"I won't." He promised. Hatter was silent after that, the most silence she'd experienced since she arrived in Wonderland.

"Alice, you can open your eyes." Hatter said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Slowly Alice opened her eyes, blurry from the change in light.

"Oh my..." she trailed off, staring in awe at the view around her. They were in a forest now, trees and more trees surrounding them. Not that they were ordinary trees. They glowed with different colours: blues, yellows, pinks, whites, flashing on and off every second.

"Is that...tea cups?" she asked, pointing to the tree closest to her. Hatter chuckled.

"This," he said, motioning around him and looking up. "Is Tea-Tree Forest. Here," Hatter picked one of the tea-cups off and handed it to Alice. "Try it. I just buried this one and I want to see what people think." Alice looked at the cup cautiously, glaring at it in worry as lines from a poem her mum read to her echoed in her head.

We must not look at goblin men,

We must not buy their fruits:

Who knows upon what soil they fed.

Their hungry thirsty roots?{1]

Hatter smiled softly, putting a hand on Alice's shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"It's okay Alice. It won't hurt you." He assured her, his eyes seeming to change colour with the trees flashing. Sighing at herself in both anger and embarrassment at being caught fearing him, Alice took the cup and took a sip.

"Mmm!" Alice exclaimed, rather surprised. It was a Strawberry tea, or at least tasted of Strawberry – down here she couldn't be sure what exotic fruit it truly was. But it was sweet yet fresh, almost like a fruit juice yet not as harsh. Truly she couldn't define the taste, but whatever it was, it was beautiful.

"I knew you'd like it." Hatter beamed. "You seem like a Lokerberry person. Sweet yet with a kick." Alice rolled her eyes and downed the last of the tea, noticing Hatter staring.
"That should keep you going for a while. Lockerberry gives you energy, but it may cause you to feel at bit jumpy. It's full of sugars." Alice nodded and smiled.

"Thank you." She said. Hatter grinned back, turning swiftly and looking to the sky.

"Well, sundown will be soon. We best get going." He clasped his hands together happily, looking up at the orange sky and began walking a head, not waiting for Alice to follow but knowing she would. It was silent for a while, Alice looking around, unable to speak in both awe and fear and everything.

"I really am in Wonderland, aren't I." She asked. Hatter looked to Alice, watching her as she looked down at the ground jumping slightly as she saw that the floor lit up as she walked on it. Her face showed fear, yet he could tell she was in wonder at what she was seeing. He'd seen it in enough humans faces before, it was such a rare emotion in Wonderland that it was easy to spot. In fact, emotions in general where easy spot, and that's what caught humans out and why Alice wouldn't have lasted an hour.

"Looks like it." He said, dragging his gaze from her to the path in front of them. The trees continued to flash from colour to colour, all thanks to the small bugs that lived inside them. He turned back to her as he heard her take in a deep breath and let it out, eyes closed.

"Okay." She said, shaking her head and standing up straight, eyes focused a head. "How far away is the Looking Glass?" she asked, looking to Hatter.

"The Glass is usually kept at the North of Sprite Territory. Here's the map if you want to look." He held out a crystal in his hand, and with a click of his fingers a 3D picture of Wonderland strung from the rugged crystal, pale blue lines defining borderlines and a the name of the lands lit up in a yellow light. Alice didn't even realise that she'd reached up to touch it until the lines disintegrated, only to reappear as she pulled her hand back quickly. Hatter chuckled at her.

"We are here." He stated, a red dot appearing on the map, under the words saying 'Tea Tree Forest'.

"And we need to get here." Another red dot appeared, only it appeared on the other side of the map. Tea-Tree Forest was near the bottom left hand corner of the map, the Looking Glass happened to be past six full territories, showing up in the right hand side of the map, although not as close to the edge as the Forest.

"So," Alice said, "A month then." Hatter chuckled, shaking his head.

"A week, or less." He went back to the map. "But there's a door close to No Man's Land that will take us where we need to go." A yellow dot appeared at where Alice guess to be the door they would attempt to reach, luckily it was half way between the starting point and destination. "That should cut it down to about four days, give or take." He sighed, scratching his head under his hat.

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."

Dormouse muttered, now sleeping on Alice's shoulder after moving when Alice wasn't breathing.

Hatter chuckled, as Alice lifted the mouse into her hands again.

"Always the optimist." Alice watched the mouse with curious eyes, the small animals eyes and nose twitching every so often, giving the illusion that the mouse was sleeping, although with every time he spoke Alice was beginning to doubt he was even asleep.

"You're a cute little guy." Alice smiled, stroking the small creatures head, causing it to move a bit yet Alice could see him smile softly.

"He'll be your friend for life now." Hatter mentioned. "He loves it when people do that. Unless it's Mrs Habberdasher, then it scares him." Alice smiled, and placed dormouse on her shoulder again, liking his silent company.

"What's wrong with her anyway?" Alice questioned. "You didn't seem very happy when she came by." Hatter chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head and looking to the ground.

"Ah, yes. Her." He sighed. "She's a regular customer, comes in every Unbirthday as you heard. It's only recently that she started being a rat. Telling the Queen of Hearts about things going on in Wonderland." Hatter turned to Alice, seeing her frown in thought. "That's why I told you to hold your breath. Only human's breathe quickly or as often. She would have caught on instantly, even though she's a bit slow." Alice nodded in understanding, fear bubbling in her stomach.

"What's so bad...about the Queen of Hearts?" Alice asked, feeling stupid as Hatter turned to her in shock. "What is it that she doing?" Hatter looked away and took off his hat, scratching his head and shaking leaves that had fallen onto his hat off.

"The Queen of Hearts...Well, where do I star-"Hatter stopped suddenly, holding out an arm to stop Alice.

"What? What's wrong?" Alice asked, looking ahead and behind.

Hatter didn't answer.

Without saying anything, Hatter ran over to a tree and sniffed it.

"Hatter, what on earth- Hatter!" Alice exclaimed as he licked the tree, tasting it. He paused for a couple of seconds, as if thinking the taste over over before shouting.

"Shit!" Faster than Alice's eyes could see, Hatter ran back over to Alice, grabbed her arm and began running like hell. As they ran, Hatter took Dormouse off her shoulder and slipped him under his hat- that magically stayed attached to his head.

"What's going on Hatter?!" Alice shouted as they ran, looking behind her for the cause of Hatter's sudden sprint. He didn't answer, but the ear shattering roar that echoed through the Forest did.

"What the hell was that!" Alice screamed, noticing the tree's behind them moving from some invisible force. Hatter didn't answer, instead running even further and harder. Alice was having hard time keeping up, she never did like sports or exercise, the only reason she bothered doing exercise at all was because of her mother's nagging. Although there was a huge difference between light jogging and a fully-fledged sprint. Suddenly Hatter stopped, causing Alice to run into him.

They were in a clearing now, the tree's no longer lighting up. The ground they stood on looked dead and the trees around them lifeless.

"Hatter!" Alice shouted, hitting him on the shoulder. "What the hell is after us!" Hatter was too breathing heavily, looking around the clearing for something that Alice couldn't see. Finally he turned to Alice, his eyes wide yet determined. He went to speak but was interrupted by the trees behind them giving way. Both turned quickly, Hatter having to hold Alice up as her legs gave way from fear.

"Don't. Move." Hatter whispered, holding Alice tightly. Alice went to stand by herself, the fear dispersing but Hatter wouldn't let go. She stared at the monster that towered over her, its tail and neck moving in a hypnotic motion like a cat's tail.

The creature's was almost cat-fish like, whiskers that looked like a moustache stuck out from the side of its face, its eyes red, droopy and tired looking. The claws were like elongated dinosaur claws. The first thing that came to mind was Hydra from the Hercules movie.

They stood there for what felt like hours, yet was actually five minutes. Slowly the creature leaned in, sniffing Hatter as he closed his eyes and tried not the move. It went to Alice next, taking longer yet Hatter clutched her hand, reminding her not to move. Not that it helped.

She didn't know what did it, yet Hatter would later claim it was because of her human scent, but whatever it was it made the creature mad. Growling deeply its roar shook Alice's entire being, only Hatter's shouting keeping her from collapsing from the strength of the roar.

"Run!"

And run they did. They took off like a bullet, the sudden movement disorientating the creature long enough to give them a head start, but not much. They were only ten feet away before the creature caught sight of their plan, rather quickly for such a slow looking creature.

"What the hell is that!" Alice screamed over the monster's roar and trees crashing to the ground.

"Jabberwock!" Hatter exclaimed, quickly he grabbed her hand and pulled her forward so she was running at the same speed as him.

"Don't look back!" he shouted over the roars, tugging at Alice's hand harder to make her move faster. Alice took his advice, taking more thought into how to move her feet than what was chasing her.

No point in denying it now. She was in Wonderland.

"Over here!" Hatter exclaimed, pulling her right quickly into a more dense part of the forest, causing them to duck and push branches out of the way. The Jabberwock paused for a minute having lost them but quickly caught their sent again and ran after them, breaking through the branches with ease.

"In here!" Hatter said, pointing over to an opening in the nearby rock face, big enough for them to get in but far too small for the Jabberwock to follow. Another earth shattering roar echoed through the forest as they entered the cave, a sudden change in temperature from the cool air of the forest to the humidity of the cave making it difficult for her to breathe, but it was better than what lay behind her. Hatter and Alice pressed themselves against the side of the cave in the pitch black, only their heavy breathing and water dripping from further in head. Both stopped breathing as the Jabberwock poked its head into the cave. Its breath heavy, covering up their own panicked breathing. Alice clasped Hatter's hand, closer her eyes as her usual mantra repeated in her head, one her mother sung to her to get her to sleep.

I left my baby lying there

Lying there, lying there

I left my baby lying there

When I went to gather blaeberries

Ho bhan ho bhan haithri o ho ....[2]

She never did understand why it calmed her down, with such a morbid underlay, yet it always did.

"Alice? Alice?" Hatter shook her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She turned to his voice in a daze, the music of her mum's voice still swimming through her head. "Its gone." He said, stretching his aching muscles. She could see nothing in the darkness, Hatter's voice the only thing letting her know she wasn't alone. Alice let out a tired breath and held up a hand.

"Next time a giant monster comes after us. Can you at least tell me before you go all crazy on me?" she asked. Alice heard Hatter's laugh in the darkness.

"Promise." He laughed, still breathing heavily. "Though I do have one question. Do you kiss your mum with that mouth?" his answer was a swift hit to the back of the head.

"Ow! That hurt!" he exclaimed, though Alice could hear the amusement in his voice. It was better than her previous denial and anger.

"It better." She mumbled, only to turn swiftly with Hatter as a voice called from further in the cave.

"Who goes there?!"

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[1] – Goblin Market – Christina Rossetti (link for full poem on my profile)

[2] – Fairy Lullaby – Christina Stewart (link to mp3 file and full lyrics on profile)