Disclaimer: I do not own Alice In Wonderland, nor the characters.

Lost in the Storm of Madness

Chapter 8

Alice stood there, staring deeply into pools of green. She shook her head, awakening from a trance. "I'm sorry…you did what exactly?" Alice asked, confused.

Hiding his face under his hat, Tarrant looked down to his feet.

Surprised at the man's sullen actions, Alice eyes' glistened with concern. "Hatter?" she whispered, wrapping her delicate fingers under his chin. Lifting his head up, she asked softly "Please talk to me, Hatter."

Tarrant merely blinked. He opened his mouth, and whispered "I…" He closed his mouth, frowning at his inability to form words. "I was the one who sent that storm." he coughed out quickly.

Alice smiled, assuming it a joke on Hatter's part. "Very funny" she replied, "But you and I both know that's impossible."

Mischief sparkled in his green eyes, and he reminded her "Not in a world filled with the impossibilities!"

Alice looked around, and noticed that the man was right. If cats could disappear, why couldn't hat men create storms? Turning back to the Hatter, Alice studied his eyes. His eyes were transfixed on hers, and he could not speak.

Stirring from the stupor, the first thing he heard was Alice as she exclaimed, "Hatter!" He had been quick to judge that she had not been calling his name to lure him out of one of his mad drabbles, but for what he had done.

With the nervousness and fright he felt, he quickly lapsed into a mad drabble. "I am sorry for bringing you down here to Underland against your will, my fair Alice…But I do not think I could have gone another day without seeing and talking with you. I know it was a selfish thing that I did, and that I was only thinking of myself and what I wanted. What I needed. I-" his eyes glanced down at the hand which grabbed his own as he had ranted. His eyes then followed the hand back to the source, and became locked with blue eyes.

She had a smile on her face. She whispered as she rubbed circled on his rough hands, "Hatter…I don't want you to be sorry for what you did."

His eyes widened, before relaxing. "You…don't?" he asked her.

She shook her head, her blonde curls moving with her head. "If you hadn't sent the storm, I would have somehow still found a way to Underland and back to you" Realizing what she said, she added "And the others, of course!"

Tarrant nodded, hiding the fact that he had indeed noticed her slip up. "Well then I guess I'm not sorry" he said, laughing. Alice smiled softly as the man laughed.

"How did you send that storm?" she asked after his laughing had calmed down to only a small giggle.

He glanced up from his giggles and cleared his throat. "It's actually a lovely story" he replied, smiling at a memory. "Want to hear it?"

She nodded, enthusiastically. "Of course I do!" He patted the ground near him, a silent offer. She scooted closer to him, and rested her head against his shoulder. "Tell me" she whispered.

"Since the beginning of time," he began, moving his hands around wildly as he talked. "a Hightopp at birth is granted one special ability. The day of my birth the skies in Underland hadn't looked too promising for the party that would take place after my birth. Most of my mother's labor was spent in a room, instead of outside like she had wanted due to terrible rains. During the painful, yet magical hours that my mother, Nimbus Hightopp, spent bringing me into the world, something magical besides the beauty of birth happened." He paused, collecting his thoughts.

"What happened next?" whispered Alice.

"The rain suddenly stopped" he continued with his story, "At first the people of Underland had thought it was due to nature, but my mother always knew the real cause to the sudden stop. She knew that it hadn't stopped on its own, it had been banished to the Overland, your homeland. Two days after my birth, a magic granting spirit appeared in front of my mother, and offered her the chance to give her son a magical power."

"What did she pick?" Alice asked.

"Well, there were many powers she could have picked, but she quickly picked the power which dealt with storms." he explained, "People assumed my mother picked that power for me because my name means 'thunder' but that had only been half the reason. The true reason had been the miracle that happened during my birth." Tarrant finished.

"Whoa" whispered Alice, awed at the story. "That's beautiful."

Tarrant nodded, agreeing. "I thought so too when my mother first told me of the tale." he whispered, smiling at the memory of his own mother.

"She must have been beautiful" Alice commented, a smile on her face.

"She was" Tarrant said, a sad smile on his face.

Realizing that it was a touchy subject, Alice stood to her feet, and started running off.

He glanced up, surprised. "What the?" he asked, "Where are you going?"

She stopped her running, turning to face the shocked hatter. "Want to race?" she suggested.

"Race…with you?" he asked.

"There a problem?" she asked, a slight smirk on her face. "Afraid to face a girl? Scared that I'll beat you?" she challenged.

His own eyes sparkled with determination. "Oh yeah?" he said, standing to his feet. He sprinted off, calling out as he ran "Last one to the White Queen's castle is a rotten scorched hat!"

She laughed, and ran after him, correcting "The correct phrase is rotten egg!"

Author's notes:
What do you think? Good? I hope you find that the characters were in character, and if not, let me know, please. Let me know your favorite lines, and parts of this chapter. As well as let me know if I need to fix anything. Please and thank you!

Also…I didn't know if Hatter's mother's name was mentioned in the movie, so I gave her the name Nimbus, which means Rain.