Summery: Hatter hates himself for what he did. How can Alice prove to him that they've forgiven him?
Pairings: AlicexHatter
Disclaimer: I do not own American McGee's Alice. If I did, Hatter would look a hell of a lot better.Hatter's Redemption
Chapter 1: Forget About Me
Alice was overjoyed when the White Rabbit told her that Wonderland was back the way it was, and even more, all the residents that had died during that horrible incident were brought back to life. The Tweedles, the Griffon, and most importantly, the Mad Hatter!
As soon as the Rabbit had brought her down the rabbit hole, she immediately dashed off towards the hatter's home. Even though in her mind, she absolutely had no idea where the hatter's home was (the only time she was there was when she was teleported there by the hatter), she still ran in the direction she thought (and hoped) it was in.
Thankfully enough, she was right. Oddly enough, the hatter's home was almost has she had expected. It was a tall, jaunting and almost crooked tower. The roof was completely flat, and on a bit of an angle. The entire place was surrounded by a small garden of lavenders, which almost matched the purple stone.
From a distance, it almost resembled a top hat.
"Well," came a voice form behind, "Look who's back in Wonderland."
Alice spun around to see none other then the Cheshire cat. Oddly enough, he still had the form he had during Wonderland's more nightmarish phase. He was still the scrawny, mangy, grinning feline she knew.
Alice smirked.
"And look who's still the mangy cat," she said, holding back a laugh. The cat chuckled.
"It seems you still have no matters," he looked up at the house behind her, "Visiting the hatter are we?"
Alice nodded and headed for the door, with the cat following close behind.
Inside was pretty much how Alice predicted. On the walls hung all sorts of hats and clocks (which were all stuck on six-o-clock). In the middle was a large table, but unlike the one at the March Hare's place, which was a rectangle, this one was a circle, to match the shape of the room. Tea was all set out and the top half of the room was obscured by steam.
Speaking of the March Hare, he and the Dormouse were sitting at the table. The March Hare's new form was similar to the White Rabbit's. He looked human with long, brown hair, friendly brown eyes and dressed in a green, rather formal suit. Like the rabbit, the only way to tell who he was, was the pair of brown hare's ears poking out through his hair.
The Dormouse's form had changed too. He almost resembled a child, with short black hair (she couldn't see his eyes due to him being asleep) and he was wearing brown pants and which shirt, which was at least, three sizes too big.
The hare spotted Alice and smiled.
"Alice!" he laughed as he stood up, "What a wonderful surprise! Please, sit down!"
Alice laughed. This was the first tea party they had where he didn't scream out "No room!" Nonetheless, Alice sat down. March jabbed Dormy in the side.
"Wake up Dormy," he said, "look who's here!"
Dormy opened one eye lazy, but then shot wide-awake when he saw it was Alice.
"Alice!" he cried happily as he bounded across the table and gave her a big hug. Alice laughed as she was almost knocked out of her chair.
"Nice to see you to," she replied, giving him a warm hug. She then looked around and noticed someone was missing. The one she came here to see.
"March," she asked, "Where's Hatter?"
The joy seemed to wash from March's face and was replaced by a sad stare. The same happened to Dormy. A bad feeling began to form in Alice's stomach.
"Follow me," March said as he stood up. Dormy hopped off the table and followed him. Alice got up and did as well.
The March Hare led them up a flight of stairs, circling the entire tower. Upon half way up, there was a loud crash followed by a miserable wail. Alice gasped and was about to run up the stairs when March stopped her. He simply shook his head and they continued up.
March then signalled the two to stop, just before a door. The hare walked slowly up to the door and knocked softly.
"Hatter," he said in a soft tone, "It's me."
"Go away!" cried a young yet sad voice from the other side. Alice was amazed just how young he sounded.
"There's someone here to see you," March said.
"Tell them to leave!" Hatter cried, "I want to be alone."
"Hatter I'm coming in," the hare said sternly, "Don't throw anything!"
He opened the door and gestured for Alice to come in. Upon seeing the room she gasped.
The room was a mess. Broken furniture littered the floor, the window and mirror were smashed and everything was strewed all over the floor. It was dark as well.
There, sobbing in the corner, was the Mad Hatter.
"Alice couldn't see his face, only his back. He was curled up in a ball so all Alice could tell was that he was wearing a purple suit.
"There," the hatter chocked, not even looking to see who it was, "You've seen me, now go away!"
Alice slowly took a few steps forward.
"Hatter."
The hatter's body froze at the sound of her voice. Slowly, he turned. Alice could see him clearly now.
He was pale (probably due to lack of sunlight), his pale blonde hair was in disarray and his eyes didn't match, one blue and one green. He wore white gloves, green pants and his hat, like his jacket, was purple. Overall, the hatter almost appeared handsome to Alice.
"A…Alice?" he said slowly, unsure whether the girl before him was real or not.
Alice squatted down in front of him.
"It's me."
Tears weld up in the hatter's eyes as he turned away. Alice placed a hand on his shoulder, only to have it jerk away at her touch.
"Don't touch me!" he hissed, "Don't dirty your hands on such filth!"
Alice was a bit shocked and confused.
"What's wrong?" she asked sympathetically.
"I am!"
Alice was confused now.
"What?"
"Don't pretend you don't know!" Hatter cried, "You know of all the horrid things I've done to everyone, to Wonderland!"
Alice's expression softened.
"It's ok."
"No it's not! I tried to turn Wonderland into one big clock! I experimented on Dormy and March! My two best friends! And the children, oh those poor children! Poisoning their minds and turning them into machines. And what's worse was…"
He looked up at Alice.
"I tried to kill you. No, worse! I tried to turn you into one of my automatons! A fate worse then death!"
Alice placed her hand on his shoulder again. Even though he tried to pull his shoulder away, Alice kept her hand on it.
"It's ok," she said softly, "You couldn't resist it. Others stronger then you fell to the madness."
The hatter sobbed.
"But I didn't resist it. I became like that willingly."
Alice gasped and pulled away.
"What?"
"After your parents died, I felt so bad seeing you in such a miserable state. I began trying to find a way to make you happy again. I turned to my machines in search of a solution. As Wonderland changed, I changed with it. I then began thinking the only way to make you happy was to make you a machine. Machines feel no pain, no sadness. But I was wrong. Machines show no emotion at all, not even happiness."
Alice was shocked by his confession, but also saddened. She knew that if she hadn't gone crazy, hatter wouldn't have either. She knew her twisting of Wonderland had caused him to come up with such a monstrous plan.
"Hatter." A small tear rolled down her cheek. The hatter seemed to notice this as he spun around, eyes wide.
"Don't cry Alice," he said softly, "You've done nothing wrong."
How wrong you are Hatter.
Hatter curled up into a ball again.
"Just go. Just go and be happy. Forget about me. Everyone should just forget about me. If everyone forgets about me, maybe I'll disappear. Everyone will be better off without me."
It pained Alice to see him like this. She knew deep down that it was her fault, not the hatter's.
"Just go! I know there's no way you can forgive me for what I've done."
"But Hatter," Alice leaned in closer, "We do forgive you."
"How can you? I can't even forgive myself."
Alice sighed. She had to admit, what Hatter did was pretty awful, but then again, so had almost everyone else, including herself.
"Hatter," she said, "Come on down and have tea with us. I'll prove to you that everyone's forgiven you."
"No, you just go. I don't deserve any."
"Hatter, I'm not taking no for an answer. Now come on down."
The hatter sighed and pulled himself to his feet. Even though he felt he didn't deserve any of this, he didn't want to cause anymore grief for Alice.
Alice smiled softly as she took his hand and led him down to the main room.
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Hope you like it so far. As for the appearances of the hatter, MarchHare and Dormouse, well, just take a look atthese three pics (NOTE: the third one I drew myself, the first two are not mine.
The March Hare
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