A/N: If you couldn't tell, this takes place in Tarrant's perspective, explaining the events leading up to the current situation, also known as a flashback. This also marks the halfway point of the fic.
It had all happened so quickly.
They had, of course, been all lured into a false sense of security after the Frabjous day. The corpse of the Jabberwocky laid decomposing on the battlefield, a warning to all who would usurp the White Queen's power. Iracebeth and Illosovic were in exile, and in Marmoreal, there was joy again.
Too much joy, maybe, looking back on it. Tarrant was hatting again, Thackery was cooking again, Mally was fighting with the knights again, Nivens was sending messages only in Underland again, and Chess had no need to stay out of politics because there was no politics.
There may never have been a happier time in Underlandian history. With the darkness of the Red Queen's reign so recently behind them, no one took anything for granted. In fact, the only shadow on those days was the lack of Aliceness.
While they all missed her, Tarrant took her loss particularly hard. He kept expecting her to come back anyday, and would constantly look out the windows, or ask McTwisp of what he had seen throughout the country. McTwisp, of course, could merely refer the love-sick hatter to Absolem.
With the coming of the Frabjous day, there was no need to guard the Oraculum anymore. So Mirana had given Absolem the task of following the Alice in Overland. A champion, she had said, would always need to be protected. Which Tarrant thought was rather silly because really, champions should do the protecting, and if someone tried to hurt the Alice then a blue butterfly wasn't going to be much protection. But Absolem brought them word, and Tarrant spent his free time almost unconsciously designing hats and dresses for Alice's latest adventures.
"China," the hatter would mutter to himself. "What a strange kind of name. Absolem says that in that country they do incredible things like…" and based on the butterfly's descriptions, would outfit his Alice for every occasion.
The Alice, that is. Not his.
But even though he missed her, Absolem said that she was happy, and he would do anything for her happiness. So he resigned himself to loneliness.
That was, until That Day.
"It's gone!" McTwisp came crying into court one day. He was panting for breath, obviously ready to collapse at any moment, but desperate to get his message to the queen.
"What's gone?" Mirana asked, standing up and visibly alarmed.
"The Jabberwocky!" the rabbit shouted. "The body of the Jabberwock has disappeared!"
All the court went into such an uproar that even the queen had trouble controlling them. Finally, she shouted – and really, that should have been the first sign, because Mirana never shouts – "We must consult the Oraculum!"
And there it was. The unneeded, forgotten Oraculum has predicted everything that Underland has refused to believe could happen again. The return of the Red Reign. The revival of the Jabberwocky. The end of their happiness.
Mirana quickly called the troops together, but it was too late. Iracabeth had been too smart this time to show her hand before she was completely ready. No sooner had they realized the Jabberwocky was gone then Marmoreal was attacked.
It was only because Tarrant had been so close to the queen for so many years that he could see the horror and despair on her face that she could do nothing for her subjects. The White Queen was many things, but a warrior she was not.
"Hide the sword and the armor, Tarrant," she told him as she folded up the Oraculum and handed it to him. "I must lead my people."
He could have gotten her away. Tarrant Hightopp was a warrior, if Mirana of Marmoreal was not. He could have saved her. But Mirana would not let her people suffer without her again, and went outside to sacrifice herself to her sister.
Tarrant was nothing if not obedient. He stored the armor and the Vorpal sword in a hidden compartment under the rug in the floor of his workshop as soon as he could, and as he watched from his hiding spots in the castle, the Red Queen's servants seemed to be looking for just that.
Mirana also had an uncanny ability to know things.
Eventually they gave up, all of the captured court swearing to the Knave that the Champion had taken those things with her to Overland and there would be no recovering it. They were all led away from Marmoreal, then, and marched to Salazen Grum. It was only as they were leading each and every member of the court away that Tarrant had realized by doing the queen's bidding, he had escaped again. Every single one of his friends was captured by the most sick and demented ruler Underland had ever seen, completely at her mercy, and what was he doing? Hiding in alcoves in an abandoned castle? He was no warrior, he was a coward! He should have marched right down and face the Jabberwocky himself, Vorpal sword and all! What kind of man was he?
He was alone in the world again. It was just like Horunvendush Day, he realized. Then the Madness took him.
When he woke, he was lying facedown on the balcony, Oraculum crumpled in his hand. Despairing at the return of the dark times, he opened it for guidance. There before him was the return of Alice! They were saved, he rejoiced. If the Alice would return, she would fix everything. Underland would be right again. When was she coming? He read on, determined to put a date to their salvation.
Instead, he put a date to his death.
There he was, lying on the ground, dead as a doorknob. The Jabberwocky was also dead in the background, and Mirana was wearing her crown in the background as well, but he, Tarrant Hightopp, would not live to see it.
Alice, he noted in a daze, would. That was her crying over him, wasn't it? It didn't even look like he would ever see her again. There was barely anytime between her return and his death, and no time in which he saw them together. Until she was crying over his body, of course.
It was nice that she would cry over him. Not that his – the- Alice should ever be sad, but if someone was going to miss him, he was glad it would be her. He was quite fond of her. Mally even sometimes teased him about being in love with her. Which, of course, he wasn't, because a hatter isn't good enough for a champion, anyway, but still.
He sat there for awhile, staring at the scene of his death for who knows how long when Chess found him.
"So you are alive," the Cheshire Cat purred happily. "Mirana said you would be."
"Mirana's wrong," he said softly before turning his full attention to the cat. "Where is she?"
"In chains, at the moment. In the dungeons of Salazen Grum. Along with the rest of your friends," the cat said, almost as if he was asking the hatter a question.
"Leave it," Tarrant growled, disliking the insinuations of his cowardice.
"In any case, you and I and Absolem are the only ones left."
"Left of what?" he asked, suddenly concerned. "She couldn't have killed them all already, could she have?"
"No, no. Everyone is still alive. I've just checked up on them. I came earlier to speak with you, but you know how I hate being around you during your spells."
"Quite," Tarrant said dryly.
"Left of the old rebellion, according to the Queen. I of course insisted that I don't get involved with politics, but she begged me to take you a message," Chess purred.
"Spit it out," Tarrant exclaimed, jumping up suddenly. "Or has the cat got your tongue?"
Chess ignored the last bit, and instead said, "You must fetch the Alice."
Tarrant laughed. "I've been trying to fetch her for years. Humans can't go to Overland, remember? We can keep our voice, but not our memory."
"But animals can't keep their voice," Chess argued.
"But they at least know why they're in Overland, and remember where they came from and how to get back. Humans have no idea. That's why Mirana sends McTwisp and Absolem," Tarrant replied, slightly confused.
"McTwisp has only ever been able to lead Alice here when she was at a certain place by the rabbit hole. We know from Absolem that she's not likely to be anywhere near there anytime soon, and so us animals are useless. But Mirana said that there is another way to return," Chess hinted, and Tarrant looked shocked.
"Is she mad? For Alice to remember…You know what Overlandians are like! Not only does she have to remember, she has to believe in it, too! Overlandians are sane, Chess! They can't conceive of a place like Underland!"
"But it's our only hope. They're looking for you, you know. The Red Queen and Knave. They won't rest until they find you, general."
"So let them find me!" Tarrant scoffed. "They can't hurt me!"
Then he remembered Alice crying over his dead body in the Oraculum. He would die for Underland any day, of course. But he did so hate to see her cry.
Chess merely raised an eyebrow. "Well, if you're so intent on seeing Underland lay in waste for another ten years…"
"Wait!" Tarrant called after him as the cat began to evaporate.
"Yes?" Chess asked, popping only his head back onto the balcony.
"What…What must I do?"
"Take this," he replied, the rest of his body reappearing, this time with a vial of Jabberwocky blood in his paw.
"And if I forget?" the hatter asked, taking the vial from him.
"You must do everything in your power not to," Chess advised. "But if you do, we will do everything we can to help you remember. The trick will be to find Alice before you remember, so you can remind her, and then you two can remember at the same time and return together. Otherwise your trip will be for nothing."
"And when I return?" he inquired, uncorking the vial.
"I'll be here to pass along Mirana's instructions. It doesn't look as if they're going to execute her, just hold her as hostage for the good behavior of Underland."
"When I return with the Alice," Tarrant confirmed, drinking the blood quickly. "We will rescue her and everyone else imprisoned in Salazen Grum. Then we will kill the Red Queen and the Knave once and for all."
"I do so hate politics," Chess complained.
"We're counting on you, Chessur," Tarrant reminded him.
"And yourself, Tarrant Hightopp," the cat countered.
"Take the Oraculum somewhere safe," the hatter said as he began to fade.
The last thing he saw was the grin of an evaporating cat.
Then he woke up in the middle of the Scottish highlands, with absolutely no memory at all.