I really should not have released this as I did not complete the chapter I had intended to finish before submitting this one. But, since I love you all dearly and did not want to leave you all dangling for two and a half weeks, I decided to give you a going-away treat. It also helps that I'm in a super good mood since I get to see my darling boyfriend tomorrow. I haven't been able to see him for over a month...Right, well, enough about me. On with the story!
Chapter IX: The Truth Bites
Alice surveyed the small bathing pool Charlie had directed her towards with skepticism. It was probably only about fifteen feet in diameter with reeds and cattails growing at the edge. A sparse border of scrub provided scanty concealment from spying eyes. Charlie and Hatter were the only other two people she could sense in the vicinity of the area, but she could not shake her city-born wariness of bathing in what was, essentially, a glorified pond. But the young Slayer felt far too filthy to resist the allure of its sparkling clean water. In her world, even ponds isolated like this were bound to accrue garbage from careless campers and hikers; the sludge eventually marring the beauty of the still waters. The water in this bathing pool was immaculate.
She could hear bullfrogs hidden amongst the reeds bellow their evening dirges. The sun had dipped well below the horizon by now, its dying rays casting the sky in a purple-pink glow which was being gradually overtaken by the darker blue-black of night. A crescent moon was gracing the sky. It cast its wan silver light while its entourage of stars slowly brightened as the domineering sun sank lower. Even in the dimming light Alice's vision remained incredibly sharp, another perk of being a supernaturally enhanced being. She scanned the area with both her eyes and her deeper senses a few more times before deciding it was safe enough to undress.
After sliding off her boots, she carefully unzipped and peeled off her dress, which was tricky since the blood from her wound had caused the fabric to adhere to her skin somewhat. Charlie had provided her with small bottles of various soaps for her body, hair, and clothes, as well as scrubbing implements. She was not sure she wanted to bother washing her clothes since she did not have anything else to wear and did not fancy trying to sleep in wet garments. The most she would try to do was try to wash some of the bloodstains out of the dress. Washing bloodstains out of clothing was an activity Slayers usually became very adept at within the first few months of hunting.
She set to work scrubbing at the reddish-brown stain around the tear. The menial task allowed her mind to drift back to that strange, uncomfortable moment with Hatter back at the encampment earlier. She had no idea what had happened between them. All he had been doing was checking over her wound, though she knew there was little he could do about it personally. She had known he was doing it more for his own sake than for hers, which was annoyingly endearing. Things had been perfectly fine until he had looked at her with that look. It was that look that made her knees wobbly and her stomach flip over in a similar manner as to when she was facing heights, but not nearly so gut-wrenching with terror. His dark eyes had locked onto her own, and the girl with super strength had found she could not summon the strength to look away for a few seconds. A few seconds was all it had taken for Alice to realize some very troubling facts.
Hatter liked her. There was that fact, which, while it could make things awkward, was not really that much of an issue. She had handled one-sided infatuations back in her world before in the work-place (which included both her cover job and her real job). There was a certain finesse one developed in certain situations like that. The only problem here was she had realized this was not a situation like that. For she was not altogether certain the infatuation was totally one-sided. When he had been gazing at her back in the encampment, she had believed for a moment that he was going to bend down and kiss her. What was truly troubling about such a notion was that a larger part of her than she wanted to acknowledge had been hoping he would do it.
Yes, she was beginning to become more and more certain she was developing feelings for Hatter.
But such a thing could not be. Her logical mind rebelled against it, outlaying all the reasons she should not and could not be having feelings beyond friendship for a man who had built his life on subterfuge. Reason number one: she was already in a relationship with the very man she had come to this gods-forsaken place to rescue. Alice cared deeply for Jack and she was desperately worried about him. She did not know if he was imprisoned in that casino place like all the other people from her world were or if he was being forced to undergo further punishment as that white-haired man had alluded to. What mattered was that he was in this predicament as a result of her petty commitment problems. To be suddenly developing feelings for another man even though she had not acted upon them made her feel like she was committing the worst of treacheries.
Reason number two: she had only met Hatter that morning, or, at least she thought it was sometime in the morning that she had arrived here. Alice did not believe in that fairy tale nonsense of love at first sight. She had not even liked Hatter when she first met him. He had grown on her since that time, but to have it develop to the point where she was fantasizing about him kissing her was just preposterous. It had taken her three months with Jack to even allow him to formally meet her mother. It had certainly taken longer than a day with Jack to begin to feel those curious organ-flipping sensations she had been feeling with Hatter. Actually, she was not even certain she had ever felt such flighty sensations around Jack.
Her mind continually repeated the same thing. She could not be growing feelings for Hatter. She barely knew him! But her heart and her emotions apparently thought otherwise.
Calm down, Alice, it's just all that's happened...you're emotionally charged. You're just...misinterpreting your feelings, she tried to tell herself. He's about your age, he's good looking, he's charming in his own way, he's practically lost everything just to help you...you're just feeling indebted to him. And that's tricking you into thinking you're starting to like him as more than a friend. That's all it is. Once everything is all over and you've managed to rescue Jack and get back home, you'll get some new perspective and realize Hatter's just a friend.
Her psychological pep talk sounded plausible. It was a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything. It could even be used to explain Hatter's feelings for her. They had both been thrown into an extraordinary situation and practically had only each other to rely on. It was inevitable that feelings would arise which would trick them into thinking they were infatuated with one another. Even if they were infatuated with one another, there was no way feelings brought on by such bizarre circumstances could last once everything was over. Right?
She stopped scrubbing the dress when she realized she must have been working at the same spot for almost fifteen minutes. Glancing down, her eyes widened in shock when she saw that the bloodstain had miraculously vanished. Alice grabbed the bottle and sniffed it. The scent carried the essence of what she presumed were jasmine and lavender along with other floral scents she could not identify. Whatever it was composed of, it worked better than any stain remover from her world.
Glancing up at the sky, the young Slayer cringed when she saw it was nearly full dark now. She had been stuck in her own angst-ridden reverie for far longer than she realized.
Before Charlie or Hatter decided to send a search party (i.e. themselves), Alice unhooked her bra, shimmied out of her pantyhose and panties, and splashed into the pool. The water was surprisingly warm for all that the night air was chilly. It seemed to seep into her cramped muscles and joints, soothing the aches right out of them. She let out a blissful sigh of contentment, dipping her head under the water to wet her mass of dark hair.
Magic is all around this place. Definitely more so than in the city, she silently noted.
Though she would have loved to linger in the water (being nude was surprisingly refreshing), she knew Charlie and Hatter would probably start to get concerned if she stayed out much longer. She scrubbed her hair and body with the bottles of soap Charlie had provided, trying to remind herself to ask him if he had concocted these mixtures himself. After rinsing her locks clean, she emerged from the pool, dripping wet.
"Crap, I forgot to ask him for a towel," she muttered. She resorted to shaking her hair out as best she could. There was a pile of linen strips the old knight had given to her to use for bandages, but none of them were large enough to serve as a towel.
Before pulling her clothes back on she applied the salve Charlie had given to her for her wound. It did not smell nearly as nice as the soaps, but it did take the sting away from the wound, as he had promised. She then applied the linen bandage to the healing laceration and tied it around her waist. By tomorrow this will be over halfway healed, she thought to herself. The original Slayers did not even heal that fast at first. It seemed that the longer a Slayer survived, the more potent her abilities became. The spell which had been performed to activate all Slayers had given the new ones a similar boost so that they were all almost as powerful as Buffy upon activation.
"Alice! Have you drowned or something?" Hatter's voice floated through the trees from the direction of Charlie's campsite. She instinctively covered herself, though she knew he was not close enough to get a glimpse of her.
"I'll be there in a sec! Just gotta get dressed!" she yelled back, snatching up her clothes and quickly pulling them on.
As she was buckling her boots back on, her internal alarm system started to alert her that she was no longer alone. Someone or something was watching her. She knew it was neither Charlie nor Hatter. This was something which was far more powerful than those two. Alice rose, her eyes alert and her body tense, looking around the area to see where this other might be. If the presence had been there while she had been bathing, she was going to be royally incensed. She had not felt it while she had been bathing, but that did not preclude the possibility that it had been there. It may have been there the entire time, but had cloaked itself from her notice. It was no easy feat to escape the notice of a Slayer who was deliberately scanning an area for other presences. That meant it was something very powerful. The thought of it alarmed her, as she could not get a reading on its nature. She could not ascertain if this presence was benevolent or malevolent. She could not even tell what kind of presence it was. Her best estimate was that it was some kind of a spirit, most likely non-demonic since Slayers could normally sense that. But it was known that some demonic spirits were powerful enough to cloak their true natures even from the Slayers.
"Okay, I know you're here. Stop pissing me off and just show yourself," she demanded, forcing authority into her tone to subdue the unease which wracked her body.
"Alice!" Hatter shouted. "We're starving over here and Sir Lancelot doesn't appear to want to eat until Her Ladyship does!" He sounded closer now, but he seemed to be wisely choosing to keep his distance in case she was still indecent.
Alice gathered up the bottles and excess linens, warily glancing around her. Whatever was here had decided it did not want to be seen, but it must have definitely wanted her to know it was here. She felt positive about that. However, at the moment, her stomach was gurgling insistently, reminding her that she had not eaten in a long time. She turned her back on the bathing pool area and began to walk back to the encampment.
She did not see the pair of green-blue eyes with black oval slits materialize on a tree-branch. They followed her movements with keen interest for a few seconds before winking out of sight again.
Alice had no idea what a borogove was, but it was definitely something she wished existed in her world. When she tasted the meat which Charlie had roasting on the spit above the campfire, she had groaned with pleasure at the burst of flavors in her mouth. It was succulent and tender with a taste that ran somewhere between steak, venison, and chicken. An avid seafood lover, she would have taken this borogove meat over a tuna steak any day of the week.
"Charlie, this is amazing. Bravo," she praised warmly while looking over at Hatter, who was munching on his own food appreciatively. Not a word had actually passed between them since she had returned to the campsite. There had merely been a silent glance which had basically said he was not going to bring up that awkward incident unless she wanted to discuss it. At the moment, she had more pressing issues on her mind, but they were not issues she wanted to bring up over their scrumptious dinner. This was something she hoped to deal with on her own. Hatter had probably had more than enough trouble in one day.
"Why, thank you, Justalice," Charlie replied with a bow. "Borogove are the devil to catch, mind you. But well worth the trouble, don't you think?"
Her mouth full of food, she only nodded. Swallowing her food, she promptly decided it was time to clear up the name issue. "By the way, Charlie, my name isn't Justalice. It's Alice. I only said the just part because I am not the Alice of Legend," she explained.
Charlie frowned at her. "So, it's just Alice and not Justalice?" he asked, his mustache twitching.
It sounded to Alice like he had merely said the same thing twice so she just shrugged and nodded her head. "Um, yeah. Sure." After all he had done for her and Hatter she supposed Charlie had the right to call her whatever he wished.
Charlie released the handle of the spit and rubbed his hands together. "Shan't be long," he announced brightly before wandering off towards the dark edges of the campsite, eventually slipping out of view.
Alone, a temporary silence ensued between Hatter and Alice. He sat across from her, munching on his food and seeming to glance everywhere but at her. This was a remarkable change from the easy camaraderie during the journey to this place. Alice would have given anything to have that camaraderie back.
"So, uh, you got your dress all cleaned up, I noticed," Hatter finally remarked nervously.
Alice had left the jacket hanging across the log she was sitting upon, feeling the heat of the campfire was more than enough to warm her up. She lightly brushed over the tear in the dress where the white of the linen bandages could be seen. "Oh yeah," she said lightly. "That soap Charlie gave me got that bloodstain right out. I might have to take some back with me. We could really use that back home. I mean, Jesus, it's really hard to get bloodstains out that well. I can't tell you how many clothes I can't wear anymore because of a stupid faint brown stain..." She trailed off when she saw that her morbid words were causing Hatter's expression to contort into a grimace of horrified confusion.
"You..." he started numbly. He cleared his throat and swallowed before speaking again. "You routinely get bloodstains in your clothes back home?"
Alice floundered for a way to clear off the panic that was setting in his gaze. She had not intended to make things sound so incredibly morbid as that. It was merely that such issues had become so commonplace in her life that it was easy to forget most people would find it horrific. "Well, not routinely routinely...just..." a few times a month...erm...sometimes a few times a week, depending on if there's an apocalyptic event going on. She knew that now she could not postpone telling Hatter the truth. He would not rest tonight (not to mention he would not let her rest) if she did not divulge what she was and what she did.
"Alice, wha...who are you back in your world?" Hatter asked softly. Though he had caught himself, Alice noticed that he had been about to ask her what instead of who she was. While most people might take offense to that, she did not. It was a reasonable question. After all, he had seen her perform some rather inhuman feats.
She was silent for a moment as she composed an answer in her mind. This was going to be difficult, but she was determined to be forthright with him. He deserved no less after all they had been through together. So, with a resigned sigh, she replied, "I'm an only child with a single mom. I'm a part-time student at Ohio State University. I teach karate on a part-time basis to students of all ages. That's everything Alice Marie Hamilton is on paper. That's all most people would see or ever know about me." The girl grew silent again as her nerve deserted her. She bit on her lip and twisted her hands together, not knowing how to even begin to encompass the other half of her life.
Hatter must have noticed her distress, for he rose from his seat and came to sit down beside her. He slowly extended his arm out so his hand could lightly grasp her shoulder. "What are you afraid of?" he inquired gently.
Alice was taken aback by the question. She was not afraid of telling him the truth. Or was she? She had never told her story to anyone. She was not one of the Slayers who had immediately brought their families into the supernatural fold. Anyone who was not already part of the Slayer circle did not know about her supernatural life. The girl had never even given thought to how she would approach this conversation with Jack should they ever reach that point in their relationship. That event had been placed so far ahead in time it had not even registered as a priority in her mind.
"I've just never told anyone this," she admitted. "Not my mom. Not Jack." She drew her gaze up to him. "Honestly, I don't even know where to begin. I really wasn't kidding when I said it was a long, complicated story."
Hatter nodded in understanding. His eyes glimmered with compassion. "Look, if you really don't want to tell me...I mean, if it makes you that uncomfortable..." He had stopped midsentence because Alice had placed a finger on his lips to silence him while shaking her head.
"No," she said firmly. "I promised you I would tell you the truth. I keep my promises."
She withdrew her finger, trying to ignore the fact that his lips were incredibly smooth and moist. Drawing in another deep breath to steady herself, Alice bluntly announced, "I'm a Vampire Slayer." She withheld her breath as she watched Hatter's reaction to her confession.
The young man's brow knit together with blatant incomprehension. "You're a what Slayer?" he asked, the emphasis not due to disbelief, but to outright mystification.
Alice was initially shocked by this reaction. It was only then she recalled that the thought that vampires may be an unknown entity to the people of Wonderland had crossed her mind once before, but that had been before she had made the decision to confess the truth to her companion. She truly had no idea how much overlap there was between Wonderland and her world. There were many things which appeared to be similar, but there were also many things which were completely foreign to her. Also, Hatter had appeared to be so blasé about the presence of magic and strange creatures like the jabberwock, not to mention that freak of a Suit with a rabbit's head.
"You don't know what vampires are?" she asked, failing to keep the note of surprise from her voice.
Hatter shook his head. "No, but I'd wager they're none too pleasant if you have to..." he cleared his throat as if the very words were distasteful, before finally saying, "slay them." His discontent led her to believe that, while he may not know what vampires were, he was intuitive enough to ascertain that they were dangerous creatures.
"Wow," Alice remarked, shaking her head. "I mean, back in my world, just about everyone knows what they are. Most people just don't believe they're real."
Hatter smiled humorlessly. "Well, that's not a surprise. People from your world don't believe in a lot of things that are real, it seems," he pointed out sardonically. She knew he was referring to himself and all of Wonderland, which was nothing more than a fictional tale in her world.
"Well, I guess I'll just start from the beginning then," she said uncertainly. Damn, where's a Watcher when you need one?
"I'm not too clear on some details, but I know that my world started out as a hell dimension. It was ruled by demons. Now, save for a few exceptions, demons are what we call evil supernatural beings that come in all shapes and sizes and, as a bonus, get to be as intelligent, if not more so, than humans. Mortals like me started popping up after a while and started to, well, crowd out the demons. I suppose we were a bit too prolific for even their superior strength and powers to handle. They started to leave for other dimensions which were free of humans." Alice paused to gauge his reaction to the story. When it had been told to her about six years ago, it had taken a long time for her to completely make sense of it. She had never had to tell someone about the history and legacy of the Slayers, which could basically compile a book thicker than the Bible. Truth be told, she did not feel as if she were the most qualified person to be explaining the legacy of her vocation to Hatter. Of course, there was no one else who could possibly tell her story here in Wonderland. She would have to give it her best shot, then.
Her companion appeared to absorb the information far more smoothly than she had all those years ago. He inclined his head forward as a cue that she could continue her story.
Clearing her throat, she jumped back into her narrative. "Before one of the demons left, it decided to leave mankind a farewell gift, if you want to call it that. It took a human and mixed its own essence with the human's, creating a demon-human hybrid. This act killed the human, but he rose from the dead a few days later with a terribly deformed face, yellow eyes, very sharp teeth, and a very ravenous appetite. He was the first vampire and his appetite was for human blood. He fed on others, sometimes killing them, and sometimes turning them into vampires like him. And then, just like that, vampires started making the humans an endangered species."
Hatter's eyes grew large. She saw him gulp and purse his lips, but he remained silent.
At his gesture, Alice drew in a deep breath and continued. "You see, a vampire is many times stronger and faster than a human. They also have heightened senses: better smell, better vision, and better hearing. To top it off, they are almost indestructible and they heal pretty fast. You could cut a vampire to ribbons with a sword or stab it however many times you wanted and it would only annoy it. The only thing that kept the human race surviving under the onslaught as long as it did was that vampires cannot go into the sunlight."
"Why not?" Hatter asked. His face had gone incredibly pale at her description of the supernatural foe which she had been handpicked along with several hundred others to battle.
"They burn to ashes within about thirty seconds," she replied matter-of-factly. "And that's how I know that Dodo was lying about not seeing the sun in three years. Trust me, he'd be a lot pastier than that."
Hatter laughed heartily at that remark in spite of the sinister story Alice was telling.
"Anyway, there are a few methods to killing vampires. There's sunlight, which they tend to avoid so that one is unlikely to get the job done. There's also fire, but they can usually escape due to being so strong and fast. Then there are the more direct methods. Cutting off the head or staking it through the heart with a wooden object will definitely kill a vampire. The only problem is most humans are not strong enough or fast enough to stand against a vampire. Some people may have a chance against a newborn vampire, which we typically refer to as fledglings. But up against a vampire who's got years of experience under its belt and a human will be drained and ripped to pieces before he can even draw his weapon." She decided to skip over how vampires could also be repelled or, in some cases, killed through the use of holy relics like crucifixes or holy water. Her retelling was probably butchering the Slayer legacy enough as it was. She did not even want to try to explain the intricacies of her world's religions.
At Hatter's grimace of shocked horror, she smiled grimly. "Yeah, none too pleasant is not exactly how I would describe those things." She shuddered at the memory of those Turok-Han vampires and how they had killed so many of her comrades in that epic last stand at the Sunnydale hellmouth.
The light of the dancing flames of the fire cast Alice's grim visage into moving shadows. She swallowed her trepidation and, with a brief glance at Hatter, went on with the story while staring at the fire. "Well, about thirty-thousand or so years ago in my world, these shamans, which are a bunch of men who definitely don't just dabble in the black arts, decided to come up with a solution to the problem. They somehow managed to harness the power of the demons of old and then they took a young girl from their village, chained her up, and forced the demon power into her."
"Why would they do that?" Hatter sputtered in disbelief. "Wouldn't that make her a vampire, too?"
Alice shook her head. "It didn't. She was still basically mortal and human, but the power of the demon made her something more. It gave her unimaginable physical strength, unparalleled speed and stamina, enhanced senses, and an accelerated rate of healing."
She stopped speaking as she saw the revelation dawn upon her companion. His chocolate eyes asked the question his mouth could not appear to form. She answered it with a solemn nod. "Yes. The power gave her the strength to stand against the vampires and other inhuman forces of evil that would threaten mankind. She was the first Vampire Slayer."
Hatter released a hissing breath through his gritted teeth, taking off his hat and nervously running his fingers along the brim for a few minutes in anxious silence before posing some sensible questions. "Wait a minute. Was she the only one they created? Because if that's true, then how is it that you have the power, too? Are you a descendant of hers, or something?"
"No, I doubt that. She probably didn't survive long enough to bear children," Alice answered. "And, as far as we know, she was the only one they created. But, they shaped the magic in such a way that when she died, the power would be passed on to a successor. The power of the Slayer acts with a will of its own, for the most part. It always fell upon a teenage girl; the Chosen One, she would be called. That's how it went on for thousands of years. One Slayer died and another was Called to take her place."
Hatter was silent for a long moment, keeping his head cast downward. When he did speak, his voice was tremulous. "I don't suppose there's a lot of time in between being Called and being killed, is there?" Then he looked up at her. She shivered at the look in his eyes which he sought to hide. There was despair in his gaze.
Alice sighed deeply. "Well, yes, it used to be that Slayers did not normally survive past the first year. There are very few on record that made it into their twenties and none are known to have ever made it to thirty."
"Used to be?" Hatter repeated, confusion edging out the despair.
She nodded. "Yeah, um, in recent times there have been some changes made to the rules. You see, it was found that, in every generation there were a number of girls who were Potential Slayers, meaning that when the reigning Slayer did die, any one of them could have been given the power. About six years ago, there were some things going on that, let's just say, created a major need for more than one Slayer. This entity called the First Evil had decided to wage a war for supremacy and its army was composed of the ultimate worst kind of vampires. The technical term for them is Turok-Han, but we affectionately called them Uber-vamps because they made the regular vampires look like meek kittens."
"I was fifteen years old when I found out what I was," she told Hatter quietly. "I was a Potential Slayer and I was a target. The First Evil wanted to destroy the Slayer line so it could eliminate all future obstacles to its plans. So it sent its minions out into the world, seeking out girls like me who might one day become the Slayer, and killing them. They succeeded in a lot of cases. I think there were close to a thousand of us at one time, but then the numbers dwindled down to a few hundred."
"They came after you," Hatter remarked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Yeah, they did," Alice replied bitterly. She tried to mentally shut out the images which arose from her memory. It was not a day she cared to relive. "It was the first time I ever had to fight for my life. I was lucky though. I had been doing karate, which is a type of defensive fighting style, along with other types of martial arts since I was a kid. I managed to fight them off and escape. I didn't kill them, though it probably would have been better if I had. My skills were based on defense, not offense, but they saved my life that day."
Alice had been stretching the truth somewhat when she had told Jack and her mother that the only date she was meticulous about was the date her father had disappeared. There was another date clearly stamped on her memory as well. January 28, 2003. That was the day the servants of the First had found her walking home from karate class. Were it not for the skills in martial arts which she had honed since she had been in elementary school, she would likely not be here talking to Hatter. Instead, she would have been six feet under the ground with a slab of stone marking her sad, short existence on Earth.
Hatter sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He was still holding onto his porkpie hat, his fingers curling around the brim and gripping it tightly as if it could stave off the blow of these shocking revelations. It was strange seeing his head so unadorned. One could definitely tell he did not often remove his hat, as his hair was flattened down on the top with the ends curling up to accommodate the shape of the brim. Alice had never once seen Jack with a hair out of place even after spending the night with him. She found Hatter's messy, spiky hair rather dashing and refreshing. It suited him.
It took her a few moments to realize she had lost herself in the sheer pleasure of just studying Hatter. He glanced up at her, no doubt wondering why she had gone silent, his gaze questioning. She flushed and looked away, emitting a fake cough.
Covering her embarrassment, she picked up the thread of her story. "Well, ah, a few days later, this man showed up at my house while my mother was at work, so I was all by myself. He was a Watcher. Watchers are people who train and guide the Slayer and he happened to be the Watcher of the reigning Slayer at the time; a girl by the name of Buffy Summers. He told me everything. I learned that though I may have escaped the First once, I was still in danger and, by extension, so was my mother. Its servants could still find me and finish the job." She tiredly rubbed at her forehead before going on. "He offered me the protection of the Slayer herself. The only catch was I would have to go with him to a place called Sunnydale, California where she lived. That was not only way across the country from me, but it was also on top of what we call a hellmouth."
"Do I even want to know what that is?" Hatter inquired hesitantly.
Alice laughed dryly. "Oh, it turns out that I lived on a hellmouth, too. But the one where I live is not as big or potent as the one in Sunnydale was. It's basically an epicenter of bad shit. Demons, vampires, and just about any type of evil creature congregate there. The walls between the different worlds tend to be a lot flimsier there, too."
"Damn, Alice," Hatter swore, shaking his head.
With a shrug, she said, "Hey, I warned you. I told you it was a long, complicated story that you may not even understand most of. So sure you want to leave Wonderland, now? Because where I come from is the real fire. This is a frying pan to me."
He managed to give her a small smile at that while securing his hat back to his head. "But not everywhere is full of these vampires and demons, right?"
"No," she replied lightly. "If you do still want to come back with me, you're welcome to. I'll definitely find you a much safer, nicer place to live."
Hatter glanced away from her. "Um, yeah," he mumbled. For some reason, he did not appear to be too enthused by her assurance.
That sense of awkwardness rose up between them and, in an effort to stifle it, she decided to finish her lengthy story. Both of them would have to get at least a few hours of sleep anyway.
"Well, so I decided to go to Sunnydale, even though I knew my mother was going to freak out. I left her a long letter and I made sure to keep sending her letters and stuff to let her know I was all right. I didn't tell her the full truth, though. I knew she would only think I'd gone crazy or something and it just didn't seem like there was enough time to try to explain it all anyway. There was definite hell to pay when I got back. I can't even begin to tell you how long I was grounded," she recollected, chuckling slightly. "Also, since I missed out on a whole half of the school year I ended up having to repeat the year. That really sucked."
Hatter held up a hand to interrupt her. "Wait, so you did leave? What happened in Sunnydale? How long were you there?"
Alice smiled at his cascade of questions. "I had to leave, Hatter. I wanted to keep my mother safe even though I knew I was gonna be in some serious trouble for it. Also, there was a part of me that wanted to go join the fight, you know. It felt like the right thing to do," she explained. "While I was there, I trained under the Slayer and I sometimes helped her to train others since I already had a solid foundation in martial arts. I was there for about three and a half months, I guess. We spent that time building up our forces and information, trying to map out a battle plan and stuff. It ended up coming down to us going down into the hellmouth and taking our last stand against the First and its army. The only issue we had to resolve was that, even as well-trained as some of us Potentials were, we were still no match against Uber-vamps. All the training in the world could not compensate for the raw power and strength of a Slayer."
"So, what did you do?" Hatter queried.
"I didn't do anything. One of Buffy's best friends happened to be a very powerful witch. She used this artifact to perform a spell that would unleash the power of the Slayer in all Potentials. So, in just a few seconds, she changed the nature of an enchantment which had been in place for thousands of years," Alice informed him gravely. Speaking of it made her recall the rush of power she had felt, as if a sleeping giant had just woken up within her blood. It had been the most intoxicating experience of her young life.
Her companion whistled in appreciation. "That must have taken a lot of power."
Alice glanced up at the sky, noting how far the crescent moon had traveled across it. Spending so long hunting nocturnal creatures had made her intimately familiar with the patterns of the night, including discerning how much night was left. She judged that the night was probably already half-way gone.
"Well, to end this long story, we kicked the First's proverbial ass though we did lose some girls in the battle. Sunnydale disappeared into a sinkhole. Then Buffy and her crew went around the world finding all the girls who had become Slayers that managed to escape the notice of the First. Cleveland, which is the city I live in, became a fully-staffed hellmouth base and I currently work there as an active duty Slayer. I also help train new Slayers," she said while stretching out her cramped back.
"Oh, and then one day I met Jack and some months later I chased down some men who kidnapped him and I ended up here. The end," she added wryly.
A long period of intense silence followed as Alice allowed the story to sink into Hatter's grasp. Finally he let out a whoosh of air. "Well, that was...wow. I don't even know what to say to all that." He scratched the back of his neck and rose from his seat.
"I didn't overload you too much, did I? I know it's a lot to take in all at once," she commented with concern, watching him pace to the other side of the campfire and back.
"No," Hatter assured her, giving a half-hearted smile. "I am glad you told me. It's just..." he trailed off, his expression darkening.
"Just what?" Alice asked, frowning at his agitation.
Hatter looked up at her, his face impossible to read with the light from the fire throwing an interplay of shadows on his face. He looked like he was about to say something, but then he merely shook his head and sighed. "Well, you being this Slayer certainly explains a thing or two," he remarked with a somewhat caustic tone to his voice. "That insufferable reckless streak of yours makes a lot more sense."
That had not been what he really wanted to say, Alice could tell. The set of his shoulders and his extremely anxious pacing were shrill signs of inner turmoil. She curled her fingers and looked down at her lap, trying to decide if it was worth trying to goad him into voicing what was vexing him. It was getting quite late by now and she had been staving off the feelings of exhaustion for a long time. If she was beginning to feel lassitude creep into her bones, she could only imagine how tired Hatter must be.
"It's still very dangerous, isn't it?" he finally ventured. He was staring at the fire with one hand on his hip.
Alice was not sure how to approach that loaded question, but she felt it would have to be handled delicately. She did not want to sugar-coat the truth. Nonetheless, she did not want to cause him unwarranted concern. "Well, it's not as bad as it used to be. I mean, no Slayer ever has to fight alone. And we don't allow any new Slayers to hunt by themselves until they've been out patrolling under the supervision of an experienced Slayer for at least six months. So, now Slayers can expect to live about as long as the average person."
Hatter nodded, his bottom lip ballooning out as he ran his tongue along his bottom teeth. "You never told your boyfriend about this?" he inquired, a strange, indefinable tone to his voice.
She frowned at the question. Her first thought was to tell him to mind his own business about how she handled her romantic relationships. But Hatter had lost everything because he was helping her try to save her boyfriend. He did not deserve so harsh a response. "We'd only been together for about three months," Alice explained, spreading her hands out helplessly. "You don't just drop a bombshell like that right from the get-go. Remember what I said about people from my world not believing vampires and demons actually exist? I mean, I was planning on telling him eventually. But..."
Alice could not bring herself to finish the real reason she was holding back from telling Jack about her secret life. The truth was, a big part of her did not believe the relationship would last long enough to warrant bringing Jack into the fold. She may have told her mother that her boyfriend was different from all the men who had come before, but a large part of the girl did not really believe her own words. Old habits were hard to kill. However, she did not want to get embroiled in a discussion about her commitment issues, especially with a double agent teashop owner.
"But what? You don't think he'd be able to handle it?" Hatter asked in what appeared to be an oddly challenging voice. "If I were him, I'd want to know." He resumed pacing again, mumbling to himself so quickly that even her sharp Slayer hearing could not determine the words.
"Look," Alice said tiredly. "Can we not talk about that right now? I need to rescue him first, anyway. Once we get back home I'll probably have to tell him the truth. He'll probably have a lot of questions once this is over, anyway." As she spoke, she leaned forward to toss one of the borogove bones she had stripped clean of meat on the fire, throwing sizzling sparks into the air.
"Yeah," was Hatter's despondent reply. He had halted his pacing and was now staring over at her from across the fire.
"So, any ideas on how we're gonna cut a deal with the White Rabbit or am I just going to have to be extra persuasive?" she inquired, smiling deviously.
Hatter's mouth twitched with slight amusement. "I did tell you it was a long shot. But, as long as you have that ring, you've got a chance," he assured her.
At first Alice felt the genuine warmth of relief after hearing that. But then her sleepy mind caught up to her and she realized something had not been right with the way he had worded his response. He had specifically said you instead of we. She felt her stomach convulse and tighten forebodingly. Had her confession frightened him away from coming back with her?
"What happened to we?" Alice queried, failing to keep the disappointment from her voice.
This must have been what had made him so jittery. He glanced away from her penetrating gaze, pursing his lips and rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. "I can't leave, Alice," he finally admitted, his eyes latching onto hers beseechingly. "Wonderland is my home. I can't just abandon it despite what I said. I have to stay and fight for it."
Hatter slowly ambled back across the circle and reclaimed his seat next to her on the log.
"What made you change your mind?" Alice felt she already knew the answer to this question, but needed to hear it just the same. She had spooked him away from coming back to her world. The picture she had painted for him had not been an attractive one.
Hatter waved his arms around the area, rising once more and crossing over to stand before her. "Seeing all this...this great kingdom. What it used to be and what's become of it. Old Charlie, wherever the hell he's gotten off to. I thought all of this was totally wiped out of existence. Seeing that part of it's still here and that, maybe, one day it could be brought back is just...well, it woke up a hope I thought I never even had to begin with. And if it does this for me then think of what it would mean to the rest of my people," he declared, his eyes shining brightly.
He stopped for a moment and drew in a deep breath. "This is a wake-up call, Alice. All those hundreds of refugees hiding underground, they're all counting on me. I can't fail them now."
Whatever unkindly assumptions she had made about Hatter's character before were completely vaporized. Alice could not help but feel a wave of admiration and humbleness wash over her as she listened to his proclamation. He was being completely honest, too. There was no subtle hint that he was lying about his reasons for wanting to remain in Wonderland. It definitely made her feel guilty she had immediately jumped to the conclusion that he had decided her home world sounded too perilous.
"I understand," Alice told him, forcing a supportive smile onto her face. For some reason, she felt her heart was starting to crack like glass.
Then she frowned when she recalled Dodo's deadly threat. "Wait a minute. Are you sure that's a good idea, Hatter? I seem to remember you saying yourself you were a target for both sides. The Suits and the Resistance have a price on your head," she reminded him seriously.
Hatter cocked his head to the side in grim acknowledgement. "That's true, but I'm thinking if I..." his eyes flashed nervously before he reluctantly continued speaking. "If I turn up with the ring, Dodo might be willing to forgive me."
Alice felt her muscles coil up in warning. "What do you mean? I thought I was using the ring to cut a deal with the White Rabbit."
Hatter held up his hands as if he were trying to fend off an attack. "Don't worry. I'm going to get you home safe and sound first," he said.
Her breath hissed as she realized there was a factor missing from this equation. She worked through the anger building within her by pulling the velvet jacket back on. When she felt calm enough to speak, she finally asked curtly, "And what about Jack?"
Hatter sighed in acute frustration, throwing his hands up in the air as if he had known this was coming. He walked back across to the other side of the campfire, presumably so he could be a safer distance from her. "Alice, I know you don't want to hear this and I'm sorry, but you have to let him go. You have to forget about Jack. You'll never get him out of the casino alive and trying will only set off alarm bells. It'll make your escape impossible." His gaze begged her forgiveness and understanding, but his tone was implacable.
Alice swallowed the bile rising in her throat. "Were you not just listening to me earlier? You know I'm not some helpless little girl, Hatter," she pointed out defiantly, rising to her own feet.
"I know you aren't. Believe me, I know that," Hatter placated. "But you don't seem to understand that you would be outnumbered thousands to one. And I know you think you can negotiate with the queen, but you can't, Alice. She's not a person to be negotiated with."
She clenched her fists and kicked a wayward stick into the fire, watching the sparks fly outwards. "No," she asserted, shaking her head. "You don't understand. I cannot and will not leave him here. It's my fault he's here in the first place."
Hatter scoffed at that. "Do you really believe that? It's not your fault he got caught by the White Rabbit. These things happen. You can't blame yourself," he said softly.
Alice swallowed again and drew in another deep breath to rein in her temper. "So, what, you were just leading me on back there? I thought it was understood that when I was leaving this place, Jack would be coming with me."
Hatter took a few steps toward her, but then decided better of it and retracted. "Just believe me, please. It'll be suicide," he pleaded in an agonized voice.
Alice turned away from Hatter, not wanting him to see the tears of hurt and frustration welling up in her eyes. Logically, she understood he was doing this out of concern for her. He did not know Jack and, hence, he did not really care about what happened to him. She could tell that he loathed causing her such distress, but he was adamant in his determination to keep her out of harm's way. The knowledge of that did assuage her anger towards him somewhat, but it could not abolish it completely. She could not make him see that saving Jack was more than just about saving the man who was her boyfriend. To her, it was also about duty and redemption. She felt like she would be betraying her Calling if she were to abandon Jack to his fate in Wonderland.
"Jack's a lucky guy," she heard Hatter murmur from across the camp circle.
She froze upon hearing that, wondering if she had imagined it or simply had misheard what her companion had uttered under his breath. Either way, she suspected he had not meant for her to hear it. Her ultra sensitive hearing must have slipped his mind.
"What?" she tentatively asked, turning back around to face him.
Hatter shook his head despairingly. "Nothing," he muttered. "Anyway, it's late and I think we could both use some rest. Looks like it'll only be a few hours till sunup anyway and I don't think we should be here for much longer."
She nodded mutely while pinching the bridge of her nose.
Hatter walked towards her, a doleful expression on his weary face. "We can argue about this some more later, yeah?"
He reached out and gave her a timid squeeze on her shoulder before pulling off his hat and walking in the direction towards the little barn. Alice stood alone in the camp circle, staring into the fire for an interminable amount of time before she, too, decided to retire.
I apologize for there not being two chapters, but I did imply that a second submission before my trip would be unlikely. I've been terribly busy this past week with working, shopping and preparing for my trip. Hence, I haven't had much time to write. I'll hopefully be more on the ball after this much-needed vacation!
Oh, and in case some could not tell, I took some artistic liberties with the Slayer legacy, but most of it is true to canon.
Feedback is lovely, thanks!