Hello all! Thanks to my reviewers from last chapter and I wanted to take a moment to urge any of my silent readers to provide some feedback as well! It would be greatly appreciated! And now, on with the story!

Chapter XI: Mad Protective Impulses

Hatter must have been more exhausted than he realized, for he never thought sleep would be possible that night. Firstly, the position he had settled himself in was not conducive for sleeping. He had propped himself up against the wooden gate outside the little barn, leaving the lone bed in the encampment free for Alice's use. The young man had never been one to suspect he had a chivalrous bone in his body, but the entire day had forced him to reevaluate his own self. There were a lot of things Hatter believed he would never do or condone that he had succeeded in proving himself wrong about today. That alone was enough to wear him out.

The discomfort of his sleeping area was minor at best, since he had found himself sleeping in rather more unlikely and uncomfortable places in the past. He could manage well enough with that. What Hatter thought he could not manage was the stunning story Alice had told him still spinning around his head. It demanded precedence over even that moment of intense awkwardness between them which had caused her to flee from his presence. A cavalcade of emotions was descending upon him like a deluge in response to his companion's blunt revelations. He did not know what to do with all of them. Wonderland born and bred, there was no defense he could marshal against them.

He was in awe of the truth behind her strange and fantastic abilities. Hatter thought he had suspected something along the lines of Alice being some kind of a fighter back in her world, but what he had suspected ended up being legions away from the startling reality. She was so much more than a mere fighter, she was a warrior and a protector, handpicked by some mystical force to battle creatures that should never have existed. He marveled over the fact that such a small girl could be so powerful and formidable, although her size probably made her even more so. Nothing was more threatening than when it appeared to be weak and harmless.

But the horror of Alice's so-called occupation evoked a rush of hopeless anguish within him. He knew she had spared no details when describing the creatures she had been Called to fight. These vampires sounded like they had been molded out of the darkest of nightmares. He knew of nothing like them existing in Wonderland, and he was exceedingly grateful over that fact. To think that her world had once been crawling with them made him shudder with revulsion. It was no wonder she had laughed in his face when he told her breaking into the casino was too dangerous a feat. Apparently, she lived and breathed danger on a daily (well, nightly) basis back in her world.

"Where I come from is the real fire. This is the frying pan to me."

His stomach coiled up into a knot of sickened dread when he thought about all she must endure to protect a population of people who did not even believe these dangers existed. As awestruck by her abilities and her story as he was, Hatter desperately wanted it to be untrue. Why it even mattered was a mystery because she would be leaving this world soon enough and he would likely never see her again. But he could not stop thinking about the fact that she would leave this world only to go right back through the motions of her dangerous, bloody lifestyle. She may have told him the life of a Vampire Slayer was no longer as perilous as it once was, but he could sense she was unconsciously holding the full truth back. Her blasé remarks throughout their short acquaintanceship had seemed innocent enough, but they had dropped huge hints. Not only had she been wounded before, but she had been wounded multiple times. She had seen enough battle and death to form almost a detached attitude to it. The girl seemed to produce a sense of humor only after she had experienced a brush with death!

The thought of Alice leaving this world made him feel strangely hollow and forlorn, but at least before he had been comforted by the notion that she would be going somewhere infinitely safer. Now that he knew her world had the potential to be quite more dangerous than his own and that she was specifically employed to seek out and fight those dangers, the thought of her leaving made him feel sick with terror and desolation. The protectiveness within him rose up and cried out in rebellion at letting her leave.

What difference does it make? Hatter would ask himself. Either way you'll never see her again. And even if she wasn't a Vampire Slayer she could still be killed over there by some accident and you'd never know it. Not to mention oysters never live for very long anyway.

But knowing she would be relatively safe and knowing she would be in constant, merciless danger made all the difference. She would be in danger and he would not be there to protect her. That was the crux of the issue, he finally admitted. Hatter knew she did not need his protection, but it did not diminish the powerful urge he felt to jump to defend her whenever she was in danger. It had become almost a reflex for him to try to shield her from harm. Since he had been a lad of sixteen he had almost always thought to protect and defend no one but himself. But not only did he now feel protective to the point of sacrificing his own life for Alice, but it was engendering other more noble inclinations within him. He was now willing to stay and put his life on the line for all those refugees hiding out in the Great Library, an entire group of people he did not know and probably never would. Perhaps the sacrificial nature of Alice's vocation was rubbing off on him.

As these dismaying thoughts swam through Hatter's head, he tightly clenched his strength-enhanced right fist so that even his blunted, short nails were digging little half-moon impressions into the skin of his palm. His eyes drifted down to his right arm, the very arm which carried the collective force of ten men in one punch. His aptly named Sledgehammer had appeared during his prickly, awkward adolescent stage when he was shuffling his boyish form for that of the man he would later become. There had been no explanation behind it, although his mother had alluded to it being something inherited from his father's side of the family. His father, unfortunately, had not been around to elaborate on that point, having been executed at the queen's command when Hatter had been a small child. This was something he had yet to inform Alice about, and he felt he probably could have found an opening to explain it during her own story. At the time, however, he had been too caught up by her words. He wondered what she would make of it. He also wondered if the strength in this one arm eclipsed even that of a Slayer's.

Hatter sighed, unfurling the fingers on his right hand and pulling his hat off to rest it on his bent right knee. He distantly noticed that Alice was still standing in front of the campfire, no doubt grappling with anger and disappointment over his conviction that her boyfriend could not be saved. He yearned to go over to her and wrap her in his arms to whisper soothing words of comfort and apology. But he knew she would not appreciate his intrusion at the moment. Besides, in spite of all those troubling things in his head, he was starting to feel a sweet, encompassing sense of languor infuse his limbs.

Before long, he was tumbling into a world of dreams where he could embrace Alice with wild abandon and where there was no boyfriend to rescue, no Queen of Hearts to fear, no Resistance leaders to mollify, no vampires to fight, and no terrible, irrefutable destiny to return to. There was just Hatter and Alice, like it was always meant to be that way. In these dreams he could finally understand the meaning behind all those feelings and inclinations, and, unlike in the real world, he was not afraid to embrace the truth. In these dreams he could finally act upon those whispered desires he had been struggling against the whole time he had been around this enchanting oyster. Hatter never wanted these dreams to end, even if a part of his dream-self knew none of it was real.

A loud sound of something cracking or falling followed by that damn bird and its obnoxious squawks catapulted Hatter from his lovely dream world into the far less lovely waking world. The noise shocked him awake, causing his whole body to tense up. Shooting pains assaulted his abused neck, shoulders, and backside. His vision was muddled and hazy at first; the harsh glare of the morning sunlight caused him to shy away from fully opening his eyes until they properly adjusted to the increased light. He heard the sounds of Charlie thrashing around in his hammock, or, rather, falling out of his hammock in a stifled cry of fright.

"What the hell was that?" Hatter barked in a resentful, annoyed tone. The bird was still squawking indignantly. He also detected the sounds of something creaking like a chain swinging back and forth.

Groaning, the young man tightened his hold on his hat and pulled himself to his feet. He started stumbling past the entrance to the barn, not thinking to look inside at the moment. Had he been a little less disoriented from his jarring awakening, he probably would have noticed the feeling of something being amiss.

"Oh dear," he heard Charlie announce in a slightly panicked tone. "That was the early warning system! Someone has broken through the perimeter!"

It took a few seconds for Hatter's sleep-addled mind to properly absorb Charlie's declaration. When the full gravity of the situation became apparent to him, he felt a jolt of alarm run through him. Charlie, being the clever inventor he was, had constructed an elaborate security system around the border of the kingdom. It was triggered to alert him should anyone enter or leave the kingdom without his permission. He had proudly outlined its ingenious design to Hatter while Alice had been bathing. He recalled Charlie's description of what would happen when the alarm had been tripped, the last part being about an object hitting the suspended cage with that crow inside it, which would cause the animal to cry out angrily.

The first and most obvious conclusion he jumped to was that Mad March and his posse had found them. Had they not hidden their tracks as well as he had thought? Or was that posthumous assassin an even better tracker than Hatter had given him credit for. Feeling cold sweat start to form beads on his forehead, he twisted his neck towards the inside of the shelter to see if Alice was still asleep, surprised he had not yet heard her protests at the rude awakening.

All he found was an empty bed. Alice was nowhere in sight.

Hatter's heart nearly decided to give up on beating when he saw that the bed he had assumed Alice would be asleep in was devastatingly devoid of life. The tattered quilt was half turned over at the top, leaving a corner of it to drape over the edge of the bed to trail upon the floor. It looked like someone had been lying in the bed at some point during the night, but had thrown off the covers and gotten out of it. There were few reasons to leave a soft, inviting bed after a day full of flight from various dangers. Alice had had one very good reason (in her view, anyway) to leave that bed and the Kingdom of the Knights.

Oh no. Please...no, his mind cried out.

A well of panic threatened to overflow the young man until he smothered it. He forced it down beneath a layer of tenuously grasped justifications for Alice's lack of presence. Just because her bed was empty it did not mean she had left the kingdom entirely. She could have woken up early and decided to take care of some personal needs. Perhaps she was having another bath. Maybe she felt the need to take a stroll. He told himself these things as he turned around to see Charlie, dressed in nothing but his white linen underclothes, clutching a stuffed bear in one hand and a mallet in the other.

"Battle stations! Sound the order of the Seraphim! Drum!" the old knight was calling out.

Hatter swallowed the lump growing in his throat as he threw open the gate and walked out into the middle of the encampment. "Where is Alice?" he asked Charlie, endeavoring to sound calm but not able to prevent the thread of distress which entered his voice.

Charlie did not answer him, but bellowed out "Fight! Fight!" while swinging the mallet around. He nearly clipped Hatter in the face with it, but the young man did not appear to care or notice. In fact, such an act would have probably sent him into blessed unconsciousness and he would not have had to see what was now holding his eyes horribly captive. His face drained of all color and his stomach twisted into knots of dread and anguish. He had been denying the truth of where Alice had gone up until this point, though his heart must have known the terrible truth once he saw the empty bed. But now he could no longer continue to deny it.

The alarm system had not been tripped because someone had been coming into the kingdom. The alarm system had been tripped because someone had been leaving it.

The velvet coat he had loaned to Alice just the day before was hung upon the ladder standing against the tree directly across from the barn. He had loaned her that coat for two reasons. He had wanted to keep her from getting a chill and he had also wanted to keep her green mark hidden so she could not be so easily identified as an oyster. She had left that coat behind, which meant she was now running around with her mark fully exposed. He had a terrible, sinking feeling that such had been her intention. Alice had purposefully taken off the coat and left it so that her mark could be seen. She was walking right into the hands of the enemy. He did not know how he knew it, but somehow he knew that was her plan. It was the only thing that made sense. She did not know her way to the casino where her beloved Jack was imprisoned. But there was a posse full of men led by the most talented tracker and skilled killer in Wonderland who were searching for an escaped oyster. They would only be too happy to take her there. And while the ability to put up a fight was there at Alice's command, Hatter knew she would not use it. She would go with them without a fuss. The girl was practically nailing her own coffin shut.

Hatter slowly shook his head. "No," he whispered in agony. "No!" The second denial broke out in a loud, anguished cry.

Oh, why was that girl so utterly stubborn and reckless? He had tried to make it clear that the queen would never negotiate with anyone, much less an oyster who had managed to escape her once already. But, of course, how could he get through to someone who lived a life of constant battles and danger? How could he make a girl who fought creatures like vampires develop a healthy respect and fear for the power the Queen of Hearts wielded? Alice could never take the dangers of the casino, Mad March, or the Queen of Hearts seriously after what she faced in her world. He understood and admired her foolish courage as much as he loathed it.

The impulse started blotting out the grief and anguish. It was the protective impulse which had sent Hatter leaping into the path of a gun and given him the crazy idea of being bait for a jabberwock all for the sake of keeping Alice safe. He had no idea how long the girl had been gone, but instinct told him she had probably left before daybreak. She had slipped right past him on the path to her doom while he had slumbered away in his dreams of lovemaking and kisses. As long as he lived, he would never forgive himself for that.

He cleared his throat and called out to Charlie. "Charlie! Alice is gone! I need a horse to go after her!"

"What!" the old knight sputtered. "The lady is missing?" To his credit, Charlie's expression darkened with concern. "Well, then, to arms! We must ride to the rescue of the fair damsel!"

Asking for the knight's permission to use a horse had merely been a formality. One way or another, Hatter was taking one of those creatures to ride to the casino. It was probably far too late to intercept the foolish girl. He immediately started running in the direction of the small stable where Charlie's horses were kept, desperation fueling his steps with lightning-fast speed. The old knight followed behind with surprising quickness for his old age.

"Now, hold on, Vassal!" Charlie yelled.

Hatter had reached the stable and had wasted no time in untying Guinevere and leading her out of her stall. With single-minded efficiency, he collected all the gear he would require for travel upon horseback and began securing it to the mare.

"Just stay here, Charlie," Hatter said, his tone curiously numb as he worked at gearing Guinevere for the journey.

The old knight hissed in indignation at that order. "But you won't find her without my help!" he insisted hotly.

Gritting his teeth, Hatter tightened the buckles on the saddle and then replied, "It's not your fight, Charlie. You don't have to come." It was true. The old knight had done more for him and Alice than either of them could have asked. And, in spite of the knight's truculent attitude towards him, Hatter did not want to get Charlie involved in a matter which could lead to the old man being injured, captured, and/or killed.

"Oh, you couldn't be more wrong," Charlie scoffed. "You led the Alice of Legend to me for a reason. It was fate! Divinity! An alignment of forces beyond mortal understanding!"

Hatter ignored the old man as he locked his foot into the stirrup to heave himself up into the saddle.

Charlie continued to rant. "Call it what you will, but, in time, you will see that I am the true paladin here and you are merely a harbinger!"

Hatter guided the horse to turn around, throwing a short glance at Charlie who was walking off in the opposite direction with his fingers pressed to his temples. "Remember, I am well-versed in the black arts," he reminded the younger man, dropping his voice to the stage whisper. "We shall be guided by my psychic connection to the mysterious sinews that bind mankind to the outer realm."

Hatter shook his head and started inciting the mare into a trot, only to halt when he heard Charlie call out almost scathingly, "You're going the wrong way, Harbinger. We must go west."

Hatter knew west was not the direction Alice had gone, whatever Charlie's barmy psychic powers were telling him. The casino was east of them. "You go west," Hatter replied in a calm tone which belied the distress wracking his body. "I'm going east. She's gone to the Hearts Casino."

"What?" Charlie's eyes widened with shock and panic. He took a few uncertain steps toward Hatter before saying words which chilled the younger man to the bone though he had already thought them. It made the situation far more real and frightening when hearing it from another person. "But...but that's certain death! Why on earth would she go there?"

Because she's stupid and brave and in love, and it's not with me, he thought bitterly, blinking back the tears which welled in his eyes.

He forbade his mind from going further on the subject for it made his heart ache far too much. He needed to keep his focus on what he was trying to do to prevent Alice from meeting with certain death. Hatter would not allow himself to accept the realization that he was going to the Hearts Casino to rescue Alice for the same reasons she was going there to rescue Jack. He also could not allow himself to think that if he were in Alice's position and he knew she was trapped in the casino he would be doing everything possible, including putting his own neck at risk, to save her.

Hatter kicked Guinevere into a fast trot, warming her up in preparation for a full-speed gallop. He had been on the trail for perhaps five minutes when he heard the rumbling sound of another horse's hooves pounding the ground. He turned his head to see Charlie, dressed in full White Knight regalia, slapping the reins wildly as Archibald galloped towards them.

"Charlie!" Hatter shouted, half amazed the old man had gotten ready so quickly and half annoyed he was bound on coming even after the younger man had told him to stay behind. "I told you, you don't have to come!"

Charlie pulled up short next to Hatter and turned his nose up at him with that trademark supercilious glare upon his face. "And I believe I told you that you could not be more wrong in that regard, Harbinger. I have sworn an oath to the spirits of my slain comrades and my honorable lord the Red King that I would protect the Lady Alice at the cost of my very life."

Oh for crying out loud, Hatter silently lamented. His first thought was that he should knock the knight out senseless so the old man would not get himself maimed or killed in the rescue attempt. If he did manage to rescue Alice, she would no doubt be outraged about that. However, the knight may just prove useful, if only as a diversion so Hatter could slip past the casino guard. Upon further contemplation, Hatter realized it probably would be wiser to have an ally when attempting to break into one of the most secure and guarded fortresses in all of Wonderland.

"Besides, I could not just leave Lady Alice's fate in the hands of an amateur," Charlie told him snippily. Without even waiting for Hatter's reaction to the insult, he slapped the reins and started trotting off ahead of Hatter.

"An amateur?" Hatter sputtered, slapping his own reins to incite Guinevere to catch up to Charlie and Archibald. "Look, just because I'm not a bloody knight does not mean I don't know a thing or two about battle."

Charlie's response was to shrug in indifference. Hatter huffed indignantly, but decided it would be better to stew in his own thoughts than start up a pointless argument with a man who was over 150 years old and somewhat off his rocker. They continued upon the path in silence.

After an interminable amount of time, Charlie broke the silence with a very reasonable question. "Harbinger, just why is the Lady Alice going to the casino? Surely you must have warned her of the perils that would await her there?" the old knight asked in an accusatory tone. Clearly, he was intent on never addressing the younger man by name.

Hatter's laugh was utterly devoid of humor. "Oh, only about fifty times," he replied sullenly. "She's going there because her boyfriend is trapped there. That's the whole reason she's here in Wonderland. The White Rabbit took her boyfriend and she jumped into the Looking Glass after them." His grip tightened on the reins as his fear for Alice and his anger at her complete disregard for her own safety overcame him.

"Ah," Charlie sighed in admiration. "She would have made a fine White Knight. Gallantly riding off to her gentleman's rescue."

The teashop owner rolled his eyes, not nearly so impressed with Alice's willful actions. "Gallant? It's bloody stupid. She could get herself killed!" Without intending it, he had let some of his fear and frustration slip into his voice, which sent his pitch up an octave or two.

Charlie was silent for a few moments. Hatter glanced over at the old knight and saw that the older man was staring at him with sharp scrutiny. There was a peculiar, knowing look in his pale blue eyes. Feeling decidedly uncomfortable under the inspection, he turned his gaze away.

"Fear not! For I shall rout out all those who would harm the lady and make them taste my cold steel in the name of justice and the Red King!" the old knight declared confidently. "And, lest you forget, I also have my talents in the black arts." The stage-whisper returned as if it were absolutely required those two words be spoken only in that manner.

Hatter almost smiled at the knight's bravado, but there was far too much doubt and anguish clutching hold of him to take the older man's words to heart. He only weakly nodded his head, wishing he could summon the same level of confidence. What had happened to him? He used to be so self-assured almost all the time, secure in the knowledge that only he knew all the cards and he could play everyone at the table like a violin. Alice was a wild card he had not foreseen, however. As beautiful as she was, she was an element outside of the pattern. All the strange, twisted order he had known was deteriorating into chaos.

Hatter's dark musing was interrupted by Charlie clearing his throat and asking in a curious, grave tone, "Just how does the lady expect to rescue this man from the clutches of the treacherous queen?"

Hatter sighed, rolling his shoulders. "Oh, she's got this loony idea that she can negotiate with the queen using the..." his words trailed off as a horrible and stunning realization hit him. He had not given a single thought to the ring. By all rights, it should have been his first concern. The ring was the only way he could come close to returning to whatever one could call Dodo's "good graces". It was also the only trump card the Resistance could hold against the queen. But he had only been thinking about what would become of Alice. His subconscious had placed her well-being ahead of that of his own already, and now it appeared to have placed it ahead of the Resistance's.

"Oh...shit," Hatter blurted.

"What is it, Harbinger?" Charlie leaned forward, his expression wary. His hand hovered over the hilt of his sword.

"Ride faster," Hatter advised succinctly. Then, with a flick of the reins and without even waiting for a response, he tore off through the woods upon Guinevere.

Hooray for male bonding! Well, sort of, haha.

So there are some subtle hints into Hatter's past, a past which I'll be taking some artistic license with since they didn't say much about it in the miniseries. It will be expanded upon later, don't worry.

I am playing with the idea of making some M-rated bonuses as separate pieces, starting with Hatter's steamy dream, hehe. What do you think?