Time to step back and just appreciate a nice, dripping wet Hatter...*sigh*.
Chapter XV: Slippery When Wet
The impact with the water was nothing like Hatter had ever felt. For being a liquid, it jarred him relentlessly, and the rapid change of temperature stung through his skin almost to the bone. He and Alice were ripped apart by the force of the impact. He flailed his arms around as his body was spun around in the aquatic environment, desperately trying to figure out which way the surface was so he could take a breath of air. For a moment, it seemed the surface would be impossible to reach for all he could see around him was murky darkness punctuated by bubbles. His head started to throb from the lack of oxygen.
Hatter allowed instinct to reorient his body and then he kicked his legs, finally breaking the surface with a triumphant gulp of air. Much to his horror, it appeared that Alice had not found the surface. He spun around in the water, continually moving his arms and legs to keep his head above the surface as he scanned the area for any sign of the dark-haired oyster girl. Panic flooded his system. What if she had hit her head or had become trapped underneath the flamingo? Moreover, how would he find her in the lake's dark depths in time? Had he gone through all that effort to save her from the casino only to lose her to drowning?
"Alice!" he screamed, his voice roughened by the cold water.
Oh god...no...come on, Alice. Don't do this to me.
Just as he was about to dive under again, something broke through the surface a few feet away from him. He blinked in surprise when he saw it was his hat, held up by a slender white arm. Eventually, Alice's beautiful face appeared, spitting out water and sucking in air. When she saw Hatter, a relieved smile broke out on her face and she swam over to his currently shell-shocked form.
"I saved your hat," she informed him through chattering teeth.
For a split second, all he wanted to do was press his lips up against hers. He had truly thought she was dead for a few seconds, and the feelings it had engendered within him had been gut-wrenchingly horrible. But then he got a grip on himself and his wayward feelings, swallowing the lump in his throat.
His smile was brittle, but warm as he took the hat from her. "Well, that's the important thing," he tried to joke, his voice trembling a little.
They swam towards the rocky shoreline and stumbled up onto dry land. Hatter collapsed to his feet as exhaustion from the day's events and his own emotional turmoil overcame him. The rough gravel bore into his skin through the sodden fabric of his pinstriped trousers, but he could not bring himself to care.
Alice crouched next to him, obviously concerned. "Are you okay?" she asked, her brow furrowed with worry. Water dripped down her neck to bead at the hollow of her throat before it disappeared underneath the high décolletage of her dress.
The pretty girl in the very wet dress has returned, his libido noted approvingly.
"Um, yeah, just need to rest for a bit," he assured her, endeavoring to look anywhere but at her chest for the time being. He tightly clasped the brim of his hat in his hand.
Alice rose to her feet, her gaze turned to the water. "Shit, Charlie!" she blurted. "Do you think he made it out?"
Hatter sighed and ducked his head down, the guilt and sorrow returning. While he very much doubted the 150-year-old knight could have possibly been able to break the surface and swim to shore underneath all that steel armor, he felt it would be cruel to crush Alice's tender hopes to pieces. Therefore, all he did was shrug helplessly and say, "I don't know...maybe." He then craned his neck to look up at the sky, expecting to see the flying Aces up there. The sky was blessedly empty save for the white fluffy clouds, but that did not mean they would not show up sooner or later. They would have to seek out cover.
"We need to get off this beach," Hatter said as he heaved himself to his feet. "We're sitting ducks here."
Alice nodded in agreement, but her gaze was still forlornly stuck on the lake. His heart went out to her, for he knew she was probably feeling the same sense of guilt that he was. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, we'll look for Charlie along the way, okay?" he suggested.
"God, I hope he's okay. I'll never forgive myself if something's happened to him," Alice lamented.
They started walking along the beach, the previously lukewarm air suddenly very cool to their damp bodies. Hatter shook his hat out and then put it back in its rightful place upon his head.
"Where is the ring, Alice?" he ventured.
"Back at camp," she answered softly.
Hatter halted in his tracks, his expression completely thunderstruck. "You never even brought it with you?" he asked incredulously.
Alice stopped, but did not turn around. She shook her head, remaining silent.
"Alice..." he began, but trailed off when he did not quite know what to say. He had thought the only thing she had wanted since the beginning of her time here in Wonderland was to find her boyfriend and get back home. The ring was the only key to achieving that. Why would she have left the one thing which could deliver her fondest wish behind her and then put herself in mortal danger? At the very least, she could have taken the ring to break into the place where the Looking Glass was kept and use it to go back home by herself. But instead she had chosen to go the casino without the ring and apparently without the intention of betraying its true location. Just what had been her plan?
"I...I couldn't take it," she finally admitted. She was still stubbornly determined not to face him. For his part, Hatter was torn between staying where he was and walking up to her to wrap her in his arms.
"But...I thought..." Hatter shook his head. He thought he had known where the girl stood on matters, but now he was beginning to see he may have been sorely mistaken.
"Look, I'm just one person. And...well, of course things with Jack have changed, but before I knew the truth, I realized even then that he is also just one person," she explained, slowly turning around. Her gaze was cast downward and she wrapped her arms around herself. "Our lives...my wish to just be home again...well, it didn't seem worth the lives of all those hundreds of refugees." She was quiet for a moment before she looked up at Hatter. He felt his breath still at the cataclysm of emotions in her blue eyes. "It didn't seem worth your life."
A feeling of hope surged through him, but it was darkened by the subtext in her words. "So, wait, what were you planning to do, then?" he asked.
Alice drew in a deep breath. "Well, I was going to try to negotiate with the queen at first, if only for Jack's release. I knew I needed the ring to work the Looking Glass. I guess I thought if my original plan succeeded, Jack and I could have at least somehow made it back here and then used the ring to get back home. I don't know. I was just trying to focus on getting him out of the casino so I didn't think about much else. Poor planning on my part, I guess. But, when I found out that he was a lying, conniving bastard and didn't really need my rescuing at all, I had to...adjust my plans somewhat." He saw her hand reach up to caress the right side of her dress where he noticed, for the first time, a small bulge resided.
"Um, so, I figured, at the very least, I could...misdirect them," she quietly told him, her skin flushing slightly.
"Come again?" Hatter's voice turned very icy as he started to grasp what her plan had been.
She looked away, biting down on her lip. "I let them take me to the Truth Room so I could essentially send them on a wild goose chase. I told them the ring was back in my world, so, hopefully, they'll stay off your backs. Well, if they buy it, that is."
Hatter weakly shook his head. "You weren't really negotiating with the queen anymore, then? You were..." he could not say the words. The thought was too horrible to contemplate.
Alice held up her hands helplessly. "What else was I supposed to do?" she asked, her eyes glistening. "There wasn't really anything left to negotiate, and I at least thought that maybe if I told her where it was or my version of where it was..."
"What?" Hatter said sharply. "You didn't really believe that once you told her where it was she was going to give two figs about what happened to you, do you? Very likely, she would have had you beheaded just for the trouble you caused. Or she would have just left you for the Tweedles to continue playing with." An unexplainable anger was taking hold of him. How could she have treated her life so carelessly? Was it her job back in her world that taught her to value her life so little?
"I know." Alice's quiet, level reply shook him to the core. How could she remain so calm when she was essentially relating to him what had been a suicidal plan?
"Why?" he croaked, his voice grown hoarse from the bile rising in his throat. "Why would you do such a thing, Alice? Was it because of that slimy prince? Were you really going to throw your life away just because he had lied to you? I don't really know the bloke, but I know he's nowhere close to being worth your life."
Alice's lips tightened and she closed her eyes, shaking her head vehemently. "No," she firmly denied. "It wasn't because of him."
"Then, why?" he practically shouted. He desperately needed to get to the bottom of this terrifying new development.
"Does it matter?" she shot back, her voice trembling. "You saved me. So, it doesn't matter anymore."
But it does to me, he wanted to say. Your life is everything to me.
"Why didn't you at least fight back? Use that Slayer strength of yours?" he pointed out.
Alice let out a derisive snort. "Yeah, well, I did actually try. I ran into a major problem with that," she related dryly.
Hatter frowned uneasily. "Why? What happened?"
A humorless smile spread across Alice's features, and it made a sickening sensation grip his belly. "Mad March. I exposed my powers back in my world on the White Rabbit guy and he tattled. Apparently, the queen isn't an idiot. I don't know how she did it, but, somehow that freak is juiced up to the point where he's even stronger than me." Then she added, "And he sure as hell seems to be pissed off with you."
Oh fuck. Mad March being resurrected from the dead was bad enough, especially when the one who was mostly responsible for the assassin-tracker losing his head in the first place was Hatter. But Mad March being back from the dead and having more strength than super-strong Alice was like a walking nightmare. He felt his head start to spin with this new knowledge.
"Did he hurt you?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous.
"Not really, but he did hold a knife to my throat," she replied dismissively.
I'm going to kill him, super strength or no super strength. After all, Hatter did still have the Sledgehammer on his side. He had his suspicions that his right hook was even stronger than Alice's.
"Hey nonny nonny! The wind and the rain!" The voice floated from the direction he and Alice had been headed before they got sidetracked by their depressing conversation and the two immediately whirled around in shock.
Alice's face lit up. "Charlie!" she gasped, running towards his voice. Hatter followed her, equally pleased to find that the knight had survived the wet crash-landing after all and somewhat grateful for a reprieve from their morose talk.
They followed the voice through a patch of high growing weeds and scrub to find the knight sitting before a small fire in his white underclothes, his armor having been removed and set up to dry on the ground. He was poking at the fire and singing loudly to himself, seeming no worse for the wear. Both Hatter and Alice stared in amazement at what had seemed very unlikely to them. Somehow, Charlie had not only managed to surface in his armor, but he had managed to swim back to shore, doff the armor, and build up a fire.
Maybe a steady diet of borogove has magical properties...
"Charlie!" Alice greeted warmly, walking over to the knight.
The knight looked up and grinned with pleasant surprise. "Thank the stars! I was just about to go back into the water to look for you two!"
At least this time it seemed he was included in Charlie's concerns, the young man noted.
Charlie hugged Alice affectionately and then nodded towards Hatter. The younger man shoved his negative feelings from earlier below the joyful relief he felt at seeing the indomitable, daft old knight alive and kicking. He had seriously been afraid he had sent the man to his watery grave by allowing him to join him on the rescue mission.
"How did you make it ashore with all that armor on?" Hatter inquired, definitely impressed by the knight's fortitude.
"I'm a knight," Charlie simply replied as if that were a perfectly adequate explanation. Hatter just shrugged. Perhaps that was all the explanation that was needed. What did he really know about knights and their training?
"Besides, I invented a very useful little, whirly, jiggamathing, which I can't tell you about. It's a classified, patent pending, very hush-hush, and that sort of thing," the old man added in a conspiratorial whisper.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay. I'm glad you're both okay," Alice said sincerely. She walked over to stand in front of the two men, wringing her hands together nervously.
Now that the group had been reunited, Hatter resumed his concern of their vulnerable position in the open. He pulled his hat off his head and ran his fingers through his damp locks while saying, "We should get off this beach before we get spotted. Probably should just head back to the kingdom and rest up and eat, then figure out what we'll do next."
"No," Alice stated decisively.
Hatter frowned. "No?" he asked in a strained voice.
The girl drew in a shaky breath and glanced away from the two men, her hands still fidgeting anxiously before her. "Listen, I am beyond grateful for what you guys did for me. You guys saved my life, or, well, my sanity anyway, which is pretty much the same thing, I guess. And I know you're not going to like this, but...I think I have to go back to the casino." She cringed as she said the words, probably knowing how they would be received.
Charlie groaned in exasperation, which was quite out of character from what Hatter knew of him. For his part, the younger man had been stunned speechless. That statement had come totally out of the blue. Why, after everything that had happened, would she even contemplate going back?
"Why?" Hatter sputtered. He was met with silence for a few moments, which sent his speculations running wild. "Oh, don't tell me you still have some misguided loyalty to Jack or something?"
Alice threw him a disgusted look. "Oh, god no, it's not for him. It's...my father is in the casino," she finally admitted. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out the object that had been causing the slight bulge in the fabric.
"Your father?" Hatter repeated as if the very word were foreign. Now that had certainly been an unexpected claim. Why would Alice think her father was in the casino?
"What makes you think he's there?" he questioned, not bothering to cover the blatant cynicism marking his voice.
Alice held out her hand to him and he took the object lying in her palm. It was a small clock with a square face set upon a band of silver metal links. "That does. That's his watch. I know it. It's stuck on the exact date and time that he disappeared and it has his initials on the back." He flipped the watch over and saw the letters RH inscribed on the back. Hamilton was Alice's last name.
"RH for Robert Hamilton," the girl informed him, smiling poignantly. "He disappeared when I was ten years old and we never knew what happened to him. He was just gone...he didn't even pack his things...or leave a word of goodbye." Years of grief over her father's disappearance and the agony of not knowing what had prompted it weighed her voice down. Hatter recalled how her father had shown up in the portraits with Alice as a child, but had not figured in the portraits with her as a teenager. At the time he had not thought the detail all that important. Now he realized it had been very significant. He felt a rush of tender sympathy for her, having lost his own father to the executioner's axe as a very young child.
Hatter studied the watch in his palm. "Alice, how did you find this?" he queried. Surely she had not been just permitted to go snooping about in the casino.
She was hesitant to provide an answer at first, but finally her shoulders sagged and she said in a weary voice, "Jack slipped it to me in the Throne Room."
Hatter's fist closed over the object and he felt an angry, incredulous heat rise up within him. "What? And you believe him? After everything he's already lied about?"
Alice sighed. "I know, I already thought about that. But that is my father's watch. How could Jack have known about that? I mean, I know I never mentioned it to him. My dad used to wear it all the time even after accidentally taking a swim with it so it no longer kept good time. He definitely would have been wearing it the day he disappeared."
Hatter shook his head, unwilling to believe anything that damn prince said. As far as he was concerned, the royal bastard was still intent on stringing Alice around like he had been doing for the past few months the two had been a couple. It made him sick with fury and indignation on Alice's behalf. He glanced up at her and felt his stomach convulse at the desperate hope shining in her beautiful blue eyes. She was going to hate him for destroying that hope, he realized. She had been waiting and searching so long for her father that now, when the slightest of possibilities that he was alive and within her reach showed up, she was not going to let go for anything. But Hatter had to keep her from going back to that casino, even if it meant losing her trust and regard.
"He's lying," Hatter declared flatly.
Alice's eyes hardened just as he had suspected they would. It made his heart break. "Look, I know it sounds far-fetched, but...you heard Charlie! There is a reason I'm here. I have to find my father and save him," she insisted.
Even if her father was taken by the White Rabbit, that would have been over a decade ago. There's no possible way he's still being...used.
"Alice," Hatter said gently, coming closer to her and putting the watch back in her hand. "You said he disappeared when you were a kid, right? Well, let's suppose your father was taken by the White Rabbit and brought here to Wonderland." He closed his eyes, already feeling the pain he was going to cause her with this logic. "Alice, I'm sorry, but there's no way he'd still be...around...after being in the casino that long. He'd have been drained completely dry years ago." It was true. An oyster lasted an average of a year to a year and a half in the casino. Once they were completely drained of all their harvestable emotions they were, simply put, shot and burned to ashes.
Alice wrenched the watch away and hugged it to her, her eyes a haze of grief and anger. "Why would Jack have slipped this to me, then? He even said the words 'He's here' to me!" she cried.
Hatter tried to keep his feelings in check. "Alice, maybe he was just telling you something he'd thought you want to hear. Maybe he thought it would, I don't know, make you less angry with him and less likely to beat his face in or something. Or maybe he was hoping for something to distract you from the fact that he's a royal prat. That just goes to show he really doesn't care about you." Not like I do, he added in silence. Now was not the time to bring that particular issue up, however. The girl was dealing with enough emotional hardships at the moment.
She vehemently shook her head. "No, you don't understand. Jack was acting so weird back there. I mean, yeah, I realize the asshole lied to me and I'm not going to let him off the hook for that, but..." she seemed to waver on how to word her thoughts for a minute before carrying on. "I'm not so sure he's in league with his mother. I mean, I think he might have been taking a huge risk slipping this watch to me."
Hatter scoffed at the very idea of the prince not being his mother's loyal little lapdog. "Of course he's loyal to his mother, Alice. Blood is thicker than water, you know. He's the heir to the throne. He's not going to jeopardize his chance at being king for anything."
Alice did not speak. She held the watch to her bosom as if it were the most precious item in the world. Hatter could feel her struggling with herself. She wanted so very badly to believe that her father was here and that she could save him, even if it meant trusting the word of a man who had lied to her from the moment she had met him. But a part of her was still clinging to doubt, and Hatter's words had strengthened it. She resented him for feeding that doubt and killing off the hope she was trying to hold on to. It tore him up inside to feel that resentment directed towards him. Whatever progress he had made in Alice's eyes was slowly being stripped away.
Fucking Jack Heart. I hate that prick of a prince.
"Alice, please, it kills me to do this to you. I know how much you want to believe your father is there," Hatter pleaded. "But, think about it, Jack gave you the ring. Why? It made you a target. And now when you show up in Wonderland to save his sorry arse, he goes and tells you that your father is in the casino. Does that not seem a bit fishy to you? He's using you!"
Alice's cold reply cut him to the bone. "And you're not?"
That's not her talking, mate, a voice inside assured him. That's just the pain lashing out. Don't take it personally. But he could not deny the way her words had cut into him as if they had been armed with razor sharp edges. She could have hurt him less if she had just punched him in the gut.
Alice must have seen the effect her accusation had on him, for her gaze instantly softened with remorse. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."
Hatter nodded, trying his best to rein in the urge to fling the accusation back at her face. After all, what had he been doing since he had met her but try to help her get back home? If anyone was being used, it was him. But, then, that was not quite true. Even from the beginning, he had wanted to help her, if only because being near her gave him the taste of genuinely deep, unfettered emotions. How quickly his motives were altered when it became clear there were other reasons drawing him to this beguiling oyster like a moth to a flame. Even now, when she was being so utterly thick-headed and somewhat heartless toward him, he could not imagine abandoning her. He would vastly prefer it if she hated him if it meant he could keep her away from the casino. There had to be some way to appeal to her senses, which were completely blinded by this impossible wish of being reunited with her father. His mind searched for a way to keep her grounded; all the while knowing that time was rapidly running out.
"Alice, please, just let me think of something," he begged, his dark chocolate gaze latching onto hers beseechingly. "Just..." He clenched his fists as he ran through the available options until one finally lit up. "Let me appeal to the Resistance on your behalf."
Alice responded with a scathing snort of laughter. "Oh yeah, cuz that worked out so well last time. If you recall, I ended up getting a freaking shotgun aimed at my chest and you were actually shot!" She slapped her hands down against her thighs and huffed. "So, excuse me if I'm not too eager to ask them for a favor again."
Unfortunately, the girl had a good point. But there was still a way. His mind had begun working a mile a minute, unraveling the skein of possibilities. He felt a bit more like his old self once more.
"One branch!" Hatter countered, holding up his index finger to emphasize the point. "One branch of the Resistance that was, Alice. If we can get to the top man, he'll help us out." He was not absolutely certain in that regard, but he felt the elusive Resistance leader might be at least willing to hear their case.
Alice's expression smoothed a little, her brow arching. Hatter took that as a good sign that she was pulling the proverbial cotton out of her ears and willing to listen to reason.
"You know him?" she asked.
Hatter grimaced. There was the snag in his plan, for he did not know the Resistance leader personally and, in fact, had never met the man. He only knew the man's strange code name: Caterpillar. "Yes," he replied without thinking, but then he amended his answer. "Well, no, not exactly."
Alice's expression soured dangerously and he fumbled for a way to win her back. "But, no one really knows his true identity, you see," he insisted somewhat defensively. "He goes by a code name: Caterpillar." It may have been a mistake to tell her the name of the leader of the Resistance movement was the same name applied to a glorified grub.
"Jesus Christ," Alice muttered. Hatter realized she said those words quite a lot, and he wondered what they were supposed to mean. A question for another time, he figured.
He slowly approached her, noticing for the first time the dark circles under her eyes. The young woman had been through an incredible amount of pain and terror, and it reflected in the dull cast to her normally vibrant blue eyes. Everything she had thought she knew had been turned on its head and then split apart at the seams. Hatter would have given anything to wipe away the agony and grief in her gaze. He wanted so much to take those burdens which weighed so heavily on her soul. He gingerly reached out both his hands and threaded his fingers through hers. Amazingly, the girl did not shy away from the physical contact nor did she shake off his grasp. Instead, she looked up at him, a strange vulnerable look in her eyes.
"Just give me a few hours and I'll slip back into the city and make contact. You head back to the fortress with Charlie and get some rest and food. I'm thinking you didn't take the time last night to get in some sleep, right?" He could not help but reach up to lightly flick her cheek, provoking a wan smile from her.
"Maybe, but it wouldn't be the first time I've gone days without sleep," she muttered dryly.
A muscle in his jaw twitched at the reminder of the rigors and perils of her occupation in her home world, but he did not comment on her remark. Instead, he made a concession that he knew might come back to haunt him. "If I'm not back by nightfall...do it your way." Bloody hell, why did I say that?
Alice swallowed, closing her eyes and nodding her head. "Okay," she whispered. She sniffled, lifting up a hand to rub her eyes.
"Charlie," Hatter called out to the knight, who had been standing a respectful distance away from the two. For a man who had spent decades without human contact, he seemed amazingly cognizant of certain things. "I'm going back into the city for a bit. Can you take Alice back to the fortress and...?" He did not know exactly how to word his request, feeling that asking the knight to protect and watch over her might be taken with a degree of offense.
"Of course, I shall escort the lady back to my home," Charlie assured him. Hatter hoped the knight's impossibly jovial mood would help lighten Alice's spirits for a little while.
"Will you be okay?" Alice inquired, bringing Hatter's attention back to her. Her blue eyes were shimmering with wetness. "Mad March is going to be out there...What if?" Worry and fear wracked her tone.
Hatter could not deny he was touched by her concern, but Mad March was the least of his worries at the moment. "I'll be fine," he declared confidently. "And I'll be back. I promise." He tucked an errant tendril of wet dark hair behind her ear. The air in the infinitesimal space between his hand and her soft skin seemed to crackle intensely.
A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "Just be careful, please. And..." Her gaze drew away from him to stare down at her feet. "I'm sorry for being such a bitch earlier. It's just..." the girl swallowed again, her voice growing tight. "I've waited so long to find him." He knew the "him" she spoke of was her father, not Jack. Though he knew it was wretched of him, he felt a tiny spark of relief swell up his heart at seeing that she did not appear to be hung up on Jack.
"I know," Hatter whispered gently. The urge to enfold her in his arms and let her just cry out her woes on his shoulder almost overcame him. But something held him back. If he crossed the small space between them to take her in his arms, he might never be able to let her go. So, instead, he forced himself to just pat her awkwardly on the shoulder before taking a step away from her.
"Good bye, Harbinger!" Charlie interjected amidst strapping his plate armor back on. "Good luck on your mission!"
Hatter barely heard the knight's farewell. His focus was solely bent towards Alice, who stood, despondently watching him walk away. She gave a tiny, half-hearted wave, putting on a brave smile. He waved in return, feeling his heart pound miserably against his chest wall. Then he turned around. Without looking back, he started jogging back to the area where they had left the boat.
The city was eerily silent in the pre-dusk hours. Truth be told, the city had never been incredibly noisy or vibrant that Hatter could remember. Ever since the Hearts had introduced the teas spiked with potent oyster emotions, most other forms of commerce and social interaction had fallen by the wayside. There were very few legitimate, non-tea associated businesses still around, and those were hanging by a slim thread at best. The tailor shops and seamstresses managed to hold onto their livelihoods, and Hatter himself was probably largely responsible for their success due to his incurable urge to always be well-dressed. If the Resistance did ever succeed in wresting power from the Hearts and expunging the use of oyster emotions from Wonderland, the young man wondered how the flimsy economy would survive.
Things have to get worse before they can get better, he told himself. It was a platitude he had always treated with a healthy dose of skepticism, but, now he was starting to see the wisdom in those words.
Hatter kept to the dark side alleys he had learned and memorized years ago, his eyes and ears keen for any hint of danger, be it from Suit or from a crazed tea-junkie who was probably starting to feel the effects of withdrawal. Without the Stone of Wonderland to power the Looking Glass, there could be no fresh shipments of oysters. No new oysters meant no new wells of harvestable emotions guaranteeing a steady supply of elixirs. Also, lest he forget, his shop had been completely ransacked by Mad March and his posse, and was not likely to be up and running business as usual anyway. There were probably more than a few men and women who were already beginning to gnaw at their arms in a vain attempt to escape the stark blackness of ennui. If even one of them saw Hatter, and possibly recognized him through their miasma of forced apathy, he might find himself mobbed. Addicts would do almost anything to secure their drugs.
A few Suits patrolled the area surrounding his shop. Hatter silently lamented their presence, for it meant there was little chance his business partner was still inside. Dormouse, or, as Hatter usually called him, Dormie, was responsible for marketing the new teas. Though the little man had a tendency to fall asleep at the most inconvenient of times, he had an impressive skill with showmanship and sales. Perhaps more importantly, especially in this particular situation, was Dormie's position in the Resistance. Dormie was a messenger and liaison between the different factions of the Resistance. Dodo was one of several lieutenants who controlled specific branches and strongholds. All the lieutenants answered to Caterpillar, and Hatter knew Dormie could find him, if not at least get word to him. Now the only thing remained was finding Dormie, and, considering the man's diminutive stature, such a thing was easier said than done. A grim glance up at the receding daylight and Hatter's pulse quickened. His words to Alice echoed in his mind. He could not afford to be late.
Then, as if it were an answer from a merciful deity, Hatter heard the door to his shop bang open. He peeked around the corner of the building and silently cheered when the squat, waddling form of Dormie appeared. The little man was even walking towards the area where Hatter hid from the view of the Suits. He waited until his employee ventured close enough and then Hatter's arm shot out faster than a blink of an eye. He pulled Dormie in behind the wall and held him up against it with one arm.
Dormie squeaked in terror, frantically pulling his hands over his face protectively. "Arrghhh! Not the face! Not the..." An eye creaked open, and he stopped struggling when he saw who it was who held him up. "Hatter? What do you want?" He did not relax entirely though, for Dormie knew almost better than anyone how dangerous the teashop owner could be. His barrel chest puffed in and out in quick succession.
"Just keep your voice down, Dormie," Hatter instructed in a calm, but serious, voice. There was no time for pleasantries and subtleties; the young man would have to get right to the point. "I need you to get a message to Caterpillar."
Dormie's homely face twisted into an expression of confusion. "What makes you think I can do that?" he asked diffidently.
Hatter's eyebrow shot up, his chocolate eyes sparking with warning. "Don't get cute. I haven't got the time."
Dormie squirmed under his intense gaze. "Dodo's the only one I know in the Resistance," he declared. "Not even sure Caterpillar really exists!" A nervous laugh escaped his mouth. "He's probably some mythical figure made up to keep us all treading the mill." He was lying, and rather unconvincingly, which rather surprised Hatter since Dormie had worked with him for years. But, then again, the dwarfish man had never been known to be terribly bright.
So be it. Hatter would play along if only because it saved him some precious time. "Then you tell Dodo to get a message to him, then," he ordered sternly.
Dormie did not answer, but his beady little eyes had at least stopped roaming all over the place, trying to find an escape route.
"Tell him 'We still have what they want. We're ready to make a deal.' Got it?" The message was best kept simple and direct in the event that it was intercepted by an enemy party. Also, he knew it would be easier for Dormie to remember it well enough to relay it accurately.
"Yes, boss," Dormie relented in a meek voice. Hatter nodded and then gently lowered the man to the ground.
When Dormie just stood there, staring up at him in that dull-witted fashion, Hatter waved his arms impatiently. "Well, get going then! I told you I haven't got much time. I'll be waiting here." Dormie squeaked again and then scampered off, running back the way he had come as fast as his fat little legs would carry him.
Hatter watched him go until he was out of sight and then he loosed a weary sigh and slid down to sit on the ground with his back against the wall. His eyes strayed to the sky again where daylight still reigned, but was gradually losing ground. He hated finding himself so pinned by time constraints. There was a point in his life (a few days ago, for example) when time had not really been of much importance. He received the shipments from the casino and then doled it out to the slavering consumers, all the while storing up supplies and information to smuggle down to Dodo. He had worked hard to secure that coveted position as an informant and double agent, and while it had come with its own brand of perils, it had still enabled him to live a life unavailable to most people in the kingdom.
"While we risk our lives trying to bring freedom to ungrateful leeches like you, you swan about, living the good life!" Dodo's words had rung with a note of truth, if only the second part. Hatter could not remember the last time that fat ponce had ever put himself in danger, whereas he had to tread a very delicate line between life and losing his head. Being a double agent did come with its perks, but there were enormous drawbacks that Dodo was incredibly blind to.
In an effort to distract himself from the tension knotting his stomach, Hatter directed his mind towards the few pleasant aspects of his life of late. Alice immediately appeared in all her wet, dripping beauty. He could not help but allow a ghostly smile flit over his face. That girl brought up such a rousing contradiction of emotions, and they were emotions such as he had never truly experienced in his entire twenty-five years of life. She invigorated and exhausted him, frightened and calmed him; at times she infuriated him and at other times she brought such an indelible sensation of joy he thought his heart would burst from it.
Even Wonderlanders, so stunted in their abilities to feel, knew there was only one thing which could elicit so many incongruous feelings. He could not continue to lie to himself. There was no mistaking what it was he felt for her, even if he had never felt such an emotion towards one who was not of his own blood. And even this type of feeling was different than the feelings he had harbored towards his family, who were all long gone. There was still a deep feeling of protectiveness as well as affection and admiration, but with Alice the feelings burned hotter and brighter. There was an intense yearning attached to this tender emotion he felt for her. He felt shivers of desire whenever he saw her in that blue dress, drawn tight against her skin by the water soaking its fabric. He knew what it was to want a woman, but never with such a deep, abiding tenderness accompanying it. It was not just her body he wanted. He wanted her, all of her.
Hatter dropped his head into his palms, groaning. There was no doubt about it; he was doomed. He had been doomed from the first moment Alice had walked into his office.
I couldn't stand Alice's behavior in the mini in this scene. Obviously, with the way I've sort of altered her character, she's not quite as bitchy. And, yes, I know I did not have her mention Jack being engaged to a duchess...there is a method to my madness.