Author's note:

Yay me! Here's the second chapter of my first-ever multi-chapter! It feels sort of like I'm actually not wasting my time completely. Or maybe I am, I don't really know…

And also a big thanks to the rewiever I at least think I saw. You're worth a cookie, big time!

2. Little Stranger

Tarrant and Time weren't exactly on friendly terms with each other, but this was getting stupid. Being tired of Tarrant trying to kill him, Time decided to leave Tarrant (and his friends) in a limbo where it was always teatime. You'd think having tea forever would be a treat for them, but really, you can only drink this much tea. Life was dull, every day repeating the previous, only interrupted by Chessur's sudden appearances and Thackeray throwing things at anything that moved (mostly Chessur.)

So when a Little Stranger appears all uninvited to yet another tea party, it is quite an excitement to everyone. Hatters included.

There was something familiar about this Little Stranger, something Tarrant couldn't really put his finger on. Then again, he often had troubles remembering things, what with Time running amuck and all. And this Little Stranger seemed nice, after all, it had promised to help finding Alice. Therefore, Tarrant had decided he liked the Little Stranger, and hurriedly started leading it towards the White Queen's castle.

"She is very nice, you know. And she knows how to find Alice, she must know, she always knows everything. If she doesn't know, no one does, none at all, and-"

"Hatter!" Little Stranger giggled. "You have to breathe."

Tarrant realised he was turning quite dizzy in the lack of oxygen. Grinning sheepishly, he sat down, waiting for the world to stop spinning around him in this rude manner. This he was used to, he rambled whenever he was nervous, or upset, or confused, which meant he rambled most of the time. Especially whenever Alice was around…

"Why is your Alice so special?" Little Stranger asked sweetly, sitting down beside him.

"I haven't got the slightest idea. All I know is that she makes the world brighter, and whenever she's around, I'm not lost…" Tarrant had to think before continuing. "She's the most stunning creature ever, a champion, but she likes me even though I'm just a hatter."

"You're not just a hatter." Little Stranger said soothingly. "You're a mad hatter, aren't you?"

"I'm not mad!"

"But they do call you the Mad Hatter?"

There was a slight silence. "I guess I'm a little mad." Tarrant admitted. "But you have to be to survive here."

They kept on walking; Little Stranger actually fell asleep while doing so, waking up with a look on confusion, once it even fell into a puddle for it was so distraught. The fifth time something of that kind happened Tarrant simply carried it, not wanting to waste a moment in the search for his Alice. The small head on his shoulder felt quite soothing, it seemed to be keeping some of the Madness away. Tarrant didn't like the Madness, it scared him something terribly, and one never knew what would happen when he was in it.

That's probably why Alice left.

Alice must've been frightened he'd hurt her during a Madness. She couldn't know that he'd rather die than ever hurt her. Still, he couldn't tell her that, you couldn't just march up to the Champion of Underland and say "I love you, please don't leave me." That would be improper, wouldn't it? Tarrant wasn't so sure actually. Perhaps he could ask the queen, she usually knew important things. She would probably know why Little Stranger looked so familiar too. Someone who looked that odd shouldn't be so hard to remember, should it? There was something about the shape of its eyes and the way its hair danced on her shoulders. Even when he carried Little Stranger that hair seemed to live its own life, swaying along to an unheard melody, ignoring Tarrant's movement.

The dark. That was what scared him most about his upcoming execution. Not being able to see anything again. And then there was the problem of never seeing Alice again. Tarrant knew he would regret not seeing her again. Still it wasn't all bad. He'd be able to meet his family again.

The memories always started out like that, then they turned against him, trying to scare him back into the Madness. The scene would rapidly change to the battle, to Alice facing the Jabberwocky, and to what so easily could have happened. Tarrant squealed and covered his eyes in a desperate attempt to keep the images out of his mind.

A pair of small, friendly arms wrapped around his neck and Little Stranger smiled at him in a way that helped him pull out of the darkness.

"Were you having bad dreams?" Little Stranger asked, wriggling to get down on the ground.

"I rather not talk of it." With a grim smile, Tarrant placed Little Stranger by the path. "It's too… hard."

"Oh." Little Stranger took hold of his hand again. "What's it like when your eyes turn gray?"

Tarrant pursed his lips slightly. "It's like when the sun goes down and everything looses colour."

Thereafter, they walked in silence, both contemplating on some Question. Tarrant still on who Little Stranger really was, and Little Stranger on how the world would be without colours.

Little Stranger wasn't impressed with Marmoreal, in fact, it seemed not to notice the palace at all. Had it fallen asleep again? Loosely nudging its side, Tarrant steered it towards the big doors.

Have I broken it?

"Open the doors!" he yelled. "I might have broken Little Stranger… You must help me repair it, Mirana, for I cannot."

Moments later the doors swung open. The queen stood a few strides away with a look of mixed feelings. There was surprise and fear, but also something you could call mischievous.

"How did this happen?" she asked, an undertone Tarrant disliked much in the question.

"I don't know!" Tarrant cried. "One minute it was fine, and the next it was broken, you must fix it, I need it to remember why it seems so familiar."

"Tarrant." The queen broke his ramblings in a highly effective way. Next, she turned to Little Stranger. "How are you, dear?" she asked mildly.

Little Stranger screamed.

Author's note:

I made a cliff-hanger! I did some different attempts on this, but had to decide this was the best. This chapter was really quite hard to get readable, and I don't blame you for being confused. I think I'm a little confused myself…