A/N: Hi there! Sorry it's so late, I got really swamped with homework this weekend. Longer/another note at the end, as always.
I disclaim.
Hatter was unusually interested in this oyster in the wet blue dress.
And not just because she managed to look very good, disheveled as she was. The fact that she could act—and not just act but be—defiant, lost and alone and friendless as she was, intrigued him to no end.
And so he found himself buying her off Ratty for an unusually high price (he truly hoped the man wouldn't overdose; he was a decent informant, despite his rank smell), and promising to take her to Dodo, no matter that the man was more than half-mad, inflated with his self-importance, and probably didn't possess a fraction of the power to which he pretended. This oyster—Alice, she said her name was, and that was a reason to take notice, if nothing else—made a man want to do things for her. Her presence very nearly intimidated Hatter. Hatter had not been intimidated in a long time.
Oh yes, he was very interested in her.
He briefly considered pausing to don the body armor he usually wore when outside his shop, but discarded the idea quickly; Dodo liked to wave his gun around, but it was all show. The idiot man probably didn't even keep it loaded.
The fear of heights was unexpected. It made this Alice much more human, if not less impressive. Hatter put on a gruff face—the easiest to hide behind—and tried to appear annoyed rather than fascinated as he led her by the hand across the ledge.
He feared his expression might have slipped, and that she had noticed, but she was too focused on not looking down to actually look at anything else.
He couldn't help showing off his knowledge about the library to her, just a little bit, and the childlike look of wonder and sadness on her face made it worthwhile. The stunt with the cheese was pure bravado, and he hoped she mistook his inability to keep his eyes off of her during it as insolence rather than fascination.
In Dodo's meeting room, he decided to test her defiance, purposefully using the wrong last name for her Jack, to see if she would still correct him while at the wrong end of more than one gun. She did. Would the wonders never cease?
When Dodo started waving his gun around and ranting about the Stone of Wonderland, Hatter instinctively stepped in front of the girl—what the hell was it about her?—and grabbed the barrel. And, for the first time in all the years Hatter and he had been reluctantly coexisting, Dodo shot his gun.
His last thought was that it was a pity he wouldn't be able to see the outcome of this intriguing little oyster's journey across Wonderland.
And then blackness.
A/N 2: This note comes to you in three parts:
1. I know, I'm a terrible person for killing Hatter (again).
2. This one took me longer than any of the others to write—I think it's because it has some actual substance to it (despite how short it is), and because it's in Hatter's POV, which is new for me.
3. I just want to say thanks to all of the people who have taken the time to read the story, and to review it. Especially to those of you who review consistently. It really keeps me writing, knowing that people are out there, reading and enjoying it.
So, I won't hold any characters hostage for reviews this time, but they are always much appreciated!
Till next time,
HeadPhones