"Broken angel, you've got to learn to fly…

Get up, and earn your wings tonight…"

Chapter 6

"Now, my dear, what trouble have you been causing now?" Alice asked the grinning girl in her arms.

"Nothing, mother," Mia giggled. "I've been good." Alice raised an eyebrow at her, but the little redhead only kept on smiling.

"Alrigh', will someone please tell meh wha's goin' on?" Mallymkun huffed loudly from Tarrant's shoulder. Alice jumped slightly and clutched her daughter protectively, turning her head to fully face the others present. By the look on her face, it seemed that it was the first time she had noticed the others present. She sent a confused glare towards the little group, and blinked several times. As she did this, someone behind her placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, Alice," Hamish said gently, stepping outside. Apparently, he had been with her the whole time, but no one had seen him. Everyone had been too focused on the presumed-dead Champion. Tarrant felt a brief flash of negative emotion at the thought of Hamish getting to see Alice before him. "It's alright." The blonde blinked several more times and shook her head, before turning back to her daughter.

"Sorry…" she said quietly to all present, though she never lifted her eyes from Mia's.

"Don't worry, love," Andrea replied, smiling softly and stepping forward. "No one blames ye." Alice nodded and bit her lip, blinking a few more times. "Now, I don't believe the little devil 'ere 'as entirely 'onest with ye…" Andrea rolled her eyes in Mia's general direction, and the girl, in turn, buried her face in her mother's hair.

Mally, though, had finally had enough, and was beginning to become fed up with being ignored. "Ahm serious! If someone doesn't tell meh why the ought-tae-be-dead Not Alice is standin' 'ere, callin' the girl 'daughtah' an' actin' like there's somethin' wrong with 'er 'ead, Ah'll slice every one of ye from yer nose to yer naval!" She shouted in her squeaky voice, angrily swishing her hatpin sword through the air. There was a moment of stunned silence as all eyes fell upon the furious Dormouse. Then, suddenly, Mia was being shoved in Andrea's arms as Alice took off running toward the trees. It took only seconds for Tarrant to realize what had just happened, and in the time it took for Andrea to fumble for a better hold on the redheaded child and Hamish to figure out where Alice had gone, Tarrant had already set Mally on the grass and taken off after the fleeing blonde.

As he ran, he heard Hamish shout something behind him – the Englishman obviously having collected his bearings – which Tarrant could barely make out. He managed to catch the first half, before he broke through the trees and lost all notion of anything save finding Alice. "Alice!" he called after her as he ran, "Alice!" It was no use, however. Soon, he lost sight of her through the thicket, and his pace slowed from a frantic run to a walk in order to avoid crashing into anything as he searched.

"Looking for something…?" a somewhat annoying voice purred from above.

"I don' 'ave time fer this!" Tarrant growled, not stopping. Suddenly, a wisp of steam trailed in front of him. It soon materialized into an over-sized blue cat, but the Hatter simply pushed passed Chessur and continued on. He stormed on, mumbling to himself until he started to feel his demeanor darkening. He paused and shook his head to clear his jumbled mind; when he opened his eyes once more, he gasped and nearly fell back. He was staring right into two extremely large and bright teal eyes. "Chessur!" he growled, regaining composure. "I don' 'ave time fer ye! I must find Alice!"

"Alice, you say?" the blue feline replied, floating back slightly and smirking. "I hadn't heard she had returned."

"Ah, well, she was 'ere an' then she ran off. It's no' like ye didn't know she 'ad come back in the first place, though. Ye find yer way intah every little thin' that goes on 'ere!" his voice increased I volume as he spoke, until he was very nearly yelling by the end of his small rant. Chessur, however, seemed unfazed.

"Well," he purred, giving a long and drawn-out sigh. "It seems you don't want my help, then…" he began to float backwards and disappear. It took Tarrant's mind a moment to register what he was saying, and then he frantically looked around for the cat.

"Wha'? Get back 'ere, ye guddler scruffing mangy thing! Tell me where she is!" he yelled, at the sky, though there was no sign of Chessur anywhere. After a moment of silence without any response, he threw his arms down in frustration and continued on his way. It seemed that he was going to have to keep looking the old-fashioned way.

"You're going the wrong direction…" a voice purred in his ear, but when he turned, there was no one there. Tarrant grinned, though, and began walking in the opposite direction.

"Thank ye," he said to the empty forest, before picking his pace up once again.

"Oh my…" Hamish said, pacing. "They should be back by now…"

"Relax," Mirana replied, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Tarrant will find her. She can't have gone far, and Tarrant will do everything in his power to keep her safe."

After Alice and the Hatter had taken off, those left standing outside had taken a moment of stunned silence. Hamish had then remembered something extremely important that he had learned during his time with the blonde that morning. In a moment of desperation, he had yelled part of it towards the retreating madman, though he doubted he heard him. After taking another moment to process what had happened, the Englishman had immediately run to inform the Queen of what had happened, leaving Mally with Andrea and Mia. He had hoped that some explaining would take place between the two, but he had no idea what they had exchanged by the time he returned with Mirana in tow.

Currently, the five were outside the castle exit, where they had the best view of the forest edge. "I know, I know; I trust him. It's just…" Hamish paused and looked into Mirana's eyes. "I'm worried for not only her, but him as well. You saw how she acted with you, and – if you don't mind my saying so – you're a little easier to take in than someone like him." He sighed and resumed his pacing.

"I don't know she will react when Alice sees the Hatter, nor do I know how Tarrant will react when he finally comes in contact with our Champion. All I know is that the last time she was here, she and Tarrant shared a special bond that I don't believe can be broken by something such as… such as what has happened to our friend," the Queen responded, grabbing the redhead's shoulders firmly in order to stop his movements once more. "Please, trust me."

"I do trust you, Mirana," he said in return. "You've shown me nothing but kindness since I arrived, and, in turn, I was nothing short of mean-spirited when I first fell into this wondrous land." He took her hands in his. "This place has made me a different person, and for that I am forever grateful." The heartfelt speech was slightly out of place with the topic that they had just been discussing, but, as Hamish gazed at the Queen's face, he realized something. Something within him had changed the moment he had opened his eyes in the white room and set his gaze upon Mirana. He understood, right then and there, after watching the frantic Hatter take off after Alice instead of he, that he no longer felt the same towards the adventurous blonde as he had when Hamish had been Above.

Suddenly, someone cleared his or her throat rather loudly. Both jumped and turned towards the source of the sound, blushing furiously. Andrea and Mia had moved and were now sitting on the grass underfoot, and Mallymkun was perched on the little girl's head. Apparently, it was the Dormouse who had cleared her throat, and – at the looks on both Mirana and Hamish's faces – Mia began giggling, causing both to blush even deeper. There was an awkward pause, during which Andrea kept shooting pointed glances between Mirana and Hamish. The redhead nearly passed out when he realized that both he and the Queen were still grasping each other's hands, and immediately dropped them.

"Uhm, w-well," the Queen stuttered, obviously flustered by their fau-pát. She was, however, at a loss of what to say next, and – to her misfortune – all eyes were now on her. Sensing her unease, Andrea quickly broke the hanging tension in the air with the one thought that should have been on everyone's mind- but wasn't, thanks to the rather unfortunate subject change.

"Shouldn't Alice an' Tarrant 'ave returned bai now?"

After several minutes of fruitless wandering, the Hatter felt as if he was about to turn back around once more and give up his search. He felt that way, but would never actually do that; he would never abandon Alice after all she meant to Underland – saving them from the Red Queen, and such. After all she meant to him, he wasn't going to abandon her… Did he just think that? Tarrant briefly shook his head to clear it, pausing in his steps as he did so.

In this brief moment of quiet, he realized just how loud his steps had been on the crunching, dried ground of the Tulgey Wood. As each footfall had crumbled and torn another shriveled leaf, the sound seemed to resonate throughout the trees and plants, creating the illusion of more echoes than were actually present. Creating more sounds… as he listened, Tarrant noticed just how quiet the forest was. Usually, there was a gentle whistle of the breeze through the overhead canopy, accompanied by the whispered giggles of the gossiping flowers, chirps and clicks from the dragonflies, horseflies, bread-and-butterflies that normally buzzed about the air, the occasional snippet of conversation from the creatures residing in the foliage. It was… silent. Unusually, confusingly, maddeningly, almost frighteningly silent. As he stood there, frozen, Tarrant listened for a moment. Why was it so quiet…?

Then he heard it.

It was almost like a sniffle, but not quite. Almost like a sneeze, but not really. Almost like… (It was an 'S' word, he knew it… sneer, song, serenade, snort, screech, sob… sob). A sound almost like a sob. He tilted his head to the side slightly, trying to pinpoint the sound, and listened intently. There it was again - it was rather pitiful, really – and, without thinking, the Hatter began walking toward the sound with his thundering steps. Thankfully, it appeared to be close, so he was able to travel to it without stopping once more. The action would probably startle whatever poor creature was making the sound in the first place, if they were not already frightened by his far-from-noiseless motions. Still halfway lost in his curious thoughts, he broke through the trees separating him from the source of the sound.

And he stopped.

Apparently, the cat had led his to his destination without his knowing it. There, right before him, sitting curled in a tight ball against an old, sagging tree was Alice. And Alice was sobbing. Tarrant felt his heart twist and turn in pain as he listened to the terribly pitiful sound emitting from the Champion. Just by looking at the distraught and frightened woman before him, he could tell that her muchness was not only lacking, but it seemed to have disappeared altogether. Thankfully, Alice hadn't noticed him yet, as she was too wrapped up in her won worries.

The Hatter stepped out into the clearing a tad more, happy that he had found her, but sad that she had been found in this state. "…Alice…?" he asked quietly and hesitantly. At the sudden noise, the woman jumped and stared at the madman with wide, watery eyes. She gave him a look of pure terror, and shrunk back further against the tree, much as she had in the cabin of the ship. Just thinking about that incident made Tarrant's blood boil, but he knew he had to maintain some level of sanity at the moment if he was going to help his dear Alice. (Oh, there were those thoughts again; his Alice, indeed.)

"H-how do you know my n-name?" she asked shakily, still giving him that frightened-pup look that made him want to cry himself. Her question, however, caught him off guard. His spirits drooped, and he mentally scolded himself for not seeing this coming. Of course she didn't remember him; he had said she wouldn't, but she had insisted. Maybe he had hoped all along that she would be right.

"We've known each other for a long while," Tarrant replied, trying to keep his voice calm and light. He felt his lisp when he spoke, and hoped that he would somehow be able to trigger a memory. "I'm the Hatter." He took another step closer towards her, and he was pleased to see that she no longer tried to claw up into the tree, though she continued to stare him down with those wide hazel eyes. Eventually, he was able to slowly kneel down in front of her. He felt as though she were a skittish animal that would take of running at any sudden movement.

Alice buried her face in her knees, and her golden hair swayed about in the breeze created by her motion. Tarrant swallowed hard… such pretty hair… he longed to reach out and touch it, just to see if it – she – was real. "I'm sorry," she mumbled meekly. "You look familiar… everything has just been so jumbled lately…" So she did remember him! He felt like nearly jumping for joy, but he knew that it would be completely inappropriate for the moment.

Instead, he settled on a simple question that popped into his own jumped mind. "What do you remember about me? It's been a while since I've seen you last, so I don't remember much about you, either." He smiled softly as she lifted her head tentatively. It had been a lie; when Alice had been here last, he had tried to memorize every little thing he could about her so he wouldn't forget. It had had the desired effect, though, and she gave him a look that now held more curiosity than anything else. "We could… get reacquainted with one another?" He eased himself into a sitting position before her, and crossed his legs. "…Only if you like, of course."

"No, no, I would like to; I mean, yes I would like to and no I would not like to not… I mean I do not want to not remember you," she blinked and shook her head wildly as her breathing became rapid. "I just wish it would stop!" she buried her head in her knees once more and curled up again, as Tarrant sat there watching her worriedly. She seemed almost… mad. He wondered vaguely if this was what he looked like when he was having a spell, before he was brought back to the present by that sound. Alice had begun crying again. Unsure of what to do, the Hatter did the only thing that came to mind to comfort the distraught woman; he wrapped his arms around her.

She stiffened under his touch and tried to scoot away, but he held firm. After a few moments of listening to her strangled cries from his arms, he began to wonder whether or not he had done the right thing. Just as he was about to let go, though, she slowly began to relax in his embrace. Her sobs quieted slightly, and he hesitantly began stroking her hair with his free hand. Soon, she had quieted altogether, and he wondered if she had fallen asleep. He continued his motions, however, finding that he couldn't stop.

"I'm sorry," she whispered softly – so quietly, in fact, that Tarrant questioned whether or not he had actually heard it.

"Whatever for?" he whispered back, neither moving from their positions as he continued to caress her hair.

"I-I think I remember you. I mean, I-I remember a man with orange hair…" she replied, still whispering. "We were close, and we knew each other very well. I remember that this man had… feelings for me, and that I returned them. But I left him, because it didn't seem right at the time." Tarrant felt his heart leap to this throat. What feeling was she talking about? He always experienced so many when he was around her… "I just- whenever I see the face, it blurs away from me!" she was beginning to choke up again. "Why is everything so crowded in my head? Why can't I think straight? Why does everything hurt so much?" her voice was beginning to rise, and, before Tarrant knew it, he was being pushed away as she ferociously clutched her head in her hands. "Why? Why? Why?" she chanted, as her questions became yells.

"Alice!" he cried, partially out of worry and partially out or fright. He had never seen her act like this before, and he was scared for her. It angered him to think about what could have caused this. What could have resulted in the great White Champion to lose not only her muchness, but her sanity as well. He felt a wave of emotion wash over him, and suddenly he wanted to wrap his fingers around the neck of whoever had done this to Alice. To squeeze every last drop of life out of them, until they were nothing more than a juiceless peel whose fruit had long since been eaten. He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts, somewhat. It would do no good to have two people lost in madness this far out away from Marmoreal. There was no telling what could happen. "Alice!" he tried again, louder and firmer this time.

Her head jolted up from where she was, her eyes wide and holding the look they had had when he had first arrived. Fear, sadness, guilt, and remorse. "Alice, come here," he stood and reached a hand out to her. The blonde stared at it, unsure, and shrunk back against the tree. "I won't hurt you, I promise. We're going to go back," Tarrant had to refrain from saying home, for he had no idea how long – really – Alice would be staying, "to Marmoreal." Still, she only gazed up at him and made to move to respond. "Mia is waiting for you, and we'll be able to make your head feel better." The second part was a lie; he really had no idea what could be done. If she had gone as mad as he, there was no cure. At the mention of her daughter, though, Alice's face dawned with recognition, and she slowly rose. She did so without the aid of his outstretched hand, but, just as Tarrant was about to retract it (he was rather disappointed that she hadn't taken it), she grasped it in her own.

As they made their way back towards the castle, the Hatter replayed what had just happened over in his mind. So she did remember him! The vague description didn't seem to bother him, though, nor the fact that everything she had said also applied to… The madman nearly stopped dead in his tracks as a realization hit him. It wasn't he whom Alice had been remembering. It was Hamish.

Damn.

AN: Ooh! So many questions answered, yet so many more posed! What's wrong with Alice? What did Hamish yell out to Tarrant? When will the Hatter realize his feelings for her? When will my iTunes stop crashing? All cliffhangers that will be answered as the story continues!

A special thanks to Audrey33, my glorious Beta, for not only reviewing this chapter, but giving me the extra push I needed to get it done. Thanks, bud!

Please review! I had lots of fun writing this chapter, and I want to hear your feedback! Thank you!